The merger of art schools into academic institutions and the consequent proliferation of higher degree courses in the visual arts has created pressure for these courses to justify that their research content 'measures up' to more traditional research practices. This study aimed to identify the parameters for PhD examination and research practices…

A friendship fence is a wonderful alternative to the standard mural. It provides a fantastic opportunity for children to help design a creative learning environment. In this article, the author describes an art project that involves creating a friendship fence. The author relates that she began introducing her students to Ndebele beadwork dolls…

This article presents a theoretical and methodological framework for interactive dialogue and analysis of dream images in existential art therapy. In this phenomenological-existential approach, the client and art therapist are regarded as equal partners with respect to sharing in the process of creation and discovery of meaning (Frankl, 1955,…

The "Hong Kong Visual Arts Curriculum Guide," covering Primary 1 to Secondary 3 grades (Curriculum Development Committee, 2003), points to three domains of learning in visual arts: (1) visual arts knowledge; (2) visual arts appreciation and criticism; and (3) visual arts making. The "Guide" suggests learning should develop…

The Impossible Figures Task (IFT-28), which consisted of 28 possible and impossible figures assembled for brief exposure and recognition, was completed by 297 Hong Kong Chinese gifted students. Expert judges (N = 2) rated these students' drawing abilities based on their performance on 2 drawing tasks adapted from Clark's Drawing Abilities Test…

Like many contemporary Indigenous artists in the United States, Flathead artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith seeks to clarify existing relationships among race, place, and economics as well as to create new relationships. In particular, she and her peers combine image and text to interrogate the genre of landscape painting as a stage for fantasies of…

The article presents the rationale, methodology, and selected outcomes from "More than a body's work," a collaborative, international, arts educational interactive research project. The project, taking place in both New York and England, explored the ways in which young people construct and "perform" identity through the…

Generative thinking is explored in this article by chronicling the development of middle school English language learners' poetry writing through their interaction with visual art. The author explains how art conversations (Reilly & Cohen, 2008) were used to help students engage in dialogue about the topic of journeys and how students' paintings…

Previous work applying cognitive load theory has demonstrated the effect of various text/graphic/narration relations on learning using multimedia material. Other work has looked at how the degree of integration between the text and graphics influences their use. This study set out to look at how the degree of integration between text and graphics…

In this article the author describes a project in which professors and preservice art educators from Northern Illinois University (NIU) collaborated with teens and members of the DeKalb Latino local community center to create a mural celebrating a traditional Aztec narrative. The mural project involved professors, university students, teenagers…

The Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS) is a measurement system for applying numbers to global variables in two-dimensional art (drawing and painting). While it was originally developed for use with the single-picture assessment ("Draw a person picking an apple from a tree" [PPAT]), researchers can also apply many of the 14 scales of the…

Today with teacher cutbacks looming, and more integration units, general teachers might be required to teach the visual arts. Therefore, teachers need a clear definition of the discipline of art and personal exposure to aesthetic experiences. Many references are made to classic art education research. When lesson plan formats are generic it…

Growth in painting ability is dependent on frequent painting experiences, on thoughtful motivation, and on proper guidance and evaluation of progress. This guide includes materials and equipment, motivation, guidance procedures, activities, and evaluation for each grade level. A working space with materials and equipment in the classroom needs to…