Design and Implementation of a Curriculum about Aesthetic Education: The Experience of Visiting Li Mei-Shu Memorial Gallery and Its Impact on Creation ()
1. Introduction
1.1. Background and Motivation
In 2011, The Republic of China Education Report states: In the face of rapid changes and challenges in society, the talents needed for the future must benefit from a combination of local care and modern civic culture from a global perspective. The cultivation of art and aesthetics in civic literacy must be achieved through sound art and aesthetic education system, a sound administrative support system, the improvement of teachers’ abilities, the development of curricula and teaching materials, the integration of social resources, and the shaping of the overall “aesthetic” atmosphere of society (Ministry of Education, 2013). Although arts teaching varies from one country to another depending on national conditions and systems, it is standardized to the level of compulsory education. Social resources such as living environments, art galleries, or museums, in addition to supporting the formal learning of schools, all play an important role in art and aesthetic education.
Based on previous studies, school education is one of the best ways to promote aesthetic education (Eisner, 2004; Kjeldsen, 2001; Madeja, 1974l; Smith, 2014; Ulvik, 2020). Moreover, this process is still ongoing, and it is important to continuously monitor its effectiveness. It can cultivate the ability and habit of people to discover, explore, feel, recognize, and practice the beauty. As a result, it is necessary for students to explore and feel their surroundings, and to feel the features and significance of the art of various works of art. Only then can they understand the relationship between art and life, society, times, civilization, and even the state and the nation (Chen, 2017). A museum is not just an institution that collects artifacts; it also has the responsibility of indoctrinating the people and promoting traditional culture.
The museum can also promote the exploration of local characteristics through local resources and improve the public’s sense of identity with the country, nation, and culture (Chang, 1994). Likewise, educational institutions have similar responsibilities. While teaching for many years in various districts, the author has been thinking about how to promote aesthetic education in different ways, and he has been thinking about how to make it acceptable to a new generation of students. The curriculum developed in this study, which led to the publication of this article, was based upon this motivation.
1.2. Purpose
Based on the above research motivations, the purposes of this study are as follows:
● Through literature discussion, practical visits, and classroom discussions, the relationship between art venue visits and students’ painting creations were explored.
● Taking the theoretical model of art communication as the starting point, the model of a specific aesthetic education curriculum is proposed as a reference for the construction and implementation of an aesthetic education curriculum.
The Ministry of Education in Taiwan actively promotes 12 years of national education, and they particularly emphasize that aesthetic education should be implemented in the campus teaching curriculum. The authors hope to make the campus curriculum more and more flexible, aesthetic experience is considered one of the core elements of education.
This study believes that through the accumulation of experience, you can express your emotions, so the accumulation of experience needs to rely on in-depth learning and training. The author believes that students need to get out of the classroom and get out of the shackles of the textbook. By visiting museums, they can have a better connection to society and feel better about life.
2. Discussion of Relevant Literature and Research Status
2.1. Raises the Level of Daily Life through Aesthetic Education
Mr. Yuan-Pei Tsai (1868-1940) believes that aesthetic education may cultivate people’s moral hearts, cultivate people’s dispositions, and develop a comprehensive worldview. He actively affirmed the positive effects of aesthetic education, and also stressed the kinds of issues that will arise in society if there is a lack of aesthetic education (Li, 1980). Aesthetic education based on the goal of structural analysis is the intuitive activity of feelings and emotions combined with the role of rational thinking, so as to develop the advanced spiritual force of human beings and to cultivate the sensibility and creativity of aesthetic values (Yang, 1983).
In Western culture, aesthetics was first proposed by the 18th-century German philosopher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-1762), who declared aesthetics to be the “science of beauty” (Yan, 2015). The earliest combination of beauty and education put forward the concept of “aesthetic education” was the German aesthetician Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), who believed that: If we want the whole and harmonious development of the emotional, rational, and spiritual dynamics of human beings, this can only be achieved through “aesthetic education”. In this way, human beings can create a harmonious society (Lien, 2019).
