The End of Art in Education

Overview & Synopsis

The art education literature has recently given a good deal of attention to the topic of Visual Culture in Art Education (VCAE). VCAE appears to some art educators as the next new emphasis in art education following Discipline-Based Art Education. At least four recent theme issues of Art Education have addressed the topic in various ways. All of these issues have, in one way or another, been devoted to a dialogic rather than a studio emphasis in art education instruction. What some consider most radical about the VCAE approach is its attempt to shift the Art Education field from its traditional emphasis on studio art into a dialog about art as a socially constructed object, devoid of expressive meaning. Arthur Efland and Kerry Freedman, while both advocates of visual culture, differ somewhat in both how they approach the topic and how they justify the need for such study. Efland attempts to justify a socially reconstructive art education curriculum through a very complicated constructivist-cognitive rationale. Freedman more or less admits the new visual culture is here, and it is time to address it in art schooling. This article presents a detailed discussion of the Efland-Freedman positions. (Contains 1 note.)