Our understanding of reading--including reading multimodal texts--is always constrained or opened up by what we consider to be a text, what aspects of a reader's embodied activity we focus on, and how we draw a boundary around a reading event. This article brings together five literacy researchers who respond to a human-scale graphic novel,…

Defines the scope of research concerning "inscriptions in painting" from a semiotic point of view. Shows that in cases from medieval pictograms to modern new concreteness inscriptions are used to subvert the pictorial content of art works. (RS)

Examines the interdependence of language and image in a poster series by Shosaku Arakawa and relates the displacement of writing from the book page to his canvases or posters to theories of performative language to show that his work is itself performance. (DF)

This paper is divided into two parts. The first part, "Speaking Pictures and Visual Poems," briefly considers the origin of the term "sister arts." Discussed are the three main features of the historical relationship between painting and literature in the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain and draws out their educational implications. Part 2,…

Analyzes John Trumbull's documentary painting, "The Declaration of Independence," for its didactic importance. The painting actually represents the moment in which the declaration is presented to the Second Continental Congress, rather than the signing of the document. The historic and visual importance of the work for educators is…

Examines the rationale and related research supporting inclusion of the arts in secondary English and history courses. Looks at examples from a classroom teacher's experience in including drama, painting, and music into the literature curriculum. (RS)

The relationship between art and mental illness is examined in the untrained "outsider artist," one whose style, though highly idiosyncratic, conforms to certain formal criteria and is usually initiated at a time of intense psychic crisis. Photographs and discussions of the paintings and sculptures of psychotic artists are presented. (JW)

Whether or not knowledge about the painter Picasso is helpful or indispensable in teaching appreciation of his art is discussed. Three studies by Denis Thomas, Mary M. Gedo, and Frank Elgar that argue that knowledge of Picasso the man helps students understand his paintings are examined. (RM)

Although art therapy has traditionally focused on the use of art expression in psychotherapy, the practice of medical art therapy has begun to grow rapidly. This paper provides a brief overview of the emerging specialty of medical art therapy and its importance as a counseling tool with people suffering from serious health problems. The paper…

Explores the difficulties of combining aesthetic experience and educational settings. Postulates this is due to the nature of aesthetic experience as well as the art object itself. Argues that art metaphorically discusses not what is, but what develops and implies a relativistic, adaptive, temporal concept of truth. (CH)

This paper consists of two art curriculum units: (1) mural painting; and (2) sculpture. In the mural painting unit, students analyze and critique works done by Diego Rivera and create a mural using the fresco technique. In the sculpture unit, students create a piece of sculpture that combines influences of past and/or present-day Mexican sculpture…

Rhetorical criticism focusing on Norman Rockwell's paintings of the "Four Freedoms" provides reasons for the paintings' effectiveness within the context of Franklin Roosevelt's campaign to educate Americans about participation in World War II. The epideictic icons in Rockwell's paintings promoted identifications that constitute the…

The popular art of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody--lithographic posters advertising his Wild West Show and depicting the Indians who performed in it--created the visual image of the American Indian that we have come to know as the Siouan stereotype. By contrast the artists' images of the American Indian were inaccessible to the general…

Reviews six books: "Parentmaking Educators Training Program" (Rothenberg and others); "Teaching Painting in the Primary School" (Gentle); "School-Age Child Care" (Seligson and Allenson); "International Handbook of Child Care Policies and Programs" (Cochran); "The Politics of Pregnancy: Adolescent Sexuality and Public Policy" (Lawson and Rhode);…

The power of murals as a community communication medium and as a community building process is explored from a theoretical base in the concept of "free spaces" and "community strengths" with particular reference to murals in Latino communities. Skills that may be acquired by carrying out mural projects are detailed. (EMK)