1. History and Philosophy of Art Education
A Basic Philosophy of Education
Major Goals of Art Education
Understanding the Artistic Heritage
Understanding the Role of Art in Society

2. Introduction
 This chapter summarizes the ways of understanding the
nature of art and the translation of ideas into a curriculum
framework of art education
 A curriculum is a written statement outlining educational
goals and the means of achieving them
 It is designed to present a philosophy of art education,
goals for instruction and content to be included in the
program
 In principle, a curriculum is a document that can be
examined by anyone who wants to know what is being
taught and why.

3. A Basic Philosophy of Education
The three major functions of general education are
To develop each child’s ability to find personal fulfillment in life
To transmit the cultural heritage
To extend the social consciousness of children and youth
 The purpose of art education coincide with the broader
responsibilities of general education.
 School art programs facilitate the child’s quest for personal fulfillment
through art experiences based on child’s immediate life and world.
 Studies of the artistic heritage provide children with a knowledge of
art as a significant form of human achievement

4.  The child’s encounter with art should be personally
meaningful, authentic as “art”, and relevant to life.
 The awareness of the role of art in society is essential
if children are to make informed aesthetic decisions
about their environment
 Children experiences in school should inspire and
enable them to continue their own education into
adulthood.
 And the educational goals of an art program should
nurture those behaviors most essential to independent
lifelong learning in art.
 Goals of art education focus on
 ‘learning to learn about art and through art’

5. Major Goals of Art Education
 Art makes sense to children when they experience it
as a basic form of expression and as a response to
life. Two modes of experience…

6. Personal
Fulfillment
through Art
In order to find personal
fulfillment through art, children
need to learn how their lives
can be enriched by their own
efforts to create art and
respond to visual forms.
Children enjoy manipulating
art materials, even without
guidance they may produce
works that have expressive
power.
Title: "Ariel"
Medium: Magic marker and Crayon
Artist: Hannah
Age: 4
Title: "Darth Vader"
Medium: Magic marker
Artist: Jeffrey
Age: 5
Title: "Hairy MacLarry"
Medium: Magic marker
Artist: Sarah
Age: 9
Grade: 3

7. Personal Fulfillment through Art
 Nevertheless, mere activity and
chances success are poor measure
of learning.
 If “one picture is worth a thousand
words,” one truly creative
experience in art is worth a
thousand ‘aimless’ experiments with
art media.
 Although we may experience
personal pride and the surge of
inner strength that come from
shaping forms that express
something about ourselves,
genuine self-expression is not easy.
 Art has the potential for making
feelings and ideas vivid; but to
function expressively, an art form
must be created so that it captures
the precise feeling and imagery of
our experience.

8.  Few children are natural artists that they can easily
express themselves without a supportive environment
 In order to achieve personal fulfillment through creating
art, children need sensitive adult guidance in mastering
the following moves in artistic process:
The creation of ideas for
personal expression
The discovery of visual qualities
to express ideas and feelings
The use of media to convey
an expressive intent

9. Understanding the artistic heritage
 The artistic heritage is a significant part of the
general cultural heritage
 It includes the work of;
artists architects designers
Craft
workers
 As well as the contributions of people who preserve
and interpret works of art such as
collectors curators scholars teachers

10.  No part of the artistic heritage can have personal meaning for
children unless it connects with their own lives.
 The connecting links can be made when we realize that children and
adult artists confront many of the same problems in trying to achieve
expression in visual form.
In creating art forms…

11.  Children can also study the artistic heritage from the
viewpoint of people who have developed special skills in
responding to art.
 Scholars, teachers, collectors, and curators of art give us
insight into the process of perceiving art, interpreting its
meaning and judging its significance.
 Acquainted with the way experts use their skills, children
can begin to appreciate that full response to art is a
creative and problem-solving activity not only for
themselves but also for experts.
 Educational goals are;
 Learning how experts perceive and describe art,
 how they examine works of art
 And how they judge works of art

12. Understanding the Role of Art in Society
 A society or culture is identified, in part, by the visual art form it
creates.
 Children can and should become aware of visual forms as powerful
means of social expression, not only in our society but in other
cultures as well.
 Goals for this aspect of art education are single, narrow concept of
art, art programs should offer avenues of study that encourage
children to probe various ways that art can challenge and reward
human spirit
In other words, approaches to study should
reflect not only different concepts of art within
Western culture but also cross-cultural
concept drawn from anthropology.

13. A Curriculum
Framework
for Art
Education
The following curriculum framework
illustrates the approaches to study.
Expression in Art
INCEPTION OF IDEAS FOR ART:
In teaching art to children, we should
note similarities among children's own
experiences as a source of artistic
inspiration, the sources that artists
draw on for inspiration, and the
genesis of art forms in social life
GOAL: Learning to generate ideas
for expression through art