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…

Creativity, content, and policy have multiple relationships. Creativity and disciplinary content are inextricably linked. In dealing with creativity, the first education policy choice is whether to recognize and act on that fact. Care is needed in using the term "creativity" in advocacy contexts, lest the relationship between creativity and…

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…

Embroidery is traditionally regarded as women's work and the teaching of embroidery as a means of preparing young women for domesticity, a view which has been reinforced by historians studying changes in the high school art curriculum that occurred with the introduction of the Wyndham Scheme in New South Wales in the early 1960s. This paper argues…

The purpose of this study was to investigate methods of enhancing kindergarteners' artistic creative thinking and expressive drawing through an activity that involved appreciation of picture books. The study was conducted in a public kindergarten in southern Taiwan, with 27 children aged between 4 and 5. The researcher conducted the study in 16…

Artist-in-residence programs frequently act as professional development initiatives for teachers. Little understanding of the relational nature of artist-teacher learning exists. In this article, we discuss "Learning Through The Arts"[TM], describing conflicting expectations as artists and teachers learn from each other, and explore the…

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…

Discusses the purpose, goals and ambitions of school art programs. (GB)

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…