My Art Education Statement

Art education allows students to think freely, to reflect, depict, create, and express

themselves, it also presents students with the development of their motor skills, language skills,

and social skills. It gives students a chance to experience growth and develop as individuals by

applying art to the world around them, in everyday life. I can personally attest to this, when I was

in high school, art allowed me to be able to express myself through visual symbols and art forms.

This helped me build my confidence and individual identity which was a real breakthrough for

my adolescent self. Unlike unit exams that I would dread, I would count down the hours till I

was back in my comfort zone, surrounded by manican heads in morning cosmetology or the

scent of paint in the art wing of my high school. I thoroughly enjoyed the fine arts programs at

my school because they were open to my interpretation, they weren’t black and white, there was

always a grey area that was rich with color.

It is my belief that it is of great value to incorporate art within the school curriculum. Art

matters within the classroom because it provides a wide array of advantages for its student’s.

Educators, such as us, are able to make the most of art education by equipping ourselves with the

skills needed to transform this creative practice into a central feature within the curriculum.

In my practicum placement I was assigned to teach two subjects, one of them being art class. My

first step when thinking about teaching art was realizing the content and how to make that
content come alive. I found myself thinking about my past art teachers, which lessons did I

remember the most and why? All these teachers had one thing in common- they inspired me to

create art projects that far and away exceeded what I believed I was capable of. They didn’t just

allow room for error, but they actually encouraged it, they allowed me to think outside of the box

and learn from my mistakes. In my practicum art class, we made spider webs in honor of our

language arts class and the novel, Charlotte’s Web. I made sure to inform the class that not every

spiderweb is the same. The webs uniqueness gives it is character. We are all unique and in turn

all have differences. By offering an inclusive classroom, we as teachers are able to provide better

opportunity for learning needs and can respect the diversity of the students. Eisner (2002) puts it

beautifully when he states that, “The arts, on the contrary, invite perceptual exploration. They

invite the exploration of the qualitative character of an individual tree. “Greenish” is closer to an

artistic realization than “green”. We need to encourage “greenish”’.