As a new teacher in 2008, the author inherited an awesome advocacy tool from her predecessor, art educator Stephania Crowder, via her annual sidewalk art activity. In this activity, students recreate art masterpieces on a 4-5' (1-1.5 m) scale on the sidewalk leading to the front entrance of the school. This project never fails to garner positive…

In this Instructional Resource, Denmead and Brown consider how "Ruffneck Constructivists," an exhibition curated by Kara Walker at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA), University of Pennsylvania, can disturb and provoke young creatives and art education more broadly. For this exhibition, Walker draws on the figure that MC Lyte…

A book written in a foreign language and migrated to the US along with its author, an art historian, finds a new communicative dimension by becoming a ready-made for art making purposes. Starting with an introduction explaining the genesis of the collaborative project "Access Denied," this article focuses on one of the series'…

In this article, the author discusses how the view society has taken in regard to the status and role of the artist has evolved over the centuries, and in different countries and cultures. In general, the public has sometimes lacked understanding and has not accepted some of the more avant-garde artworks, while some artists have achieved…

Since the earliest times, humans have made objects--oil lamps carved out of stone to light their way, baskets and pots to hold grain and water, blankets and clothing to protect them from the elements. At some point, their need for the functional was enhanced by their desire for the beautiful. They began to decorate their lamps, pots, baskets,…

In 2014, through the University of the Free State's (UFS) Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ), three South African universities partnered to collaborate on the pilot phase of a research project focused on understanding whether the Arts could enable social cohesion, as the 2012 National Development Plan (2030) had promoted. All…

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…

In 2011 Pavia University celebrated its 650th birthday. This provided the opportunity to propose the Neverland project whose purpose was to overcome the division between formal and informal science education. A number of classes (various age groups) from a group of schools in the province of Pavia took part in the project. The University Museums…

Targeting students in grades K-8, Art in Action's program consists of 12 age-appropriate lessons per year led by parent and teacher volunteers. The curriculum is based on historically significant artists and their works of art. Through semi-structured discussions, students examine a variety of masterpieces, learning about the artist as well as…

This article aims to give an overview of the use and the meaning of images in two types of school textbooks used in Spain from the early twentieth century until the end of the 1960s: the textbooks "Lecciones de cosas" ("object lessons") and those used for the teaching of religion. For this analysis the iconographic-iconological…

Integrating art with literature and science enhances students' learning and retention. Whenever possible, the introduction of the author's art lessons include a relevant artist, such as Claude Monet. In this article, kindergartners paint a pond and learn how to make water lilies using colored tissue-paper squares. (Contains 4 resources.)

Graduate teaching assistants (TAs) and the general education yet discipline-specific courses they often teach occupy a complex peripheral position in the university. This qualitative comparative case study investigated disciplinary TAs' identities and pedagogical strategies as they taught writing courses linked with disciplinary lecture courses at…

In this article, the author talks about art-house cinema, avant-garde film, and dramatic modernism. He believes that the most important modes of film practice are art-house cinema and the avant-garde, both of which contrast with the classical Hollywood mode of film practice. While the latter is characterized by its commercial imperative, corporate…

During the Great Depression, following the stock market crash of 1929, the nation's greatest financial crisis, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration created the Public Works of Art Project. It was the first federal government program designed to support the arts by putting artists back to work. The program's purpose was to alleviate…

The Dadaists were an unconventional group of artists who used their art to rebel against civilization in the early twentieth century. They experimented with a variety of media and often used machines as themes in their artwork. Dadaist artist Kurt Schwitters incorporated city refuse into his collages, including bus tickets, newspapers, cartons,…