Five Ways to

Integrate:

Using
Strategies from
Contemporary Art

his article is for art teachers of all

levels who want to teach through
art and about art. The purpose of this
article is twofold. It provides evidence that
integration is a significant, lively and authentic
art practice today and, therefore, studying
about art and integrating it are compatible. It
also offers teachers and students in elementary, middle and high school some concrete
and doable art-based ways to connect art
with the academic curriculum.

B y J u l ia M a r s h a l l
Figure 1. Cornelia Hesse-Honegger, Scorpion Fly (1988). Courtesy of the artist.

Integration and Contemporary Art

Integration makes sense. Many educators agree that making
connections across disciplinesthe natural sciences, social
sciences, language arts, mathematics and the humanities
enhances learning and understanding of significant ideas (Clark,
1997; Fogarty, 1991; Jacobs, 1989). Art educators have also
embraced integration as a way to explore concepts from all areas
of inquiry through art and to connect art to real life issues and
ideas (Krug & Cohen-Evron, 2000; Parsons, 2004; Stokrocki,
2005). Furthermore, there are exemplary concept-based models of
art integration espoused by Taylor, Carpenter, Ballengee-Morris
and Sessions (2006) and The Ohio State Transforming Education
Through the Arts Challenge (TETAC) Mentors (2002) now
available to art teachers. Common to all approaches to integration, in general education and in art education, is a focus on key
ideasideas that transcend disciplinary boundaries (Parsons,
2004; Stokrocki, 2005; Taylor, et al., 2006; The Ohio State TETAC
Mentors, 2002).
Although integration is an accepted practice by many in art
education, some questions remain. Could a focus on key ideas
and the content of academic disciplines eclipse the study of art
as a discipline? How do we reconcile integration with our goal
of teaching about art? First, we need to understand that art is
inherently connected to all disciplines; it addresses content and

May 2010 / Art Education

13

Figure 2. Packard Jennings and Steve Lambert (2008) Wish You Were Here: Postcards From Our
Awesome Future. Courtesy of the artists and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.

Figure 3. Alexis Rockman (1999) Rat Evolution. Courtesy of the artist.

14

Art Education / May 2010

ideas from outside of art, including the ideas

and information associated with academic
disciplines (Parsons, 2004). Also, art is a form of
inquiry with some processes and goals that are
similar to those of other areas of study (Sullivan,
2005). This commonality between content and
methods in art and other disciplines has always
been true, but it is particularly evident in integrative contemporary art. Current conceptuallybased art blurs disciplinary boundaries with
its methods and content while simultaneously
emphasizing a research component and drawing
attention to disciplinary practices outside of art.
Contemporary integrative art is, therefore, key
to reconciling curricular integration and the
study of art. It not only supports the notion that
an integrated study of big ideas and interdisciplinary content are intrinsic to art practice, but
also offers models for practicing integrative art.
This article presents five current art
models based on five conceptual strategies or
approaches contemporary artists develop to
manipulate ideas and imagery to make meaning.
All these strategies involve interpretation, reinterpretation and/or re-contextualization; essentially, they are ways artists change perceptions of
things by re-framing them. While the strategies
discussed here are methods I have observed
and identified in integrative art, Gude (2004)
has also noted similar strategies in postmodern
art practice. This discussion, therefore, draws
upon Gudes (2004) postmodern principles, and
my previous examination of contemporary art
strategies (Marshall, 2007) to focus on artists
application of conceptual strategies to integration. This is art integration that explores arts
connections to the academic disciplines through
artistic interpretation of their content, ideas,
and practices.

Conceptual Strategies in
Contemporary Art
The strategies discussed here range from
direct illustration of subject matter to ways
that are more imaginative and radically
integrative. These tactics are direct and
visible in much contemporary integrative art.
They are, therefore, accessible to students.
Furthermore, their simplicity and directness are especially effective in constructing
complex and significant meanings. Evidence
of the depth of thought generated by these
strategies is apparent in the examples
presented here. Also, these strategies often
overlap; we can find them together in one
artwork. Some of these strategies may seem
quite similar. Making distinctions between
the strategies, however small, is valuable; it
helps to illuminate and clarify them. Due to
space restrictions, my examination is limited
to a few artists who integrate art with science
and cultural issues related to science. Artists
and their artworks are discussed according to
the strategies used.

