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…

In this article, the author examines how art educators can create narrators of art history rather than those who ascribe truth to the opinion of a few. She presents a series of tangible classroom activities that will potentially help art history become meaningful to students' lives. The author states that students have a right to access art…

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…

This tongue-in-cheek article calls for the critical reexamination of the history of modern art. The author believes that modern art is neither an extension of the Renaissance aesthetic nor a collective by-product of artists possessed of creative genius. Creators of modern art were actually representational artists suffering from visual stuttering.…

Describes how Zen and the art of pottery expand into a Great Tradition where the potter dreams his forms in a realm of imagination between sense and mind. Explains how decoration plays a vital role connecting art and our life-world. Outlines how students need a decade to reach this spiritual level. (KM)

Describes how three groups of twentieth-century U.S. artists--Landscape and architectural artists, pop artists, and the photo-realists--used the object as the primary image in their artwork. Maintains that this approach to studying still life may be more relevant for teachers and students today. (KM)

Maintains that teaching the creation of art can be lost in the emphasis on discipline-based art education. Argues that much of art education is studying the art of others or the concepts and principles that can be derived from others. Contends that the process of personally creating art must be revived as an integral part of art education. (CFR)

Maintains that the study of art history should be learning about all forms of art work from every culture and relating it to the present. Describes how one art teacher uses puppetry to actively involve students in art history. Recommends that teachers look to the great teachers and their own teaching for such lessons. (KM)

Presents a collection of activities that teach upper-elementary and middle school students about narrative devices, methods or formats that artists use to tell stories. Includes the reproductions of the artworks, background information, discussion questions, activities, and evaluation. Provides a final activity and discussion for the entire…

Describes the different types of graffiti: (1) private forms of graffiti (doodling and latrinalia); and (2 public forms (gang graffiti, tags, and pieces). Uses teenage psychology to interpret adolescents' involvement in graffiti. Examines graffiti art in relation to its educational implications for secondary art education. (CMK)

Provides instructional strategies and materials designed to introduce students to Spanish art. Includes four lesson plans with student objectives, background information, and step-by-step instructional procedures. Also includes four full-page color reproductions of paintings by Murillo, Picasso, El Greco, and de Goya. (CFR)

Discusses how students can examine artists' use of clothing to express ideas about cultural values, lifestyle, and design. Features four, culturally different, artworks from the Art Institute of Chicago. Outlines instructional methods for discussion, creative writing, and art production. (KM)

Utilizes a 17th-century Italian sculpture and an African fetish figure to illustrate essential qualities and characteristics of figurative sculpture. Points out the extreme differences and the many similarities between the two and offers explanations. Includes a process for leading students through "reading" the sculptures. (MJP)

Provides six lesson outlines to help teachers motivate high school students to discuss basic questions about the meaning and function of art, aesthetic responses cultural context, and artistic skill. Illustrates artwork from the Museum of Modern Art by Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Meret Oppenheim. (KM)

Describes objects from everyday life and analyzes artworks by four contemporary artists whose works make use of familiar objects (Louise Nevelson, Claes Oldenburg, Mitchell Syrop, and Betye Sarr). Divides lesson into four steps: (1) discussing everyday objects; (2) viewing artworks; (3) studying artists; and (4) class activities related to the…