The Usefulness of Art in Education PDF

THE USEFULNESS OF ART IN EDUCATION IN AND OUT OF THE CLASSROOM Patricia Faith Goldblatt A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education Graduate D...

THE USEFULNESS OF ART IN EDUCATION IN AND OUT OF THE CLASSROOM Patricia Faith Goldblatt A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education Graduate Department of Education University of Toronto Q Copyright by Patricia Faith Goldblatt 1996 THE USEFULNESS OF ART IN EDUCATION IN AM) OUT OF THE CLASSROOM 1*1 National Library of Canada Bibliothbque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services sewices bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A O N 4 Ottawa ON K I A O N 4 Canada Canada Your hb Vorre rdldmnw Our h& Noire riWfence The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde me licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, preter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts &om it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent Stre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation.  Doctor of Education 1 996 Patricia Faith Goldblatt Graduate Departmen of Education University of Toronto ABSTRACT This thesis examines the role of a n from many perspectives, pioposing an argument for its value as an educational tool. I begin by presenting John Dewey's concept of "experience" which is at the heart of his philosophy. His ideas of anti-racist, interactive, co-operative learning by doing and reflection anticipate Elliot Eisner's programs of DBAE (Discipline-Based Art Education), school as a place for opportunities, qualitative insights into education that mirror techniques used in art. Howard Gardner's concept of Multiple Intelligences, with an emphasis on practical, "intelligence-fair" assessment as developed and evaluated in his Key School, Spectrum, and ARTSpropel program, continue Dewey's theories into present day. From the theorists, I move to the world outside the classroom to point out the many uses art has had as criticism and self-expression over the years: from Goya to Judy Chicago to the contemporary artists, Conwill, DePace and Majozo. The need for authentic voices representative of society has prompted schools to realise that multicultural education, although problematic to implement in the curriculum, is a reality that must be faced. I present art as an applicable entry into that area, whether educators employ an "issues" or "themes" approach. I continue with discussion of school programs that have successfidly used art as core, criticising one approach that again relegates art to the position of being a handmaiden to other subjects. My own drawings, created in storybook format, and piqued by courses taught at ONE, explore frames, DBAE, imagination and hope for the hture, are included. Through my discussions of many places ii and people in this thesis, I amve at a definition of art and reinforce the validity of an arts approach to curricula through specific reference to quantitative studies. As well. I direct the reader to traditional, metacognitive, and hidden curricular proof that supports the qualitative benefits. I conclude as I began with my own journey, one laden with metaphors, poets and personal experience that has informed my work as an action researcher. iii  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS T.S.Eliot once wrote, We shall not cease fiom exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. "Little Gidding" Eliot's poetry has been my background music throughout this paper. The rhythm of his words and the insights into the cycles of growth and development have been a constant refrain of comfort and wisdom for me. What I have always loved- the picture and the word- are where I began as a young child. Like two frends, they have accompanied me on all my journeys, providing joy and sustenance on numerous occasions. Poets, I believe, are the clairvoyants of the soul, who can guide us into and during our quests. But this paper is about the poetry of art, not words. And yet, whom should I meet early on in my search, but T.S. Eliot. deployed by Howard Gardner as an exemplary "Multiple Intelligence". One realises that in life nothing is separate: there are no demarcations, "no signposts up ahead that designate and delineate what is and what is not. Life flows, and entwines, and our work is to make meaning of diversity, and understand how the parts fit. Beauty and understanding can unite the disparate, if only we look in a way so that we may see. My interest and delight in art and word as a young girl have never left me, and I hope that I have shared that love with the people in my life. My good Friend, critic, and supporter, Howard (another H.G.-isn't it funny the patterns one encounters in life?) has provoked me on to reveal what iv 1 was really capable of. Our give-and-take verbal tousles have born fruit in many mysterious and surprising ways, always illuminating and educating me. I know that love was the motivation for his interest. My wondefil children, Ariel, Jordan and Erica have been guiding lights so I could revisit and see with the eyes of a child. Sharing their insights- at Allenby French Immersion Classes with Ariel, at the Salvador Dali Museum in Venice with Jordan, or cuddled with The Goo, delighting over illustrated storybooks - has made me richer. Their excitement to contribute idea and comment, as well as their constant support, encouragement and pride in me always reassured me in the wisdom and wealth of childhood. It is for them, all the Ariels, Jordans and Ericas who deserve the breath of art, the intellectual challenges, the expressive output, the pure joy of art that I write this paper- so that other children might understand how art permeates all areas of life.  TABLE OF C O N T E N T S TITLE ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS How Art "Means" in School: The Education Value of Art for Life Early tife The Need for This Study 11. METHODOLOGY Research Techniques Grounded Theory Action Research Reflective Practitioner Logs and Journals Interviews Explanation of Methodology Used The Theoreticians: Theory The World Outside of the Classroom: Practice The Classroom : Practice My Drawings: Personal theory and Practice Implications and Conclusions m. MAJOR INFLUENCES IN ARTS EOUCATlON John Dewey The Theory of Artistic Learning A Religious Beginning Art as Religion How To See Like An Artist Artistic Revelations The Religious Contexts of A n The Many Contexts of Art Art As A Language The Artist's Role in Society Conclusions Application of Theory Barbara Hepworth Experience: From Hepworth's Own Life and Her Creative Processes Experience: Landscape Experience: Artists and Art Experience: Words and People Experience: The Artistic Process Dewey's Relationship and Influence on Dr. Albert Barnes Elliot Eisner Theories of Art and Education The Development of D B A E The Theories of Harry Broudy The Impact of 0 C A B On Schools Elliot Eisner's Views on Art Opportunities for Cognition. Decisions, imagination and Literacy Connoisseurship and Criticism Into the Real World Assessment and Evaluation A Qualitative Approach Conclusion Theories in Practice Art Production Art Criticism Art History Aesthetics The Interaction of D B A E's Topics vii  The Application of Art to All Education How Art Can Be Applied to All Education Some American Schools and Programs Howard Gardner Theories of Artistic Intelligence Multiple Intelligences The Influence Of The Chinese Way Of Schooling Theory in Practice The Schools Spectrum The Key School Arts PROPEL Discussion Reasons To Develop New Tests To Identify Giftedness In Diverse Populations Teacher Stories of Implementation DISCOVER, an Assessment that Grew Out of Multiple Intelligence Theory Conclusion IV. ART IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD ART ISSUES Art as Social Protest The Artists The Artist's Role in Social Change The Dictates Of The Patron As Voiced By The Artist How People Can Take Charge of Their Own Voice An Example Of An Artist's Voice The Voices Of Propaganda How Signiticant Voices Shape Our Times The Rise of The Artist's Own Voice Women's Art Mainly Judy Chicago viii  Art in Advertising The Advertisements Quoting Fine Art The Use Of Artistic Principles More Artistic Principles and Art Tools The Use Of Body ln Advertising Art in Children's Books Artfil Illustrations that Complement Stories Art and Artists as Topics in Children's Books Conclusion V. ART IN SCHOOL THEORY AND PRACTICE Three Case Studies o f Art A Controversial Case Of Art The Mabin School Avenue Road Fine Arts School Pre-School Program Kiddiggers: An Innovative Program Madame Munn's Class How Art Can Aid in Multicultural Studies? What is Multicultural Education? Why Art and How Art? Howard Gardner's Concept Of Multiple Intelligences And Multicultural Education Conclusion I. PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE THE COURSES Seminar: Play, Dranlil & Aris Colloquium In Arts And Education Introduction To Transformative Studies  Art and Education: Planning and Implementation Conclusion VII. IMPLICATIONS OF ARTS 1N THE CURRICULUM How the Study of Arts Benefits All Areas of Life and the Curriculum How Dewey, Eisner and Gardner Envision the Benefits of Arts Education Implementing Art Education Results of Art Studies Expression and Learning in Art The Traditional, Metaphysical and Hidden Curricula Implications and Conclusions VIII. TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF ART What is Art Introduction Drawing Lines The Artist's Integration What Makes Art Exceptional? The Separation And Lntesration Of Art Conclusion LX. PERSONAL INSIGHTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY 37 1 Personal Insights APPENDICES The drawings 1. INTRODUCTION How Art "Means" in School: The Education Value of Art for Life This short section is an expfunatior~behind my thesis. I list the strank that will entwine to become my research and cl'iscussion. It is an introdtc~ionto what willjbilow. This thesis is about an. Framing my discussion is my personal narrative, an essential component of my work. I begin with educational researchers and philosophers, John Dewey, Howard Gardner and Elliot Eisner: they are the backbone of my search and provide the support for my thinking on and about art. I follow with examples of art in many areas of society, in and out of school. I examine art issues that confront society today, from multiculturalism to assessment to mass media. I explore "art" from a number of perspectives, focusing on the various ways in which art is perceived and how art forms part of the fabric of society. 1 examine the development of art critique as both a part of our world and as an educational tool, a way of enabling and encouraging children to feel as well as to see and to express their feelings through a variety of media. This thesis represents my attempt to express the meaning of art to educators, to children, to the public, and most importantly, to myself. It is through art that we strive to achieve not only a new way of seeing, but a new way of teaching, and of course, and a new way of learning. In my personal quest, I present as well my own visual interpretations created as responses to my classes at OISE. My journey inward into my own work and journey outward into art in society are the double strands of my thesis that, in the end, have reaffirmed my belief in the power of art to communicate and express a human's dialogue with the world. 