Steel is an incredibly strong alloy of iron and carbon. Due to its incredible strength and durability, this resilient material is commonly used for constructing buildings. The transitive verb "steeling" is defined in Miriam-Webster dictionary as "to fill with resolution or determination, as in, she 'steeled herself to face the…

This Instructional Resource relates the experiences of Native American artist Neal Ambrose-Smith, who views himself not only as an artist with a studio practice, but also as an "Arts Worker" who pursues learning new knowledge with his arts-related jobs. Painting, sculpting, and printmaking are only three areas of his studio practice. He…

In this visual essay, NAEA Women's Caucus members gather at the National Convention to create collages in an effort to brainstorm ways to end violence. The mission of the Women's Caucus of the National Art Education Association is a clear call for equity between men and women and a call for social justice in general. Discriminatory…

This article addresses concerns with museum spaces set aside for children to make interactive art, unconnected to the museum experience upstairs. Can the fun and excitement children have in making and exploring art through direct experiences in these alternative spaces take place in front of the works in the collection? The attraction of…

This article describes a studio assignment grounded in social learning theory and intersectionality completed by preservice teachers during their first art education class, enabling students to begin to develop nuanced understandings about categories of difference. A studio assignment combines experiences in museum, community, and school settings…

This article describes how art teachers can work toward changing the power dynamics in their classrooms by using a student centered approach, as demonstrated by an example lesson about contemporary painter Kehinde Wiley. As the class unpacked the idea of power prevalent in Wiley's portraits, the students gave relevant examples of how power…

Continuing the traditions of the avant-garde, contemporary artists often question notions of originality through the practice of appropriation and repurposing familiar or loaded symbols and signs (Barrett, 2011). This Instructional Resource focuses on three aspects of artistic practice: improvisation as a way of emphasizing a process-driven…

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,…

What does an introduction to and engagement in performance art offer K-12 students? In this article, we respond to this question by proposing a lesson inspired by the artmaking practices of the contemporary artist Erwin Wurm. Performance art can be defined as any form of work that combines the artist's body and a live-action event with or…

Each semester, preservice elementary generalist teachers navigate to and through the multiple sections of our art methods courses. These elementary education majors bring concerns relating to dominant education discourse such as high stakes testing and accountability measures that relate to how they will be evaluated as future teachers. Often,…

Salazar is drawing from observational research and survey data in order to propose her Five Pedagogical Ideals. Salazar suggests that potent theories might be extracted from current practices, informing theories that are yet-to-be. In this article, Salazar has attempted to summarize a significant amount of theory and practice so that readers,…

In this article, Leake is arguing for the relevance of contemporary art as a way to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the spaces of art education. Graeme Sullivan develops a similar argument in his "Studies" article, "The Art of Research." Where Leake looks to possibilities for contemporary art as it is presented in…

National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) Writing Team member Marilyn G. Stewart discusses what to expect from the new "next generation" Visual Arts Standards, detailing the 4 Artistic Processes and 15 Enduring Understandings. This invited essay addresses the instructional aspects of the standards, and looks at how they can help…

In the "Studies" article "Multiple Interruptions: Creative Encounters in Public Art and Public Pedagogy, A North--South Dialogue," Danny Wildemeersch and Astrid von Kotze write about the productive force of blurring institutional boundaries. They state: "As we negotiated our different relations of engagement with theory…

Pfeiler-Wunder and Tomel are exploring the spaces that exist within and between their art educational practices in this article, questioning: "Who this is about?" Mira Kallio-Tavin presents a similar questioning in her "Studies" commentary, "Impossible Practice and Theories of the Impossible: A Response to Helene…