Southern Hancock School Funding Referendum

Greetings to all of the readers here at "Transition to Choice Based Art Education."
This year, the children at New Palestine Elementary are thriving once again in our choice based art program.

Today, I spoke with about twenty or so parents about their children's art education experiences during our annual teacher/parent conference day. One of the fascinating parts of our discussions was the observation that the children are very much engaged in similar kinds of art making experiences at home as they are in the NPE art room.

Some of the children are so engaged in self directed art making at home, that it has become startling.

One mother told me how her son has appropriated her hot glue gun and has manufactured numerous cardboard model airplanes and other vehicles that are strung out all over his bedroom. "I have to sneak the old sculptures out when he is not looking because they are all over the place! Thanks a lot Mr. Gaw!" she told me with a smile.

"Houston, We Have A Problem"

Sadly, I am not happy to report, our school district like many school districts across the country is suffering from a shortage of operating funds.

Realistically, I have to believe, this development has put the viability of future choice based art education program experiences for the children of New Palestine Elementary in jeopardy.

Fortunately the administration of Southern Hancock Schools and a significant number of community members in New Palestine are working to pass a referendum in order to strengthen our schools and to keep important educational programs like elementary art and music in the curricula.

If you live in our district and would like to learn more about what you can do to support the Southern Hancock Schools pass the education funding referendum, check out this link: Vote Yes!

More on Fantasy Violence in Children's Art

Excerpts from "The Secret Art of Boys."

Under the guidance of educators who are interested in facilitating personalized pathways to creative experience, children and in particular boys, will thrive in learning environments where ideas related to super heroes, monsters, villains, military action, and other aspects of their make believe worlds can be expressed. Just as fantasy violence can be a part of children’s play i.e. cops and robbers, super heroes or war play (Brown, Gurian, Kindlon & Thompson 00, Jones 2002, children will express fantasy violence in the art they create (Duncum 05, Rubin 05, Lowenfeld 57).

Many educators, who might consider such content inappropriate for school and resort to censorship, miss out on opportunities to integrate and synthesize essential learning into children’s desire to express make believe violence in their fantasy art. Art teachers sensitive to child centered learning may view children’s decisions to express fantasy violence as a means to facilitate profound educational and creative growth experiences.

Concerns that art expressing fantasy violence will lead to real violence are unfounded. When rare events of lethal violence are fully examined, the motivations for committing such heinous acts are clearly related to revenge motives and victim mentalities. A common thread in these acts is the transmission of actual threats in spoken or written forms. Other red flags to consider in the context of an individual’s normal behavior might include changes in their appearance and changes in friends, frequent use of inappropriate language, changes in personal habits or humanitarian or religious values and episodes where individuals are quick to anger, cry or reveal other unstable emotions (Hollowell ‘05).

Fantasy violence and play violence is what it is: fantasy and play. Play is a natural form of learning and one of the ways children learn best. Play is fundamental to intellectual development. Just like real artists it is not uncommon for children to play with ideas, materials and techniques in choice based art programs. The concern that real violence can be triggered in children who engage in artistic activity related to their fantasy play, contradicts what we know about creativity.

The creative process strengthens children’s self confidence as new concepts, objects, ideas, and performance skills are born from individual or collaborative efforts. Conceiving and solving artistic problems in a state of creative flow has the affect of releasing tensions, anxiety and ameliorating violent or aggressive dispositions (Lowenfeld ‘57, Rubin ’05, Csikzentmilhaly ‘99, May ‘75).


Brown, S. (2009) Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul. New York, Penguin.

Csikszentmihayli, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery. New York, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.

Lowenfeld, V. (1957). Creative and mental growth (3rd ed.). New York, Mcmillan.

Hollowell, Perry "ACTIVE SHOOTER PREVENTION MATRIX". Law & Order. FindArticles.com. 04 Aug, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7649/is_200806/ai_n32285293/

May, R. (1994), The Courage to Create. New York, Norton Publishers.

Rubin, J.A. (2005). Child Art Therapy. Hoboken, New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons, Publishers.

Warrior Art

The Secret Art of Boys

My friend and colleague Clark Fralick, wrote a paper once entitled, "The Secret Art of Boys." In 2008 we did two presentations of the same title, one at the Art Education Association of Indiana state conference, and the other in New Orleans at the National Convention. Here is the crux of the matter: A vast segment of boys (and girls) love to create art based on their imaginary realms. Guess what is inside there? Make believe weapons, fantasy violence and lots of mayhem and conflict. This is controversial stuff.