1 Early Life It] this i)itro&tisn. I reject on art 's pivotal role in my ii$k From earliest dnys to the s e brought me here to OISE. present, /present the c o ~ ~ rthat My first painting of memory was an acrobat. He moved gracefblly through the air, not just one daring young man on the flying trapeze, but a series of h i s bodies, hurtling through space.My kindergarten teacher hung it up high on parents' night and told my mother that the concl;jr was quite remarkable for one so young. I can envisage that child's painting, but I wonder now if l am only putting images to words? Why i s it that in days of our life that only a handhl of precious moments emerge from our consciousness?Connelly and Clandinin (1 988) report that we remember those moments that are fraught with emotion. and Jerome Bruner ( 1 990) explains that we remember those times in which we feel embarrassment, excitement or those we think must be justified. Many of my early memories are organized around my art work for exactly those reasons. No doubt my mother was proud of my early endeavours and I shared in her recognition that my artwork displayed for all to see was indeed important. A special night, out past bedtime, walking to the school, hand in hand with an adored parent was a special event transformed into magic by the praise of my teacher. There was a red leatherette nook in the kitchen at my first house, a friend named Alice with whom I shared a blanket Saturday mornings to listen to "The Teddy Bears' Picnic", but they were minor reminiscences in comparison to that night at Ledbuly Park School.  3 Most writers discuss their childhood as the golden time of their life, and Eva Hofhan in Lost in Translation (1989) has even entitled her early years before leaving Poland as "paradise". The security of childhood is bound up with the smells-even if it is Campbell's soup-, the sounds, the tastes and the sights that are familiar and warming to the child's senses. I do not know if I was encouraged to draw and paint when I was young. No doubt I was- since my parents knew about the theories of Gesell and Piaget fiom my aunt and uncle, a musician turned school teacher. However, when 1 was older my parents referred to my doodling as "muckapucka" and it connoted a useless activity. Now I can see the connection between my messy entwined lines and my father's endless search for the perfect electrical circuit as he ceaselessly covered empty cakeboxes with his pencil sketches. I think he would have rejected this comparison. expounding that his drawings had a purpose whereas mine went nowhere. And yet at his shiva after his fheral, a medical professor noted that both my father and I worked in symbolic languages. When we moved From our first house, I was thrust into a new school with a witchlike teacher who raked my hair with her sharp nails. We were, one day, to make leaf people. For some reason, I was unable to follow directions. actually a trait I still possess. Miss Young was moving 60m desk to desk, checking on the students' progress, and I froze in horror because I knew that soon she would swoop down on me. Behind me sat Michael Cooper, an expert on creating perfectly formed leaves fiom scraps of green paper. Deftly he cut and combined, producing for the shivering girl that I was, a perfect leafinan. Years later, I ran into Michael Cooper in an American Express Office in Denmark and 1thanked him for his help in Grade one an class. He smiled. no doubt thinking 1 was quite mad. But as Bruner has said, this was a memoty driven by  4 my embarrassment, my inability to perform the task, a task in a area that I had been praised in. My grade three teacher, a Mrs.Jean Trott, was more encouraging to all the budding writers and artists in the class. We made THE BIG BOOK of stories and illustrated them. Mine was chosen to be read in the auditorium on Friday morning. I had written the story about a curious monkey who mistook the cherries on a lady's hat for the real thing and so he ascended to her head to taste those shiny red berries precariously poised on her hat. A feeling of fulfilment perhaps, a feeling of pride I must have had that day because my story was worthy of being shared with an entire auditorium full of squirming grade ones, twos, threes. I suppose 1 must have exhibited some talent for my mother enrolled me in an afternoon an program and 1 attended every Thursday after school. Not instructed but allowed to interpret the theme as we desired, 1 painted Jack and Jill in their journey up the hill. Again this depiction earned me the right to be exhibited in a small a n show. And do I remember this memory- first, because of the pride I felt in my art work, and second. the horror I felt because I knew a hideous little boy was waiting for me at the end of each class. These early memories stand out in a way that no others do. I don't know if l progressed in my early artistic talent, for there was no formal art instruction at Forest Hill Collegiate. Howard Gardner states that there are important times in a child's life when skills are needed if they are to feel validated in their pursuit of art (1982). Like Prufiock, we oAen stand at the edge, ready but fearfid of falling unless we are thrown a lifeline. With no formal training to speak of, the reinforcement needed to continue with my art perhaps sublimated into that "muckapucka". I copied beautiful ladies from magazines and I continued to doodle.  5 Somewhere in the jumble of time, I do recall my father going down to Loomis and Toles on Richmond Street to buy me a book of nudes. This was no mean feat since he would have had to somehow carry a large volume under his arm, while making his way on crutches back to his car. Since the book contained drawings of naked women, I assume I must have been considered old enough to contemplate the naked form. Forest Hill Collegiate attempted to produce as many fbture doctors and scientists as possible. Maths and sciences were known as the important subjects, and art not worthy of instruction. My art activity had become a dribble, a mindless activity while I chatted on the phone. This was 1963- 1966. Ironically, I returned in 1971 to teach Art and English at Forest Hill. Apparently someone had finally decided that art deserved a spot in the curriculum. However, my interest in art was again fed by an aunt and uncle, and in 1966 they took me to Europe. My aunt fancied herself an authority on many issues and her knowledge and excitement, as she talked nonstop for literally hours, on a n and books made me feel favoured because she spent undivided time, educating me about what she considered important in life. My special visits were conducted in her comfortable home on Forest Hill Road. There was always English tea, a perfectly laid table with exquisite flowers and a spectacular desert. One of my cousins described my eccentric aunt as "Miss Haversham", for piles of newspapers and magazines lined the walls of her library and living room. When we toured Europe, we had a private car and guide for the many major galleries sculpture parks in Amsterdam, Norway, Copenhagen and London. My thirst for art was renewed by the exposure to incredible original works of art. I felt caught in a whirl of beauty, breathless from seeing and experiencing such mastery, such depth of emotion. And I felt special to be singled out for the gift of my aunt's time and attention.  6 At University of Toronto, I studied English, but also took Art History classes, and at night 1 drew at Central Tech. At the College of Education, I decided that I would like to teach both Art and English, and every summer that I could I returned to Europe to see the paintings and the sculptures of the Masters. My art classes taught by Peter Mellon at University of Toronto were good sources of background information for my exploration. My trips, paid for by working at two jobs during semester, were constructed on the basis of art galleries and museums: they were the points on my compass, and I was privileged to be at the centre. Here was a girl with no sense of direction, careening through Europe in search of art she could not find at home. During my years teaching in the Jane-Finch corridor, I was fortunate to find mentors in my colleagues. Kathy Oliver (now Butcher), my department head and friend, was a fine artist, always willing to help me. Her infectious excitement about all things connected with art shone in her face. Alan Madter, who was impeccable in his immaculate suits, was an illustrator who encouraged me to apply to York for a second Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art. He would critique my assemblages and paintings that I was preparing in a portfolio for admittance at York. Most tenderly, 1 remember Mr. Francis Crack. our Department head before Kathy. He was a small gnome of a man, gentle and caring. The kids took terrible advantage of him. He was killed when he stopped to help a dog on the 40 1 and was, himself, struck by a car. Mr. Crack used to say ,"You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." During days when I am angry and upset with my students and on the verge of being sarcastic or irrational, I remember his words, and I am calmed by the presence and wisdom of Mr. Crack. The students in Jane-Finch were not an easy lot. When 1 was hired for my position, the principal asked me, with a twinkle in his eye. how did 1 think I could get Grade 10 Tech boys  7 interested in art. "That was easy", I said, "All you have to do is show them Salvador Dali's grotesque paintings of a body tearing itself apart, or Leonardo's inventions." The principal attempted to hide his smirk, no doubt at my naivety. But I was right. Those boys did love those tortured, anguished bodies and amazing machines. And in spite of that very difficult area where youth congregated in malls (they still do), we had students who went on to study art. It was an incredible accomplishment for these students to continue on and we were very, very proud of their achievements. After teaching four years at Westview Centennial in Jane-Finch conidor, I returned to university and found York to be in a state of turmoil, not the blossoming Fine A m centre that it had been described to be. Tim Whiten, Ken Lochhead, Ian Baxter, Joyce Zemans werc some of the talents at the school. At the time. the accepted mode of expression was Abstract Expressionism and I must admit not truly understanding what that style was about. I experimented with cut, coloured and torn paper, but never received any feedback from my professors. Some classes were poised only to paint in that manner of colour juxtaposition. Others were incredibly rigid. For example, in printmaking we were concerned with the techniques of lithography and etching. We were to copy The Masters, and reproduce their wondefil works. In Historical Techniques taught by Barbara Dodge-Bauman, we were again to copy. I ground eggshells, fooled with goldleaf and collected burnt wood to concoct my own charcoal to duplicate the methods of The Greats. I sat in on a figure drawing class where the teacher taught me to crosshatch. There was an an criticism class where Ken Carpenter helped me understand the theories behind Abstract Expressionism and one of our assignments was to interview a real artist. I contacted John Meredith at the Isaacs Galley on Yonge Street. He was working on mandalas and was an artist of  8 some repute in Canadian circles. Unfortunately, he also drank quite a bit and I would return home to hear that "John Meredith had called again." I saw tirsthand how artistic frustration can penetrate and destroy a person's life. As 1 reflect on my art education at York University in 1971, I have a feeling of separateness, that the course subjects did not coalesce. Certainly there was art production, with not much instruction, and yes, there was art criticism, but no real art history or focus on aesthetics, unless you consider Ian Baxter's conceptual art pursuits in the N.E. Thing Company where truly N.E. Thing was considered art. Perhaps he considered himself a latter day Duchamp! In terms of philosophy, Abstract Expressionism was the mode, but not the philosophy that bound the school. Maybe worst of all, York Campus was too far away from the heartbeat of the city where art happened. 