Describes the life of artist Vincent Van Gogh, focusing on his painting of his bedroom and noting how that painting can be used to introduce elementary students to perspective drawing and visual storytelling. The article explains how to understand the painting, highlighting Van Gogh's use of bright lighting, pairs and balance, straight lines,…

This article discusses how drawing closer to nature, two profoundly important and powerful qualities are experienced. First, the entire world takes on a new degree of poignancy, luminosity, preciousness, subtlety, mystery, and intimacy. Second, the author points out how we increasingly experience ourselves in just the same way: poignant, luminous,…

One art critic called it pure Despite the mixed reviews of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's temporary art installation in New York's Central Park, the public reaction to The Gates was largely positive.The Gates consisted of 7,500 orange PVC frames straddling the park's walkways that varied in widths from 5 1/2 feet to 18 feet. Eight-foot-long ripstop…

The present paper explores the connections between theory and research in language development and aesthetic education and their implications for early childhood classroom practice. The present paper posits that arts experiences make a unique and vital contribution to the child's development of language and literacy, as well as to the sense of…

Western cultures' conceptions about creativity emphasize originality and final products; Eastern cultures, skill and process. Does this cultural difference impact how creativity unfolds over the lifespan? To examine this, we investigated Japanese "ukiyo-e" printmaking (c. 1670-1865). Almost 2,000 illustrations of datable prints by 44…

This paper explores the contextual value of solitude in learning; in so doing, it attempts to suggest an alternative method of instruction that is based on aesthetics as the reciprocal relationship between emotions and intellect, and between action and contemplation. Such an aesthetic education or method seeks to guide the student towards the…

A walk down Main Street can be very much like a stroll through a museum gallery--visually rich, inviting unexpected choices, aesthetically rewarding. This article explores the concept of shop windows as visually ordered compositions, much like paintings and other art objects, and suggests some approaches to applying this concept in teaching a…

The arts, multimodality, and new literacies studies, each with its own distinct principles, together can redefine literacy and what constitutes being literate. To recognize the roles that each of these fields plays in literacy necessitates a cultural shift in reading, interpreting, creating, and responding to a range of multimedia messages. The…

This collaborative action research study of pedagogy examines an introductory high school visual arts curriculum that includes artworks pertinent to labor studies, and their impact on students' understanding of the power of art for social commentary. Urban students with multicultural backgrounds study social realism as an historical artistic…

The visual arts can be employed as a counseling vehicle for gifted, creative, and talented students. Color, image proportion, subject matter, and texture in student art facilitate assessment and guidance. Craft, drawing, painting, photography, printing, design, and sculpture activities which could help in this process are briefly described. (CB)

Illustrates the skill and inspiration of master art teacher, Frank Wachowiak, by presenting three lessons for children: "Fruits and Vegetables" or "Leaves" in crayon resist, "X-ray Trees" in crayon engraving and "Angels or Self-portraits" in tempera. Lessons emphasize the use of patterns and textures, as…

Maintains that one of the ongoing challenges of art education is to encourage the correct and effective use of terminology. Discusses expressionism, particularly in relation to landscape painting. Includes discussion of the background, techniques, and full-page color illustrations of four works by major expressionist painters. (CFR)