The self-portrait is a reflection of the personality in a visual, physical sense, as a concrete form, a summary of the external characteristics of the artist, but also in a psychological sense, when the self-portrait becomes a mediator of communication with the self, a medium of self-investigation. In this way, the self-portrait exists as a means…

This article describes John Kelleher's experience in observing the creations of his preschool daughter. Both he and his wife are formally trained in the arts, and looked forward to guiding their daughter down an artistic path. In his mind, what makes a great artist usually involves a great deal of technical ability and commitment to a complex…

Invoking Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's configuration of minor literature, the author of this case study theorizes the drawing practice of a young boy (Carter) as a process of becoming-minor. Critical to this theorization is the creation and activation of a semblance between Brent and Marjorie Wilson's (1977) treatment of the…

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…

This article describes an art lesson that allows students to set up and collect sphere canvases. Spheres move art away from a rectangular canvas into a dimension that requires new planning and painting. From balls to many other spherical canvases that bounce, roll, float and fly, art experiences are envisioned by students. Even if adults recognize…

"Images & Identity" was a two-year curriculum development project in which citizenship and art educators in the Czech Republic, England, Ireland, Germany, Malta and Portugal collaborated on the production of teacher education materials. The article begins with a critical analysis of educational policy for European citizenship and of…

In this article, I present a reexamination of the myth of inherent creativity in early childhood to elucidate how still-dominant discourses of optimization such as child development, individualism, expression, creativity, and visual realism exert limiting pressures on understandings of the art and visual culture that children consume and create.…

The benefits of drawing for children are wide-ranging but are likely to be mediated by the art curriculum and other governmental guidance to teachers relevant to drawing/art. Furthermore, such statutory regulations vary between cultures, and therefore curricula represent an important influence on the cultural differences found in children's…

Storytelling-based arts projects offer a universal and inclusive pedagogy; challenging prejudices, celebrating diversity and promoting tolerance and resilience in participants. In addition they assist in the development of receptive and expressive language skills, provide a credible basis for understanding folklore, cultural traditions and social…

This visual journey, which revisits childhood art as an entry point to inquiry centred on my landscapes of meaning as an educator, represents a self portrait about identity and place that is told from the multiple subjective geographies of self. My collection of childhood artwork offers a different lens to understand historical conditioning and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate methods of enhancing kindergarteners' artistic creative thinking and expressive drawing through an activity that involved appreciation of picture books. The study was conducted in a public kindergarten in southern Taiwan, with 27 children aged between 4 and 5. The researcher conducted the study in 16…

Our purpose is to offer children tasks so they can make drawings as diverse and different from each other whilst trying to avoid imitation. Achieving this goal involves the increase of children's creativity. The paper is theoretically based on the consideration of creativity as the ability to create "something new, original, and in accordance…

Some research within developmental psychology shows a slow period of development in children's expressive drawings during the primary school years. Developmental researchers suggest that "educational factors" could contribute to this dip in development but have not explored these factors. This study explores links between educational…

This article presents sixty ideas for celebrating the arts. These ideas include concepts about sparking creativity among children. A list of benefits of arts education is also included.

Although sociocultural theory challenges educators to embrace the social nature of learning, common practice in early childhood art has varied little from its traditional stance on natural art development, adult non-intervention, and the sacrosanct nature of creativity and artistic expression--outdated relics on hallowed ground. Despite mounting…