Rethinking the Spiritual Dimension of Art Education: Exploring a Quaker Alternative Setting

Abstract

In support of the premise regarding rethinking the spiritual dimension of art education, this qualitative study explored Scattergood Quaker high school at West Branch, Iowa, over a two-year period, 1998 to 2000. The main focus of the thesis addressed the following questions surrounding alternative settings as they hold to spirituality: Are alternative settings no more than vanishing remainders of the pre-modern world, or do they hold to some seeds that belong to the future? Do the secular worldview and the spiritual worldview walk on parallel lines, or is there a possibility for converging through dialogue that brings about synergy and interdependence? The participants were administrators, teachers, students, and former students of Scattergood Friends School. They revealed their stories and experiences that brought them to this particular setting. In-depth interviews, field observations, note-taking, and historical overview was employed for exploring the spiritual inclinations that underpinned the participants' election of that setting. The art program was also explored within the context of the Quaker faith and the Quaker experience---its history, philosophy of education, and spiritual orientation in relation to mainstream education. The study was an attempt to claim the art program as a spiritual program, and suggests the art area as a place for reintroducing spirituality to schools.