Integrating the Visual Arts throughout the Curriculum

Chapter 6 Take-Away
1. Visual Arts Is an Essential Communication Vehicle
a. Both word and non-word communication relies on representing ideas.
b. Neither words nor images can literally show everything we know and
feel.
c. An important element in visual literacy is understanding that A human
figure carved in wood is never just a human figure, a painted apple is
never just an apple.
d. Words and images are tools that our brains use to make sense; they
hold aspects of the truth, not the whole truth.
e. Thinking relies on images and learning relies on thinking therefore,
visual art integration employs an important strength of the human
brain that is central to communication.
2. Art Engages Emotions and Motivates
a. intelligence can come to nothing when the emotions hold sway.
b. Emotions cause us to move or to take action, which can result in
positive or negative consequences. While arts involves the intellect, it
also activates emotional ways of knowing.
c. Art is an outlet for ideas and feelings-a safety valve that can allow
emotional catharsis.
3. Art Develops Aesthetic Understanding
a. Aromas, sounds, colors, tastes and textures fill our environment. The
brain processes stimuli; when they are perceived as satisfying,
aesthetic knowing is activated. From moments of beauty can come
long-lasting understanding.
b. With our senses sharpened, our awareness of experiences is
heightened.
c. Broudy (1979) argues that all thinking and action depend on aesthetic
thinking especially image making, which gives the imagination the
raw material for concepts and ideals.
d. Beauty is a source of imagination that never dries up and explains
that a thing can be absorbing without being pretty or be ugly and yet
seize the soul as beautiful.
4. Art Promotes Attention to Details
a. concentrating on the details in artwork gave them the eye and the
patience to go back into their writing again the art helps the writing
and the writing helps the art.
5. Arts Develops High Level Thinking
a. Look from the foreground to background to get a sense of the whole
scene.
b. Crime and art are both solved by noticing the little things.
c. Perceiving visual images is a cognitive event in which seeing and
understanding are intricately linked. Through guided creative inquiry,
students make the discovery, and learn to think beyond the literal
while examining details and making sense from symbols and patterns.
d. Students who expect to generate rather than imitate think deeper.

6. Art Gives Confidence to Be Unique

a. Students gain confidence as they learn to use alternative art concepts
and skills to express/represent conclusions.
7. Art Promotes Respect for Diversity
a. Any artwork is a window into an artists experiences in a specific time
and culture. Art is thus ideal for studying the particular values and
customs of the worlds peoples, using visual images and objects that
grab attention.
8. Art Develops Concentration, Responsibility, and Self-Discipline
a. The prospect of making art is intriguing, causing the learning culture to
shift from right answers to a more invitational
9. Art Naturally Partners with Other Disciplines
10.Art Makes Learning Visible: Assessment