This article describes the role of an arts-based research project in the lives of young people participating in a youth workshop. The participants shared stories about their past, present and future with words and pictures. We sought to answer the question: What is the meaning of looking at one's own life story in the context of a communal art…

The aim of this study was to understand the school and life experiences of refugee young women and to explore the ways in which they individually and collectively cultivated their resilience. It identified the challenges and resources they encountered when negotiating different home and school cultures and the impact on their resilience. It used…

This study aimed to improve the education process by enabling children to associate natural environmental experience with art and to include it into aesthetic experience in place-based visual arts applications. Accordingly, answers for subquestions such as how it can be possible for children to create nature-art relation through place-based…

This qualitative study presents an analysis of how guided visits to an art museum can provide leadership lessons for developing school leaders. The principal interns participated in teaching artists-facilitated guided arts engagement sessions at a large metropolitan museum. The sessions included art-making, observations of portraiture in the…

The author describes a lesson for middle school students involving their names, with outlets for uniqueness and self-expression. Focusing on contrast, design elements, and a monochromatic color scheme, students created name designs that they loved. Tips for adaptation for special needs students are included. The lesson confirms basic design and…

This article is based on ethnographic work with two "crews" of young graffiti artists in southern Mexico City. The crews share certain characteristics with gangs or urban tribes, but more with "communities of practice": they live in the "figured world" of graffiti, a community of practice at the local and global…

Describes how third grade students learned about fresco paintings in Pompeii and made their own frescoes by pouring plaster into styrofoam trays and painting the surface. Students discovered they could control the paint better because of the porous surface of the plaster. (KM)

Uses the artwork of Color Field painter, Helen Frankenthaler, to discuss abstract painting, how mood can be conveyed through color, different methods of applying color, and how different color combinations change the appearance of colors. Suggests art-related activities for elementary and secondary levels. (KM)

This brief article describes the historical, cultural, and artistic elements of Vincent van Gogh's oil on canvas "Undergrowth with Two Figures" of 1980. The article concludes with questions for students to consider in relation to these aspects of the painting.

Describes an art program for preschool children that includes four social dimensions of art in order to heighten aesthetic perception, improve artistic creativity, and nurture self-esteem. The social dimensions are children having power, children acting on norms legitimate in their own eyes, children functioning "nonestrangedly," and children…

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of a 3-year Expressive Arts Outreach project at Western Illinois University to integrate and replicate the Expressive Arts (EA) model based on developmentally appropriate experiences in the expressive arts, with an emphasis on visual arts, into early childhood programs for children (ages 3-8)…

Offers practical advice for teaching art in early childhood classrooms. Encourages respect for children's individual artistic style. Discusses paints and markers, blocks, fingerpaints, bubbles, collages, and other art materials. Includes recipes for fingerpaint. (GH)

This paper describes the organization, Artists Call, as well as several slides shown during the presentation to illustrate "visual solidarity" between artists of the United States and Central America. In 1983, artists in 27 U.S. cities as well as Paris and Mexico City organized Artists Call against U.S. Intervention in Central America.…

Describes how the author, influenced by Celtic, Trajan, and contemporary alphabets, created his own alphabet. Discusses the developmental drawing process, color determinations, and how he created his final large scale letter forms in plywood. Outlines how students can adopt these ideas to develop their own alphabet. (KM)

Outlines the life of Henri Matisse and how he created his paper cut-outs, which were reproduced in a book. Discusses the importance of artists' books. Suggests some creative activities for all grades in book making and paper cut-outs that could be worked in conjunction with a language arts program. (KM)