The Value Of Drawing Instruction In The Visual Arts And Across Curricula

By applying philosophical and historical perspectives to drawing instruction, this volume demonstrates how diverse teaching methods contribute to cognitive and holistic development applicable within and beyond the visual arts. Offering a new perspective on the art and science of drawing, this text reveals the often-unrecognized benefits that drawing can have on the human mind, and thus argues for the importance of drawing instruction despite, and even due to contemporary digitalization. Given the predominance of visual information and digital media, visual thinking in and through drawing may be an essential skill for the future. As such, the book counters recent declines in drawing instruction to propose five Paradigms for teaching drawing – as design, as seeing, as experience and experiment, as expression, and as a visual language – with exemplary curricula for pre-K12 art and general education, pre-professional programs across the visual arts, and continuing education. With the aid of instructional examples, this volume dispels the misconception of drawing as a talent reserved for the artistically gifted and posits it as a teachable skill that can be learned by all. This text will be of primary interest to researchers, scholars, and doctoral students with interests in drawing theory and practice, cognition in the arts, positive psychology, creativity theory, as well as the philosophy and history of arts education. Aligning with contemporary trends such as Design Thinking, STEAM, and Graphicacy, the text will also have appeal to visual arts educators at all levels, and other educators involved in arts integration.

"By applying philosophical perspectives to drawing instruction, this volume demonstrates how diverse teaching methods contribute to cognitive and holistic development applicable within and beyond the visual arts. This book offers a new perspective on the art of drawing to reveal its often-unrecognized impact on the human mind. Focusing on this emphasis, the book argues for the importance of the skill of drawing despite our contemporary age of digitalization. The book counters recent declines in drawing instruction to propose five Paradigms for teaching drawing - as design, as seeing, as experience and experiment, as expression, and as a visual language - with exemplary curricula for pre-K12 art and general education, pre-professional programs across the visual arts, and continuing education over the life-span. With the aid of instructional examples, this volume dispels the misconception of drawing as a talent reserved for the artistically gifted and posits it as a teachable skill that can be learned by all. Aligning with contemporary trends like Design Thinking, STEAM, and Graphicacy, this text will primarily be of interest to doctoral students, researchers, and scholars with an interest in drawing education, cognition, and research into visual arts education more broadly. Those interested in positive psychology and drawing theory, as well as creativity theory, will also benefit from the volume. Seymour Simmons is a Professor of Fine Arts at Winthrop University, USA"--

If you ask a child to draw you a picture, you'll get an instant response, for the visual arts are natural means of expression that students of all ages use confidently, and often with stunning directness and depth. And for a teacher, incorporating visual arts throughout the curriculum builds in a level of energy, enthusiasm, and insight that can only enhance children's learning experiences. Visual Arts as a Way of Knowing is a serious yet fun resource for teachers who are curious about art and know that it can be an important part of their teaching. The book is meant to tease out the artist in you,to encourage you to take risks and delve into painting or drawing or just making things. For like writing, art is a matter of taking risks that can lead to wonderful rewards. Karolynne Gee draws on the stories of teachers and the reflections of children who have discovered they can create, and for whom that discovery is the great "Aha!". From that point on, you know how to make creative and aesthetic choices based on the principles of art, and art becomes a powerful tool in thinking, learning and problem solving. Visual Arts as a Way of Knowing features discussion of visual arts content, principles, techniques, and applications; guidance in planning and facilitating projects and assessing them with students; practical classroom management strategies to support learning in arts and across the curriculum; ideas for art specialists and teaching colleagues; strong support for teachers as risk-takers and learners alongside their students; a wealth of illustrations from fine arts, computer art, and student work that includes a range of work to show there is no "right way;" charts and field notes that can help you get started on a project or gives you a new way of looking at a topic. Visual Arts as a Way of Knowing blurs the lines between formal and informal art as well as between teacher and learner. It will provide many interdisciplinary connections and ways for you to think about integrating visual art in a thoughtful way and discovering new problems that will stimulate your own and your students' thinking.