One: Depiction
Perhaps the most common and easy way of integrating art with science or social studies
is depicting the subjects of that discipline. Depiction is essentially rendering a subject
from observation. It is appropriate and useful for all age groups, from preschool ateliers
of Reggio Emilia (Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 1998) to advanced art classes in high
school where skills in naturalistic drawing are often emphasized. Depiction can range from
activities such as: (a) drawing plants while studying botany, to (b) sculpting planets while
learning about the solar system, to (c) depicting costumes of different cultural groups, to
(d) illustrating a myth or story from one of those cultural groups.
Scientific illustration provides an excellent introduction for students to the idea of
depiction. This is because it is informational and its purpose is to record and convey
information clearly and legibly in visual form. However, scientific illustration also can be
aesthetic. Due to their conceptual and aesthetic qualities, scientific illustrations are inspiration for some integrative contemporary art (Kemp, 2000; Marshall, 2004).
Cornelia Hesse Honegger is one artist whose work falls into the category of depiction.
Indeed, Hesse-Honegger began her career as a scientific illustrator. However, HesseHoneggers work is more than depiction; it is illustration layered with meaning and it is
the implications or meaning that makes it art. In her austere watercolors, Hesse-Honegger
depicts with great clarity and detail insects she collects at nuclear test areas and accident
sights, and nuclear power plants. These paintings reveal physical malformations in these
insects that were caused by exposure to low level man made radiation (Hesse-Honegger,
2001). Hesse-Honeggers work, represented here by Scorpion Fly (1988) (Figure 1), is
particularly powerful because it retains the clarity and crispness of a scientific illustration while conveying a powerful message about the hazards of nuclear power. Her work

Figure 5. Mark Dion. On Tropical Nature (1991). Courtesy of the artist

and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York.

Figure 4. Anthony Aziz and Sammy Cucher (2001) Naturalia Plate VII-a;
described in Grets: Onomanometrics of the P-cycle. Courtesy of the artists.

May 2010 / Art Education

15

Figure 6. Mark Dion.

Tate Thames Dig
(1999) .Courtesy of
the artist and Tanya
Bonakdar Gallery,
New York.

provides an opportunity for discussing the

differences between illustration and art. An
artist such as Hesse-Honegger can introduce
students to the way some artists observe and
record the visible world; in recording what
they see, they can discover and reveal underlying concepts and patterns.

Two: Extension/Projection
Extension/projection entails speculation about possible outcomes, taking into
consideration the impact of a given idea.
This strategy is appropriate for all grade
levels because it is easy for students to grasp.
In a classroom, projection could be the
basis of activities such as: (a) exploring and
illustrating how organisms might evolve to
survive on a warmer planet, or (b) imagining
and depicting how an historical figure might
respond to the world today, or (c) envisioning new technologies that could solve
critical social and environmental issues in the
future.
Parker Jennings is one artist who uses
imaginative projection in ways that would
appeal to students. In a witty series of
posters titled Wish You Were Here! Postcards
from Our Awesome Future (2008) (Figure
2), Jennings collaborates with artist Steve
Lambert to illustrate a new vision of urban
living in San Francisco. The artists imagine
the old baseball stadium as a community
garden, the municipal railroad as a twirling
roller coaster and the entire city as a wildlife
refuge. With this childlike projection into a
playful, perfect future, Jennings and Lambert
comment on present circumstances in the
city while providing imaginative ideas for a
better way of life.
Another artist, Alexis Rockman, also
projects but he provides a less cheerful

