This article presents an educational approach that merges ideas of critical pedagogy with those of visual culture. According to this approach -- termed "visual critical pedagogy" -- art is an integral part of the textures of society and culture and their manifold and complex visual expressions, including the more controversial and subversive among them. It objects to locking art and visual culture in art departments, and to restricting art history to a formalist analysis of 'masterpieces' -- which represent primarily the Western art market and its underlying politics. It likewise rejects the conception of art history as the history of artists and art movements -- a conservative approach still prevalent in many academic institutions. Integrating critical pedagogy with visual culture provides fertile ground for an educational practice within art classes and beyond them. Visual critical pedagogy is formulated using the concepts "exposure," "deciphering," "representation" and "visibility," shared by both critical pedagogy and visual culture. These are discussed in the context of educational projects and activities planned and implemented by Jewish and Arab students enrolled in an education-through-art program in an academic college in northern Israel.