1 did the B.F.A. in one year and returned to Forest Hill to teach. With the birth of my children, 1 stayed home, but taught at a summer Fine Arts program where all the arts were integrated. The pupils were ages 3-5 and we tried to use themes to organize their activities. At the same time, my own children attended Lola Weistubb-Rasminsky's Fine Art Kindergarten. Allan Morgan, the children's author, had written stories that were a touchstone for music and art at Lola's school. Paintings were left on easels for entire weeks so that the children lwned that art was something to be worked on, contemplated, critiqued and enjoyed. Art did not wind up in the garbage after several mindless scribbles decorated the surface. Teachers discussed the drawings with the students, affording them respect and treating them as artists. Teachers and children were engaged in co-creating together. Thoughthl and considered criticism bound teacher and student in lively dialogue, with the children often being the more insightful of the two. The children were fully immersed in the creation of wondefil work.  9 Sometimes they collaborated and created works of fantasy; most often they did their art work by themselves. I recall the magic of my children searching for elves in a nearby park and the splendid drawings that resulted from that search. When my children were older, I became involved at my children's school, Allenby; however, I credit Lola's Fine Arts Kindergarten with stimulating and developing my own children's sense of wonder. One of my daughter's collages hangs fiamed in my living room and people mistake it for a famous artist's. My son's desire to read was certainly engendered by a desire to retell Allan Morgan's stories in the privacy of his bedroom by himself In a desire to promote excitement towards an for other children who had not been as fortunate as my own to attend Lola's, I became involved with the Parents Association. I was head of Enrichment. 1 created a file of artists in the community so that any teacher at Allenby could bring a specialist into the classroom to teach art. A small stipend was paid to these visiting artists, usually mothers who were temporarily at home with children. I set up an International Week in which each class selected a country to study and professors, travel agents, writers, cooks, etc. came in to work with the children. The arts were a major focus during the week and it was a great success. A turning point occurred in my life when I began to visit various classes at Allenby school. I would go in and bring works of art by the French Impressionists, tell a little about Paris at that time and about the artists. I' Id talk about the style of painting and then the children would take a scene from their own lives and paint in the style of the Impressionists. I would go from child to child and discuss their art with them. One day the teacher in one Grade three French immersion class began to criticize and tell the students their work was wrong. It was not wrong. I had to keep my mouth shut but I felt I must do something to try and alleviate the dearth of incorrect  10 information the children were receiving. I decided 1 would return to University for a Masters in Art History and then, credentials in hand, go to the Board of Education with a plan to teach and develop art programs at the primary level. I did obtain a Master's Degree, and I did approach the Toronto Board of Education who informed me that there was no money for my plan and that was that. But, while at Allenby, I had observed children doing Art and f was surprised to see how many used cartoons in their work, refusing to draw anything else. I subsequently discovered by reading Howard Gardner's Art, Mind & Brain (1982) that even Gardner's own son manipulated the same Star War characters over and over again in his drawings because he felt comfortable using them to explore new positions and space related arrangements. I had thought that perhaps intimidating teachers had caused the Allenby youngsters to use an accepted and recognisable form to avoid a teacher's rejection of their artistic creations. However, Gardner also explained that there is a "U"shape in the development in children's art, a time when creativity wanes and children require rules in order to feel that their art is satisfactory. This is a time when they would not dream of painting an upside down house or a bird with six legs. He added that if an adolescent is ridiculed by her peers, it is unlikely that he or she will feel confident enough to continue drawing. My own education was growing and I was continually learning more about art through art. Although I had graduated with an A average From University of Toronto's Art History department. I felt rather adrift. I had applied to be a volunteer at the ROM and the AGO, offering suggestions for new programs. They were not interested. I suppose they figured I was another matron with time on my hands. Having been away from the work force makes a woman feel that  11 she cannot compete and that she has little to contribute. I applied to be a supply teacher and was accepted. Through the caprices of the system, 1 had three long term occasional jobs in three years, but at the end of each year, I was told, "Thank you very much, and don't come to the final staff meeting." It was at this point that I decided to apply to OISE. In my QRP, I examined the many problems in the primary art program in The Toronto Board. I used as alternatives, Lola's classes, as well as an outstanding teacher from Allenby Public School, Mme. Sandra Munn who used art in every phase of her grade two and three program. She said, "I do it because it works!" 1 photographed her class that was full of drawings, papier mache. constructions and assemblages all related to New Orleans. The students had studied varieties of architecture, right down to the wrought iron railings that were based on mathematical combinations. I pondered why more teachers did not use the arts to provide excitement in their classes. I was fortunate to be assigned to David Booth at OISE, a twinkling man who makes his students feel they are like the little train who puffs continually up the hill, singing, "I think I can... I think I can..." I was surprised to discover that my responses to OISE classes seemed to be initially visual, and I was delighted. It had been years since I had picked up a pencil. I had been returning to Central Tech in the summers to do figure drawing, stained glass windows and printmaking, but I thought of that as "summer delight" not a serious approach to interpreting my learning. Several classes at OISE allowed me to draw as long as I had an accompanying journal to explain my thought processes. When I complained that stopping to think when I was drawing conflicted with the drawings at hand, I was told to look at Mary Coros' thesis in which she creates a form of poetic dance ianguage in words that represents a combination of dance and word. In  12 this way, she stayed on the right side of her brain. But for me, it was a kind of "artis intemptis" and I think both my written and visual imagery suffered. I wondered why it was that art was not an acceptable language to respond to assignments. Do we not read the sad story of Swan Lake in the dance, and do we not understand Renoir's pride in his family in his paintings? There are recognisable symbols that are understood by all people, even those who cannot read, and yet 1 was not permitted to visually interpret my own ideas on paper. Was it the fault of the artist or the reader/interpreter/ visualizer? Was it that the symbols would not explain and represent our world clearly enough so that they could be construed as a common language -or was it the fault of the person who refused to look and participate in a new kind of dialogue? Howard Gardner postulates that there is a creator ( we could call that magical person an artist), a thing (the magical thing. an) and a receiver or audience ( that lucky person who allows herselVhirnself to be drawn in). These are the dynamics at work as one sparks the other in a continuous cycle. How we represent our world, how we respond to that world, and what we make of it are the questions that motivate me. Perhaps I'm like my acrobat I once drew so long ago, on that trapeze, in flight between a world that has cast me out, and the world that I hope will catch me, and allow me to use art to tell my story. The Need for This Study Why do artists go to OISE in these days when the a m are thought to be of little importance to society? Indeed, since arts in education as a focus have been phased out at this very  13 institution ,what is the purpose in artists and teachers who are involved in the arts, pursuing their ideas in a manner that is considered to be unnecessary, irrelevant or not cost efficient? Because to quote Picasso, "Art is..."