Based on the essence and characteristics of art, it can stimulate students’ intuition, reasoning ability, and imagination, and promote students’ creativity and thinking ability. With the launch of the 12 years of national education (Statutory compulsory education stage), both in the development of the curriculum and the teaching level of teachers, they should keep pace with the times and move towards the stage of innovative education. Against this backdrop, a philosophy known as “Cross-Disciplinary Aesthetic Education” (CDAE) is booming (Huang, 2012).
The Ministry of Education has integrated the “Aesthetic Education Curriculum” as an important foundation for the development of aesthetic education in the future. Since 2014, the Ministry of Education has launched the first 5 years plan, spending nearly NT$4.2 billion to enhance the aesthetic experience of students and the public (Ministry of Education, 2013; National Academy for Educational Research, 2014). The program is not only centered on arts education, but also on a multidisciplinary approach and life experience. The program hopes to sow the seeds of aesthetic education at different stages of education, art institutions, and communities.
In the process of aesthetic education, aesthetic education experience and experience accumulation are two very important links, and “aesthetic experience” is the ultimate expression of “Complete Experience. Complete experience refers to the process of experience when the subject of experience sincerely focuses on participating in something, so that his rationality and sensibility are combined with each other, accumulating into systematic experience, and at the same time very satisfied with the above experience process (Lin, Y. M., 2013). Therefore, this study argues that in addition to relying on the aesthetic curriculum, students must start from the mastery of basic beauty in life and pay attention to the true, good, and beautiful things around them. So, the student can cultivate their own ability to perceive, imagine, interpret, speculate, practice, and communicate in a subtle way.
In addition, community spaces are also very important. Through a good environment, let students deeply experience the relationship between art and life, which is one of the quick shortcuts to enhance aesthetics. For students in non-arts fields, courses in arts, humanities, and creativity can improve their artistic and humanistic literacy of these students. As for teaching resources, teachers can cooperate extensively with museums and cultural and creative industries (Huang, 2015).
Culture and beauty are inseparable, having aesthetic beliefs, values, and literacy are one of the necessary conditions for becoming a high-quality citizen, and including the values and beliefs of beauty in educational activities can make education have rich aesthetic colors and become a good aesthetic education (Lee, 2013).
2.2. The Mechanism and Mode of Art Dissemination of Museums
The museum has the following four functions: collection, research, exhibition, and education (Garcia, 2012; Tseng, 2010). Collection and research are the foundation of the museum’s sustainable development, and exhibits and education are the values and importance of its existence. Museums have inexhaustible cultural resources which supplement teaching (Kao, 2012). The museum has a variety of exhibition spaces, as well as a free and open learning environment. In other words, the museum is like a three-dimensional textbook: not only rich in resources, but it is also unique in its exploratory and inspirational model. Therefore, the completion of the museum can become an extension of the school’s teaching activities (Liao, 2004).
In order to convey and develop culture, the focus is on cultivating the audience of the cultural consumer market. Although most of those whimsical artworks are created by artists, if no one appreciates them, then effective communication and interaction cannot be achieved. In other words, even though the works were created by a small number of people, they were at the service of the general public (Chang, 2009).
A mode of communication between an artist, curator, and the audience is when the artist transforms his ideas from the inside into a creative mode, and expresses the work through the external form of aesthetics, and then the curator interprets it so that the audience knows how to appreciate the work (Lin, R., 2013). As far as communication theory is concerned, how artists express artistic creation processes in mood and situation is the process of the encoding, while how the audience understands the artwork can be called “decoded”, the artist as the transmitter, and the audience as the recipient (Barthes, 1967; Fiske, 2010; Gao, Yen, & Lin, 2017; Jakobson, 1987).
Goldman (2004) proposed that the evaluation of artworks requires a deep understanding of the communication between artists and readers, not only in a social context, but also in order to understand the emotional cognitive experience between creators and viewers. Many scholars have proposed different frameworks that combine the theory of “communication” with the theory of semantic cognition of “mental models” to explore issues related to art communication (Lin, Chen, Chen, & Lin, 2015; Lin, Hsieh, Sun, & Gao, 2016; Lin, Lin, Shiao, & Lin, 2009; Lin & Lee, 2015).
