Nominee Threshold Award Social Practices
Meet Alex Wijker! Alex was nominated for the 2021 Threshold Award Social Practices with their graduation project ‘Juf, mijn tekening is verpest’ (Teacher, my drawing is ruined). In this interview, Alex tells us about their work and future plans.
Can you tell us a bit about your graduation project and how it came about?
My graduation project is about how I can help my students to focus on the process of making art rather than only focusing on the outcome. When I started interning at the Imelda School, a primary school in Rotterdam Noord, I noticed that a lot of children felt incapable of making art. They were so focused on creating something beautiful and realistic, which put a lot of pressure on them. So instead of purely teaching them the skills to become great at drawing or painting, I decided I wanted to do something to change their mindset.
So I took the group on a journey through ‘ugly art’. We explored questions such as ‘what does it mean to call something beautiful?’, ‘what does it mean to call something ugly?’, ‘if you know the story behind the artwork, does it change what you see?’ Based on the conversations we had, we came up with a set of criteria that make something qualify as ‘ugly art’. Just doing something without thinking about it—that is ugly. Or to use ugly colours or painting ugly or gross things like fungus or insects—that is ugly too. And then they had to make ugly art themselves.
At first I saw the pupils were struggling a little bit. But after a while, they started to accept it and started experimenting. By doing so, I wanted them to experience that the process of making art consists of different layers: sketching, experimenting, trying new things, making decisions, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes. I really wanted them to know that it is okay to make a mistake, as long as you do not stop and try to see it as one possible outcome out of many. Better luck next time!
Which themes or societal concerns are you addressing in your work, and how?
While doing research for my project, I came across Jean Marie Molina’s TEDx Talk called ‘Teachings of Tough Love’. In this lecture, she explains that we live in a ‘trophy generation’ in which failure must be avoided at all costs. According to Molina, this leads to the avoidance of failure and fear of losing face and being seen as a loser. I see this anxiety in my pupils too. They are very afraid to make mistakes and try to avoid them at all costs. So as an art teacher, you suddenly need to put up with a group of children that do not want to try or learn anything new because they are too afraid to make mistakes. The classroom becomes a scary place instead of a nurturing learning environment. Another thing I noticed is that education seems to focus mainly on factual ‘book’ knowledge. But art is about experimenting, testing ideas and learning from mistakes. Learning to welcome failure as a way of learning is, I think, extremely important to address, especially in art education.
What will you be working on in the near future? What are your next steps?
I recently started working as an art teacher at a primary school in Rotterdam. Up until this school year, the school did not offer art education yet. So they did not have any ideas about what art could mean for the pupils, which makes this a very fun challenge for me. It is a great opportunity for me to incorporate the things I have learned over the past four years. The main takeaway from my graduation project is that teaching ‘ugly art’ can be such an eye-opener for pupils and help them welcome mistakes. That is something very important in my teaching practice.
To read more about Alex’s work, pay a visit to their Graduation Catalogue Page or listen to their Podcast. Furthermore, their journey can be followed on Instagram. The winners of the Threshold Award Social Practices will be announced during a festive ceremony as part of the Graduation Show. Keep an eye on our Graduation Show page for more information.
