The Benefits of Art Education
Art is not only for adults to enjoy. With the public’s positive outlook on art education continuing to increase, it is no wonder that more studies and articles are being written on the benefits of art education. Introducing children, and at-risk youth to art can help them improve in many different ways.
Whether it is improving a small child’s learning skills, or helping older children learn about the environment, art education can have several different positive effects on the average child (Maynard and Ketter). Introducing art to children at a young age, say preschool, encourages them to use problem-solving skills (Maynard and Ketter). A technique, known as “open-ended art” can be used to increase children’s learning (Maynard and Ketter). By allowing children to create art, and finish their art projects the way they choose to, it opens up their mind in “key developmental areas” (Maynard and Ketter). An article written by Christine Maynard and Kara J. Ketter discusses these areas. Open-ended art promotes a healthy emotional outlet, develops “executive function,” and helps to cultivate motor skills.
Art education in elementary schools can also help to foster an awareness of ecological issues and the environment (Foster and Hoot). Two ecological art projects started by the Arts in Education Institute of Western New York developed interest in ecology and brought awareness to noise pollution, water pollution, air pollution, littering and energy waste (Foster and Hoot). A team of visual artists, dancers/choreographers, musicians/composers, and video editors helped to teach students, parents, and teachers about the dangers of pollution. Everyone worked together to create a play and several silent films that showed the outcomes of polluting, as well as ways to help create a better environment. By learning about ecological issues through art, the children learned to care more about the ecological state of the planet, and truly wished to make a difference (Foster and Hoot).
Introducing art education can also be beneficial for at-risk youth. Public school art programs in urban and inner city areas struggle with budget cuts and “difficult” students being relocated to different schools (Woywod). Art specialists at these schools are able to work with new students who need to be taught “basic art skills”, and still have them succeed. Roy Shapira is a former Milwaukee public school art student who later became an art teacher for another Milwaukee public school. Shapira warns that 45 minutes of art or music class once a week is not enough to “impact them socially, emotionally, cognitively (Woywod).” He, and fellow art teachers, are working together to ensure that additional resources are available for public school students (Woywod). These art teachers want to make certain that their urban and inner city students are able to have the same resources that suburban or private students have. They realize how much art education can positively influence these children. Because of teachers who create an emphasis on social justice, anti-bias, and anti-racism, students are now used to reading the newspaper, and discussing civil right issues in class (Woywod).
Community art classes are another way of positively influencing minorities. When training and encouragement is given properly to black children, their natural learning abilities begin to improve (Young). When children play and create artwork, they begin to mature as well as incorporate “a balance of imaginative expression and social reality” (Young). Art programs can also help at-risk youth to become more independent and have better self-esteem (Rubin). James Minson, a glass artist from Seattle, started a glass studio in Guatemala to see what the benefits of learning this craft would be for orphans (Rubin). Minson states that the studio had a “sense of community with everyone sharing ideas and helping each other” (Rubin). After conducting research on the students, he found that, by creating glass art as a kind of therapy, they began to improve their life skills (Rubin). As the project went on, the students became more skilled, confident, and consistent. Minson tested the students using a tool called the Ansell-Casey life skills assessment. The Ansell-Casey life skills assessment[1] is "a free tool that assesses the behaviors and competencies youth need to achieve their long term goals (Casey Family Programs). “ The results showed that “scores on the work and study habits category were up over 22%. (Rubin)”
Art enthusiasts and art teachers are not the only ones who believe that art education should be mandatory in schools. Many scholars have written books and articles discussing the benefits of art education. Sir Herbert Edward Read was an English poet and art critic who was a professor of fine arts at the University of Edinburgh. He believed that art teachers have the ability to offer positive, creative education to students, as well as encourage taste, appreciation, and the ability to be constructively critical (Thistlewood).
While many think of art as being something for only adults to enjoy, introducing children, and at-risk youth to art can help them to improve in many different ways. With the public’s positive outlook on art education continuing to increase, it is no wonder that more studies and articles are being written on the benefits of art education.
Casey Family Programs. Casey Life Skills | Casey Family Programs. 2013. Web. 28 April 2014. <http://www.casey.org/Resources/Tools/cls/>.
Foster, Margaret L and James L Hoot. "Promoting ecological responsibility ... through the arts." Childhood Education 1993: 150. Web. 16 February 2014. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA13796063&v=2.1&u=lincclin_hcc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=d766e564c31d6b95ceaf0f1516468e8f>.
Magnusen, Christy. Teaching Children with Autism and Related Spectrum Disorders : An Art and a Science. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2005. Web. 16 February 2014. <http://db11.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=147524&site=ehost-live>.
Mannathoko, M. C. "Community Involvement in the Teaching and Learning of Arts and Culture in Primary Schools: Case Study of Four Primary Schools in Botswana." International Review of Social Sciences & Humanities 5.2 (2013): 19-27. Web. 10 February 2014. <http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.db11.linccweb.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c7cf7952-dac8-492c-abe6-70357e32258d%40sessionmgr4001&vid=2&hid=4105>.
Maynard, Christine and Kara J Ketter. "The Value of Open-Ended Art." Teaching Young Children 7.1 (2013): 24-27. Web. 10 February 2014. <http://db11.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=91554985&site=ehost-live>.
Munro, Thomas. Art education: Its philosophy and psychology; selected essays. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1956. Print. 17 February 2014.
Osborne, Jan. "Art and the Child with Autism: Therapy or education?" Early Child Development and Care 2003: 411-423. Web. 4 March 2014. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0300443032000079096>.
Read, Sir Herbert Edward. Education through art. 3d rev. ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1974. Print. 17 February 2014.
Reclaiming the Public: LIfe Histories of Urban Art Teachers in a Time of New Commonalities. Dir. Christine Woywod. Prods. Laura TrafĂ-Prats and Christine Woywod. 2012. Web. 10 February 2014. <https://vimeo.com/42141830>.
The Arts as Therapy with Children: Glass Art as Therapy. Dir. Judith R Rubin. Perf. James Minson. Prod. Expressive Media Inc. 2008. Web. 16 February 2014. <http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=2709&xtid=52213>.
Thistlewood, David. "Herbert Read (1893–1968)." PROSPECTS: the quarterly review of comparative education 1994: 375–390. Web. 24 March 2014. <www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/publications/ThinkersPdf/reade.pdf>.
Young, Bernard. "Visual Arts and Black Children." Art Education 38.1 (1985): 36-38. Web. 10 February 2014. <http://www.jstor.org.db11.linccweb.org/stable/3192908>.
 [1] Examples of the life skills CLS helps youth self-evaluate include: maintaining healthy relationships, work and study habits, planning and goal-setting, using community resources, daily living activities, budgeting and paying bills, computer literacy, and their permanent connections to caring adults.