- and will always be! No matter how hard some in society may try to ignore it, art has a place, an integral place in the life of every person. The ancient Greek who glorified his athletes, the illiterate mediaeval serf who rested in church after a backbreaking day of toil, the townspeople who gathered in the Renaissance square, modem societies that have built mammoth museums to house civilization's treasures, know. People in societies who fashion, see and place each element of their daily life in an artistic way know, as well as the propagandist who knows that art can play an influential role in a person's life. What role does art play? Art is the door through which possibilities can be gleaned, questions provoked, answers entertained, thoughts, ideas, and emotions felt and expressed: insights and knowledge discerned. No longer are people thought to be Descartes' machines; they possess not only heads, but toes and minds and spirits and the healthy integration of all human pans result in an individual capable of living purposefblly, but also artfully. Often art is referred to as "the touchy-feely" primitive expression of artists who cannot keep their emotions in check. They are criticised for pouring out on paper what best be hidden or kept unexposed. OAen, the public who sees and does not understand a work of art will say, " Any child can do that." What is being suggested is that an requires little thought or skill and anyone, child or idiot can participate. What is not understood or appreciated is the connection between the mind and the body: the body that senses and comprehends for the mind in a visual, sensual language. Conversely, the mind expresses in visual form what the cognitive has processed. Beyond splash and dash of paint,  14 and behind a thought that is only imagined, art is the paradigm that can unite mind and body. Often the artist employs the word and the drawing together, and they work as a mamage to inform or explain each other. But oAen they are &red so that the viewer can better understand the creative processes at work. I believe that art is important and it must be known in the context of the societies that produced it. Children to-day are presented with images that have been dislocated from the past. Those images are used as a means of manipulation for consumer exploitation. Instead. I propose art as a unitjling force, that aids in multicultural education and bestows voice to those who have been made silent. We must think an, and talk art. We must continue to show through support and study that art matters in education. Art is the purveyor of dreams and fbtures. It is the silent scream as well as the smile of the Mona Lisa that makes sense , but also poses the hard questions. Students at OISE must continue to investigate civilizations through artwork: art links mind and body; art reveals our pasts so that we might know our futures. To give up the struggle to keep art in schools is to close the door to our students. U. METHODOLOGY Research Techniques I begin the methodology by explaining why I initiated this study with certain educators /philosophers. Their ideas and practices "ground" my paper. This is what I consider the theoretical part or major influences in arts education of my paper, although Dewey, Eisner and Gardner also present practical implementation of their arguments. The theoretical part is followed by the practical part or art in the outside world and art in school portions of my paper, in order to locate examples that embody the ideas of Dewey, Eisner and Gardner. I want to point out the value of art in diverse situations in our world and in the classrooms of our schools. We must remember that all life is an education and that art in and outside of classroom educates us in a meaningfbl way. My next focus is from a personal perspective since I examine my own use of art. Although 1 deal with my own educational responses to courses at OISE, I believe my discussion is applicable to all students and educations. I next describe the implications of arts in the curriculum by referring to successful school programs and case studies where art curriculum is presently in effect. I present proof that an is effective in learning. Although I believe in a qualitative approach, I admit to using some quantitative measures to validate my work.  16 1attempt to define art, examining what art is and art is not. This is an extremely difficult question because culture and taste come into play. Here I consider Staniszewsi's definition ( 1995). In my final chapter, 1 draw my personal conclusions from the quest of this thesis, and reiterate how art has been a usefbl tool for my education. My purpose is to describe how and why I went about my search in order to answer my thesis question: Is art a useful tool in education? The first part of this section on methodology outlines and deals with the various t5csories and research techniques utilised. The second part describes the thesis, itself. My methodology is comprised of several ways of dealing with my information. My ideas have been generated by grounded theory in which I consider Dewey, Eisner and Gardner as the basis for my investigations. As well, I used action research and considered myself a reflective practitioner to guide me in my thesis. Within my explorations, I have also kept field notes and journals. Grounded Theory Simply put, "grounded theory" research generates theory fiom data (Glaser and Strauss, 1967, 79). My foray into the theories of Dewey, Eisner and Gardner provided me with practical empirical information fiom their illustrations and research to ground my investigations. Their theories describe relevant behaviour that is observable by this art teacher and student of education. Usually, a particular area of research is selected by a graduate student because the student  17 has hunches, notions, concepts that have been suggested by her interest in that area (Glaser and Strauss, 1967, 94). Her experiences in the field lead her to suspect and query whether what she has studied and observed are, in fact, true. This is the case for me. I have been involved in teaching and observing children making and thinking about art throughout my life- as a teacher, a parent. a student, and as an artistic child myself. Knowing about art and how it affects me was my starting point. Since I am a person who "does" art, I am a biased, but informed and knowledgeable 'participant- observer." I have often thought of art as personally oeneficial to myself and observed how it affects others involved in the making and talking about art. I am, therefore, already open and responsive to art, making me a better researcher since, I believe I begin with my own tools already well- honed. Although some of my research is "anecdotal", it is all-the-same "lived" and experienced by myself and others, so that it has validity as theory played out on the field of practice. I have deliberately set out to discover examples that are consistent with Dewey's, Eisner's and Gardner's ideas, as well as to seek proof that art is an effective tool in education. I acknowledge the library as source information. Using comparative studies (Glaser and Strauss, 1967, 82), we can begin to identify generalizations that emerge from different areas that possess similar characteristics. When I examine protest art, women's art, children's literature, art in advertising, I can see that all these areas contain art, and that art is easily accessible to many people in many walks of life: Depersonalization is minimized and minimal in grounded theory because this theory is based on the data from many substantive areas, and may lean heavily on a substantive area for only one area. This is not really far removed from the real world. (Glaser and Strauss, 1967, 93)  18 My examination is open ended since there are many more areas than the ones 1 have presented that use an in a meaningfbl way. For example, I felt that art therapy was too specialised and "end-oriented" in terms of the results that a trained practitioner hopes to achieve in her therapy so that I did not include it in my study. I discuss several areas in art while fblly realizing that topics such as art in advertising, women's art, social protest art, could themselves be separate areas for thesis research. Since art is found in so many locations, I have divided my discussion into subgroups of where art can be seen and by whom. However, I think that the variety of groups presented wrijrs my data. My examples are diverse, yet and similar. I look at various age groups, general and specific elements of the population, in many locales and settings at varying times in history, even using myself as pan of the sample. Glaser and Strauss refer to this continuing discussion as "'discursive developmental'-merely the continuing discussion of cumulative analyses" (1 967.130). Art is a non-traditional area, I believe, because people hold many attitudes without studied or reasonable information. They are often uninformed (believing that art only exists in museums or is for the rich) or prejudiced ("Any kid could do that!"). Yet, art is readily available to all people, not restricted. I hope to point out t o readers that they can find art anywhere and everywhere (even graffiti, or h i t arranged on a table). As in all Grounded Theory dissertations, I present the basis of "the generation of theory, coupled with the notion of theory - as seen in my examples- as process" (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Glaser and Strauss say that all three operations should intertwine as much as possible. I believe I do this and often the reader will see Dewey's, Eisner's or Gardner's names in brackets or in the text to account for my examples that reveal themselves as effective teaching tools. I explain  19 the relevance to education and why students can benefit by using various aspects of an as process in their learning. One idea generates the next en route to discovering how hrther developments can occur. Action Research Almost fifty years ago, Kurt Lewin suggested learning about social systems by trying to change them (Marrow, 1969). He proposed "cycles of analysis, fact finding, conceptualization, planning , implementation and evaluation to simultaneously solve problems and generate new knowledge" (Brown and Tandon, 1983, 278). This process of linking theory and practice is called action research. Lewin's model is understood as a spiral mode of reformed plan, revised plan, more fact-finding and re-analysis. This transformative model can be applied in art classes because the art product is a result of planning, revising, fact-finding, and analyzing; indeed, art becomes an excellent metaphor for action research, for an idea (theory) is realised in a form or product (practice). The action researcher, taking clues from the ethnographer, began to consider that, rather than total reliance on numbers, abstractions and generalizations, she should venture &Q the field to observe, audiotape, perhaps col!shorate and make notes of "thick description" (Geertz) in order to better know her subject. Thus, possessing special and valuable knowledge, teachers feel they are empowered to take control and become a strong voice in change. As an art teacher myself, I do feel that 1 possess "insider knowledge" that someone who has not been in an art classroom does not. "The action researcher claims that in educational matters, teachers are more likely to transform their approaches to teaching and learning as a result  20 of data they collect and analyse "(Taylor, 1993, 65). Therefore my work will ultimately make me a better teacher as I redouble my efforts to use and preach the use of an to others. The rise of teacher narrative as suitable research validates teachers' personal practical knowledge as valid educational research data. Wanda T. May is an an teacher who agrees that teachers can be researchers and critical inquirers into their own practices (1 992, 1 14). May encounters examples daily of how theory can be applied to practice in specific contexts. When students involved in an are faced with a problem, they must apply theory and experience, often stopping to reassess work, to change directions in order to implement an idea. They are involved in a dialectic discussion with themselves as critic and artist (Schon's reflection-in-action. 