This article presents how many animals, like human beings, are also capable of painting, sketching, and displaying remarkable abilities. An example of these kind of animals are the "artists" Koko and Michael, gorillas who have been taught the Gorilla Sign Language or GSL as part of an ongoing project run by the Gorilla Foundation. This article…

Formalists believe that the aesthetic appreciation of an artwork generally involves an attentive awareness of its sensory or perceptual qualities and does not require knowledge about its nonperceptual properties. Criticisms of classical formalist views, such as that of Clive Bell, are well known. However, a number of philosophers have recently…

Using exercises based on the stacked mattresses image from the tale of "The Princess and the Pea," combined with Ecker and Kaelin's Aesthetic Inquiry ladder schematic, will help art educators schematize their thinking and talking about art in the classroom. Whether by selecting phenomenology or another philosophical method for navigating…

Updating the 1920s notion of Anthropophagy developed to symbolize through cannibalistic ritual the process of cultural assimilation that influences art, this article examines issues of naming, describing, and representing contemporary Brazilian art. In the first part of the article, the work of four contemporary Brazilian artists recently…

John Dewey's aesthetic has been invoked in recent discussions because many have realized that it resists the pull toward conceptualism that characterizes a great deal of aesthetic theory. Further, Art as Experience--Dewey's chief work on the philosophy of art--is rich with ideas that call for development. Richard Shusterman's work does just this…

Summarizes K. Burke's dialogic theories and exemplifies how they describe not only Edward Burne-Jones's interpretations of his paintings, but also his painted interpretations of poetry. Discusses how Burke's epistemology of interpretive practice contributes to the discipline of poetry therapy. (SG)

Introduces this issue of the journal, which is devoted to new perspectives on critical histories of graphic design. Notes that the essays in this issue offer examples of the variety of interpretative approaches available that serve to question both the previously unchallenged acceptance of historical explanations and the transcendent understanding…

Argues that the practice and influence of design history can benefit from new forms of visual and chronological analysis. Identifies and discusses a unique phenomenon, the "historical visual narrative." Examines special instances of this phenomenon in twentieth-century design and visual culture, which are tied to the theme of the…

Examines British fanzines as one form of subcultural communication that embraces specific visual and textual languages, often appropriating elements from mainstream cultural and media sources. Charts the growth of fanzine production over the last 20 years and analyzes the productive effects of fanzines on both the audiences they address and the…

In this article, the author focuses on Esther Parada's non-traditional use of the Web to communicate her art, and offers a critique of Parada's work, "Transplant: A Tale of Three Continents," and suggestions for critiquing Web art in the school classroom. Parada creates an intersection between this new medium and the more traditional medium of…

In this article, the author focuses on the essential practices in guiding student dialogue about works of art. He offers ways to improve the quantity and quality of students' discussions about art, both the art that they make and that of professional artists. The article is informed by research into what philosophers of art and literature have…

This essay sketches out the reasons for Clement Greenberg's influence and the relationship between his reception as a critic and the emergence of art criticism as a "discipline," a phenomenon that corresponds, as Amy Newman observes, with the early history of "Artforum". But it is much more than mere "correspondence." This essay also suggests,…

This article explores the way young people's responses to an image evolve when they engage with it repeatedly. An analysis of the sequential encounters of six adolescents with a Renaissance painting reveals that, as they gained experience with the picture, the youngsters probed for increasingly deeper layers of meaning in the work. Specifically,…

This article advocates an approach for teaching critical and contextual studies in secondary art education based on Wittgenstein's philosophy of language in relationship to meaning as use, custom, rule following, and physiognomy. The references to meaning form four metaphorical points on a compass for directing the will for making judgments about…

This volume offers strategies for getting K-12 students to examine and discuss the works of art they and others make. Using the traditional college-level critique as a preliminary model, approaches for engaging younger learners in critical discussions are presented. A sampler of critiques offers a range of practical ideas and activities for…