As far as the procedural school of communication theory is concerned, it is believed that successful communication needs to meet three levels, namely the technical level, the semantic level, and the effect level (Fiske, 2010; Jakobson, 1987; Craig, 1999). Specifically, the “technical level” requires the respondent to be able to perceive the artwork visually, so that he can fully experience the beauty of the image; the “semantic level” requires the subject to be able to perceive the artwork from the meaning, and then allows him to deeply experience the beauty of the image of the work; the “effect level” requires the subject to be able to comprehend the artwork seen and be able to take appropriate actions to effectively influence the expected behavior, and achieve the effect of the beauty of the mind.
These transmission mechanisms also apply to circumstances in this study (see Figure 1).
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Research Framework
According to the purpose of the study and the objective conditions, this research is mainly based on “action research” (Altrichter, Posch, & Somekh, 1993; Carter, 2002; Elliot, 1991). The process of action research is carried out through questionnaire surveys, observations, designs, creations, etc., and the information obtained corresponds to the purpose of the research and is implemented. In accordance with the requirements of the “Promotion of Aesthetic Education Curriculum” developed by the Ministry of Education, researchers explored the relationship between teaching and places of environmental art.
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Figure 1. The model of appreciation and dissemination of art. (Source: this study)
Figure 2 shows the structure of the authors’ further summarization based on the literature review, which will be used as a measurement criterion for subsequent case studies. Briefly, how students gain experience by admiring the paintings of famous artists and then apply this experience to their own creations.
3.2. Procedure
For students, aesthetic education can not only learn specific skills, but also a kind of literacy education and self-confidence. In the learning process, students gradually form the quality of beauty, and they can recognize the quality and beauty of things. That capacity also extends to their communication with the outside world. Through the experience gained in the study of art, students can observe the world with bright sunlight and wisdom. That’s why, from appreciation to creation, from experience to expression, students will take part in this class to understand, recognize and perceive beauty and art.
The author performed a lot of preparation work in the early stages, including communicating with the museum in order to ensure their support. Meanwhile, the author also discussed with the students and clarified their needs in detail. Lastly, based on his many years of experience in the field of art education, the author developed this course. To more effectively meet the research objective, this study divides the course into three stages, as illustrated in Table 1.
3.3. Overviews of the Case: Li Mei-Shu Memorial Gallery
The Li Mei-shu Memorial Gallery is located in Sanxia District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. The gallery is dedicated to Taiwanese painter, sculptor, and politician Mei-shu Li (1902-1983), the subjects of his paintings are depicted in a realist
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Figure 2. A framework for aesthetic education curriculum design practices. (Source: this study)
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Table 1. An executive plan for the aesthetic education curriculum.
Source: this study.
style and are primarily figures, landscapes, and still lifes (see Figure 3). He spent his whole life pursuing truth, benevolence, and beauty. An appendix can be found for detail introduction.
There is already very detailed information about the artist’s life (Chen, 2011; Chien, 2007; Chung, 2015; Hung, 2008; Lin, 2008; Lu, 2012; Wu, 2012), which will not be repeated in this article. It is worth mentioning that from 1947, He devoted his life’s energy to the reconstruction of the “Changfu Temple” (see Figure 4). He examined the work in the spirit of creating works of art, and the reconstructed “Changfu Temple” won the reputation as the “Temple of Oriental Art” (The Li Mei-shu Memorial Gallery, 2011). The use of Changfu Temple as an example, is primarily aimed at emphasizing the relationship between art and local culture.
From the perspective of local cultural assets, all aesthetic features deserve to be adequately protected and promoted through a variety of channels. Over the years, more and more museums have digitized their collections, making them accessible online at home. This is very beneficial for the dissemination of art. This is also in line with the motivation and goals of art education (Anderson,
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Figure 4. The Changfu Temple, Sanxia District, New Taipei, Taiwan (Source: Sanxia Qingshui Zushi Temple, 2022). A temple is one of the best places for people to learn about a country or region. Maybe everyone’s beliefs are different, but when you walk into the temple, you are often infected by the atmosphere here. At the same time, the art form of the temple can also provide a lot of inspiration for artistic creation.