1 987): planning, acting, fact-finding, and analyzing their work. These "four basic moments" are, in fact, Lewin's model for action research. This dialectic among parts occurs not only internally, but with their media because it visually responds to the changes made: " a reflective conversation with the materials of a situation" (Schon, 1987, 42). There is no gap here between mind and body, nor cognition and affect (Eisner, 1982, 27). This is excellent evidence against those who believe art is a "body" thing alone. My research in this paper is an example of action research because of my status as a teacher, an art teacher, a teacher who uses art in all her teaching (i.e. English) and as an artist who must undergo the same processes as my students of transforming idea into practice whenever I do art. Reflective Practitioner  21 There is often confusion between the terms, "reflection= practice and "reflectionin practice. As we tell our stories, we often reflect on times past, embellishing, inadvertently changing those moments of meaning in our earlier lives. We think on those events and re-story them in the light of present activity or experience. In education, we pause after a difficult class to ponder what elements were successfid or which need revision. We reflect on practice. However, Schon's term "reflection-in-practice" (1987) concerns changes that are made during the class, not after: a lesson plan is forgotten when a student takes the lead in a discussion that is not exactly on topic, but nonetheless important to her. In making art, teachers work with students to be reflective on their work, changing, redefining and adapting as situation arises. It is an immediate problem solving tri silu, a skill necessary not only in art but in life. The work of the artist is a matter of "back-talk (Schon, 1987, 72) in which art, the medium of an, talks back to the maker, engaging the artist in a dialectic. My examples of an are not works created in a vacuum. Always there are "voices" that speak and interact with the artist: often they are collaborating peers, an angry society, the past, or the quiet one of the artist, herself The artist must always reflect on these voices, contemplating and transferring their concerns and queries to her work. The artist's work by nature is reflective. Reflection suggests the meeting of two minds since one requires something or someone to reflect upon: the art, the practice, the society. Reflection takes place during the creation of the piece (reflection-in-action), and after (reflection- on-action). My work as the author of this paper also comprises a reflection in and on my writing. I  22 begin my thesis with memories of my love of art as a child, and I conclude with my reflections on having to use the written word to describe the processes that I have used in making my own an. Writing a thesis is, of course, a continual rethinking of position as new and exciting information is revealed in classroom observations or journal study. Logs and Journals Artists are forever jotting down ideas, and sketches. Ofien a simple diagram speaks volumes to the writer. I used logs to organize my hectic life of teaching, child care, taking courses and thesis writing. Like a list, my log set priorities and I had a record of what I had accomplished each week. Important articles were underlined for later reference. "The log was a forum through which 1 could document significant aspects of the action and particularly my role in that action" (McNiff, 1988, 77). Since I was required by my professors to explain the artistic processes involved in my drawings, I attempted to record my meta-cognition: these are reproduced with my drawings. Interviews In order to write about schools that actually use art as a method of teaching, 1 visited and interviewed teachers and students at The Mabin School and The Avenue Road Fine Arts Kindergarten. Lola Rasminsky (The Avenue Road Arts School) even provided me with a film that explained the philosophy of her school. I had first hand information about her program since two of my children previously attended her classes. At one point, 1had actually taught for her. As always, she was very happy to talk and share her insights with me. Interestingly, Paola Cohen (The Mabin School) was the first person, I had spoken with  23 before I decided to embark on a doctorate at OISE. Now at the end of my journey, she reappears, excited as ever to talk about art, its benefits, and to introduce her students who are the recipients of her program. Explanation o f Methodology Used The Theoreticians: Theory In this section, I present John Dewey, Elliot Eisner and Howard Gardner who have focused their attention on art in various ways. By the time the readers have finished reading my thesis, I hope that they will have arrived at the same conclusion that 1 have: art not only has value in our world, but is an erective and usefil educational tool in and out of the classroom. I began my study with John Dewey, the recognized and extremely credible father of modem education. His little discussed text, An, became the basis for many of my ideas: he grounded my research. His ideas written almost 80 years ago were as far reaching then as they are to-day. He believed art should not be locked away in museums; art from cultures is valuable; the medium of art changes the message; art is democratic; art cannot be measured by "standards", but qualitatively; art is more than just emotional release; technology has a role to play in an; experience is the cornerstone of art, and each person's interactions in life should be modelled upon the artist's. He spoke of "being acted upon and [oneself] acting" (Dewey, 1934) in Nature, and the necessity of being receptive and responsive to one's environment. This transaction, he believed, resuited in a more hlfilling life. Known for his belief in learning by doing, Dewey's views are the backbone of my  24 argument because his attitude towards art is neither dismissive nor denigrating. He understands and expounds the value of art. Indeed, he recognises the oece* of a n in life. His positive insights have stood the test of time. His words in 1934 were prophetic since we have lived to hear Marshall McLuhan tell us that, yes, "the medium is the message" and "we live in a global village." Andy Warhol (photo silkscreener), Cindy Sherman (photographer) ,Barbara Astman (xerox artist) and others have reproduced their images using technology. They all might have been reading Dewey's book to herald their insights into art. Dewey's acceptance as a revered, intelligent, knowledgeable mentor begins my search. His far reaching philosophy presents an encompassing philosophy of education in the school of life. I follow the chapter on Dewey with Barbara Hepworth as an example of a person whose many "experiences" were transformed into her artwork. I used Barbara Hepworth in my chapter as an application of Dewey's concept of experience for many reasons. She is eloquent talking about her art. She provides insights into the artistic process, explaining what experiences have stimulated her. Her insights through her writing preview my own journal entries where I attempt to unravel what the artistic process is for me and how a n becomes a language, perhaps often analogous but as valid as the written word. This chapter on Hepwonh probes her deep interactions with nature and herself, and how she merges the two in the process of her an. I remind my reader of the many threads that unite my paper, in particular John Dewey's concept of experience that informs all art. I introduce Albert Bames at this point because of Dewey's effect on Bames' Foundation, art collection and ways of thinking. Bames was a man whose understanding of artistic principles gleaned from Dewey, has likewise stood the test of time. He understood Dewey's principles and  25 applied them in order to educate others through the medium of art. In recent exhibits in Washington and Toronto, Bames' arrangement of paintings were restored in the gallery settings to teach spectators how to look at the paintings in order to see visual connections. In fact, Dewey thanks Bames for his many insights into art; so, it is likely that Albert Bames actually initiated Dewey's interest into art. Present day curators must have thought Barnes' method worthy since they were apologetic that all paintings could not be displayed in his original arrangement of the hanging of artworks. As well, Barnes' appreciation of African art makes a strong statement on the value of multicultural art. Elliot Eisner contributes to the spine of my work's backbone for many reasons. He concurs with Dewey's excellent ideas, expanding and adapting them to practical settings. His involvement in DBAE (Discipline-Based Art Education), a cumulative and structured art program from kindergarten to Grade 12, shows the public bow an art program as part of the daily school curriculum can work effectively. Art production, an history, an criticism, and aesthetics are the indissoluble parts of the program that establish the relationship of a child's mind and body to see, think, ponder, solve problems, change, and adapt: all en route to arriving at solutions. Eisner's numerous articles are "how to" manuals on becoming a "connoisseur" (learning to look to see), and a "critic" (how to interpret and evaluate in word or writing what is seen). He encourages the development of skills that are not only beneficial in art, but that are applicable to life. He delves into the qualitative aspects of life when he approximates the processes used in an as educative paradigms. His varied interests in all areas of school life are many, and he considers everything from the hardness of floors to the racial mixture in schoolyards in order to create an optimum school community. Like Dewey, he views the world as a classroom and suggests  26 numerous cross-overs between the worlds outside and inside the classroom. He allows me, as does Dewey, to go outside the classroom to find examples of art. And like Dewey, Eisner is extremely well respected. Both men's commitment to education and their desire to ameliorate education is an unquestionable fact. No educational course would be compete without prescribed reading of both Dewey and Eisner. Both Dewey and Eisner are required reading at OISE. If Dewey has presented the precepts, Eisner the "hows" , Howard Gardner has explored the "whys" for justi@ing art as an occasion for intelligence, worthy of teaching and testing in the classroom. His concept of Multiple Intelligences- interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, linguistic, spatial. logical-mathematical, and kinaesthetic- has expanded the limits of what has been acknowledged as intelligence. Like Eisner, Gardner's work is practical, and he has translated theory into actual classroom settings. ArtsPROPEL, Harvard's Project Zero, and ATLAS are some of Gardner's living laboratories backed by the most respected universities in the United States because these institutions of higher learning accept Gardner's theories that showcase an. Gardner has also written and published widely, tackling the ditticult questions of "What is education for?" and "How can we tell whether we have achieved success in attaining this goal" (Gardner and Boix-Manilla, 1994, 2 16)? He has introduced the concepts of "disciplines" (Gardner and Boix-Manilla, 1994) and "domains" (Gardner, 1982; Komhaber and Krechevsky, 1990) into the scholarly community. Always