If a kid get's caught making art containing fantasy violence in many schools across the U.S., he or she can get into big trouble. When I see children's art in my room that contains fantasy violence, I ask questions. What I know for a fact, is that fantasy violence is a natural part of a child's development, and it is better to provide for self expression than it is to censor the child.

From the research I have conducted (Lowenfeld: "Creative and Mental Growth," Michael Thompson: “Raising Cain,”  Rubin: "Child Art Therapy," May: "The Courage to Create," Jones: "Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence," Tyre: "The Trouble With Boys," etc.) and classroom observations I have made, children will thrive in learning environments where they may express such ideas. The creative process ameliorates children's tendency toward aggressive behavior despite the fantasy violent content, the individual's active imagination is stimulated to a very high degree and there are many other developmental and educational benefits associated with art making of this nature. Fantasy violence is just that, fantasy. The act of working from one's fantasies is more closely related to a state of fantasy play than to a state of deviance.

When to draw the line? In rare, extreme cases, when the art is related to real threats then teachers need to investigate and take action. In the mean time, it is important for teachers to consider the short and long term consequences of censorship.

Know your students, ask them questions related to their art, continue observations and dialogue. The benefits of meaningful learning experiences and fully engaged students are profound and life changing.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 11 of The Learner Directed Classroom," written for Diane Jaquith and Nan Hathaway entitled, "The Secret Art of Boys."

“Bomb!” Seven year old John warns his classmates. “Kaboom!” He fires pretend magic marker missiles into hostile army figures depicted on a large piece of paper. John re-arms himself with oil pastels and unloads a barrage of machine gun bullet lines into the battle zone. “tffffffff…tfffffff!” He loads a stubby brush with tempera paint and thrusts it into blast fragments of jagged lines and shapes. “Look at that! A bomb! He got shot!” One of the characters in the battle scene is wounded. “Kaboom!” John’s collaborators Frank and Jimmy enter the fray. The trio of make believe warriors, re-arm themselves with new magic markers and slice colorful lines into the picture. After a prolonged exchange of simulated gun and missile fire the energetic war artists decide to expand their drawing with more glue and paper. As the battle spills into new territory, more soldiers, tanks and fighter jets are added. The battle rages on. The boy’s art work soon resembles a Cy Twombly abstraction (1). Later, the boys excitedly call their classmates over to share stories about their picture. After two more class sessions, the battle illustrators add crayon resist painting techniques and more colored pencil and oil pastel. Paper towels are used to blend areas representing fire and smoke. The boys are physically and emotionally in the imaginary battle, immersing themselves in the roles of U.S. military personnel with weapons of power. The boy’s teacher transcribes their stories into artist statements:

John: “It started with a little battle with Frank and Jimmy. And then we started to connect a big thing. I started the very, very first one and then we connected it.”

Frank: “This is a tank and somebody drew over it, but I could draw over it because there was a replacement tank. I air-striked their ship.”

Jimmy: “In this one part, there is a flying tank, and he shot the bad guys ship and the bad guys had one hundred ships, fifty on each side. So we shot both the wings off so they would all be dead.”

At the county art show, the boys proudly show their collaboration to family members who soon discover the 20 square foot multi-media drawing is the largest 2-dimensional work and among the most visually exciting in the entire 5000 piece, K-12 art exhibit. Proud parents take pictures of their sons next to the huge drawing followed by comments of approval and congratulations on a job well done. Back in the classroom, the boys negotiate to divvy up the mural, cutting it into pieces and take their favorite parts home.

More show pics...

Art Show Pics

We are exhibiting about 200 works at our county wide art show right now. Here are some pics from that exhibition. Note the Egyptian themed works. Our music teacher, Heather Leichty visited Egypt last summer on a Lilly Grant, and through her experiences, children learned much about Egyptian culture and history. Naturally, we expanded upon Egyptian art and culture here in our choice art room and implemented lessons on tomb building, mask making, drawing and painting and much conceptual work related to questions about how the pyramids were built. We even built two royal sarcophagi and a paper mache mummy!

Naturally, kids express the important ideas about what they are learning into their art.

2010 Youth Art Month Speech

Here is the 2010 YAM keynote address.

My special thanks to Sue Perry who coordinated our YAM event and also to Dr. Brad Venable who has been instrumental in leading AEAI through turbulent times.

Invention Center!

One of our most popular centers, this one even has hot glue guns! Here is the place you can come by to explore ideas related to cardboard and paper construction. We have engineers who design airplanes, catapults, space craft, boats, robots and a multitude of other futuristic creations.

