When first encountering contemporary art, the viewer is confronted with particular challenges--the works can be both surprising in application of materials and provocative in presentation. Contemporary art can confound its audience as they attempt to decode and interpret its meaning. This Instructional Resource outlines an approach for art…

In this Instructional Resource, Denmead and Brown consider how "Ruffneck Constructivists," an exhibition curated by Kara Walker at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA), University of Pennsylvania, can disturb and provoke young creatives and art education more broadly. For this exhibition, Walker draws on the figure that MC Lyte…

Murals have become a powerful art form for portraying antiwar, human rights, social justice, and human dignity issues. Educators and artists have conducted mural workshops with adolescents in international settings to educate them about peace, human rights, and cultural tolerance. Learning with murals has been shown to be pedagogically meaningful…

Images with narrative intent are ideally suited for beginning art viewers. As cognitive psychologist Abigail Housen has discovered in her research on aesthetic development, viewers at this stage-children and adults alike-look for stories in art, even when the artist did not intend them. In this first "Aesthetic Stage" viewers are considered…

The artist experiences the world and extracts from it elements that have worth. The study of art is a training in perception. Children should be introduced to works of quality and should be encouraged in their own artistic activity because art educates their responsiveness to values. (CS)

Argues that social science areas of anthropology and sociology should be incorporated into theory of discipline-based art education (DBAE). Questions recent art-related theory that focuses only on DBAE. Urges sociology of art along with traditional disciplines of DBAE to become more diverse in order to enjoy art to its fullest. (BR)

Suggests a way to introduce abstract art to junior high school students who, more than students of any other age, emphasize realism both in their artwork and in their appreciation of works of art. (Author/SJL)

Author stresses the need to communicate the values that gave meaning to our forbearers in order to understand more precisely the way we should go, in order to name who we will become. (Author)

This article offers an introductory framework for public art that supports an inquiry approach to instruction. "Public art," or for the purposes of this article, "artworks outside museum and gallery walls," is a large and complex subject that lends itself to a variety of categorical divisions. A basic category, for example, includes the various…

Under the directorship of Holger Cahill, who drew upon John Dewey's principle of the universal communicability of art, the Federal Art Project of the Great Depression era gave all of the people the opportunity to study and enjoy art. Specific programs of the project are described. (RM)

Discusses how older people respond to art, examining mental abilities developed in advanced age which would be helpful in developing art appreciation. Considers the cultural experience of older people and its implications for how they respond to art. Explores how older people's mental abilities and cultural experience can be considered in their…

Recommends using an activity-based approach to art history similar to that of the "new social studies" movement of the 1960s. Provides suggestions for activities related to art criticism, style, and inductive learning. Concludes that student activities can help integrate art history and studio art in art education programs. (CFR)

Contends that art therapy promotes mental health beyond diagnosing and treating illness. Outlines four overlapping ways that art contributes to mental health: (1) giving people a sense of identity and place; (2) conferring status; (3) expanding and directing thought processes; and (4) utilizing the security of the rhythmic "takeover"…

Demonstrates how the art education curriculum is linked to general education. Provides a conceptual approach to an environmental design study curriculum that incorporates the Wisconsin state art curriculum guide's five generalizations with appropriate conceptual statements for primary, intermediate, middle, and high school grades, and the four…

The Depression of 1929 heralded a difficult time for the teaching of art. Changes during this era included more utilization of technology, a shift from elitism to art for all children, integration of art into the social studies curriculum, and emphasis upon self-expression, rather than art appreciation. (CS)