Artmaking, when used as a form of pedagogy and approached in a socially-conscious manner, has the potential to promote agency and create a democratic learning environment for students. This study examines one such project, "The Council," created by artist Adelita Husni-Bey in collaboration with former Teen Program attendees of the Museum…

Freedom for most of the 4 million enslaved Black Americans in the United States was not granted when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Freedom came about in numerous ways and at different times. The status of Maryland's enslaved population was not decided until October 1864, when a statewide referendum on a…

Contemporary art education relies on the use of diverse methods, approaches, art techniques, and technologies. Although photography is part of daily visual communication and gallery exhibitions, there is no structured approach to photography as a medium for learning the arts in Croatian primary schools. The objectives of the quantitative study…

Adolescents are at a ripe age to make meaning and think abstractly (Kerlavage, 1998); yet, they are not "born knowing how to get ideas into materials, or how materials can be manipulated to shape ideas and meaning" (Burton, 2012, p. 14). Adolescents need guidance in understanding abstract concepts, and art teachers play an important role…

The author is pleased to introduce a new section in "TAJ," Four Questions. The structure is simple: four questions are asked to teaching artists working in various media and locations. The questions are always the same, but because each teaching artist's approach is unique, their answers will provide an insight into particular methodologies that…

In this article, Miguel Aguilar describes the process of mental preparation he performs before beginning a new graffiti mural. This may include reviewing recent sketches and his lists of color palettes. Aguilar mind maps ideas he wants to connect, thinking about intentions or the goal he wants to accomplish. Aguilar further states "this…

Using student work as exemplars is a powerful component of a balanced pedagogy. Not only does it help students design reachable learning goals, but it also stimulates students in their studies through collaborative teaching and learning. No matter how good an individual teaching artist is in his or her own art, it does not mean that he or she is…

Social media practices are increasingly woven into the everyday lives of teens and adults, becoming a significant part of how they relate, know, and learn. In this article, I present findings from a design-based research study that explored how the dynamics of learning and teaching art shift through social media. Learning and teaching through…

One day, over four centuries ago, Daniele Barbaro, a Venetian nobleman, tried an interesting experiment (Upton & Upton, 1980). He decided to use a convex lens from a farsighted man's spectacles to expand the viewing power of his camera obscura. To his delight, "the lens projected images much superior to those previously supplied by the…

In 2011, the author made the transition from teaching assistant to teaching artist. From 2007 to 2011 she was an assistant teacher at Marwen, an organization that provides free art classes for middle and high school students in the Chicago area. It was there that she began to realize how much she enjoyed helping people as a teacher, whether…

Writing about the teaching artist practice should mean writing about art making. As both teacher and artist, the authors are required to be cognizant of their own art-making processes, both how it works and why it is important to them, in order to make this process visible to their students. They also need the same skills to write about how and…

Using videoconference, three different groups met to talk about teaching artist practice using the same three convening questions--How do you make art? What communities are you a part of? What, for you, are the connections between your art making and communities?--and the same piece of student work--a short video composed of a series of digital…

The last two sections (EJ1039315 and EJ1039319) presented stories about specific moments or lessons. Also, situations infused with complexity where the writers had to toggle back and forth between providing the larger context and the details that support readers' understanding of that big picture were presented. In this section each story is…

The aim of this participant observation was to understand the efficacy of a modified International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program for fourth-graders at a public school with a large percentage of language and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Data collection over a five-month period concentrated on teaching interactions including…

Like so many other doctors, the author loves the arts deeply. Playing a musical instrument and making photographs have been joyful pursuits throughout his schooling, training, and subsequent forty-five-year career as a medical school professor and practitioner of diagnostic radiology. Despite stretches when his healing art pushed aside his visual…