"THE VISUAL ARTS ARE A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE." - I Always Say That...




,

the Art, is in the process...the creative process.



Art in Education

 applies to places where people come to learn about their world through the interpretation of images, symbols, and signs - including Language. This is done mainly through drawing, painting, and construction. On the other hand, a famous reaction to the Academy rules claimed that: "Il n�y a pas des ecoles, seulement les peintres." ("There are no schools of art, only artists" - Gustave Courbet) There is no art class if you don't have any art students - an art patron, client or or anyone in a leadership position can demand and expect all they want, but just like art classes are driven by art students (and you can't have a school without students), the art world would not exist if there weren't any artists.

"You are only a painter, when you are painting" and "an artist, works with what he or she has". As a teacher I work to explain and review the most common points of understanding art; I also suggest ways that students can apply technique in their own way to their own personal and professional goals.

Saul Bass, noted graphic designer and art professor, once declared that "Good Design is Good Thinking". When living in China I learned to understand this as a type of Feng Shui. In aiming for this type of communication, the tools that teachers and artists use are called the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design:

The Elements of the Visual Arts are always the same: LINE, SHAPE, FORM, VALUE, TEXTURE, and COLOR

BUT The Principles of Art and Design are generally harder to define, and these can also vary in number according to instruction and application : BALANCE, EMPHASIS, UNITY, MOVEMENT, RHYTHM, PROPORTION, PATTERN, and SPACE



NOTE: Depending on the time of study, the Elements and Principles can be applied in any order: eg. 3 weeks on LINE, 4 weeks on SHAPE, 3 weeks on FORM etc. I personally work with the two sets of Elements, LINE and COLOR. The second half of the program focuses on the Principles of Art. In terms of quality of expression and aesthetic evaluation (or performance), this is the best time to get original and more meaningful work.

Everyone has a responsibility to gracefully engage, navigate, and communicate through the use and interpretation of images and symbols. In this way, drawing is like writing - and those who say they cannot draw - imagine they cannot read and write.

The art is in the process because it is the act of experience in art that is important to the artist and the art student. Warm up excercises and practice are integral to the development of the appropriate drawing, painting, and modelling skills in the classroom or art studio - for expression and for aesthetic evaluation. However, for a fully integrated art program, the content must be derived from the classroom units or curriculum so that the skills can be applied in a relevant manner to art projects. The impetus comes from the vitality of the artist or art student.


ABOVE: The Alphabet, the ABC's, l'abjad, el'aleph-bet, letras (including Chinese characters)


Art in EDUCATION NOTES:



About Teacher Certification Programs and Teacher Certificates

"What is this Cartoon Fridays?" Click Here 4A Floridian Drawing Curriculm

The role of the Visual Artist is to Express, Explain, and Record the world around them.


Tracing is NOT drawing. There is an epidemic of tracing in Art Education today."

Ordering Art Materials: "An artist works with what they have."

A Sample Bilingual Art Curriculum in English and Chinese

Free Lesson Plans: SAMPLE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHIE: ART IN EDUCATION

AP ART versus /or IB ART






"Everything you do in Art Class, makes you stronger in your other subjects."