interested in the accountability of his theories, Gardner has devised ways to measure the success of his programs (1982; 1989a; 1989b; 1990). As well, he has examined the lives of Stravinsky, Martha Graham, Picasso, Einstein, T.S. Eliot, Freud and Gandhi (Gardner, 1993) as verification of intelligent art-filled lives. Gardner's work  27 concerns what and how we perceive intelligence and how to best develop in the classroom the many intelligences children possess (1 989a; 19%). Like Dewey and Eisner, Gardner discusses many ways to access the interpenetration of life inside and outside the classroom such as apprenticeships and assessment ( l989a; 1993). The World Outside of the Classroom: Practice From the university spokespeople to the classroom, I move from "the authorities" in education and step out into society to locate practical examples of the issues that I raise: where do we find effective use of art in everyday life? Because "voice" is such an important issue in our post-modern society, in this section I examine the many emergent voices that use art to educate the world about various matters. I refer to art that has been used for the purposes of protest in my first chapter in this section Art as Social Protest, Goya, Kollwitz, Picasso and others translated their fears and revulsion at their societies into art. Their silent language of protest that documents and recoils at the injustice of government dalliance into war stands as manifestos of artistic expression against the bitter treatment of humanity. These works of an teach our students the enduring power of active peacefbl protest. However, in a later chapter, The Artist's Role in Social Change, I discuss artists who not only reflect their civilizations' downfalls and developments, but represent the social fabric of their times and cultures, sensitive to rhythms within their ever changing worlds. Picasso and Braque's cubism heralds a time of breakup and dissolution of values that is mirrored in their fragmented cubes and blocks. The artist is the vehicle that expresses and embodies that societal voice. These  28 important ideas of self-expression differentiate the artist's role as reporter who documents the events of society and the artist who must express her own personal response. I wish to briefly clarify the difference of purpose between a public (protest) and a private (expression) although both voices are still expressive and meaningful. In The Artist's Role in Social Change, the artist looks inwards to her responses, reaching towards her innermost thoughts and conscience. The artist examines herself in society and asks many questions that are explored in painting, drawing, sculpture. etc. In a sense, the examples included in this chapter are scientific since the artists are like explorers and reporters, investigating for themselves to discern cause, effect, action. They are participating in their own genesis. By comparison, Art as Social Protest, deals with the artist's voice as universal, as an "Everyman" proclamation that uses art to address injustice, and speak for many: the artist's direction moves outward towards an audience to document and teach something. For both chapters. the outcome is ultimately the same: a piece of art with a message for society. However, the impetus for the a n work has differed: one to give voice to many; the other to give voice to an individual. There is democracy in a n because each person can partake equally and pursue her own search because she is the initiator, the power behind her own personal quest. The outcomes (the artistic products. the paintings, for example) are similar in both chapters, for artists most often search their souls for what is meaningful, locate within themselves a need to challenge accepted cultural norms and transform that desire outward into media. These two chapters encourage the child's development of skills that are beneficial in life as well as in art. In both cases, the student responds, participating in a dialogue with herself in  29 society, moving both outward to the event and issue, and inward to the self Feelings and thoughts are not suppressed or ignored: they are given visual form, and, in my examples, I believe, they are powefil and enduring. Qualitative aspects are considered. Students must look at their world, respond, evaluate, comment and consider the actions of society; alternatively, they must ponder themselves and their own place in her world. Important meta-cognitive skills are fostered in all the ans, whether drama, writing, music or the visual arts. However, expression of individual responses is not limited to only these "fine arts". Cooking, flower arranging, quilting, carpentry, pottery and many others are also useful artful ways to learn about oneself. In all cases. education of the self is the goal. Although 1 have leaped centuries to my discussion on Women's Art, I continue to maintain my focus on similar art issues and the artist's access to her socioculture symbols. Judy Chicago's development through her an is the main subject of this chapter, although I refer as well to Georgia O'Keefe. Representative of feminist art, Chicago proclaims her feminist stance in an, using female genitalia to assert its message. Chicago is a product of a post-modernist world that demands that former victims of silence because of their gender, race, religion, nationality speak out. Focusing on the self, and dismissing the past as patriarchal and confining, Chicago looks to her own experiences as a woman. She uses the medium of art to express her voice, and those connections bring her into my study. Chicago's art has become mainstream since she has been exhibited in institutions and art galleries. She has become part of popular culture and enters into people's lives through her media, and media that multiplies and reproduces her imagery. Because of media attention, her views have become popular in many places. She is my bridge to popular culture and mass media, in particular,  30 advertising. Art in Advertising focuses on the use and misuse of art in mass media: how art has been misappropriated in order to sell products. Principles of design as well as outright theft of images and actual paintings make art a valuable commodity in the hands of advertising moguls. Here I uphold Eisner (1982; 1992) and Robert Stake who mandate that students should study art history and art criticism so they can be knowledgeable and informed citizens, wary of being exploited by historical images separated from their original contexts : Madonna poses used by Benetton to sell jeans; Manet's aflernoon excursions to promote the sale of Chinet paper plates. The issue of advertising is critically important since the manipulators who use an for the sole purpose of sales influence the populace who are unaware of art images' power to persuade. I reflect that without knowledge about an, we return to medieval days where the church's wall paintings told The Complete Story, and the bedazzled viewer ignorantly accepted the views of others who directed her life, 1 now present a powerfir1 way that art can be introduced into children's lives even before or outside of school: children's books. 1 highlight examples where picture and word coalesce to make meaning about many imponant issues, concerning a n or not. Children's book illustration allows for children to develop their ways of knowing. Through visual symbols in a book, children can discover and extend their understanding of stories. I conclude this section with books because as the standard method of instruction, books unite life in and out of school. The Classroom: Practice In my section Art in School, I present contrasting approaches to teaching art in the  31 classroom: Ruth Dawson's thesis diminishes the power and value of art to tying knots; the Mabin and Avenue Road Arts schools introduce art as the basis of their curriculum, a viable way of thinking about childhood education. Paola Cohen , Lola Rasminsky and Madame Munn view art as a valuable teaching tool, the frame for all learning. Students focus on the numerous processes of creativity en route to making the product that is called art. As educators, we must be vigilant to become Paolas so that art does not become the Friday afternoon handmaiden to the so-called important subjects of math or spelling. My chapter How Art Can Aid in Multicultural Studies discusses how multicultural art provides for numerous ways of seeing, and considering similarities and contrasts to a child's own culture, by deepening and expanding horizons (Dewey, 1934). Here I focus on the dangers of various approaches of implementing multicultural studies (Grant, 1992; Sleeter and Grant, 1987; Stuhr et al, 1994). Our children participate in a world of pluralities. Eisner's methods and his curricula are effective ways to process this new information in our "global villagev(1982;1985; 1991). As always, we are mindfbl of Dewey's statements on eclectic art from all places ( 1 943), and Gardner who understands the child influenced by her own foreign culture has her own special way of seeing that may not gel with the dominant culture in the U.S.(Maker et al, 1 994; Gardner, 1989). So, standards of intelligence or giftedness might seem to not apply because a student's life has been lived differently. This is a chapter for teachers and students who must refocus their lenses in order to see through the eyes of a child from another culture. My Drawings: Personal Theory and Practice This section entitled A Personal Perspective deals with my own artistic process in  32 response to the courses at OISE: what 1 thought was occurring when 1 made art, and what processes went through my mind as recorded in my drawings included in the Appendix. When 1 switched from the right brain to the left to write, the flow of ideas was interrupted. I present my journal entries and later reflections in an attempt to explain how and why my drawings came to be. Christopher Pratt has stated, The artist's job is to paint, not to interpret." " Interestingly, of my own volition, I chose to amalgamate word and image in children's stories as a result of several courses for Jack Miller, Ed O'Sullivan and Jo Aitken. Art, as in the pictographs that indicate "children crossing", "bumpy roads aheadm,and"men's washrooms" is, itself. a language. a valid way, as Gardner has said, of expressing meaning. These chapters deal with my dilemma of explaining how and why I create as 1 do in my children's picture books. I continue to avow in Implications of Arts in the Cumculum, the next section in my thesis, that art is valuable for the many uses I have shown in the preceding sections for expression, cognitive development and teaching other courses of study. Here I give proof of the effectiveness of an. My many examples from many studies and schools in the United States impart a quantitative measurement to some immeasurable aspects of an programs in schools. Gardner and Eisner are aware of the need to prove the validity of art programs to parents and administrators. Researchers in Arizona, Florida and New York, practitioners in Massachusetts, Kentucky and Louisiana document and explain their testing procedures that establish art as an authentic teaching vehicle. I continue to focus on the value of art in the