The Block Center

Our children love to work in the block center. It is a place where mysterious, adventure filled environments can be created. The block center is always busy where construction crews and designers engage in creating cities of the future and recreate battle scenes from recent history and the distant future. There is always a story to be told here, problems to be formed and solved. The block center is one of our most important centers in the NPE Art Room.

Block Builders Message to the next Crew

"Pease add on to our city.
Do not knock down please."

IU South Bend Conference

We had a fantastic conference at IUSB! My sincerest thanks goes to Norman and Dr. Micheline Nilsen for inviting me to participate in this wonderful event!
Dr. Marvin Bartel delivered one of the most important keynotes I have ever listened to: "Learning and Assessing Imagination as Intelligence." The gold nugget of his presentation? "Children are the designers and engineers of the adults they will become." Translation? The kinds of early childhood learning experiences available to children are so important. Using and refining one's imaginative capabilities during the developmental years is so important for intellectual growth. Creative and divergent thinking capacities are refined during this critical phase.
I am so happy I am a choice based art teacher (Thanks Clark, Kathy, Diane and John!). I would not want to be anywhere else right now.
In the picture above, Miriam Marcus, a choice based art teacher who teaches at an urban high school in Flint, Michigan (pictured third from the left), shared with me the challenges and joys of employing choice pedagogy with her students. One of the stories she shared with me about students she taught knitting and crocheting was amazing. Her students create all kinds of hats, blankets and other clothing articles and accessories with wooden sticks and dowl rods.....those kids are working on their art all the time and it means a great deal to them to be able to use their new found knitting and crocheting skills. Students are creating art from a truly personal context. I was truly humbled after talking with her.
I was also able to meet other art teachers from Indiana, Michigan and N.Y.! Many folks were very interested in the choice approach after our presentions. I was more than happy to spread the gospel. What a great conference.

Mr. Gaw and one of his 3rd Grade Artists!

3rd Grade Exhibit

2nd Grade Display

2nd Grade Display

IUSB Art Education Conference Info

Visual Arts in Education Conference Friday, March 27, 2009
sponsored by the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, Indiana University South Bend

Abstract: This conference invites art educators and classroom teachers to a professional
day including presentations, roundtable discussions and studio activities. It engages the "issues
of the day" regarding assessment, qualitative learning, art across the curriculum and making the
arts inclusive.

Program
8:45- Meet and greet - coffee
9:00- 11:45 morning session in Northside- Recital Hall
Welcome: Marvin Curtis, Dean of the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts

Presentations:
Learning and Assessing Imagination as Intelligence
Marvin Bartel, Ed.D, Art Education, Emeritus Professor of Art, Goshen College
Art and the Mental Processes

Mary Beth Di Gann, Art specialist, Perley Art Academy, South Bend Community School Corporation, Teacher of the year, 2000.

An Introduction to Choice-Based Art Education
Clyde Gaw, Art teacher, New Palestine Elementary School, Indianapolis

Art Education Association of Indiana- Chair Arts Advocacy Committee

Round Table discussions with presenters.

12:00 Lunch (provided for teachers)

1:00-3:30 Afternoon session in Fine Arts studios

Studios:activities and demonstrations to “take-to-the-classroom”
Nyame O. Brown, artist and University of Notre Dame faculty
Bruna Wynn, artist, designer and art teacher at Clay H.S. South Bend
Alan Larkin, artist and IU South Bend faculty, printmaking
Ron Monsma, artist and IU South Bend faculty, pastel drawing

Digital image workshop:
Downloading visual image resources (bring USB drive)

Registration: Teachers and educators may register by e-mail. nnilsen@iusb.edu
A certificate of attendance will be provided to teachers.

Contact: mnilsen@iusb.edu
Micheline Nilsen, Ph.D., Visual Arts Coordinator, Assistant Professor of Art History
Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, Indiana University South Bend, 1700 Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, IN 46634-7111

This conference is free and open to the public.

Visual Arts in Education Conference Friday, March 27, 2009
sponsored by the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, Indiana University South Bend

About the presentations:

Learning and Assessing Imagination as Intelligence

Marvin Bartel, Ed.D, Art Education, Emeritus Professor of Art, Goshen College
Art learning is a complex multifaceted endeavor that Prof. Bartel calls “Flying Lessons.” He compares common art learning and assessment methods in terms of power to inspire, to influence a student’s thinking habits, and to develop an imaginative mind. He presents the strategies for critiques, grading and teaching achieved in a “studio classroom culture.” How do students become prepared and informed; how do they become inspired to imagine, to materialize, to elaborate, and to refine authentic and evocative artwork?

