One afternoon during the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown, as I was retooling my in-person courses for online instruction, I took a break to see how the educators and artists I follow on Instagram were faring. As I scrolled through a variety of posts, I happened upon an image showing a page torn from the 1940 children's book "Lentil"…

The author conducted a descriptive case study that used artmaking to investigate the phenomenon of representation of personal and cultural identities. Set within the middle school visual arts classroom, the study focused on three female, dual-culture 6th-grade students. "Dual-culture" is defined in this context as a person born in the…

The Egyptian architect Wissa Wassef believed artistry in crafts to be an innate human characteristic that would be universally expressed under the right conditions, i.e., the practice of the craft from early childhood. When he had Egyptian peasant children with no previous art experience weave tapestries, the results astounded the world. (RM)

To promote the arts as an integral part of the school curriculum, the national PTA offers an annual competition and national showcase, called "Reflections," for the creative efforts of children and young people in the areas of the visual arts, literature, and music. (Author/SJL)

Presented are techniques that elementary and secondary art teachers can use to help students evaluate their own works of art. These include mapping and diagramming, tracings, coverings, cutting apart and placing together, estimating, framing, enlarging and reducing, simplification and elaboration, projecting, playful tools, celebrations and…

Section One of this article reviews extant theories of children's art. Section Two outlines evaluative criteria based on developmental approaches: degree of representational detail, expressiveness, and representational accuracy. Section Three explores the theoretical support for alternative standards for evaluating children's drawings. (SJL)

After reviewing the socialization models of Berger and Luckmann, Speier, and Piaget, the author relates the drawing process to these theories as a form of social interaction, citing changes in drawing style and subject matter with gains in social maturity. She concludes with implications for art educators. (SJL)

Describes art programs that were given at several elementary Australian schools focusing on Christmas and Easter. Explains that the programs are based on the accounts of the birth and death of Jesus given in the Bible. States that the programs integrate studio art, art criticism, and art history. (CMK)

The Comic Book Project was launched originally as a way of putting into practice some of the most important educational research of the last decade--that is, the correlation between involvement in the arts and performance in academic subjects (Deasy, 2002; Fiske, 1999). This article is not necessarily about comic books; it is about children…

The gallery and weaving workshops of the Wissa Wassef School, located near Cairo, Egypt, are described. The school was started 30 years ago by the Egyptian architect Wissa Wassef, who believed in innate creativity and the need to encourage artistic creation by the practice of the craft from early childhood. (RM)

Asserts that the practice of drawing in sketchbooks contributes something valuable and unique to young children and to those who teach them. Maintains that voluntary drawings offer children a form of engagement in art-making that is substantially different from what they experience in lessons initiated by a teacher. (CFR)

Describes the history of the Chautauqua Industrial Art Desk, a teaching machine that was created around 1913, and the two teaching guides, "The Home Teacher" and "Child Life," that accompany the desk. Explains that the desk was a response to the industrialization and urbanization of society in the early twentieth-century. (CMK)

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…

Contends that differences in child development and cultural backgrounds affect the way children represent their world through art. Describes an exhibit of children's art from Thailand and Australia. Discusses differences in content, media, and style and concludes that both cultures could benefit from adopting aspects of the other. (CFR)

Examines the relationship between handwriting and early drawing. Maintains that often the quality of line in drawing becomes more reserved as the acquisition of the skill of writing-as-script becomes more fluid and automatic. Includes exercises that illustrate this process and use handwriting to explore creativity. (MJP)