The main concern of this article is to introduce the concept of the authentic gesture as a vital, largely self-determined expression of the child and to make it fruitful for art education. Because of the assumed educational importance of the concept, some hints to other learning areas will also be given. This should be done from a historical and…

Art educators are concerned with exposing their students to contemporary art making practices. They aim to create fresh lessons that expand their understandings of art in today's world while highlighting the importance of imagination. With a personal interest in performance and street art (art forms that have gained popularity in recent years),…

In this Instructional Resource, Denmead and Brown consider how "Ruffneck Constructivists," an exhibition curated by Kara Walker at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA), University of Pennsylvania, can disturb and provoke young creatives and art education more broadly. For this exhibition, Walker draws on the figure that MC Lyte…

Animals have always been close to the heart of humankind. They appear in the earliest imagery as the very first subjects of art. Household pets are a fixture for many a family. This is true in art as well. In shifting the balance away from animals as pure symbols, the Impressionists identified them as members of the household. One of the most…

Is there beauty in the wall socket that people plug their appliances into daily? Can one find beauty in the grate covering the heat vent in his classroom? The author posed these very questions to her third-grade students. She had the students take a good look at the outlet cover (or plate) on the wall. After thinking and discussing the outlets,…

The author describes a project that she developed as a challenge for her students and ended up with some fantastic student paintings. The author told her group of reluctant art students they must first research on the Internet for old, junky cars. The older and more junky the cars, the better. Once a vehicle is selected, it is driven into Adobe…

Interactive art activities can empower children and adults to experience art as active participants rather than passive spectators. Fayetteville State University's Art Education program in North Carolina has established Panorama Kids, mural projects designed by kids and painted by community volunteers. As art students can attest, art is very much…

Beyond having value as an assessment tool, engagement with the arts in the K-12 classroom can offer aesthetic experiences that have the potential to transform the way students encounter the world, engaging the imagination in acts of perception that stir them to "wide-awakeness." Advocates for the arts in education call for a variety of…

The Laws of Life is an international essay contest and social and emotional learning (SEL) initiative that many school districts use to build students' SEL and related abilities. In the contest, students reflect on their identities--who they are, who they want to become, and what they want their lives to stand for--by writing about the main values…

This article proposes an approach to teaching and learning in the university arts sector that is able to accommodate and assess creative process alongside practice. In arguing thus, romanticized notions of "the spontaneous artist" are exposed to scrutiny, and the creative process itself is made subject to analysis. Notwithstanding its focus on the…

Does a drawing embody the form and focus of what the artist actually sees, or instead, is it only after seeing the finished drawing that the artist knows the true meaning of his or her visual experience? It is the knowledge of the visual experience that drives the representation of it. Knowledge of the visual experience is present in varying…

Examines the benefits of art education that go beyond art production to encompass an expansive view of art. Describes a kindergarten project called "Painting with Scissors" that implements this approach to art education. Through it, art became a way of knowing, understanding, and viewing the world; of constructing and expressing ideas;…

A graduate class on creativity at the University of Massachusetts was based on a European preschool program which fosters young children's learning, representation, and expression through exploration and mastery of many symbolic media. The class documented nature explorations, repeated experiences to delve deeper into them, and integrated the…

Considers both teacher-initiated and child-initiated strategies for enhancing young children's self-expression and creativity, based on the philosophy of the preschools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Discusses how the classroom can be modified to best support children's emerging creativity. (HTH)