Since the summer of 2006, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, has invited secondary students to participate in their summer SEED program on campus. The program was developed by the Dean of the School of Architecture and the Chair of the Art + Art History Department. SEED (Strategies, Events, Episodes +…

In this article, the authors report on usage of 21st-century technology, and a collaborative project that allowed middle school art students and preservice teachers to share their artwork and receive feedback in a constructivist learning environment. Middle school students often deal with issues such as bullying, divorce, and depression; they can…

For this Instructional Resource, the author interviewed contemporary sculptor Michael Beitz, who uses art to explore the role of designed objects in human communication and emotional experience. This column was written in response to calls for using Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas (National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, 2013; Stewart &…

This article describes how High School Visual Arts Teacher Jethro Gillespie built a portable art gallery for his students--essentially an 8-foot cube made from plywood and lightweight boards that can be assembled with bolts and taken apart in sections. The ceiling pieces of the gallery have track lights, the interior walls have been painted gray,…

Interior design is seldom integrated within the general art education curriculum because the subject matter is generally segregated as a commercial art. However, the importance of interior design concepts of sustainability in art education can really help a student understand the scale and proportion of space and mass, and how sustainability is…

A primary goal of substantive art education is to communicate visually--to decipher art for meaning and to construct meaning through images and objects. Strategies available to engage students are the interdisciplinary activities found in performance, visual and written forms of creative expression, and related disciplines such as ethnography,…

In the first section of this article, teacher Sarah Cress discusses the over-powering reality among younger generations who have been born into the social networking domain--little difference is seen between real-world identity and online identity. She suggests it is therefore crucial that more consideration be placed when taking into account how…

Graffiti artist Sentrock sees his graffiti as a selfless act, a way of giving back to the community--when done legally--and inspires a group of middle school students. This is a case study of an artist and educator who teaches about graffiti art in public schools. He is unique in that he delineates between graffiti art and vandalism, and teaches…

What's funny about art--and why should art educators care? Art historians, critics, and artists are now taking a closer look at art that generates a laugh. This has particular relevance for art educators who seek to direct student engagement in new and exciting areas and embrace artworks that generally fall outside of the art school…

A time-honored and pervasive tradition has taken root in art classrooms. It goes like this: The art teacher plans experiences, often called "visual problems" (Vieth, 1999, p. 4), for pupils to execute. Students are then encouraged to "solve" these problems in their own way, but the end result, more often than not, is…

Teachers want to capitalize on their students' desire to to be virtually connected outside of the classroom and part of a participatory dialog shared with others interested in art and teaching. Blogging offers a way for students to connect with each other and maintain that connection across the miles of cornfields, wind-swept prairies,…

The ecological realities of many communities are desperate but not determined. As teachers inevitably encounter these realities in their communities, they can respond by activating students' imaginations to conceive of better alternatives. Greene (1995) outlined how the imagination has the power to envision alternative realities and better…

In this article, John Derby examines "The Colbert Report" as a complex visual culture phenomenon that is highly relevant to young art learners, and offers curricular strategies that build on the show's Web content (www.colbertnation.com). As media studies scholar Baym (2010) has argued, "The Colbert Report" represents a…

This article describes a series of public space projects based on the contemporary practice of interventionist artists who seek to creatively transform spaces and disrupt the ritual of the everyday. Two of the four public space projects were planned for school spaces: (1) a mock marathon during class transitions ("Monthly Meeting Marathon"); and…

Diana Al-Hadid's sculptures reflect the many locations, cultures, histories, and mythologies that have shaped her as an artist. In large-scale works which have the appearance of architectural ruins, Al-Hadid employs imagery drawn from many diverse interests including science and technology, history, and literature. She also incorporates images and…