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Art Education / May 2010

vision in his futuristic predictions. In his

Rat Evolution (1999) (Figure 3), Rockman
imagines rats of the future that are based
on his research into evolution and todays
environmental hazards. These are super rats
with big kangaroo legs and gigantic fangs that
have evolved to survive in a world devastated by human intervention and pollution.
Rockman is a painter who has mined this
theme in many of his artworks. His imagery
provides a good example of how an artist uses
scientific research and facts as a springboard
for his vision and social commentary. These
are fictions that are grounded in reality and it
is the combination of reality and fantasy that
gives them such power. Alexis Rockman also
teaches us that facts may be remarkable but
imaginative interpretation and vision makes
them all the more meaningful and compelling. From Rockmans example, students
come to understand the critical role that art
and fiction play in deepening our thinking
and moving us forward.

Three: Reformatting
When we see things in new contexts we
often understand them differently and find
new meaning in them (Lakoff & Johnson,
1980). Reformatting re-contextualizes a topic
by picturing it or mapping it in a new visual
format. It is an exceptionally evocative way
to re-contextualize a subject because visual
formats often are meaningful in themselves;
they are scopic regimes that signify ways of
knowing, organizing and interpreting reality
(Elkins, 1999). The re-contextualizing effect
of reformatting is amplified when the format
imposed is quite foreign to the subject. This
happens in integration when ideas, objects
or images from one discipline are presented
in the format of a different discipline.

Re-contextualization through reformatting is

a subtle and complex idea. It is, therefore, an
appropriate strategy for upper middle school
and high school.
In the classroom, reformatting could
involve using formats from the sciences to
describe subjects not usually associated with
them such as: (a) charting ones emotional
world as a geographical map, or (b) arranging
characters from popular culture like
specimens in a natural history exhibit, or (c)
illustrating ones life through a geological
cross-section of a landform with artifacts of
personal memories buried at different levels.
Going in the other direction, reformatting
content from science in forms associated
more with art or popular culture, students
could: (a) make postcards from a trip around
their brains or minds, or (b) portray cells or
organs as characters in a photo album, comic
book or formal portrait, or (c) use images
of these forms from biology as decorative
elements on ceramic bowls or plates. The
possibilities are endless and the effects can be
quite imaginative and revealing.
Antony Aziz and Sammy Cucher give us a
good model for reformatting. Their Naturalia
Series (2000-2001) is an example of reformatting using schematic or scientific illustration.
In one image from the series, Naturalia Plate
VII-a; described in Grets: Onomanometrics of
the P-cycle (2001) (Figure 4), a psychological
state is presented in the format of a detailed
set of biological illustrations, complete
with magnified anatomical details of an
amorphous living organism and maps and
diagrams of chemical reactions and processes
that take place in it. This illustration not
only employs scientific ways of imparting
information but also brings non-art visual

symbols and forms into art to shape the way

we think about intangible psychological
states.
Mark Dion gives us another idea. In his
many installations, which address and blur
the boundaries between art and anthropology, biology and archeology, Dion lays
out the specimens and artifacts he collects
in his research in a very direct, scientific
way; the component pieces are categorized,
lined up and labeled. Since these artworks
are not composed according to the principles
of design or to have pleasing or dynamic
arrangements as we see in conventional art
but are assembled according to the concepts,
rules, functions or systems associated with
science, they bring to art a fresh approach
to composition, display, and aesthetics. As
evident in Dions On Tropical Nature (1991)
(Figure 5), reformatting is a strategy for
integration that not only sheds new light
on the subject of the artwork but challenges
traditional notions of how art should be
made and how it must look.

