In this article, Sanders-Bustle recounts what happened when university art education students created socially engaged art (SEA), "Project Unway" and "Project Unity," in the hallways of a middle school. The events represented in this article stem from activities that took place in a secondary art education curriculum course…

In this article Matthew Etherington shares his experiences, successes, and challenges in implementing a 7th-grade fashion design unit in which he attempts to realize his curricular vision through critical visual culture pedagogy and role-playing. During the 4-week lesson period, Etherington's instructional checkpoints were broken into three main…

Engaging with the quilts of Gee's Bend offers a rich opportunity for students in grades four through eight to develop appreciation for pattern, rhythm, and innovation while learning about history, entrepreneurship, and political activism. By easily accessing print, film, and Internet resources teachers can include these vibrant quilts and…

The ecological realities of many communities are desperate but not determined. As teachers inevitably encounter these realities in their communities, they can respond by activating students' imaginations to conceive of better alternatives. Greene (1995) outlined how the imagination has the power to envision alternative realities and better…

Using visual resources from everyday life in art lessons can enrich students' knowledge about the creation of visual images, artifacts, and sites, and develop their critical understanding about the cultural impact of these images and their effects on people's lives. Through examining an exhibition in the windows of Selfridges department store in…

For centuries people from around the world have celebrated storytelling and puppetry for their educational and social functions. In the comprehensive curriculum, storytelling combined with puppet performances enriches the classroom experience by providing students with opportunities to engage in open dialogue, creativity, and structured play.…

Children and burgeoning adolescents' creativity blossom in play-based environments. Likewise, students as active social agents have the opportunity to examine the structures and processes that shape them. The photographic image intimates an aura of credibility, providing the students pause to reflect upon their socialized interactions. These…

Many of the paintings of 20th-century American artist Philip C. Curtis defy clear classification. Curtis's artworks often show dreamlike and fantastical qualities and are therefore frequently pigeonholed as Surrealistic. While this classification is not completely erroneous, it fails to acknowledge some subtle differences between Curtis's artwork…

Films are multimodal, often memorable, and change one's way of thinking. Films provide narratives and visual metaphors that function as tools for one's imagination and learning. No other film has amplified this phenomenon in the United States more than the "Star Wars" Cycle. "Star Wars" exemplifies the multidimensionality of…

Making the visual arts program meaningful in public education can be a challenge when one considers how little instructional time is devoted to the visual arts. A challenge for art educators is to seek opportunities outside the classroom for real-life inquiry-based projects. This form of systematic inquiry done by teachers for themselves is called…

Public art takes many forms, including commemorative sculptures, site-specific works, and collaborative murals. Additionally, public art can beautify an urban environment or raise awareness of social issues. Public works of art are a form of discourse and open conversations and dialogue, helping communities work toward unity and empowerment. Using…

This Instructional Resources continues our 2004 series on forms of "public art" that included Susan Goetz Zwirn's contribution on images of work in the 1930s (March 2004), Carol Argiro's exploration of public sculpture (July 2004), and Mary Jane Zander's work on WPA post office murals (September 2004). This Instructional Resources explores an art…

"Public art" is a broad term that refers to art in public spaces and includes architecture, landscape, and urban design. Public art makes public spaces more beautiful, encourages us to pause and interact with our environment, or reminds us of important people and events. Just as often, public sculptures become such a part of our everyday…

The Comic Book Project was launched originally as a way of putting into practice some of the most important educational research of the last decade--that is, the correlation between involvement in the arts and performance in academic subjects (Deasy, 2002; Fiske, 1999). This article is not necessarily about comic books; it is about children…