Porter 1Ashley Porter Lea Lackey-ZachmannEDU 39630 November 2006Philosophy of Art EducationArt education has proven to be beneficial and even necessary to every student’s education. The incorporation of art into classrooms enhances and reinforces the academiclessons learned. Visual art caters to numerous learning styles and therefore, is an effectivetool for students of any age, learning ability, and academic area. Students should leave an art classroom with an understanding of and an appreciation for the fundamental and visual elements of art. They should also see how art surrounds them daily in the most basic and broad areas of life. I plan to conduct my art classroom in a structured manner that is well rounded, focusing on art production, history, aesthetics, and criticism, retaining a foundation in the elements and principles of design, and with subject matter that relates to the students’ lives and environments. One of the biggest benefits of art education is the provision of different learning styles for student development. Whether a child experiences visual arts through integration in their core academic classes or in a fully art-based class, exposure to the artssatisfies varying learning techniques of students. Teachers often base their classes around lectures; therefore, the main learning style used is through audible means. There is a needfor attention to the multiple intelligences of children and the various ways in which they retain and understand information. Elliot Eisner made a call for such learning during the mid 1900s. The most obvious provision of art education is visual learning. When studentsPorter 2create art and are exposed to art work by others they have another element to reinforce their cognitive (linguistic and logical) learning. For example, if a student is learning about the culture of a country in a history class creating visuals of maps, customs, clothing, and so on, will help students to remember the lessons learned. By creating art students get the hands-on experience which is so important to tactile and kinesthetic learners. A well conducted art classroom also develops intra- and interpersonal skills as well as linguistic skills where students become more aware of themselves and the world around them. Teachers should create an art curriculum that emphasizes an awareness of self, one’s feelings, their reaction to their experiences and surroundings, as well as how torelate to and understand other individuals and cultures. Students will have opportunities to talk and write about their knowledge of self and others, thus developing the linguistic skills. By creating a program that hits on all these areas, all students, no matter their learning style, have a way to learn and create through artistic means. ("Elliot W. Eisner, connoisseurship, criticism and the art of education")Elliot Eisner was a part of the Getty Foundation and the beginnings of DBAE (Disciplined Based Art Education). Eisner said that art should not be solely based on emotions but rather on the cognitive elements of learning. Eisner (and in turn DBAE) callfor four areas of art education: art history, art production, aesthetics, and criticism. This style of teaching has been very influential in my own philosophy of art education. To gaina full understanding and appreciation of the art world students need to become aware of the background of art, the movements, styles, and artists of the past and present. I feel as if the aspect of art history should be presented to students from a young age. Art production will be the main area of an art classroom. Students should have exposure toPorter 3many different art mediums and subjects. They should be trained in how to use different tools and materials to produce art work of their own. Art projects should cause students tothink creatively and not just be “cookie-cutter” type assignments (Santa Clause for Christmas, turkeys for Thanksgiving, etc.) Also, students should not simply replicate works of other famous artists or of other pictures or photography. At times those techniques are necessary and efficient to teach a good lesson, however, students need to learn from observation. They also need to learn how to think creatively and develop their own subject matter in their artwork. The environment of a studio classroom should make students feel secure in their own work and not as if they are constantly being compared toothers or judged on their finished product. As a partner to art production, art criticism teaches students how to evaluate and communicate the formal and visual elements of a piece of work. Students need to be able to break down a piece of work into the elements and principles of design. They should also be able to verbalize their personal thoughts about the aesthetic appeal of an artwork. Finally, an effective art classroom will help students to develop aesthetic perception and style. Students should become aware of whatappeals to them visually and what they find pleasing. Along with that knowledge, students should be able to back up their opinions with solid reasoning. (More than just, “It looks pretty.”) I am not a complete advocate of the DBAE system as I do not necessarily believe art should be the basis of all academic classes. However, I do think it is very important to incorporate these four areas into an art classroom and that art, to some degree, should be integrated into other academic subjects. ("Elliot W. Eisner, connoisseurship, criticism and the art of education")Porter 4A final argument that Eisner had concerning art education was that there is a need for more structure and direction in art programs. He said that when students are given no specific instruction in hopes that their creativity might flow the opposite often happens. Ifstudents are left with no specific goals they will have no meaningful products. Students also tend to feel frustrated and overwhelmed if they are not given some direction on how to go about producing art. I feel as if you should give specific goals and direction for assignments rather than just presenting students with materials to do with as they please (which is what Eisner opposed). Room should be left for creativity but do not leave a project so open ended that students will have no guidance for what to produce. I feel that as students get older their can be more room for personal interpretation and more opportunity to propose projects of their own. However, younger