Ethics and the Arts

This program encourages ethical dialogue and reflection around ethical questions that arise organically when interacting with art.

The mission of the Ethics in the Arts program is to explore ethical issues in the arts, through art making and art viewing. Through hearing from visiting artists and exploring art through dynamic activities, participants engage in meaningful exploration of fundamental concepts that enrich their understanding of themselves, the world, and their relationships with others.

The Ethics and the Arts program supports participants as they broaden their awareness of ethical issues and use their unique voice to explore ideas through art and dialogue. Some questions that often arise are:

Identity: What role does a person’s identity have in their art and our viewing of their art?
Risk-Taking: What does taking risks look like for artists, and when does this cross an ethical line?
Responsibility: What obligation, if any, do artists have to others, like their subjects, viewers, and the general public? How should we engage with an artwork? Can there be plagiarism within art?
Intention vs. Impact: How should we navigate tensions between the impact of the art and intention of the artist? What should we do when an artwork is offensive or harmful?

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The Ethics & Art Summer Program invites rising 7-12 grade students from throughout New Jersey to engage in a creative and innovative summer experience that will teach the foundations of ethics and ethical thinking through hands-on art making guided by professional artists and trained ethicists.

This year's theme is public vs. private art. We will explore the ethical issues that arise when an artist creates art for oneself, a broad audience vs specific audience, and commissioned work. Visiting speakers will share ethical dilemmas they have experienced as artists, including as street artists and muralists. We will go on a field trip to Philadelphia for a walking and learning tour through the Mural Arts Project of Philly. Our visiting artist this year will be a local muralist who will work with participants to design and paint a mural on campus. Lunch will be catered each day.

PROGRAM DETAILS

Students will engage in a two-hour (optional) meeting with the mural artist in April or May to develop ideas for the mural project
During the July program, students will work with the mural artist to paint the mural on campus, working in small groups of 3-4 at a time.
On Wednesday during our July program, participants will go on a field trip to the Mural Arts Project in Philadelphia
Throughout the program, visiting speakers will present ethical dilemmas raised by public art for participants to discuss
Participants will engage in additional art projects and activities to explore the ethical dimensions of public vs private art
Participants will develop ethical thinking and dialogue skills through different interactive activities and dialogue circles

Meet the Facilitators and Guest Speakers

Ariel Sykes, Assistant Director of the Ethics Institute
Caren Frost Olmsted, Visiting Artist

Ariel Sykes, Assistant Director of the Ethics Institute

Ariel Sykes is the Ethics Institute's Assistant Director and is a skilled educator and teacher trainer with over 13 years of experience working in philosophy and education.

Ms. Sykes specializes in philosophy for children (P4C) and dialogic pedagogy, with a focus on ethics and service-learning. She serves on the boards of the Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO), the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum (SEAC), the National High School Ethics Bowl (NHSEB) and the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC).

Ms. Sykes is an endorsed practitioner of the IAPC (Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children), the world’s oldest organization devoted young people’s philosophical practice.

She holds a bachelor's in Philosophy of Education from Mount Holyoke College and an MA in Philosophy and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Caren Frost Olmsted, Visiting Artist

Caren Frost Olmsted is the owner and principal of CFO Design, which she founded in 2003. Her projects are wide and varied, and she loves it that way - large and small scale murals, corporate, educational, project management, and art direction. Specializing in collaborative mural projects, each day holds the promise of something different- new people, new art, new challenges. Olmsted’s works have appeared on national television and print media, as well as numerous galleries, schools, businesses and homes across the country. Olmsted holds a degree in Theater Design from Bates College, and a degree in Art Education from Appalachian State University, and holds a New Jersey State Teaching Certificate. Prior to CFO Design, she worked for several years in professional theater as a Set and Lighting Designer, and four years as an Art Educator.

Olmsted is a member of, and teaches through Morris Arts and The Center for Contemporary Art. She is the founding co-chair of ARTsee Open Studio Tour, and served as the Cultural Arts Chair on for the Parks and Recreation Committee of Bernards Township. Her studio is in Basking Ridge, New Jersey where she lives with her husband and two sons (whom Olmsted considers her most spectacular creations).

PROGRAM INFORMATION

DATES: Ethics in the Arts took place in Summer 2023. Stay tuned for 2024 programming.

WHO: The program is open to rising 7-12th grade students and open to KPS and non-KPS students. This program is coed, and capped at 32 participants total.

Students who participated in past summer ethics and art programs are invited to attend, as each summer offering is uniquely different.

Participants who enroll are asked to commit to the full program.