Art educators are adept at using images to communicate and spark dialogues. But what happens when the conversations that are needed in classrooms concern topics that are intentionally silenced or repeated so often that contradictions become invisible? The dilemma of visibility is central when talking to students about Whiteness, which White people…

Over the centuries, changes in technology and education have transformed people's attitudes towards the arts, making them more accessible. Bohemianism and modern art in the 18th century challenged the elitist perception of the arts, democratizing access. Digital tools and online resources have further opened doors to creating and experiencing…

Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), was a Christian mystic whose writings, "Revelation of Love" and "A Book of Showings," are the earliest surviving texts in the English language written by a woman. The question that has puzzled scholars for centuries follows: How could a woman of her time express her vision in such innovative and…

The National Visual Arts Standards (NVAS) present ways for students in the United States to create, present, respond, and connect to the world of art and artmaking. This article focuses on the practices of one visual arts educator, Educator A, who taught in a state-sponsored specialist music high school, guided by the following question: "How…

Advocacy is not new to art education. Over the years, Goldfarb (1979), Hodsoll (1985), and Erickson and Young (1996) have written about the importance of arts advocacy, but the concept of advocacy has evolved with the times. For example, in the 1970s, arts advocacy was described as a "movement" and brought together art educators,…

Teaching for economic justice can be challenging for upper elementary and middle school teachers. Many teachers may feel uncomfortable with the subject matter and thus avoid addressing sensitive social issues related to economic/financial inequities. This article describes how selected songs and works of visual art, expressions of social protest…

In this article, the author analyzes Arthur Efland's "Art and Cognition," which advocates study of the visual arts for its cognitive benefits. The author argues that Efland's cognitive premises are largely sound but that his specific recommendations often belie the general principles he espouses. Efland focuses on the interpretation of baffling…

This anthology places art at the center of meaningful urban education reform. Providing a fresh perspective on urban education, the contributors describe a positive, asset-based community development model designed to tap into the teaching/learning potential already available in urban cities. Rather than focusing on a lack of resources, this…

Technological media catapults our perception into what Marshall McLuhan called "new transforming vision and awareness." As our lives become more and more immersed in such technologies as television, film, and interactive computers, we find ourselves inundated with a heightened sense of mindfulness--an aesthetic experience made possible through…

When displayed in museums and classrooms, Renaissance-era (1420-1600) painting, architecture, and drawing masterworks are often decontextualized from the social reality of the Academy system under which they were produced. For centuries, the artworks of the Italian Renaissance have seduced viewers with technical mastery, exquisite pigments, and…

People are immersed in visual culture and, therefore, are usually not aware of how power and privilege are enacted and how they operate in works of art from past and present times. Two premises infuse individuals' thinking on visual culture. First, that an activity-based approach to its study seeks to recognize how power and privilege function in…

This article presents how many animals, like human beings, are also capable of painting, sketching, and displaying remarkable abilities. An example of these kind of animals are the "artists" Koko and Michael, gorillas who have been taught the Gorilla Sign Language or GSL as part of an ongoing project run by the Gorilla Foundation. This article…

"The Ring Toss," a gum-print six-by-eight-inch photograph produced in 1899 and first published in 1903, has become one of photographer Clarence White's most noted images. It is an example of soft focus, or fuzzy pictorialism, a type of American art photography most practiced around the turn of the century. This analysis of the photograph…

Argues that studying professional art critics can provide material for studying art criticism in the classroom. Focuses on the published work of Lawrence Alloway. Describes how his work covered a wide range of artists and movements and how he was politically proactive in promoting underrepresented populations of artists. (KM)

A method of pedagogical art criticism can be used to examine meaning in one of today's most pervasive forms of visual imagery: the advertising image. It was necessary for the art critical method to accommodate the following components of advertising imagery: (1) history; (2) purpose in a capitalist society; (3) function in society; (4) effects on…