traditional, metaphysical and hidden curricula in education, again validating through accepted studies the benefits of an in the curriculum. Bringing together many strands woven through the thesis, I show the positive benefits art yields  33 in society, in and out of the classroom, where art continues to communicate and teach. Ironically, the sciences use ultrasound, and computer language, business relies on charts, graphs, maps to utilize pictures that convey without words, and no one considers for a moment that art is being harnessed to express what words cannot. In this section, I raise more questions about art, particularly when it is being deployed by the powerfbl who would manipulate the artistically illiterati consumer. When art is so extensively used and accepted by societal giants, why are school children not afforded courses that teach them that visual language, in its many forms? Art is not only desirable but necessary in their education. Finally, our children must be educated to think and see like artists so that their lives can be enriched, expressive, responsive and so that they can function as cognoscertti, not illiterati and pawns in society. This section is entitled Towards a Definition of Art. Some may wonder why I did not begin my thesis by defining and differentiating an from imagery, mass media, or pictures. In fact, I have presented numerous examples that blur categories purposefully. I reflect that one of my reasons for delaying a definition of art is that by defining or naming, we circumscribe and demarcate what is and what is not, excluding rather than encompassing ideas: all is grist for the artist's mill. 1 have decanted the essence of art to be, not part of nature, but coming from, or being in contact with nature (i.e. "experience"); made by humans; and something that communicates. Art cannot exist in a vacuum, for it concerns an emotional or intellectual response by the maker in a society. What an is is a perplexing question. This chapter deals with my own questions about the nature of art, its processes and products.  34 Implications and Conclusions In this final section, I reflect on my journey, my own metaphor of the acrobat who has catapulted through time and space to arrive at this particular ending. I ponder certain moments of epiphany at OISE, and as always. 1 think of T. S. Eliot as my guide- as he mused , "In my endl Is my beginning." And each ending, or completion of a task, as in doing a n or writing a thesis is the starting point of another journey. III. MAJOR INFLUENCES EN ART EDUCATION John Dewey Irr this chapter,I examine Johm Dewey's theories on the use of art as the hasis of experience: what Dewey means by "experience", how reclfection tran.$orms and makes meaningfom @'environmenf': how technology plays a role are some of the issues disctcssed in light of the artist who prevents the artist 's way of seeing as the model.for society :(. cit izerts. Theory o f Artistic Learning Esthetic experience is a manifestation, a record and a celebration of the Iife of a civilization, a means of promoting its development and is also the ultimate judgement upon the quality of a civilization. ( A m @ A Religious Beginning John Dewey's "My Pedagogic Creed published in 1897 is a succinct summary of his ideas. In several shon pages, he asserts his belief that education, its subject-matter, pedagogy,and the school are intrinsic parts of the social web of society. He says, I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself. (1897, 5) Like a religious prophet, Dewey reiterates his beliefs which take the form of an utopian democracy where parent, and teacher reinforce children in order to create citizens who will act for the betterment of civilization. Dewey would like to see school life "grow gradually out of the home lifen(1897,9),providing the bedrock for student powers, interests and habits. With "eye and ear and hand..@] tools ready to ~ommand"(l897,7)~ he will work towards "social service". 35  36 Sounding as if the children are little soldiers ready to fight for the good cause, Dewey presents his views like a steadfast general. Dewey concludes his Credo with references to teachers as "the prophet[s] of the true God and the usherer in of the true kingdom of G o d (1 897, 19).Toignore Dewey's religious fervor is to miss the passion and belief that Dewey feels must accompany his mission to transform through education in society. Art as Religion When Dewey wrote Art as Experience in 1934, he no longer invoked the same religious zeal as in his Credo. In fact, he reminds the reader that the second Council of Nicea,787, censored the church for using sensory appeals in the form of statues and incense that distracted the worshipper from prayer. In this interesting turnabout, Dewey removes dogma from the church. but leaves the sensory details of religious experience as his "experiential" focus. Art becomes Dewey's religion,and he wonders with owe at an which "explain[s] the feeling that accompanies intense esthetic perception. We are, as it were, introduced into a world beyond this world which is nevertheless the deeper reality..."( 1934, 195). Using words that suggest religious or spiritual mysteries, Dewey underlines the depth of his commitment to an order with values so intense that they might be sanctioned by God. Although overcome by his deep response to works of beauty which initiate him to "intense esthetic perception", Dewey nonetheless is a pragmatist whose attraction to art is really a means to an end because the "end " is just and fair: democracy. Above all, Dewey is a socialist whose every view is embedded in a system that equally empowers all people.  37 How To See Like An Artist It is interesting to note that Dewey has no problem bringing together art and politics. For Dewey, every person is capable of being an artist, capable of living an artful, beautifid life of social interaction that will benefit and beautifi the world. He feels that in a true democracy, art must be taught in schools because it is central to democracy, "art is the most complex expression of longing and aspirations of a society"(1934). But, experience is always at the heart of Dewey's arguments: it is the process of living continuously, the everlastingly renewed process of interaction whereby a person acts upon the environment and is acted upon(1934, 104). Doing and undergoing. "Environment" is defined here by Dewey as "the whole scheme of things...the imaginative and the emotional"(1934, 333). It is not just "outside" person. but the combined legacy of civilizations, our collective past, as interpreted and reinterpreted by anists. However, Dewey's concern for "recovering the continuity of esthetic experience with normal processes of living"(1934, 3 12) may, but does not have to take the reader "outside" to "the running brook of the natural world. It is in this way that authors and artists pass their insights and experiences on to the reader or viewer whose own experience grows because of another's. Experience at home, in nature, with books, or friends is always an intercourse which can enlighten. Strong belief and commitment to the pragmatic world of social organization replaces, for Dewey, faith in a religious deity who guides actions. In its place, Dewey enshrines Experience. Reiterated by John Fisher in Svmoosium on J& Dewey, "Aesthetic experience is the construct of the relations of interactions of persons and objects"(1989, 57). Patrick Diamond also examines G. A. Kelly's debt to Dewey's words when he states "that people interact with their  38 world and actively process rather than passively store their experiences" (199 1, 22). The human organism is not at rest during this interaction of self and environment, for it is constantly reflecting and reorganizing everyday events and impressions, the chaotic confitsion of sense information that is filed and reinterpreted by the person in her daily interactions until a sudden illumination makes sense of the haze of spurious data. Unlike a stamp upon "inert wax", or merely "subjective or objective", this interaction results in the integral relationship of both (Brigham, 1989, 15). The perceiver continuously transforms her environment's input, applying it anew to each situation that arises. Artistic Revelations Dewey refers to Keats' concept of "Negative Capabilityn(1934,33) to explain the on- going process of " being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any imtable reaching after fact and reason"; the words " without any irritable" suggest there is no conflict or frustration in this state, describing, perhaps, the storehouse of imagination that pervades the mind, until suddenly, memories and ideas combine to reveal what we did not know we knew. Not unlike Polyani's "tacit knowledge"(1967), Dewey invokes the feeling of the mystical or even the spiritual to remark that, all of a sudden, sense or revelation is made of spurious data. The notion is similar to what Csikszentmihlyi refers to as "the flow7'experience in which a person loses awareness of herself and becomes one with her art. Dewey concludes that the role of art operates because some transcendental essence (usually called beauty) descends upon experience ( 1934, 185). Joe Burnet (1989) explains that as the organism responds in order to restore its equilibrium (in the act of "Negative Capability"), it preserves the notions of structure, unity and  39 object by reconstituting them in a hnctional, contextual form of a new experience. Art is the means that unites the outgoing and incoming energy, shaping and reshaping it in the human "until it is goodl'@ewey, 1934,49) and satisving because something new has emerged in the process. This act of interaction between "environment" and self eclipses time, since knowledge or memories of the past are transformed by the perceiver in the present who reconstructs them. Suggestive of T.S. Eliot's verses in "Little Gidding", Dewey might be reiterating the idea that "the end of all our exploringNill be to amve where we started/ And know the place for the first time." It is in this sense that the perceiver is an artist, constantly re-creating fiom the matter of her own life, understanding it anew through a work of art, and presenting her insights and speculations for others to consider.Thus, her re-constituted experiences may exist as fodder for someone else's hture. The world is always the starting point,and each closure of experience may be the beginning or the awakening of new experience. Dewey's examples of artistic enterprise as represented by the merging of "doing and undergoing", of self and environment, in the form of poetry or painting is the paradigm of an experience. The ordinary person, the perceiver, can re-create the artist's experience in her every day life by noticing what is unique about ordinary objects and experiences: her seeing is transformed. The perceiver becomes like the artist, imbuing life and artworks with her own memories, comparable to those which the original artist underwent (1934,54). The perceiver is invigorated, modifying the perceptions of others, actively assimilating and re-experiencing the past in her own particular way. The Religious Contexts of Art  40 We might consider ourselves the little artists, whereas those who built the Parthenon or painted the Gothic chapels were the exemplary thinkers, great Artists who formed the touchstones for our experiences, for they expressed their individual experiences "through means and materials that belong to the common and public worldW(1934,144) of their time. Dewey elaborates when he states, What is called the magic of the artist resides in his ability to transfer these values from one field of experience to another, to attach them to the objects of our common life and by his imaginative insight make these objects poignant and momentous.