SchoolArts - January 2012

task and trying to fulfill that task.

After the chosen task is completed, the student writes a new task, puts it in the pool, and then takes another. The process repeats until the time is up. With each class, it’s different. There are always surprises.

For many teachers, this might sound like a nightmare, but contemporary art is about pushing boundaries. We test the limits in order to understand what is possible. If you understand how far you can go, you have something to play or experiment with. TASK encourages this conversation to begin.

TASK is an opportunity to communicate to anybody that it is possible to make something meaningful or beautiful from the mundane. Hopefully our students will remember their TASK experience for a long time, and maybe, just maybe, they will see life just a little bit differently.

backs of chairs, and on the door, welcoming students into the artroom.

Perhaps facilitating TASK is not for the faint of heart. It does not promote quiet learning. Messes are made. For example, we have been witness to students suddenly screaming, making a tail and asking the teacher to wear it, having impromptu dance parties on the table, painting whimsical mustaches on students and teachers, and assembling an army of paper airplanes.

Setting Ground Rules
To facilitate TASK, we set basic rules
such as, “Stay in the classroom,” “Par-
ticipate actively,” “Don’t write a task
you would not want to do yourself,”
and “Treat others with respect.” We
then set out an array of site-specific
props including sticky notes, tape,
string, markers, paper, and glue sticks.

Getting Started

To begin the process, the teacher writes simple tasks to get the performance going. For example, “Make a name tag for everyone in the class,” or “Write a poem on a piece of tape.” Each task goes in the “task pool,” and the performance starts with each student selecting a slip of paper with a

Hillsboro High School art teachers Cynthia Schubert and Kelda Van Patten participated in the Art21 Educators Initiative in 2010–2011. They had the opportunity to work directly with Oliver Herring, who facilitated TASK at a gallery in Midtown Manhattan.

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students initiate, define, and solve challenging visual arts problems independently using intellectual skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.