Contends that picture books can be valuable resources for teaching art appreciation and criticism. Provides suggested activities keyed to specific books. Includes a bibliography of recommended picture books selected for this approach. (CFR)

Describes how a teacher can motivate students to be creative by dressing up, performing for them, hiding things, and designing visual experiments. Advocates that art teachers demonstrate that art class is a playful and exciting place to be. Suggests methods to encourage teachers and students to perform. (KM)

Examines how current education reform reports reflect arts and humanities education. Maintains that the reports are marginalizing the arts and are advocating a back-to-basics approach. Points out that National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) tried to overcome this trend by introducing "basic arts education." (KM)

Investigates the relationship between contemporary art and public art education during the 1960s in Quebec, within the theoretical perspective of the social history of art. Analyzes the consolidation of modernism and the importance of the societal debate on education that questions the place and the role of art in society. (KM)

Argues that social change can be evidenced in the absence of an image. Discusses how murals painted by children 50 years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki do not depict "the bomb," but it pervades the murals nonetheless. Shows that viewers draw unintended analogies between the images and the bombings. (DSK)

Asks how art should be taught in the postmodern world. Argues that art education must change in two ways: (1) discussions of fine art must focus on the meaning of postmodern art and concepts; and (2) incorporating postmodern concepts to address the broad range of visual culture encountered by students. (DSK)

Examines Duxberry Park Arts IMPACT (Interdisciplinary Model Program in the Arts for Children and Teachers) Alternative School (Columbus, Ohio) that includes the arts in all aspects of the traditional curriculum. Discusses the IMPACT model, Duxberry's interdisciplinary approach, the factors that contribute to the school's success, and the…

Describes an art lesson for fifth- and sixth-grade students where they learn about the cold colors on the color wheel and apply that knowledge as they create a picture of a snowstorm. Explains that the students depict a snowstorm by layering the colors and drawings of snowflakes to make a three-dimensional effect. (CMK)

Describes a self-portrait assignment inspired by the work of Frida Kahlo. Discusses Frida Kahlo's artwork and use of surrealist and symbolist views. States that each student had to incorporate personal symbolism in the portrait to convey a message about him or herself in a subtle manner. (CMK)

Provides an overview of research in the subjects of visual arts, music, dance, and drama education as presented in scholarly journals. Reviews three publications in arts education: (1) "Schools, Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium"; (2) "Eloquent Evidence: Arts at the Core of Learning"; and (3) "Priorities for Arts Education…

Addresses the National Art Education Association's (NAEA) visual arts research agenda focusing on the creation of the NAEA Task Forces. Describes the leadership style undertaken in the task forces and offers summaries of seven of the eight NAEA task forces' activities and accomplishments. Discusses other NAEA research initiatives and…

The use of technology is integral to learning at the Minnesota State Arts High School (Golden Valley, Minnesota), an arts-integrated school where students focus on dance, literary arts, media arts, music, theater, and visual arts. This article discusses technology use in the arts curriculum and in the learning resource center. (PEN)

Relates an art project for seventh-grade students that uses the creation of museum bags to study portraiture and the painting styles of famous artists. Explains how students made a bag with a portrait of the artist on one side and a painting by that artist on the other. (DSK)

Discusses the Surrealist art movement, focusing on creative variations characteristic of Surrealism. Describes the process for a Surrealist portrait lesson, stemming from Rembrandt's "Saskia as Flora," in which students use the technique of oil pastel over a dark tempera-painted ground. (CMK)

Discusses a unit on the discovery of the senses that integrates art and science. Students create pictures of a "smell" using the crayon-resist process. Explains that during the second day, students "smell" their peers' paintings to determine what aroma is being depicted. (CMK)