Art and the Mental Processes

Mary Beth Di Gann, Art specialist, Perley Art Academy, South Bend Community School Corporation, Teacher of the year, 2000
What is the current research relating to the benefits of visual arts for students and integrating teaching visual arts throughout the curriculum? In her presentation, both informational and experiential, Mary Beth Di Gann shares her experiences as a teacher at a “magnet” school of the arts, a founder and director of Community Kids Network (an after-school program featuring the arts) and a curriculum developer

An Introduction to Choice-Based Art Education

Clyde Gaw, Art teacher, New Palestine Elementary School, Indianapolis, IN, Art Education Association of Indiana- Chair of Arts Advocacy Committee, interdisciplinary curriculum implementer Choice-Based Art Education fosters imaginative and creative growth by motivating children through the method of teaching for artistic behavior. Choice teachers frequently integrate language arts, technology and other subject areas within this teaching method. Clyde Gaw writes “Nothing in education is more powerful than authentic, student-directed, student-centered learning experiences constructed from the bottom up.” He presents how this innovative “art education concept allows students opportunities to take
ownership of their art experiences from conception to completion with teacher acting as classroom manager, environmental designer, art expert, facilitator, and student mentor.”

Studios - hands-on activities and demonstrations to take to the classroom
Nyame O. Brown, artist and University of Notre Dame faculty and Bruna Wynn, artist, designer and art teacher at Clay H.S. South Bend Community School Corporation
Together Nyame Brown and Bruna Wynn conduct a workshop related to their teaching experiences with community based art programs in the city of Chicago. They will show student artwork and demonstrate some contemporary methods of “non-press” printmaking.
Alan Larkin, artist and IU South Bend faculty, printmaking
Ron Monsma, artist and IU South Bend faculty, pastel drawing
Digital image workshop: downloading visual image resources (bring USB drive)

Dynamic Learning through the Visual Arts

The viability of art education programs are entering a critical phase in many school districts across Indiana and the United States. As state revenues decline and school budgets, presently cut to the bone, shrink even further, many decision makers responsible for shaping curricula may be tempted to marginalize programs vital to creative growth experiences necessary for fully developing the intellectual capacities of our children .

When I think of most of the educational activities in today’s classrooms, I think of student’s intellectual development facilitated primarily by listening, reading and writing linguistic and mathematical forms of symbolic information. Children spend much of their time in school completing paper and pencil selected response work sheets designed to prepare them for high stakes testing events. Learning in most 21st Century classrooms today require children to place a high priority on information processing. Don’t get me wrong, it is the role of our educational institutions to impart knowledge and skills upon our young learners. The problem is this: human beings are hard wired to think and dream with a multitude of sensory information in addition to using their visual imagination. It is hard to promote creative growth and divergent thinking capacity if children are deprived of learning experiences that do not stimulate these areas of the human mind. Creativity will be a critical component to the success of our future citizenry. Higher level thinking skills related to creativity cannot be developed within our children if they are deprived of experiences that promote such forms of learning.

Within our schools, the art room is that unique place where children are allowed to experiment, imagine, create and express personal ideas using a myriad of visual forms, artist materials, techniques and technologies. Much of visual arts education learning requires students to execute the steps to represent and convey ideas in two, three, or four dimensions. This requires individuals to develop the ability to focus their attention on a vast array of quality control details. The assembly of these qualities within an art work requires a synchronization of consciousness with imagination and the sensory, emotive and cognitive realms.

David Ausubel, the influential American cognitive psychologist defined meaningful learning as experiences where learners actively interact and interpret information and are engaged in substantive mental operations with the educational content they are to learn. He could have been describing the artistic process when he made this statement. Art teachers do not boast when claiming visual arts learning experiences can lead to transformational change within their students.

Scientific research by Nobel Laureate, Eric Kandel showed that stimulating sensorial activity boosts long term memory formation in neurological structures by the extra production of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Neural networks are strengthened and expanded when learners are engaged in stimulating, meaningful experience. Scientists and researchers using the latest medical imaging technology report rhizome like bundles of neural pathways interconnected throughout the human brain, illuminate like Christmas tree lights when subjects are engaged in meaningful activity. Likewise, the neural pathways are dimmed when cognitive activity is passive or repetitive.

