Argues that folk art can help children explore design elements, reinforce fine motor skills, and broaden their appreciation for the art of the early United States. Provides lesson plans for a quilt collage, hex signs, and portrait painting. (KM)

Provides background information on Marion Richardson's view of art education and her emphasis on visualization. Stresses the importance of cultivating students' creativity and enabling the students to express themselves. Describes an interdisciplinary art assignment for middle school students utilizing poetry to teach them to translate verbal…

Contends that children's playfulness with flashlights is an artform suitable to the art classroom. For example, flashlights can become drawing tools or a means of sculpting with forms and light. Discusses works by "flashlight artists" and considers flashlight art history in the classroom. (CMK)

Discusses an art project in which sixth grade students design alphabets by transforming the shapes of the letters into new designs that are still recognizable. Explains that students brainstorm ideas for their own lettering style. (CMK)

Highlights "Celebrating the Creative Spirit," a traveling exhibition featuring the work of 25 furniture-makers from nine southern states who use furniture as a means of personal artistic expression. Provides background on five different artists and an example artwork from each. (CMK)

Describes an art lesson, inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo's "Seasons" series, in which students construct masks representing one of the four seasons. Discusses the process and lists words and phrases associated with each season. (CMK)

Recognizes the importance of children's art made at home and focuses on having children express themselves through handmade art. Gives examples of different types of handmade art, such as making room accessories and furnishings, constructing "portable" artworks, and building figures in different mediums. (CMK)

Proposes that presenters at conventions should be performers amidst an active audience and demonstrate the ideas as they might actually appear in the classroom using a hands-on, visual approach. Highlights various presentation introductions that illustrate this visual presentation approach. Provides suggestions for convention presenters. (CMK)

This article arises out of a research project which looks at the promotion of creativity in pre-degree and undergraduate learners in art and design. The project considers conceptual definitions of creativity and its promotion which have been evidenced by research, and operational definitions and delivery methods used by lecturers and students in…

Research tells us we can learn complex tasks most easily if they are taught in "small sequential steps." This column is about the small sequential steps that unlocked the powers of digital photography, of portraiture, and of student creativity. The strategies and ideas described in this article came as a result of working with…

Tanjore (or Thanjavur or Thanlavoor) paintings are one of the most popular traditional art forms in Southern India. These ornate religious paintings involve Hindu mythology. The paintings are noted for their adornment of gold and semiprecious stones such as rubies, emeralds, and pearls. Currently, the semiprecious stones are often substituted…

Provides a reproduction of a painting called "Torpedo" by Roy Lichtenstein that was chosen because of facial expression. Includes learning activities for use with students as well as background information about the artist and the painting. (CMK)

In the torrents of globalization and social transition in Taiwan, it is particularly important to reinforce a sense of cultural subjectivity and localization, and promote new trends of arts education that emphasize the development of self and spirit. The fundamental principles of these new trends are: (1) that the purpose of arts education is to…

The Spectra+ program is a 4-year model arts initiative being conducted in four elementary schools in two southwestern Ohio cities. An empirical study compared students in a Spectra+ program with two groups of students in two alternate, non-Spectra+ programs in districts A and B to measure differences in creativity, academic achievement, self…

The four content areas of discipline based art education (aesthetics, art criticism, art history, and art production) should be addressed in every art education unit planned and taught to students. All four content areas are addressed in the process of formal art criticism therefore every unit/lesson that utilizes a formal art criticism also…