2003; Chen, 2017; Frank, 1960; Siegesmund, 1998). Therefore, through the visits and experience activities designed by the author, in addition to letting students understand the artist’s creative style and skills, it is more important for them to understand that art cannot exist independently, and must be integrated with local culture.
4. Results: The Process for Implementing Courses and Feedback from Students
This chapter will present the activities of the three stages one by one, summarize the feedback and reflection of the students, and extract their views and gains on the course. It will help us finalize the design and implementation of these courses.
4.1. Stage I: Visit the Online Museum: Admire the Classic Paintings
In the first stage of the course, students become familiar with Li Mei-shu’s life and paintings through the online museum, and further grasp the themes he is good at creating, his style of expression, and its relationship with social development. The online museum showcases a total of 44 classic paintings.
To enjoy art, like learning other things, it is necessary to master the proper methods. For students, if they want to grasp the essence of art, they must not only look at the surface of these artworks, but also understand the method of “appreciation”. In short, we need to accumulate personal “artistic experience” in the process of appreciating the paintings, and find out the meaning and value behind them through an appropriate entry point. Interestingly, each of the models in Li’s paintings is his family, friends, and neighbors, which fully demonstrates the closeness between his creation and family feelings. For students, how to feel the connotation that Mr. Li wants to convey through these paintings is the communication theory mentioned above that plays a role.
In fact, the distance between persons in modern society is steadily increasing, and the relationships between people have also become more indifferent. Obviously, this is not conducive to the harmonious development of society. This study argues that by viewing these paintings, students can feel the importance of family affection, which helps to provide a source of inspiration when they work on similar themes in the third phase of the course (see Figure 5).
4.2. Stage II: Visit the Physical Museum: Experience Classic Paintings
Museum education is included in social education according to the Law of Art Education Regulations. Some studies believe that when museums enter the stage of vigorous development, if they can be used as a connection point between schools and art education in society, integrating different resources will help to open up domestic art education into a stage of diversified development (Liao, 2004). If it is said that an artistic and cultural asset with “local characteristics” is an object, how to let everyone know that it is a good object is extremely important. Thus, this study aims at promoting aesthetic principles in daily life through the course of aesthetic education. It is everyone’s responsibility to promote the rich history and cultural traditions of their home town.
As time evolved, the level of education and public demand continued to improve, and the museum’s marketing function received increasing attention (Lai, 2010). The author invited Mr. Li Jing-Wen, the third son of Li Mei-Shu, to serve as the guide’s narrator. The guided tour lasts about two hours (see Figure 6). The content of the tour is very rich. Although this content can be viewed on the museum’s website, students can actually listen to the explanations of the painter’s descendants so that students can have more feelings.
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Figure 5. The flow of the art appreciation model in the first stage. (Source: this study)
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Figure 6. Students listen carefully to Mr. Jing-wen Li’s explanation. (Source: this study)
In fact, although the printing technology of the album is very mature, and the digital technology also allows the audience to see the paintings with very good resolution on the Internet, we still encourage people to go to museums or galleries to see works of art. This sense of presence is irreplaceable by any album.
The author asked the students to choose their favorite work, and the painting in Figure 7 was the most popular. Nowadays, the scene portrayed in this painting is hard to see. It shows the most rustic details of life. A lot of women came to the river to clean clothes. At the same time, they talk to each other like they forget the hard work of washing clothes.
And the painting in Figure 8 is the most curious for students. It is clear that the painter was influenced by the French painter Édouard Manet (1832-1883). Besides, Mr. Li, who had studied in Japan in his early years, integrates his understanding of the different cultures of the East and the West into his creations,
and this painting reflects his solid basic skills while retaining the style of the subtle. At the site of the visit, the students were also fortunate to see the original sketch of this painting. Thus, through this picture, they may well clarify how to transform the idea step by step into a concrete and vivid picture.
4.3. Stage III: Hand-Drawn Creations on the Theme of the Family Affection: Create Typical Paintings
Artistic creation, in short, is an artist based on his own understanding of art and long-term accumulated experience, and chooses a certain medium and language to express their own views on a certain subject in an artistic way.
