Nov 20th Session 6A

Presentation 1: Matters of Taste, Measures of Judgment: The McAdory Art Test, Mary Hafeli

This study examines Margaret McAdory Siceloff’s (1890-1978) pioneering work in the testing of aesthetic judgment.

In 1929, Margaret McAdory completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree at Teachers College Columbia University with a thesis project titled The Construction and Validation of the McAdory Art Test (MacAdory, 1929). The test was developed in the Division of Psychology, Institute of Educational Research and was designed to measure aesthetic judgment as a predictor of artistic aptitude. It was published that same year and was adopted by schools and universities as an admissions gate-keeping tool in visual art programs. The McAdory Art Test, along with the Meier-Seashore Art Judgment Test—developed at the University of Iowa and also published in 1929—grew out of the early years of psychological experimentation and testing and marked “the introduction of scientific procedure into a new field, namely, that of analysis and measurement of art talent” (Seashore, 1929).

Psychology departments and research institutes such as those at Teachers College and the University of Iowa produced tests of many kinds and enjoyed significant financial support during this time (both the McAdory Art Test and the Meier-Seashore Art Judgment Test were funded by the Carnegie Corporation). Scholars at the time noted both art judgment tests with interest in the leading scientific and psychology journals (Mendenhall, 1930; Seashore, 1929). But in the decades following their publication, questions arose about the validity of the tests.

For example, four years after the publication of her test, Margaret McAdory Siceloff and her colleagues at the Institute for Educational Research issued Validity and Standardization of the McAdory Art Test (Siceloff, Woodyard, et al., 1933), in which the authors reported that for 15 of the 72 test items (21%), a large number of teachers who implemented the test found fault with the scoring. Further, teachers who used the test with students from outside white, European-American cultures also reported validity problems (Steggarda, 1936; Steggarda & Macomber, 1938).

While art education scholars such as Clark (1987), Zimmerman (1987), and Zurmuehlen (1987), have examined and critiqued Norman Meier’s early work and his later tests of art judgment, there is no such close examination of Margaret McAdory Siceloff’s noteworthy work in the same area. I have begun such a study, drawing on primary documentation including all of the plates from the original McAdory Art Test, MacAdory’s dissertation, and the subsequent technical reports she and her colleagues issued. My goal in this study is to examine the test in light of the aesthetic trends and tastes of the period in which it was created and to describe the historical and cultural conditions that persist in the quest to quantify artistic thinking and practice.

A constantly shifting consensus of experts, tastes relative to time and sociocultural experience, and a seeming conflation of judgment (goodness) and taste (preference) both highlight the early challenges or art testing and continue to plague the quantification of artistic and aesthetic sensibilities today. It is with these considerations in mind that the study is framed.

Presentation 2: Greenwich Village as Incubator: The Creative Education of Angiola Churchill, Lori Kent

Traceable on a map to a few cobbled streets in lower Manhattan, there was an epicenter for the arts in mid 20th century America. It was a neighborhood with a long history of Bohemia, but in particular, Greenwich Village hosted a vibrant Modernist culture in flux. Abstract Expressionists, such as Hans Hoffman, opened their studio to lively discussions. Poets expressed change through novel and dissonant forms. Philosophers darkly argued existence and social inequities. The sound of improvisational jazz wafted into the night air as the soundtrack to expressive freedom and prosperity unknown to previous generations. Creative, unimpeded minds in close proximity were to form a vision of the arts that greatly influenced the methods of school arts education. This paper begins by setting context for arts education at this specific time and place.  It reveals history through the lens of Angiola Churchill (b. 1922).

The paper (and illustrated lecture) offers insight into the creative development of an exemplary arts education professor. Her story parallels the values of mid-century American arts education. Her atelier education in Greenwich Village fueled her passion for teaching school arts, fostering creativity, and helping students of all ages to see. Beginning at LaGuardia High School, she continued as either student or faculty at The Cooper Union, Moore College of Art, The School of Ethical Culture, New York University (Professor Emerita), Manhattanville College, and Teachers College. These institutions served as her laboratory.  Her mentors, such as MoMA’s Victor DiAmico, were innovators in the arts and museum education. Many former students, nurtured over a span of nearly 65 years years, became world-class critics, articulate artists, and influential arts administrators.

Despite regional influence and recognition in select venues, her story deserves further examination. The author’s objective is to document her philosophy, aesthetic development, values and influence. The research framework is Feminist and revisionist. (The subject had a staunch Feminist voice before Feminism was formalized and popularized.) Data collection methods for this paper include numerous interviews, review of personal archives and unpublished texts, and interpretations of creative work (visual arts, craft, scholarly writing, poetry) and student work.

This paper reveals a pioneering educator’s lifelong development – arts novice to mature practitioner. The author inventories her contributions to adolescent aesthetic education and research in visual artmaking through initiatives such as the NYU Studio Masters of Art program (Venice) and the innovative NYU Doctorate of Arts program (now defunct). In the presentation’s conclusion, implications for art teachers – new and experienced—are discussed. For instance: How can one shape pedagogical influence over a lifetime through participation in the creative pockets of our current physical and virtual worlds?

Presentation 3: Discovering Art Education History Through Place, Puppets, and Pedagogy, Christina Bain

This historical research focuses on teaching artist Nancy Renfro (1937-1993). The first part of this paper examines Nancy Renfro’s biography, focusing on her work as an author, puppeteer, entrepreneur, and teaching artist. Virtually no scholarship exists on Renfro’s work although she is arguably the most prolific American author on the subject of puppetry. During a twenty-one year span (1969-1990) Renfro authored/co-authored nineteen books on puppetry. In 1977 she founded Nancy Renfro Studios, a cottage industry that produced educational media centered on puppetry for children. Renfro also designed and marketed an extensive line of over 300 whimsical puppets, ranging in size from small finger puppets to full-sized body puppets. Finally, this historical research project unfolded through personal connections the author made to places that Renfro lived and to her teaching pedagogy. This paper illustrates how history can be thought of as a collective story in which we layer or weave our own experiences into an examination of the past.