Some writers on children's picture-books seem to believe that comfort and reassurance are their most important goals. Yet these books may also provide a context for imaginative adventure, and even for a journey into the dark night of the soul. As Nietzsche would put it, there is a Dionysian as well as an Apollonian element in children's…

This article deals with a comparison of the congruent and divergent aspects of expressionistic and phenomenological theories of aesthetics and some implications for aesthetic education. (Author)

This paper deals with the main theses of Gombrich's theory of pictorial representation as they pertain to the understanding of representational artworks and children's drawing. It is argued that the current linguistic-cognitive model of representation adopted from Goodman's theory provides an understanding of images and children's drawing in art…

Integration of technique and imagination is an essential but rarely explicitly discussed topic in music education literature or in the performing arts classroom. Exploring how master teacher Phyllis Curtin puts the two together and how students describe their integrative experiences in her class, the author tackles the paradoxes and complexity of…

We are presently witnessing a renewed interest in the aesthetics of philosopher and educator John Dewey. And it would seem that this interest marks a significant intellectual reorientation and not simply a passing fad. The publications Educational Theory, Studies in Philosophy and Education, The Journal of Aesthetic Education, The Journal of…

The author compares the basic features traditionally ascribed to aesthetic experience with the basic features of humor. He suggests that humor is best understood as a kind of aesthetic experience and that it should be valued as such in life and included in education. (Author/SJL)

Asserting that the mind of the creative reader operates precisely like the mind of the creative writer, the author examines theories of the psychology of poetic composition, in order to draw implications for the teaching of literature. (SJL)

So long as arts programs restrict themselves to teaching skills of expression, they will not be considered necessary for anyone save prospective artists. The challenge is to produce a curriculum for all students in aesthetic impression--the cultivation of imagery and imagination. Aesthetic perception skills qualify as basic. (Author/SJL)