EDUCATION / Arts in Education

With lots of examples and color images, this resource is both a foundational text and a practical guidebook for bringing contemporary art into elementary and middle school classrooms as a way to make learning joyful and meaningful for all learners. Marshall shows how asking questions and posing problems spark curiosity and encourage learners to think deeply and make meaningful connections across the curriculum. At the center of this approach is creativity, with contemporary visual art as its inspiration. The text covers methods of creative inquiry-based learning, art and how it connects to the “big ideas” addressed by academic domains, flexible structures teachers can use for curriculum development, creative teaching strategies using contemporary art, and models of art-based inquiry curriculum. Book Features: Provides research-based project ideas and curriculum models for arts integration. Shows how Project Zero’s flexible structures and frameworks can be used to develop creative inquiry and an arts integration curriculum. Explains how contemporary visual art connects to the four major disciplines—science, mathematics, social studies, and language arts. Includes full-color images of contemporary art that are appropriate for elementary and middle school learners. Demonstrates how arts integration can and should be substantive, multidimensional, and creative.

This book critically examines four areas common to visual arts curricula: the elements of art and principles of design, the canons of human proportions, linear perspective, and RYB color theory. For each, the author presents a compelling case detailing how current art teaching fails students, explores the history of how it came to be part of the discourse, and then proffers cognitivist and holistic alternatives. This book provides a framework for teachers and teacher-candidates to shape how they advocate for intellectual rigor and embodied learning and, importantly, how they can subvert an existing curriculum to better meet the educational needs of their students.

Based on research, and grounded in experience, this book offers a view into the minds and hearts of people who draw. With technology at our fingertips that allows us to record and share what we see within moments, drawing seems a remarkably slow and difficult way to make an image. And yet, drawing from observation continues to be practiced by professional and amateur artists, a situation that invites the question: What does observation drawing mean in the lives of those who practice it? The central chapters of the book explicate the structures of the lived experience of drawing, weaving phenomenological reflections into a narrative about the author drawing her sister on a train. With lively accounts of drawing from hobbyists, art students, contemporary and historical artists, Montgomery-Whicher considers how the act of drawing shapes place, time, the body and relationships with the world and with others. She addresses many facets of drawing, including the connection between drawing and thinking, the range of emotions felt when drawing a person and the experience of digital drawing. Montgomery-Whicher concludes that observation drawing warrants a place in general education as well as in the education of artists. She argues that drawing will continue to thrive because it is a human practice that deepens and enriches our humanity by giving us access to keener perception, greater understanding, empathy and wonder. This book will be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered about the appeal of drawing, including professional and amateur artists, philosophers, and educators.

Studio Thinking 3 is a new edition of a now-classic text, a research-based account of teaching and learning in high school studio arts classes. It poses a framework that identifies eight habits of mind taught in visual arts and four studio structures by which they are taught. This edition includes new material about how the framework has been used since the original study, with new perspectives from artist-teachers who currently apply the Studio Thinking Framework in their own practice. It also reviews how contemporary organizations, educators, and researchers outside the arts have utilized the framework, highlighting its flexibility to inform teaching and learning. The authors have added a new chapter on assessment to introduce the practical and thoughtful ways that teachers are using Studio Thinking to assess and evaluate students’ work, working processes, and thinking in the arts. Praise for Previous Editions of Studio Thinking― “Winner and Hetland have set out to show what it means to take education in the arts seriously, in its own right.” —The New York Times “This book is very educational and would be helpful to art teachers in promoting quality teaching in their classrooms.” —School Arts Magazine “Studio Thinking is a major contribution to the field.” —Arts & Learning Review “The research in Studio Thinking is groundbreaking and important because it is anchored in the actual practice of teaching artists …The ideas in Studio Thinking continue to provide a vehicle with which to navigate and understand the complex work in which we are all engaged.” —Teaching Artists Journal

Arthur Efland puts current debate and concerns in a well-researched historical perspective. He examines the institutional settings of art education throughout Western history, the social forces that have shaped it, and the evolution and impact of alternate streams of influence on present practice.A History of Art Education is the first book to treat the visual arts in relation to developments in general education. Particular emphasis is placed on the 19th and 20th centuries and on the social context that has affected our concept of art today. This book will be useful as a main text in history of art education courses, as a supplemental text in courses in art education methods and history of education, and as a valuable resource for students, professors, and researchers. “The book should become a standard reference tool for art educators at all levels of the field.” —The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism “Efland has filled a gap in historical research on art education and made an important contribution to scholarship in the field.” —Studies in Art Education