Art Appreciation is often a course that undergraduate students take to meet their general education requirements. However, many students have little interest or value of art due to a lack of previous art experiences and often choose the course because they feel it will be relatively easy. This qualitative, naturalistic inquiry focused on students'…

How can museum educators create dialogical experiences with European decorative arts? This question frames my essay and stems from the challenges I have faced introducing objects whose original functions seem to overshadow their aesthetic and interpretive value. Repeated efforts to spark rich dialogue and collective interpretation around pieces of…

Creating an appreciation of art history in her junior-high students has always been one of the author's greatest challenges as an art teacher. In this article, the author describes how her eighth-grade students re-created a famous work of art--piece by piece, like a puzzle or a stained-glass window--out of construction paper. (Contains 1 resource.)

Background: Under the challenge of many post-modern theories and critics on art and art history, the boundaries and definition of art has becoming more diverse. Conventional art appreciation no longer covers all the debates and issues arising from the complex meaning of art in the modern world. Art education today must widen students' vision of…

The author of this article is an art specialist at Whiteford Elementary School in Sylvania, Ohio. Following a visit to a Paul Klee exhibition, she cut out all the miniature examples from the exhibition flyer in order to make six art pins. She then wore a different pin each day at both her elementary and high school assignments with amazing…

Is art merely an adjunct to the serious business of life? Is there a secret ingredient that makes some art more worthwhile than other art? Does art have something to offer that makes its pursuit or purchase worthwhile, or is it simply an outlet for spare capital? Does art really matter at all? (Contains 5 figures.)

This study introduced to 88 selected adults (aged 60 and older) eight combinations of art curricula and teaching approaches encompassing three components of art education: productive; historical; and critical-appreciative. All eight experimental groups made similar improvement in the aesthetic quality of their art products. (Author/SJL)

Provides historical background on the art of blacksmithing focusing on various artists, such as Victor Horta and Hector Guimard. Includes working definitions of terms and equipment. Suggests activities to help students gain awareness of ironwork and the scope of the artist-blacksmith output. (CMK)

Lord Clark, the renowned British art historian, feels there are too many children in picture galleries and suspects they are brought there to fill in the curriculum. He considers three aims of education and how children can more fully understand the value of works of art. (Editor/RK)

Art historians are saying that while art outside the mainstream challenges many usual assumptions about art history, more attention should be given to nontraditional art genres such as graffiti, folk art, children's art, prehistoric cave paintings, and the art of the insane. (MSE)

Provides background information on George Inness and includes a reproduction of his work of art titled "Delaware Water Gap." Includes classroom activities. Examines this painting, which was one of Inness' first using his revised painting style. (CMK)

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…

Describes an secondary art education course using the principles of discipline-based art education (DBAE). Argues that art production techniques and studio art must be included with the DBAE approach for a successful program. Provides an overview of the course content and teaching methods used in the program. (CFR)

Traces and analyzes the societal forces which have affected non-Indian interpretations of Northwest Coast Indian art from its acceptance as art in the 1930s to the shamanic and structural interpretations of more recent years. (CM)

Describes Jan Gossaert's painting of "St. Luke Painting the Virgin" and shows how it encompasses the intellectual pattern of early sixteenth-century thought. Discusses the arguments for and against the making of religious images and how artists overcame the potential threat to their livelihood from church authorities. Analyzes Gossaert's…