From an educational perspective, Kandel’s research means regular opportunities for visual arts experiences can lead to increased cognitive capacity and expand learning and memory capability in the human brain. The hands, eyes, ears and body are the agents of cognition. Educational settings and experiences where students are reduced to passive recipients of knowledge produce learning experiences that are inadequate and unsatisfactory to learners. Regular visual arts experiences in our schools matter because without them, educators run the risk of providing a schooling experience that goes into one ear and out the other. Children thrive in school environments when they have access to the fine arts.

A citizenry populated with creative, divergent, imaginative thinkers will be most beneficial to this state’s future prosperity. Ideas and intellectual property dependent upon visual thinkers will become assets in the new economy of the 21st Century. The refinement of the imagination as developed through the visual arts will provide future designers, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, innovators, professionals and others with the creative edge they will need to compete in an increasingly competitive and uncertain future. Brainstorming without perceptive, imaginative counterparts becomes an exercise of inconsequential group think.

References
Center on Education Policy. (2007). Choices, Changes and Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era. Retrieved 01/11/09 from: http://www.cep-dc.org/

Driscoll, M.P. (1994) Psychology of Learning for Instruction,
Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon Publishers

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

Gajdamaschko, N. (2005) "Vygotsky on Imagination: Why an understanding of the imagination is an important issue for schoolteachers." Teaching Education, 16(1), pp. 13-22.

Gaw, C. (2008) “A Rationale for the prevention of future failures of imagination,” Retrieved 01/14/09 from: www.clydegaw.blogspot.com

Kandel, E. (2006) In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind. New York, W.W. Norton & Co. Inc.

Greenspan, S., Shanker, H. (2004) The First Idea: How Symbols, Language and Intelligence Evolved from Our First Ancestors. Cambridge, Mass. De Capo Press

Winner, E., Hetland, L. (2007) Art for our sake. NAEA News, 49(6). Reprinted with permission from the Boston Globe.

Art Advocacy

I am inserting a copy of an essay I wrote for the Art Education Association of Indiana and also republished on the Teaching for Artistic Behavior Website ( http://www.teachingforartisticbehavior.org/ ) from 2007. The essay is entitled:
"A Rationale for the Prevention of Future Failures of Imagination."


The AEAI recognizes there are many spectacular fine arts programs supported by enthusiastic administrators and highly qualified teachers across the State of Indiana. While a small fraction of students who participate in these programs go on to seek further education in visual arts professions, it is important to remind the general public that one of the most important benefits of a quality visual arts education is the development of an array of thinking skills, related to the expansion of the imagination. The visual arts, more than any other subject within the school curricula, focus on the exploration and study of the image. Let us not forget the human mind represents ideas and dreams through images. The development and growth of one’s ability to express ideas with forms and images is the heart of the art education experience.

An examination of the activities taking place within the art room reveal learning distinctive from other kinds occurring in regular classrooms. Where much of the educational activity in today’s schools consists of text-oriented seat work based on extended and selected response assessments, the art room is that unique place where individuals are encouraged to experiment and create with personal ideas using a myriad of artist materials and techniques.


Eight-year-old Greg has an idea for a drawing. In an earlier lesson, Greg’s art teacher examined the expressive use of elements in the paintings of Van Gogh. This presentation has inspired Greg to incorporate many of these same elements of design into his own art. He begins by outlining the shape of a giant S vertically onto the center of his paper. U-shaped scale textures are rendered onto the surface of a giant dragon. Landscape elements are incorporated into the picture. Greg continues adding more details in order to animate his art. Working on a large sheet of paper, Greg knows his drawing will require a lot of work. He enlists the help of his curious friends Jason, Edward and Frank. The four boys discuss which areas of the drawing need further development and work cooperatively over the next several class sessions. Greg suggests they might render parts of the drawing with sophisticated drawing techniques learned in previous lessons. They agree to use crayon resist and crayon etching to enhance the drawing’s surface. Each day in class, the boys reflect and evaluate the progress of the work before making new changes.

The activities that unfold in the art room provide opportunities for children to practice conveying ideas into physical form. Greg’s example reveals the exploration of a complex story concept and its manifestation from idea to visual representation. Executing the steps to realize an idea and representing it in two, three, or four dimensions requires individual attention to a vast array of quality control details. The assembly of these qualities within an art work requires a synchronization of consciousness with imagination and the sensory, emotive and cognitive realms.
School boards and administrators, who control the curricular offerings of their local school districts, must be reminded from time to time that students, who participate in art education programs, have increased cognitive advantages over peers who have not had such experiences. Children with visual arts experiences are more skill- ful at attending to detail, observing, innovating, inventing, cooperating, and conceptualizing with visual and mental forms than their counterparts who have little or no practice in the visual arts. We are all born with brains but the mind is cultivated through experience.

