Creativity And Art Education

In Play and Creativity in Art Teaching, esteemed art educator George Szekely draws on his two classic volumes, Encouraging Creativity in Art Lessons and From Play to Art, to create a new book for new times. The central premise is that art teachers are not only a source of knowledge about art but also a catalyst for creating conditions that encourage students to use their own ideas for making art. By observing children at play and using props and situations familiar to them, teachers can build on children’s energy and self-initiated discoveries to inspire school art that comes from the child’s imagination. The foundation of this teaching approach is the belief that the essential goal of art teaching is to inspire children to behave like artists, that art comes from within themselves and not from the art teacher. Play and Creativity in Art Teaching offers plans for the study of children’s play and for discovering creative art teaching as a way to bring play into the art room. While it does not offer a teaching formula or a single set of techniques to be followed, it demystifies art and shows how teachers can help children find art in familiar and ordinary places, accessible to everyone. This book also speaks to parents and the important roles they can play in supporting school art programs and nourishing the creativity of their children.

This book explores learning in the arts and highlights ways in which art and creativity can ignite learning in schools, informal learning spaces, and higher education. The focus is on learning in, with, and through the arts. Written from a range of international perspectives, Multidisciplinary Approaches to Art Learning and Creativity draws upon the fields of cognitive science, art education, technology and digital arts; the learning sciences; and museum studies to explore the theoretical underpinnings of artistic creativity and inspiration, and provide empirical explorations of mechanisms that support learning in the arts. Critical factors that help to facilitate the creative process are considered, and chapters highlight connections between research and practice in art learning. This volume offers a rich variety of positions and projects which underpin creativity in schools, museums, and other venues. An illustrative text for researchers and educators in the arts, Multidisciplinary Approaches to Art Learning and Creativity demonstrates how artistic ways of thinking and working with artists empower art learners and support their needs and opportunities across the lifespan.

This book offers insights into the exciting dynamics permeating creative arts education in the Greater China region, focusing on the challenges of forging a future that would not reject, but be enriched by its Confucian and colonial past. Today’s ‘Greater China’ – comprising China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan – has grown into a vibrant and rapidly transforming region characterized by rich historical legacies, enormous dynamism and exciting cultural metamorphosis. Concomitant with the economic rise of China and widespread calls for more ‘creative’ and ‘liberal’ education, the educational and cultural sectors in the region have witnessed significant reforms in recent years. Other factors that will influence the future of arts education are the emergence of a ‘new’ awareness of Chinese cultural values and the uniqueness of being Chinese.​

This book examines the paradox of creativity in art education and proposes a possible resolution. Based on the findings of a longitudinal ethnographic study as a particular case of creative practice in art education, this book is underpinned by Bourdieu’s concepts of the habitus, symbolic capital and misrecognition. The author offers an insightful account of social reasoning within creative practice in the senior school art classroom, examining ongoing exchanges between students and their teacher. Ultimately, these exchanges culminate in actions, beliefs and desires about what is creatively conceivable in the making of art, while providing confirmation without corruption of the pedagogical role of the art teacher. Allowing the context of creative agency to emerge afresh, this book will be of interest and value to art educators and teachers committed to fostering the creative performances of students in any field.

This book advances an environmental approach to enhancing creativity in schools, by interweaving educational creativity theory with creative industries environmental approaches. Using Anna Craft’s last book Creativity and Education Futures as a starting point, the book sets out an up-to-date argument for why education policy should be supporting a birth-to-workplace approach to developing creative skills and capacities that extends across the education lifespan. The book also draws on the voices of school teachers, students and leaders who suggest directions for the next generation of creative teachers and learners in a rapidly evolving global education landscape. Overall, the book argues that secondary schools must find a way to make more room for creative risk, innovation and imagination in order to adequately prepare students for creative workplaces and publics.

Creativity in the Classroom: An Innovative Approach to Integrate Arts Education provides curricular ideas for enhancing creative work in the classroom through the lens of integrative arts. The authors, both Art and Music Educators, provide practical ways in which to engage in creative thinking and making that can be applied to a variety of educational settings. Their work stems from years in the classroom teaching an integrative arts course at a public school in the United States. Through exploring big ideas such as identity, expression, storytelling, impact, and reaction, students learn to engage in a variety of creative art forms and work with others to create work that is meaningful. Each unit or big idea of study includes an explanation of the philosophy behind the unit, an overview of project ideas, and sample student workbook pages. Assessment strategies are provided with sample rubrics for evaluating student work.