For students from middle school, painting creation, not only helps to enhance their aesthetic taste, but more importantly, they can learn to express their ideas through artistic means, and get a sense of satisfaction and pleasure in the process. Through the first two stages of study, students initially acquire the skills required to view and interpret art paintings. Consequently, in the third step of the course, the author asks the students to complete the creation of paintings on the theme of “family affection”. Figure 9 again uses the aforementioned relevant theory to introduce the transformation process.
Students watch the painting online and form a preliminary impression; then, after listening to the narrator’s analysis on the spot and further viewing more information related to the painting, their feelings will be more three-dimensional and comprehensive. Now, the time is ripe for them to start creating.
To better guide students to participate in the creative process, the author has developed 3 steps:
● First, students were asked to look for pictures of themselves taking pictures with their families (see Figure 10). However, students could only find pictures of themselves with their families as children, and in adolescence, such pictures became very rare. Apparently, as students grew older, they became increasingly alienated from their families. The writer hopes once again to awaken their love for home and their family members.
● Subsequently, students were asked to use sketches to convert the photographs into sketches (see Figure 11). In this process, in addition to the teaching and training of the technique, the author asks the students to indicate the details of the photos of their choice. Because behind every photo there is a story, those stories are often full of family affection, but also full of memories.
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Figure 9. The transformation process from “Seeing the Classics” to “Creating the Classics”. (Source: this study)
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Figure 10. Warm photos: Full of family affection. (Source: student offers)
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Figure 11. Sketch manuscript. (Source: student offers)
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Figure 12. Create unique paintings: paintings by some students. (Source: student offers)
● Finally, the author asked the students to complete their creations based on their experience in appreciating classic paintings in the first 2 stages (see Figure 12). In fact, this study argues that at this final stage, the form of the final painting is no longer the most important. Hopefully, students will be able to increase their opportunities to interact with their families as part of this creative process. That painting becomes an opportunity, that it becomes a tool of communication. Moreover, the author hopes to enhance students’ self-confidence, so that they can better appreciate the charm of art.
4.4. Students’ Feedback and Reflection
Beauty is the expression of the sensory level; it is the fusion of sensibility and rationale. The highest level of aesthetic education should jump out of the anthropocentric point of view, point to the unity of heaven and earth, and elevate the beauty obtained by the external senses to the spiritual level, and the spiritual feeling is quite important.
Although the design of the curriculum and the selection of teaching materials can be based on past experience, they still need to keep pace with the times. Meanwhile, student feedback is also very important. Therefore, the researchers asked students to record their experiences in participating in this activity in a timely manner. This may not be complete enough, but it is very valuable first-hand information.
Because of space limitations, this section cannot enumerate all student feedback. After the author sorts it, we analyze the key elements in it, hopefully, these contents can inspire readers and other scholars. The main feedback from students is as follows:
● Students love that they can get out of the classroom and learn to draw in a different way than ever before. They believe that whether it is the old streets and temples in the local area, or the Li Mei-shu Memorial Gallery, the protagonist of this course, students are full of the importance of culture and history.
● Many of my classmates did not receive systematic training in drawing. As a result, the course itself is sufficient to awaken their interest. Judging from the students’ impressions after completing the painting, they enjoyed the creative process. However, some students feel that painting is difficult and are not particularly satisfied with their paintings.
Some students thought they still had some problems with their painting skills. We believe the skill of painting can be addressed by system training. However, as the students’ impressions of visiting museums and temples show, the expression of art can be very simple, but the essence and connotation of art are indeed the keys to the success of a work of art.
5. Conclusion and Suggestions
For children and teenagers, painting is often a representation of their experience of their surroundings. Controlling the way children use to express themselves at different stages, is the basis for us to understand their paintings, and it is also a shortcut to entering their inner world, so that we can better grasp what they think. In this activity, students have been able to clarify the relationship between artists and regional cultures through their experience in art venues. At the same time, students will learn to gradually move from “appreciation” to “creation”, experience the value of art in the visiting process, and cultivate the self-esteem of creation. Finding suitable materials from “Painting Creation Practice” is also a process of self-knowledge and re-exploration. By appreciating the artist’s creation, students can apply with flexibility the principles of beauty reflected in the artist’s paintings in the creative process. In summary, the conclusions of this study are as follows:
● Thanks to the design of this systematic curriculum, it is easier for teachers to guide students into aesthetic experience courses.
