Response to Tavin’s “The Magical Quality of Aesthetics”

Abstract

In this commentary, I argue that Kevin Tavin’s (2008) use of Lacan’s objet a in his Studies in Art Education commentary “The Magical Quality of Aesthetics” is not a helpful analogy or solution for art education’s search for the role of aesthetics. I offer that a pragmatist and dialogic viewpoint may be more useful and, because it describes the phenomenological experience of meaning and value, I also suggest it as a way of viewing aesthetics itself. This argument is supported with two examples: the covering of the Guernica tapestry at the United Nations during Colin Powell’s presentation in 2003, and Darryl McDaniels’ (co-founder of Run-D.M.C.) experience with Sara McLachlan’s song “In the Arms of an Angel.”