Art education has evolved over the centuries to emphasize different goals and teaching methods. In the 1800s, public schools focused on drawing skills for the Industrial Revolution. By the early 1900s, the study of great artworks was used to teach moral values. In the 1920s, art became viewed as a way to understand child development and promote personal expression, influenced by John Dewey. Approaches have varied, from advocating innate creativity in the 1970s to the comprehensive Discipline Based Art Education model of the 1980s that is still used today through national standards.

1. ART EDUCATION

2. ART EDUCATION: 1800
• PUBLIC SCHOOLS EMPHASIZED
DRAWING SKILLS TO KEEP PACE WITH
OTHER COUNTRIES DURING THE
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
• THIS EARLY ART CURRICULUM WAS
NAMED ‘FREEHAND DRAWING’.
• ART EDUCATION WAS NOT STATIC; AT
THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, A NEW
FOCUS EMERGED.

3. ART EDUCATION 1900
THE TURN OF THE CENTURY BROUGHT
THE STUDY OF GREAT PICTURES, USUALLY
HISTORIC OR SENTIMENTAL. MORAL
VALUES WERE TAUGHT IN THIS WAY.
THESE WERE THE SEEDS OF ART HISTORY
AND ART CRITICISM IN THE PUBLIC
SCHOOLS. ‘MANUAL ARTS’, OR THE
PRODUCTION OF USEFUL PRACTICAL
HOME ITEMS WAS ALSO EMPHASIZED AT
THIS TIME.

4. ART EDUCATION 1920’S
• THE NEXT CHANGE IN PUBLIC EDUCATION WAS USING ART
AS A KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE MENTAL AND
EMOTIONAL GROWTH OF CHILDREN.
• ART WAS NOW CONSIDERED A SOURCE OF PERSONAL AND
CREATIVE EXPRESSION.
• EDUCATOR JOHN DEWEY WAS A POWERFUL INFLUENCE
AND ADVOCATED A CHILD-CENTERED CURRICULUM,
CREATIVITY, AND PLAY.
• ARTHUR WESTLY DOW PROMOTED THE IMPORTANCE OF
THE PRINCIPLES AND ELEMENTS OF ART.

5. ART EDUCATION 1970’S
•IN THE LATE 1970’S, VIKTOR LOWENFELD,
PSYCHOLOGIST AND ART EDUCATOR
PROMOTED THE IDEA OF THE ‘INATE
CREATIVITY’ OF THE CHILD.
•HE ADVOCATED A HANDS-OFF APPROACH TO
ART EDUCATION.
•TEACHERS WERE NOT TO TRY TO “TEACH
ART OR INFLUENCE THE CHILD IN ANY WAY”.
•UNFORTUNATELY, AS A RESULT, MUCH OF
WHAT WAS DONE IN THE SCHOOLS SIMPLY
DISINTEGRATED INTO ONLY HOLIDAY CRAFTS
AND DECORATIONS.

6. ART EDUCATION 1980-1990
•IN THE 1980’S-1990’S, THE GETTY CENTER FOR EDUCATION
IN THE ARTS BEGAN SUPPORTING A COMPREHENSIVE
APPROACH TO ART.
•IT WAS CALLED, DISCIPLINE BASED ART EDUCATION, OR
D.B.A.E.
•THIS COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM INCLUDES FOUR AREAS
OF ACADEMIC STUDY...FOUR ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES.
•ART HISTORY, ART CRITICISM, AESTHETICS AND STUDIO.
•THE NATIONAL STANDARDS WERE CREATED AT THIS TIME
AND ARE USED TODAY AS A BASIS FOR CREATING ART
LESSONS IN THE CLASSROOM.
•THE STANDARDS OUTLINE THE COMPETENCIES
THAT CHILDREN SHOULD ATTAIN AT EACH GRADE LEVEL.

7. ART EDUCATION TODAY
•TODAY, WE FOLLOW THE NATIONAL STANDARDS AND
DISCIPLINE BASED ART EDUCATION FOR CREATING ART
CURRICULUM.
•ART HISTORY GIVES THE STUDENT VALUABLE INSIGHTS BY
PLACING THE ARTWORK IN A HISTORICAL CONTEXT.
(‘GRAPES’)
•ART CRITICISM IS ACTUALLY ART ‘EVALUATION’ WHERE THE
STUDENT ASSESSES THE MERITS OF AN ARTWORK BASED
ON SET CRITERIA.
•AESTHETICS IS THE AREA THAT INVESTIGATES ALL OF THE
QUESTIONS SURROUNDING ART...IT IS THE PHILOSOPHICAL
BRANCH OF ART.
•STUDIO IS ANOTHER NAME FOR ART PRODUCTION.

8. “We know from long experience that
no one can claim to be truly
educated who lacks basic knowledge
and skills in the arts.”

9. ART EDUCATION