Four: Mimicry
Perhaps the most radical strategy in
contemporary integrative art is mimicking
the methods and using the tools associated with other disciplines.1 Mimicking is
essentially a form of play-acting and can be
done at different levels of sophistication in
upper elementary, middle and high school. It
can take many forms, such as doing experiments or using research methods borrowed
from the social and natural sciences. For
example, students could: (a) mimic botanists by collecting and studying plants from
the local market and using tools from their
biology lab, dissect and study these plants for
a drawing or sculpture, or (b) practice the
methods of archeologists by digging up and
analyzing artifacts made by another class,
or (c) mimic anthropologists in studying
notions of cool in their school by interviewing and photographing their peers and,
using the data collected, create new ideal
cool clothes and accessories.
Mimicking as an art strategy stretches
conventional notions of art. To fully grasp
mimicry we need to look at examples. Once
again, Mark Dion supplies them. Dion
often mimics the methods of scientists in
his artwork. In doing so, he calls attention
to the research protocols and practices of
science while highlighting the artists role of
observer and commentator. For example, in

1999 Dion and a team of volunteers combed

the shores of the Thames River and recovered
artifacts as part of an artwork called the Tate
Thames Dig (1999) (Figure 6). The process of
cleaning, cataloguing and arranging artifacts
carried out by Dions crew of archeologists
in lab coats took place in a tent outside the
gallery and was a significant part of the
exhibit. Dions research is, of course, not real
scientific research but a form of performance
art. It is mimicry that casts light on the ways
science constructs knowledge and how art
can reveal the ways it does (Coles, 1999;
Renfrew, 1999).

Five: Metaphor
The concept of metaphor crosses disciplinary boundaries; we usually place it
in language arts but metaphors are also
conveyed visually. Metaphor is essentially the
description of one thing in terms of another.
It is, however, not a simple comparison in
which two linked entities are essentially the
same; in a metaphor entities have similarities and differences and there is a remote

connection. It is the differences between the

two that make a metaphor revealing and
generative (Black, 1981; Lakoff & Johnson,
1980). Integration presents a rich source
of subjects, ideas and images for metaphor
making. Indeed, taking an image or idea
from one discipline to describe concepts in
another can create very generative metaphors. This is true not only because the
connections in integration may be remote
but also because each discipline provides
a framework for understanding the world.
Therefore, a metaphor that arises from integration brings with it many associations and
implications.
Whether it is conveyed visually or verbally,
metaphor is a complex concept that is most
appropriate for high school. Explaining
metaphor calls for prototypes such as David
Wojnarowiczs Something From Sleep III
(1988) (Figure 7), which draws its imagery
from astronomy. In it, we see the silhouette
of a man peering into a microscope, the form
of his body filled with planets and galaxies
floating in deep black space. Here, human

Figure 7. David Wojnarowicz. Something From Sleep III (1988). Courtesy of the Estate of
David Wojnarowics and P.P.O.W, New York.

May 2010 / Art Education

17

consciousness and the universe converge;

the cosmos becomes a metaphor for our
inner lives. With the inclusion of a microscope, Wojnarowicz adds another insight. He
brings to mind how scientific tools shape and
expand our perceptions, and how they introduce us to things that inspire our metaphors
and shape our consciousness. The simple
superimposition of imagery in this work
generates deep insights and meanings. This is
the power of metaphor.
Francis Bakers Everyday Garden:
Interment 3 (2005) (Figure 8) is another
example of an artwork that is based on
an integrated visual metaphor; it takes
its concepts and form from nature and
gardening to construct a powerful metaphor
for culture. The artwork is an upside-down
tree with a root ball in the shape of a fist.
It is evident that the roots are not in their

natural state: they are not free to grow

normally. While the fist form may allude to
defiance, the roots are coerced. In fact, Baker
grew the roots in a plaster mold. To Baker,
this tortured tree is a metaphor for the way
human beings are oppressed and molded by
societal structures and values (Jones, 2007).
To generate integrative metaphors of their
own, students begin with familiar subjects,
such as their families, school or community.
Then they brainstorm and list characteristics
of their chosen subjects. In addressing family
and community, students are describing
social organizations. Therefore, to find associations that bridge disciplinary boundaries,
they can search for imagery in their science
textbooks or Google images from the natural
sciences that they think could describe their
subject. They then depict their topics using
the imagery they have chosen from their
research. For example, they could:
(a) depict their community as a
living cell, or (b) describe their
school as a complex molecule, or
(c) picture their family as a solar
system. In constructing these
metaphors, students can come to
understand social organizations
through the lens of an image of
natural science. This pairing could
generate fresh perspectives not
only on the subject portrayed but
also on the image used to describe
it.

