This author contends that it is sometimes difficult to construe exactly what the visual culture movement really involves. To use the kind of lingo that its spokespersons favor, we are seeing a conflict between transfigured factions surviving from the 1960s. During that fevered era, it appeared to academic liberals that America was becoming…

In this paper, the author asserts that current efforts to transform art education into visual culture studies (VCS) constitute a deeply disturbing educational trend. She asserts that, much like the now largely discredited developments in literary studies of recent decades (whose bankruptcy it apparently ignores), this movement aims quite…

Presents a lesson in which students created three-dimensional self-portraits, using papier-mache, clay, and plaster, designed to develop their modeling skills as they learn about art history. Discusses how the students created their sculptures, offering detailed directions on creating the three-dimensional heads. (CMK)

Provides information about the artist Katsukawa Shuntei and his artwork entitled "The Warrior Egara no Heita Battling with the Giant Serpent" that is a wood-block print. Describes how block prints are created and offers learning activities. Includes background information on the artwork. (CMK)

Traces the history of influences on the making of Navaho rugs, through a search of the J. L. Hubbell correspondence from 1878 to 1957. Describes changes in colors, design, fibers, construction, and uses of Navaho rugs. (CM)

Provides background information on the artistic movement, Expressionism. Focuses on well known artists and describes Expressionist art. Includes art activities and a reproduction of a painting by John Marin. Presents information on Marin's life, career, and an analysis of the painting. (CMK)

Discusses a six-week art program developed for kindergarten students where they learn about various artists with a focus on the work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Describes an art project where the students create collages in the style of Hundertwasser using the watercolor-resist technique. (CMK)

Focuses on works of art that are serpentine, which means the artist either depicts snakes or use snake-like designs. Explains that the four examples given are to motivate students to search for more examples. Discusses different ways to help students learn about serpentine designs by observing real snakes. (CMK)

Discusses art work that uses exotic decoration, and the problems with viewing examples of these types of art work due to the types of materials used. Offers examples of exotic decoration to help students create their own works of art. (CMK)

Provides background information on the art movement called "Minimalism" discussing why it started and its characteristics. Includes learning activities and information on the artist, Donald Judd. Includes a reproduction of one of his art works and discusses its content. (CMK)

Provides historical information on the artistic movement, surrealism, and discusses influential artists. Presents art activities, information on the life and career of Joseph Cornell, and an analysis of his Surrealist box, "Medici Slot Machine." Includes a reproduction of the "Medici Slot Machine." (CMK)

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)

Examines the theory that the Norman commissioned Bayeux Tapestry carries a hidden message which tells the Anglo-Saxon version of the Norman Conquest. Stresses that studies of this nature demand an interdisciplinary approach. Notes that historical and artistic influences must be considered in determining the artist's intent. (KO)

Discusses formalist/universalist, personal response/ antiformalist, and pluralist approaches to aesthetics. Recommends using a pluralist approach because it accounts for the aesthetic principles of non-Western art forms. Discusses pluralism in art education and how the criteria of Western aesthetics are now being challenged by art educators. (KM)

Argues that Web has become a major art medium. Investigates ways artists and appreciators of art are using the Web. Discusses the reproduction of art: from hand to mechanical to digital reproduction, focusing on the work of Walter Benjamin. Lists other sites where one can find art on the Web. (SR)