Describes the first assignment for an intermediate oil painting class in which the students painted the human figure. Explains that the assignment involved three techniques: (1) abstract application of acrylic paint; (2) oil "Paintstiks" from Shiva; and (3) a final layer of actual oil paint. (CMK)

Focuses on the traveling exhibition from the Musee de Picardie in Amiens, France, called "From the Sun King to the Royal Twilight: Painting in Eighteenth Century France," that provides an overview of French paintings from the reign of Louis IV to the fall of the monarchy. (CMK)

Describes an activity for first-grade students in which they learn about cave paintings and become spelunkers, or people who explore caves as a hobby, making their own paper head-lanterns. Explains that students draw animals on the walls of their "cave" (a dark hallway lined with brown kraft paper). (CMK)

Describes an art project using crayon resist that emphasizes both line and color, focusing on images of the fall season and rural community. Discusses how to create the pictures. Includes ideas for activities for working with older students and mainstreamed students. (CMK)

Words are only one way of symbolizing ideas. Numbers, pictures, graphs, maps, diagrams, photographs, and other means are also used to convey information. Researchers refer to notational systems such as graphs, diagrams, and maps as "inscriptions." Inscriptions are tools that help people to perceive and to talk about spatial worlds. Spatial…

Professional development through the advanced planning of themed exhibitions provides art instructors in Howard County the impetus for many art problems. This art problem, centered on the art and writing contained in the storybooks of Holly Hobbie. In late summer, the art teaching staff of the Howard County Public School System gathered at the…

In response to a challenge by a school administrator for "some sort of mural" in the high school where she teaches art, the author of this article created a course called Art for Public Places. She wanted to create a course that would promote a sense of community among students in the class and ownership in their school environment. Also, she…

Among art education theorists and writers, university faculty, graduate and some undergraduate students, notions of visual culture are being advocated, played with, and adopted as theoretical frames for preservice and graduate art education programs. In this paper, the author addresses the gap between theory and policy, examines possible responses…

This paper examines the onto-epistemic status and understanding of contemporary material culture and of visual art, particularly in the context of gallery education. It does so through a case study of the response of 15 year-old school students in the Czech Republic and in England to a recent photographic exhibition, I.N.R.I., created by artists…

The lesson described in this article provides a wonderful opportunity for fourth graders to integrate reading and writing into a visual art experience. After an exploration of books, students create an artist's book that uses language as respiration. Through this lesson, students explore and understand prospective content for works of art.

In this article, the author suggests that visual culture is so much a part of students' lives that it is difficult to ignore. In the art class educators can effectively model democratic concepts, processes, and behaviors, and help students make sense of their world. The arts can heighten perception and critical thinking and help students develop…

Puppetry captures the imagination and interest of young students. Stories are told and retold to children through pictures, puppets, stuffed animals, toys, dolls, gestures, dramatic voices, and theatrical effects. Many of the stories involve some moral decision or event, such as fairy tales in which the characters "live happily ever after" after…

An individual's concept of disability depends upon one's experience, based on personal, physical, mental, and emotional knowledge (Linton, 1998; Wendell, 1996). The United Nations (United Nations, 2005) defines disability as any restriction or deficiency of ability to perform within the range of what is considered normal for an individual. A…

Ruth Faison Shaw was an art educator who developed a nontraditional educational perspective of teaching and a different vision about children's art. As such, she is considered by some to be the initiator of finger-painting in America (The History of Art Education Timeline 1930-1939, 2002.) Shaw developed the technique of finger-painting and a…

In this article, the author describes murals as visual storytelling. In times before most people could read or write, pictures were used to tell stories and to teach people. Visual storytelling is most often seen in the form of drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, quilts, stained-glass windows, and murals. The concept of visual storytelling…