A comprehensive visual art education program is an essential
component of our students’ growth as educated, responsive, and creative
thinkers. Visual art education provides a meaningful foundation for
lifelong learning. Visual Art is a CORE subject, as designated in
the No Child Left Behind Act, and as such, should be valued for
fundamental literacy goals presented in a sequential, developmental,
process-oriented Visual art program.
I. Visual Art represents the most telling imprint of any
civilization, serving as a record of cultural history, expression, and
belief. Visual art education instills an appreciation for the arts as a
vehicle for the transmission of cultural heritage. It develops in the
students an understanding and appreciation for their role as caretakers
of that heritage. Visual art education leads students to an
understanding of the role of art in the global community and to
communities past and present
II. Visual art is a basic symbol system by which people communicate,
express and acquire understanding. While many disciplines are concerned
with convergent thinking, visual art encourages innovation and risk
taking, stressing that there is not one solution, but many. Perceiving,
creative thinking, problem solving, and technical proficiency are
presented through visual art education programs. Visual art education
develops the students’ ability to fully explore ideas and to communicate
through the arts.
III. Visual art represents a means of understanding and interacting
with the world through cognitive and sensory experiences. Visual art
experiences add enrichment to everyday life and help foster an
appreciation for beauty and order in natural and manufactured objects
and designs. Visual art education is essential in the diverse society
in which we live, as it enables students to respond to and express
ideas, to perceive aesthetic relationships, to interpret meanings, and
to develop personal standards of appreciation within all of the visual
symbols surrounding the individual in society. Visual art education
experiences teach students to respond intelligently to forms of visual
culture.
IV. Visual art embodies the deepest expressions of humanity and is
therefore basic to the quality of human existence. Visual art education
is an essential part of the education of every child. The study of art
provides students with differentiated learning experiences that promote
the advanced cognitive processes of perceiving, responding, judging,
and developing informed personal preferences. Visual art education helps
students understand why art is valued.
V. Visual art is connected to the social, ethnic, political,
spiritual, moral, environmental, and technological issues of diverse
periods and times. Visual art education encourages students to consider
a variety of perspectives and to formulate solutions based on
disciplines outside the arts. Through exploration of varied media and
art forms, transferable competencies are developed. Visual
art education builds an understanding of relationships that connect all
fields of study. Visual art education leads students to recognize the
reciprocal influence of art to other disciplines.
Creating works of art engages students in meaningful and
differentiated learning experiences. However, students need more than a
wide range of media, an exposure to varied art forms, and the
opportunity to build technical and technological skills. A
comprehensive visual art education program requires the guidance of
perceptive visual art educators who will coordinate and provide
sequential and developmentally appropriate learning experiences inside
and outside the classroom. The students require sufficient time and
opportunity to be immersed in a visual art program, so as to appreciate
the connection between visual art and other educational, historical,
personal, and social contexts. The students also require adequate and
appropriate materials, instructional spaces that support and encourage
inquiry, creative processes, exploration of art related careers and
relationship of visual arts to other careers.
Content Standards
Standard I: Historical, Cultural, and Social Contexts
Art education experiences lead students to an understanding of the
role of art in people’s lives in which they come to appreciate the
artistic achievements of their own and other societies, past and
present.
- Students understand the impact of visual art on the history, culture, and society from which it emanates.
- They understand the cultural, social, and political forces that, in turn, shape visual art communication and expression.
- Students identify the significant contributions of visual artists to cultural heritage.
- They analyze the historical, cultural, social, and political
contexts that influence the function and role of visual art in the lives
of people.
Standard II: Creative Expression and Communication
Art education experiences lead students to an ability to communicate
through visual art, in which they develop competencies in perceiving,
creative thinking, qualitative problem solving, and technical
proficiency.
- Students create art works that demonstrate understanding of
materials, processes, tools, media, techniques, and available
technology.
- They understand how to use art elements, principles, and images communicate their ideas in a variety of visual forms.
Standard III: Analyzing and Responding
Art education experiences lead students to an ability to respond to
the arts, in which they perceive aesthetic relationships, interpret
meanings, and judge significance.
- Students identify and discriminate themes, media, subject matter, and formal technical and expressive aspects in works of art.
- They understand and use the vocabulary of art criticism to describe
visual features, analyze relationships and interpret meanings in works
of art.
- Students make judgments about the quality of works of art using the appropriate criteria.
Standard IV: Valuing the Arts / Aesthetic Reflection
Art education experiences lead to an understanding of why people
value art in which they formulate their own personal philosophies of the
arts.
- Students understand why people value visual art.
- They present their beliefs about the nature and significance of selected artworks and the reasons for holding these beliefs.
- Students reflect on and respect diverse points of view about artworks and artifacts.
- Students will reflect on the nature and meaning of art from varied philosophical points of view.
Standard V: Connections, Relationships, and Applications
Art education experiences lead students to recognize the reciprocal
influence of the arts and social, ethnic, political, spiritual, moral,
environmental, and technological issues in diverse periods and times.
- Students connect and apply their learning of visual art to the study of other art areas and disciplines outside of arts.
- They understand relationships between and among concepts and ideas that are common across subjects in the curriculum.
- Students recognize the importance of lifelong learning and experience in visual art.
Curriculum Outlines
Curriculum Activities by Grade Level
Primary School – Grades K – 2
Elementary School – Grades 3 – 5
Middle School – Grades 6 – 8
High School – Grades 9 – 12
Content Summaries by Grade Level
Primary School – Grades K – 2
Elementary School – Grades 3 – 5
Middle School – Grades 6 – 8
High School – Grades 9 – 12