Framing Education as Art

This book champions the arts as essential to the K-12 educative process. Exploring apparently oppositional approaches to the arts and their role in education, it provides both an overview of arts learning in and out of school as well as a set of "artful" lenses through which to regard non-arts teaching and learning. With strong implications for practice, the work celebrates inquiry and multiple perspectives as it explores a range of reflections on art, artistry, artists, art education, and the methods and results of arts-related educational research. Featuring discussions and illustrations of selected works of art by children and professional artists, the text: Offers practical, arts-related strategies for improving teaching and learning in schools. Reaches beyond arts educators and advocates to include those who have no experience in the arts. Addresses a broad vista of settings for arts teaching and learning, including non-arts classrooms, schools that focus on the arts, community art centers, and art museums. Includes lessons learned from urban community art centers with a history of working successfully with, and providing safe havens for, disenfranchised students.