Drawing instruction in Ghanaian high school art education traditionally emphasizes observational and technical skills grounded in realism. However, contemporary drawing has evolved to prioritize innovative techniques, conceptual thinking, and process-oriented approaches. This phenomenological study aimed to understand Bolgatanga high school…

Two artist-educators analyzed their creative process informed by John Dewey's concepts regarding the act of expression. The essay interweaves a description of their performance piece with a discussion of conceptual processes, including intermediality and collaboration as crucial in art making, learning, and pedagogical efficacy. Both the creation…

We evaluated changes in positive and negative affect of grieving children in response to art making compared to another noncreative, non-expressive, but engaging visuospatial task and assessed whether art making was equally or differentially effective in individual versus collaborative settings. We randomly assigned grieving children to one of…

The purpose of this theoretical article is to provide an extended definition of creativity that embraces potential cross-cultural variations in this construct. Creativity is defined as a 4-criterion construct, which includes attributes of novelty, utility, aesthetics, and authenticity. Novelty attribute stipulates that a creative work brings…

The importance of critical reflection in higher education highlights the importance of creating rich learning opportunities for students. Expressive arts (e.g., poetry, drama) ignites such opportunity drawing from more than students' logical-cognitive understandings to include students' creative, multi-modal and experiential capacities. This paper…

Data gathered by the United Nations show that in modern warfare civilians make up the majority of casualties, most of them are children and women. Children affected by war can experience both physical and psychological problems. This can damage their own sense of purpose and identity which can lead to difficulties in the way they see and relate to…

Early thinking in the modern era often regarded creativity as a somewhat asocial means of individual expression, self-realization, and self-fulfillment. However, it also is a socially influenced phenomenon that serves society. A social approach offers the opportunity of distinguishing between large and small amounts of novelty, as well as between…

Poses several questions about some of the factors that contribute to creativity in humans. Provides a variety of possible psychological, cultural, and biological reasons for creative discoveries. Offers testimonies by several renowned artists, scientists, and psychologists. (TW)

Describes how Zen and the art of pottery expand into a Great Tradition where the potter dreams his forms in a realm of imagination between sense and mind. Explains how decoration plays a vital role connecting art and our life-world. Outlines how students need a decade to reach this spiritual level. (KM)

Explores the creative development, motivation, and process of untrained artist Marilyn McKeon. Her explanations suggest that her artmaking is the result of a need for self-expression, self-understanding, and self-healing, notions that are consistent with the theories of Hans Prinzhorn (1922) that the creative process is fundamental to all humans.…

Highlights "Celebrating the Creative Spirit," a traveling exhibition featuring the work of 25 furniture-makers from nine southern states who use furniture as a means of personal artistic expression. Provides background on five different artists and an example artwork from each. (CMK)

Identifies three developmental stages in children's use of art materials: exploration, intuitive design, and intended design. Discusses the importance of and reasons for fostering the creative processes in young children. (ED)

The relationship between art and mental illness is examined in the untrained "outsider artist," one whose style, though highly idiosyncratic, conforms to certain formal criteria and is usually initiated at a time of intense psychic crisis. Photographs and discussions of the paintings and sculptures of psychotic artists are presented. (JW)