My philosophy of art education can be summarized by presenting six big ideas:

1. EACH OF US HAS A POTENTIAL ARTIST WITHIN;

I chose this image of Akiko, a fifth grader painting an imaginary shore bird in an imaginary environment, because the gesture shows Akiko’s enthusiastic involvement. The photograph shows the artist within is alive and well as Akiko paints her beautiful vision. The painting project was part of an interdisciplinary project in which art and the fifth grade science unit on ecosystems were integrated. I describe this project called The Arlington Reservoir Art Project in depth later in this essay.

2. DEVELOPING AS AN ARTIST INVOLVES GIVING VOICE TO THE ARTIST WITHIN;

The playful exchange at left shows the warmth of community which encourages the emergence of each child’s voice. The Kids’ Art Workshop became “A School Arts Community” within the mainstream school culture. The “School Arts Community” included many parents who were artists. The parent at left is a professional animator who shared his work with the students. Like many volunteers, he participated in the art program for several years. The art-rich environment that evolved encouraged students to absorb the language of art in the context of a caring community.

3. ARTISTS' VOICES EMERGE WITHIN A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL COMMUNITY THROUGH DIALOGUE;

In this photograph, David, a second grader, describes a drawing to classmates. It is important for artists to produce images and to discuss them in order to gain feedback and to clarify ideas. Students learned how to do this by listening to artists in the community show and talk about their own artwork. They also learned to talk about art by discussing artwork in progress with the artists who volunteered in the art room. We developed a sketchbook component of the Kids’ Art Workshop in which students developed ideas, presented them to the class, and elicited responses in order to internalize a sense of audience. In this way, students began to use the language of art in effective ways because they developed insight into how others interpreted the imagery they presented.

4. CHILDREN NEED OPPORTUNITIES TO DEVELOP VOICES WITHIN A COMMUNITY AND THROUGH SHARING;

In this photograph, a local artist conducts an interactive demonstration with some students while other students observe and comment. The picture shows how sharing and dialogue enhance the development of skills in the use of methods and materials. I enlisted the help of this artist to establish a connection with the local art center. This artist is the Director of Education at the Arlington Center for the Arts. She worked with us for five years.

5. SCHOOL COMMUNITIES BECOME RICHER ENVIRONMENTS FOR DEVELOPING CREATIVITY WHEN ARTISTS, PARENTS, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS FROM DIVERSE CULTURES PARTICIPATE.

 The parent in this photograph is an artist from Haiti. Here, he helps a kindergartener create three dimensional forms with paper. Through the network of parents participating in the Kids’ Art Workshop, this parent helped develop an annual exhibit of work by artists in the school. Some of these artists showed their work to the students and gave talks about their own artistic development and the art methods they used. In this way, the students became part of a community of artists that included adult artists in the school community. They learned that artists are not only deceased men whose works are considered “masterpieces” but are also the living mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles of friends and neighbors. 

An example is the arlington reservoir art project in which student paintings of birds were used in exhibits promoting the arlington library fund, the menotomy bird club, and the Arlington Reservoir Committee. The Arlington Reservoir Committee produced a “Tour of the Reservoir” for this project that is now available on the Internet for all to use. A PowerPoint  presentation on the relationship between the Arlington Reservoir and the Mystic River Watershed was developed by the Tufts Mystic Watershed Collaborative which is now available for others to use. The display at left is installed in the Stratton School for all to enjoy there.