Two earlier holocultural studies showed that institutionalized artistic traditions with societies worldwide are complex to the degree that parents are rejecting toward their children. The present intracultural study within the U.S., however, indicated that preference for complex works of art is associated with parental warmth and acceptance.…

Discusses murals done by Egyptian children. Differences in the drawing styles of American and Egyptian children are discussed. The author states that the significance of the wall drawings is that they represent a rich social setting in which children learn to produce art. (AM)

Describes how teaching secondary art students to perceive negative shape improved their drawings of a bicycle, a visually complex mechanical structure. Concentrating on negative shape forces students to work with the relationships between shapes and their relative sizes. (AM)

Analyzes visual materials lending themselves to reproduction on microfiche according to four different types of projects presently available, and makes suggestions for future micropublication projects. (Author)

Responds to Fredric Jameson's 1987 article "Reading without Interpretation: Postmodernism and the Videotext." Argues that video art encourages self-analysis and allows for a critical examination of culture and that video art is polemical in that it creates strategies whereby the viewers are disoriented and required to think about their…

Considers why James Magee has converted the titles (more particularly, poemlike utterances) of plastic works of art to an oral/communication medium. Discusses Magee's titles as they dissolve the frame, and hence its conventional significance as a marker of apprehensibility. (RS)

Concludes a three-part series on writing and the visual arts. Turns to the character of montage construction, pointing to examples in a wide range of media and offering ideas for introducing montage methods into the writing classroom. (MG)

In this article, the author states that the aim of drawing closer to nature is to employ the artistic processes to draw our selves--mind, body, and spirit--closer to nature. When so repositioned, our thoughts and behaviors--artistic and otherwise take on depth, grace, and richness of expression--just what we want for our life and our art. Sections…

In this response to Arthur Efland's article, "The Entwined Nature of the Aesthetic: A Discourse of Visual Culture" ("Studies in Art Education," 2004, 45(3), 234-251), the author acknowledges that Efland's attempt to find a middle ground between two rival versions of art education--aesthetic education and visual culture--is both welcome and needed.…

State standards, benchmarks, or frameworks have become a way of life for most art teachers. When they write lesson plans, they look over their state's visual art standards and insert a couple that seem to fit that lesson. The National Art Education Standards were developed and adopted in the early 1990s in response to mandates for educational…

The Blue Man Group began in 1988 when friends Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, and Chris Wink all living in New York--voiced their increasing disgruntlement and boredom with urban life. With a gut feeling that creativity and a tribal-like community could prosper in their metropolitan environment, the friends decided to confront the issues rather than…

Constructivist theories of learning and recent research into aesthetic experience suggest that most people actually benefit by instruction in various means of engagement with art, and that engagement is most fulfilling when it actively challenges, builds on, and extends the knowledge, aptitudes, and abilities of the museum visitor. This in turn…

In this issue of the Research Review, the author focuses on the importance of developing learning environments emphasizing the Arts. First, the author reviews a study concerning professional development and "artist-teachers", which is of particular interest since most readers of this journal are involved in various educational…

In this article, the authors describe the outcomes of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course that offered a pedagogical innovation called "Imagination Quest." This CPD course was a part of a 2-year project entitled Teaching to Reach Potential. Participants were all from Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools' (MCPS')…