Provides a brief background on current developments in aesthetics and the contested concepts of three approaches to aesthetics: (1) historical philosophical aesthetics; (2) aesthetic perception and experience; and (3) aesthetic inquiry. Concludes by proposing a fourth approach based on critical theory. (Author/BSR)

Discusses value of having Scottish students critique art collections throughout their country. Elaborates that this type of art appreciation consists of five major components: (1) critical activity, (2) history of art, (3) connoisseurship, (4) aesthetic experiences, and (5) production of art and design. (BSR)

This article describes the foundations, development and some of the findings from a research project about how the use of the gaze, as a key idea from critical art history, might affect the understanding of art by art educators. It shows how the use of this key idea involved not just the disruption of a modernist model of art interpretation (based…

This article examines discipline-based art education (DBAE) issues for their origins, meanings, and implications. The issues are discussed within four general categories of conceptual structure, curriculum selections, research foundations, and organizational affiliations. (Author/JDH)

Details a scope and sequence for art education, emphasizing art criticism and aesthetics. It is presented as an alternative for the more common curriculum, which uses art production as a means to personal development. Notes that most teachers are more comfortable in teaching the "production end" of art rather than art criticism and aesthetics due…

This publication includes descriptions of arts programs, units of study, lesson plans, and course outlines submitted by Illinois arts teachers who answered the invitation to document their successful approaches to art edication. This compilation was not designed to be prescriptive, but to be representative of activities in Illinois. The articles…

This paper examines art instruction in elementary and secondary schools, focusing mainly on the major shift in theory and practice which began in the early 1960s. Offers a broad view of art and emphasizes the importance of discipline-based art education in the K-12 curriculum. (JDH)

The historical process by which the modern art museum has come into being is explored, and how the art museum has established itself as an instrument of culture and a primary agency in the task of aesthetic education is discussed. (RM)

Provides historical information on the growth of the folk- and outsider-art establishment within the twentieth century United States. Addresses the problems with defining this art form, contradictions between notions of schooling, and the negative impacts of success. Highlights art-world events and discourses that reflect the changing U.S.…

Proposes a definition for folk art based on analyzing and sorting the descriptors and identifiers used in the disciplines of art history, folklore, anthropology, and antique and folk art collection. The proposed definition is not meant to specify an undeniable category of art, but rather to suggest specific aspects which should be identified in…

Describes subject-centered and child-centered approaches to art education, how they developed, and how they might be integrated. Concludes that a return to a more bookish, academic approach will not improve the quality of art education. Recommends the integration of art production, art history, criticism, and aesthetics. (JDH)

This paper focuses on the cognitive and social functions of art and the role that art plays in communicating social and personal values. It shows how art criticism can play an important part in the education of all students by fostering critical thinking related to art history, art production, and aesthetics. (Author/JDH)

This study reviewed possibilities for looking at aesthetic perception in art using the D. E. Berlyne approach, identifying alternative methods, and reporting the results of a factor analytic study of preferences of young college adults for abstract art. The Berlyne approach used stimulus objects of simple to complex abstract components of the more…

The character of art criticism, both how it naturally occurs and how it is academically constructed, is reflective of social and aesthetic value orientations--much as the art object itself has been found to be a clue to the values of the society in which it is practiced, used, and appreciated. The belief that the art object possesses…

Historical background concerning the nature and function of museums is provided, and the aesthetic functions of museums are discussed. The first major aesthetic function of museums is to preserve the artistic heritage of mankind and to make it widely available. The second major function is patronage. (RM)