(l934, 1 18) Not surprisingly, Dewey also draws his examples from religion when he says, "Frescoes were meant to inspire faith, revive piety and instruct the worshipper concerning the saints, heroes and martyrs of his religionn(l934, 222). He focuses not on the message of the church, but on the sensual depictions that arouse faith. Sacred or secular, it is through art, and the appeal to the senses, that people respond and translate experience into meaning. Joseph Campbell's (1988) view was that the church was the centre of life in medieval times for it united culture, time and place in one building. Each person's daily life was involved with production for and government by the church. There was no separation between a private or spiritual life. This idea would be pleasing to Dewey since he disparaged any separations, or divisions in life. The Church as the hub From which all facets of life emerged is consistent with Dewey's focus; however, Dewey sees art in the church as the starting point for experience whereas Campbell steps out of the church itself to view the church as the place where experiences could occur. The Greeks as well as the Chinese, identified the good with the beautiful.They believed that the action of grace and proportion in right conduct was a "fusion of means and ends"(1934,  41 198). In Dewey's utopian world, these values would exist. In "Symposium on John Dewey's Art as Erperience," Richard Shusterman (1 989) reports that Dewey argues, that art's special function and value lie not in any specialized, particular end, but in satisfying the live creature in a more global way, by serving a variety of ends, and most importantly by enhancing our immediate experience which invigorates and vitalizes us, thus aiding our achievement of whatever further ends we pursue. (1989, 62) As always, Dewey is practical, forseeing a transformation from contented person to worldcitizen and enhanced global existence that benefits all people. The feeling of religious zeal and the importance of participation in community life is extended to the individual through art. Empirical experience or memory of the triumphs of the civilization as documented in the artists' works combines the hopes, aspirations and life of the society (Bennett, 1987/8). Art is an important and respected extension of citizen life, as religion once was. The works of art, "saturated with story" @ewey, 1934, 344) are not separate from the lives of the people, nor hoisted upon pedestals in museums and sought by the highest bidders. The content of life- its histories, sagas, events, rhythms, the living of life, day by day- are the media, the content, fiom which the art work is formed and shaped, providing the expression for the work of art. For there must be no distinctions, no ranking between high and low art, asserts Dewey. Rather, the experience of art is continuous and contiguous to society where it plays an integral pan, accessible to all in a variety of forms: architecture, painting, sculpture. The Many Contexts of Art Dewey's art must be located in context,so the viewer might understand the culture fiom  42 which the work of art was formed, and expressed by the artist, responsive to and in dialogue with her world. The artist, continually readjusting herself to society, its conventions, and expectations, participates in the world, making her artistic experience (Dewey, 1934, 266), merging her inner and outer social and physical worlds. Artists' explorations of other cultures by "entering sympathetically into the deepest elements in the experience of remote and foreign civilizations",represented in their art, aid the perceiver to broaden and deepen experience, "rendering it less local and provincial as far as they grasp...attitudes expressed in the art of another civilization" (Dewey, 1934, 332). Picasso and Hepworth's interest and use of AFrican art exposed Europeans to a new non-representational format, It broadened the sensibilities of the viewers. Dewey's commitment is so far reaching that he sought art beyond known boundaries to discover new ways of looking, perceiving and understanding life. As Proust said, it is not new places, but new eyes that we need. Dewey felt that the art of other civilizations would allow people to look at life from another's point of view so our way of seeing could be revitalised and expanded. There is almost an evangelical feeling of "brotherly or sisterly love" hinted at in Dewey's words that does not promote religion as such, but speaks to viewers religiously. But when we, ourselves, have become thoseforeign artists, assuming another's desires, interests and modes in order to install ourselves in apprehending nature that we had never seen nor understood, we build into our own structure the views of others so that we truly comprehend what it is like to extend a web of meaning and walk around in another's shoes. Barriers that divide human beings are dissolved; "Iirniting prejudices melt away" @ewey, 1934, 334).  43 Art as a Language Art is a common expressive language; for as humans re-creating the artists' perceptions, the viewer undcrstands by duplicating the artistic process that links the human with her "environn~ent",her reality, that is entered through imagination and emotions. She sees tiom another's perspective in order to understand better and see more. Art provides a means of catering and understanding the world. It is a language. simplified through symbols, saying more than literal words that can be misconstrued or mistranstated. Symbols encode meaning and generalize, causing the individual to connect with her own cultural experience. So strong are the messages in art that Dewey is aware of the moral environment needed to support the morality of art. Dewey envisages the best of all possible worlds where "values that lead to production and intelligent enjoyment of art have to be incorporated into the system of social relationships"(1934, 344). The manifestos of the Dadaists and the Surrealists were all intended to repair and remake society, ridding it of war and evil. Yet the Futurists' manifesto championed militarism. business and war, the ways of fascism. Dewey's idealism did not consider art could be used for evil, destruction as promoted by the Futurists or Hitler. Dewey's belief in the Good, however, leaves the door open for those who would define morality in a different way- as would Neitzche -to persuade for evil. The Artist's Role in Society Dewey, like the artist, lived at the edge of society, sometimes naive or detached from the real world so he could observe from the outside in order to repair the workings of the inside. This detachment yet fbrvent belief in the possibilities that will fix the problems of the world makes him  44 sensitive to the future. Almost apostle-like, the artist is the one who sees the glimmers or intimations of immortality in the experiences of life, and expresses that heightened sensitivity in her work, for she "opens new fields of experience and discloses new aspects and qualities in familiar scenes" (Dewey, 1934, 144). Using new materials provided by burgeoning societies, fitting "in a way that yields esthetic results"(1934, 342) the artist meets the challenge of incorporating old experiences in new ways. responding to the friction of old and accepted materials and means, and transforming those perceptions into a new language of expressionThe Bauhaus Group hoped to transform society by employing the mass production techonology of the day, radio, newpaper,etc. Manet, in adapting his views of 1900 Parisian life to the techniques of Japanese Ukiyoe prints, available in Paris because of commercial ventures and expanded trading, combined the experiences of his life with the visions of the Oriental past. What often happens in the movement of a n is the emergence of new materials and themes of experience demanding expression, and therefore involving the artist in a quest to express her ideas through new forms and techniques (Dewey, 1934, 143). Not only visible changes provoke new art; psychological states and changes also require new modes to express that difference. Picasso and Stravinsky, in order to express the fragmented quality of their lives each responded differently to their worlds: Picasso created Cubism, an entirely new way of presenting multiple views of an object; Stravinsky returned to the past for lullabies and to other "primitive" cultures to create a new discordant music that represented his emotional reaction to the days of his life. Paradoxically, the artist desires to leave a monument to the past that will live on through her deeds. The artist looks to her past, remembering, drawing on her own life and on others',  45 reinterpreting them from her own unique point of view to say what she feels is important in her own personal way. The human puts her own very special mark on every experience, changing it and making it more than the original experience. The perceiver, too, like the artist, remakes each experience through her eyes. The artist's choice of media deepens and empowers the experience to resonate her feelings and insights: "One strand in total experience is what it is because of the entire pattern to which it contributes and which it is absorbed"(Dewey, 1934, 290). The subject- matter in a work of an, is, in fact, life's experience. As well, the media and the individual rhythms, or strands of living cannot be discretely separated out from the entire tapestry of experience because each part contributes to the bigger picture. Conclusions Dewey's ideas begun with religious fervor seem to have outlived traditional religion. Both sets of ideas on religion and education through art share the emphasis on the person, belief-creation and equality of all kinds of people, yet, ironically it seems we must be constantly reminded of the tenets of both in everyday living. 1 am mindfbl of Thomas Berry's (1988) Gaia theory of how all systems come from the Earth. It is often the case that the most powerfhl messages are the simplest, and yet we must work the hardest at learning and remembering the basics. Application of Theory Barbara Hepworth This chapter focuses on Barbara Hepworth as an example of how experience is trat~siatedittto art. Hepworth's owtt lve, her response fo la~t&cupe,and her it&ractiort wifh art and artists of the past attdprese~~t firel her visiom that become her art. By im&uting the ways artisfssee arid experience t~utureas well as their owti lives, our students can model their hehmiour. Hepworfh lirtks her inner and otrter worI& creating a point of balance ,hat is her art. I cannot write anything about landscape without writing about the human figure and human spirit inhabiting the landscape. For me, the whole art of scienc