Modern Art Now.  A call to fellow art educators that we let the renaissance and classical art history wait.  I mean, for real, You get the jist of it from pop culture. 

This is a call to be teaching modern art as modern art has never been taught before. Teach it as though our futures depend on it.  Modern Art is created with purpose, intention and has value beyond the pigment, clay, welding, glue or pixels that we see.  Dig deeper, ask questions and learn their stories.  

Modern art is here to teach us all the good stuff.  Modern art is here to teach us curiosity.  How to challenge what is at first perceived and to question what we come across.  Modern art is here to guide us in looking for visual clues to understand symbolism and how to better snuff out propaganda.  Modern art is here to teach us the value of culture and the stories that different cultures have to share.  That they have to share to help us grow from mistakes and to celebrate and incorporate the many different ways of success.  Modern art is here to spread the love, to help heal wounds and allow us to grow with understanding the value of different perspectives.  

Teaching modern art will give students the tools to understand and sort information they consume.  Modern art will teach us to find trustworthy news sources and people to look up to and hold them accountable.  Modern art teaches us to look beyond the art and to know the story surrounding it. Modern art takes us deeper than the surface level to ask ourselves; how am I a part of this story?

Modern art is the pulse on what’s happening in society.   Modern art maintains our moral compass.  Modern art keeps us honest.  Modern art helps us dream and create the world in which we want to live in.  Modern art is our breathe and it is what we come back to for calm when we are struggling.  Modern art is the heartbeat that documents, challenges, celebrates and supports who we are as humans.