Art Strategies and Learning

According to John Dewey (1991), real
learning requires the application of the skill
or information to be learned. Artmaking
adds an extra punch to Deweys notion of
learning as an active process of application.
In art making, learners not only apply information, they apply it imaginatively. They
make it visual and they connect it with their
own ideas and experience (Efland, 2002).
How do the five conceptual strategies
discussed here foster learning through the
application of knowledge?
The first art strategy, depiction, requires
the learner to observe something closely
and then reproduce the object. This builds
skills in observation, analysis and applying
what one sees. Also, reflection on the
rendering process can help students to see
how knowledge of a subject is heightened
through drawing or sculpting it; they can
come to understand how making visual
imagery is a way of learning. In projection,
strategy two, learners must analyze an idea
in order to take it from what it is now to
what it might be. This is an application that
requires understanding of the idea and its
implications. In strategy three, reformatting, learners see subjects differently in new
contexts, thus acquiring new understandings of those subjects. Students also come to
understand how visual imagery and formats
convey information differently. Strategy four,
mimicking the methods of practitioners,
allows learners to learn through experience,

Strategy

Learn Through

Learn About

Age Group

Depiction

Observe/Interpret

Learning
through imagemaking

All

Projection

Imagine/envision

The power of
fiction &
imagination

All

Mimicry

Copy/Perform

Various methods
of inquiry

All

How visual
formats convey
meaning

Middle & High

School

Reformatting Re-contextualize

Metaphor

How metaphor
Compare/describe generates
meaning

High School

Table 1. Phases in Creative Inquiry Process

Figure 8. Francis Baker. Everyday Garden: Interment 3 (2005).
Courtesy of the artist.

18

Art Education / May 2010

Re-contextualize

placing students in other peoples shoes. This gives

students a sense of the different ways knowledge is
constructed. Strategy five, making visual metaphors, helps learners to hone their perceptual and
analytical skills, and fosters symbolic thinking.
Practicing these skills can start early in the
elementary years with analogy making. This paves
the way for the more remote and complex connection making necessary for constructing metaphors
later in middle and high school.
The five integrative art strategies presented here
also make for good curricula. It is remarkable
how similar these strategies are to teaching and
learning methods teachers already employ. They,
therefore, reinforce the connection between the
processes of artmaking and the ways we learn.

Conclusion
The five strategies presented here offer significant contributions to contemporary art education.
First, they exemplify artmaking methods for an
art curriculum that emphasizes the concepts and
conceptual processes of art before the formal and
technical basics of art. The focus is first on the
conceptual strategies artists use to make meaning,
not on their style, materials or technique. This
aligns with Gudes (2004, 2007) principles for a
postmodern 21st-century art education. Second,
students can use these five strategies within
current concept-based models of art integration
to explore key trans-disciplinary ideas. Third,
using these strategies fosters an understanding
of art in the context of the academic disciplines;
art as a form of inquiry is emphasized and linked
with specific techniques for investigation and
interpretation. Above all, the strategies

reconcile integration with the study

of art. Providing ways to integrate
art that are based on contemporary
art practices and showing that art
and integration go hand in hand,
these strategies testify that learning
through the arts is compatible with
learning in the arts.
Julia Marshall is Professor of Art Education at
San Francisco State University, San Francisco,
California. E-mail: [email protected]

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(pp.25-33). London: Black Dog Press.
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Endnote
Mimicry bears some resemblance to reformatting, strategy four. It is also an
exercise in re-contextualization and the artworks often are in the formats of non-art
disciplines. Mimicry is differentiated from reformatting because it focuses on the
methods used by practitioners to create the artworks not on the forms those artworks
take. Although reformatting could be the result of mimicry, they do not necessarily go together; a reformat can be realized through traditional art methods and
mimicry can result in conventional looking artworks.

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