Students engaged in comprehensive art education learning experiences have greater opportunity to become masters of their imagination. This is a bold claim, one that art educators do not make lightly. We facilitate the expansion of our student’s imagination on a daily basis. Whether we are studying the artistic creations of artists or cultures, exercising children’s capacity to express forms or ideas based on imaginative thought, sharpening our skills at observing and visual perception, the refinement of imagination is one of the key areas of development in a quality art education program.

Sadly, the AEAI has received a growing number of reports regarding the marginalization of visual arts programs in school districts across the state. Ex- act numbers are hard to tabulate because curricular deficiencies are something school districts do not like to publicize. During the next year, AEAI will begin to gather more substantial data and critically analyze this situation. A 2007 report from the Center on Education Policy indicates 44% of 349 schools surveyed from across the U.S. cut instructional time in one or more subjects at the elementary level in art, music, social studies, civics, and physical education since 2002. Currently, the Indiana State recommendations for student learning in the visual arts are approximately 60 minutes per week for elementary children and ninety minutes per week for middle school students. (These recommendations will soon be retracted by the state DOE.) High school graduation requirements for an academic honors diploma require at least two elective courses in the fine arts.

We know that learning is time-sensitive. When a student who is interested in the visual arts is denied course offerings because of program elimination or rule changes that deny opportunity, a student’s ability to fully realize their potential will have been short-changed. It is hard to imagine what might have occurred in the Renaissance if the 15th Century’s most important art teacher, Verrocchio, had not influenced and facilitated the development of Leonardo da Vinci.

A citizenry populated with creative, divergent, imaginative thinkers will be most beneficial to this state’s future prosperity. Ideas and intellectual property dependent upon visual thinkers will become assets in the new economy of the 21st Century. The refinement of the imagination as developed through the visual arts will provide future designers, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, innovators, professionals and others with the creative edge they will need to compete in an increasingly competitive and uncertain future. Brainstorming without perceptive, imaginative counterparts becomes an exercise of inconsequential group think.

If the education that shapes our children’s thinking ability fails to engage the visual imagination at a psychologically meaningful level, the well-rounded education U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings believes "all children deserve" will have been skewed. The power to control curricular offerings within schools lies with elected school boards and the administrators who advise them. Teachers and parents must stand firm as a bulwark against possible arts education program cuts. Full consideration for the development of imagination in our future citizenry will be of critical importance if we are to face the challenges and solve the problems of the 21st Century.

References
Caouette, R. (2006, Fall)Embracing the creative and conceptual age. Reston, VA: NAEA Advisory.

Carp, R.M. (2004). Art education and the Sign(ification) of the Self. Semiotics and Visual Culture: Sights , Signs and Significance. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

Gajdamaschko, N. (2005) "Vygotsky on Imagination: Why an understanding of the imagination is an important issue for schoolteachers." Teaching Education, 16(1), pp. 13-22.

Center on Education Policy. (2007). Choices, Changes and Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era. Retrieved 01/11/09 from: http://www.cep-dc.org/

U.S. Dept. of Ed., Teachers ask the Secretary, Retrieved 01/07/09 from: http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/reform/teachersask/index.html#arts.

Winner, E., Hetland, L. (2007) Art for our sake. NAEA News, 49(6). Reprinted with permission from the Boston Globe.

Spring Art Show at Sugar Creek

Welcome to the New Palestine Elementary 2008 Spring Art Show Exhibit at Sugar Creek Elementary.

You will notice, each art work is different from the other.

This is the hallmark of a choice based art exhibit.

You won't find"school art" here. Only the authentic stuff....

Individuals conveying their ideas, creating their art.

Theodore Potter Elementary Art Camp!

Wow! What a great experience! My sincerest 'thank you' goes out to Mr. Tim Clevenger of IPS School 74 for allowing us the opportunity to conduct Theodore Potter Elementary Art Camp!

We had a special guest on Wednesday of our camp. Mrs. Swinney the regular art teacher of TPES made a special visit to camp and spent time with our students.

We had several centers open: drawing, painting, architecture/blocks, puppet theatres, construction/invention, art library, computers, yarn and paper mache. We had many memorable moments during camp including the building of a city inside the Great Wall of China, a major puppet play by the TPE Art Camp Puppeteers, and the building and breaking of a huge fish pinata! Enjoy the pics......