● Community art venues are excellent venues for the implementation of aesthetic education practices, and they contribute to the promotion of students’ aesthetic education.
● Through a systematic visiting experience, students can enhance their understanding of artworks, which in turn will cause them to reflect on artworks and themselves.
● Painting skills not only reinforce the students’ sense of beauty, but also reinforce their motivation and self-confidence.
As part of the follow-up research, this research will continue to conduct extensive research on artistic cognition and educational strategies. This will allow us to explore more teaching and experience models and make aesthetic courses smoother.
In addition, due to objective conditions, this study only uses the experience of the students in charge of the class as the data analyzed, and although these contents truly reflect the feelings of the participants, their general applicability should also be verified in the next stage of the study.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the students who contributed to this study. At the same time, the author wishes to thank the teachers who provided various suggestions for this article. Thanks to Li Mei-shu Memorial Gallery for their valuable assistance in implementing this research and for allowing us to use Mr. Li’s paintings.
Appendix: Introduction to Artist Li Mei-Shu
Li Mei-Shu (1902-1983) studied at Teacher Training Department Taiwan Governor-General’s National Language in the early days and grew interest in painting under the profound influence from western painting. His early painting, 1927 “Still Life” and 1928 “Street of Sanxia” entered the first and second Taiwan Exhibition. In 1928 he went to Tokyo and studied painting with three painting graduate institutes, namely Kawabata, Tongzhou-She and Hongo.
In the following year, he passed the admission examination of Tokyo Art School (former Tokyo University of the Arts) and studied from maters Koutarou Hara, Kobayashi Mango and Saburosuke Okada from the painting industry, solidifying his profound foundation for realism style later. In 1934, Li Mei-Shu co-established the “Taoyang Arts Association” with his friends Chen Cheng-Po, Yen Shui-Long, Yang San-Lang, Liao Ji-Chun, Chen Qing-Pan, Li Shi-Chiao, and Tetsuomi Tateishi. In 1935, “The Lady in Rest” won the first place in the 9th Taiwan Exhibition and was presented with “Taiwan Governor General’s Award.” In 1939, the “Girl in The Red Dress” was selected in the Third Japanese Ministry of Education’s Art Exhibition (previously known as Japanese Emperor Exhibition). His “Girl with Flowers” was selected in the Fourth Culture Exhibition (State founding of Japan) in 1940, where his position as outstanding Taiwan western artist was defined in history since then. In 1946, Li was appointed as the first Provincial Exhibition Review Committee member and his work “Sunday” participating in the exhibition was purchased by the Provincial Governor and given to President Chiang at the time. In 1948, large-scale paintings such as “Dusk” and “Field Trip” were regarded as the representative works of Li Mei-Shu.
By 1945 and after Taiwan Retrocession, Li not only involved in the local politics of Sanxia but was also recommended to host the reconstruction work of Changfuyen Qingshui Zushi Temple. From then on, the topics and styles of his painting approached rustic realism and exhibited his unique style and exceptionality. In 1962, he also served as the art professor and director for Chinese Culture University, National Art College and National Normal University. He advised students of sculpture department from National Art College to participate in the metal relief project of Sanxia Zushi Temple, projecting the professional techniques of academic school to the building practice of traditional temple, which was the first in the art education history of Taiwan. Professor Li’s contribution in promoting art education not only comprised standard education of the academy but also applied rigorous and splendid aesthetic quality in supervising many traditional wood and stone sculpture masters employed by Zushi Temple. These masters have built Zushi Temple into an “Oriental Art Palace” consisting carving boutiques and Zushi Temple became the classic masterpiece of modern temple building in Taiwan. In his late years, he was recommended by the Art Industry and selected as the Oil Painting Association Director, Art Association Director, Oil Painting Association Honorary Director, and may esteemed positions.