An important problem for high school art teachers is deciding what belongs in the art curriculum. What works of art, media, or ideas will inspire their students to more fully develop their own artistic potential and critically engage with contemporary art and culture? What artifacts of art, visual culture, or material culture should be included…

Research on learning in the visual arts suggests that art education must be situated in compelling personal contexts if it is to succeed in creating new ways of thinking, knowing, and representing. The personal context always has cultural dimensions. This article describes a visual art curriculum that embraces the personal context of place in a…

Students can be inspired as they examine the art and life of Clyde Connell (1901-1998). Connell was a woman who lived almost her whole life within a 50-mile radius of Shreveport, Louisiana, but traveled to New York City regularly for years. Connell was nearly 60 years old before she focused full attention on making art, and her most creative years…