Crystalline Awareness: A Suggestion for Arts Assessment

Thinking of individuals as crystals with many facets may capture the complexity of assessing the visual arts. An assessment, by its very nature, requires an interaction that is simultaneously personal and communal, and as Barrett (2002) points out, “tensions may arise between personal meaning and communal meaning” (p. 90).

Imagine people as crystals, constantly reflecting and refracting each moment and movement of the environment. As a translucent, faceted surface, the student-critic not only reflects upon himself, but upon environmental definitions. Constantly reacting, the crystalline reflections are projected onto the larger environmental reflective sphere, which is also in a constant state of evolution. How do critics with differing experiences and abilities approach the multidimensional complexity of visual arts assessment? (Dewey, 1934; Feldman 1970; Anderson, 1995; Barrett, 1988; Gardner, 1983, 1996; Hurwitz & Day, 1995). A thought is presented.

The assessment process is complicated and complex, challenging the individual’s abilities to communicate personal reflections. These are interpreted through communal projections on a multi-faceted and reciprocating environmental surface and multi-directionally communicated in many ways. As the student-critic acquires fluency in visual-social-cultural-historical literacy, a more sophisticated critical, analytical dialogue can be developed to discuss individual and communal experiences. Consider as well that the crystal-person is an organic and exquisite entity constantly reshaping and redefining itself by its reaction to the environment as mentioned by Congdon (1989), Freedman (1994), and Hicks (1994).

Each experience creates a facet; the more facets, the more the complexity and subtlety of the process emerges and can be excavated. It is within this realm that a symbiotic, reflective relationship is established between the individual, image, and environment. With many crystals in an environment, like a classroom, the more complex the reflections and more problematic the relationship of assessment is. Each reaction is reflected with geometric proportion, and it is these relationships that provide personal experiences that propel the student-critic beyond one facet, such as an emotional reaction. The assessment process, like Efland’s (1995) acquisition of knowledge, is a multi-dimensional, layered lattice framework. It is an involved process to communicate the individual’s reflections, which are interpreted through communal projections on multi-faceted and reciprocating environmental surfaces and possibly discussed in a manner similar to Dewey’s (1934) perception, inquiry, and interaction. The more experiential reflections collide, intersect, and overlap, the more sophisticated the understanding as suggested by Eisner’s (1994) connoisseurship.

It is within this labyrinth of reflection that an assessment process should be permitted to change. It is only through a flexible and responsive system that equitable assessment can be established, with the understanding that every circumstance is contextual and temporal. In assessment, there should be no prescribed point of entry or linear procedure. The individual should enter the assessment labyrinth holistically from any relevant portal. The point of entry is not as important as the multiple referential reflections. The process should reflect the elaborate nature of art assessment and allow flexibility to meet the needs of the image, person, and environment. It is in the potency of personal argumentative synthesis that the individual discerns, interacts, and concludes. It is through this complex metamorphosis with the assessment components that the individual may gain a comprehensive insight, which according to Trend (1992) becomes a currency that can be accumulated and exchanged.

The process should allow the individual to form conclusions by approaching assessment through a critical/academic approach, but as well, an appropriate convergence may start with a social/environmental consideration such as an idea or symbol where intuitive understanding is germane. In this manner, the image and the individual direct the interactions that are meaningful and relevant. It is through this intricate and changing interaction that the individual gains a comprehensive insight.

Since the socio-cultural-personal sphere of perception is evolving, a summative assessment is temporary and tentative, and the initial judgment may become formative; additional assessments may provide even more summative evaluations. The importance of the cyclical process is that it is responsive to time and circumstance to allow for judgments to be changed...