Australian Art Education 

About: Australian Art Education is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Visual arts education & The arts. It has an ISSN identifier of 1032-1942. Over the lifetime, 209 publications have been published receiving 873 citations.

Early childhood art education: a palimpsest.

Abstract: The idea of teaching art with young children can evoke much discussion and debate about the value of art, its place in society and schools, and how it is best taught. Some people think that to teach art 'properly', all you need to do is provide an attractive array of materials, a safe environment, be a warm and loving person, and ensure that the children are "having fun". Many exemplary teachers and artists insist that they do not teach art with young children – they argue that art comes from the children, that the children simply explore, experiment, and express themselves. However, a close examination of these teachers' and artists' practices invariably shows them guiding, modelling, demonstrating skills and techniques, providing children with opportunities to practise and master skills, organising, and enacting teaching in any number of ways. Even so, they don’t like to think or speak of their work as teaching. The work of these teachers and artists is described ironically as teaching, without teaching (McArdle, 2001).

Instagram and art gallery visitors: Aesthetic experience, space, sharing and implications for educators

Abstract: Instagram is one of the world's most popular social media applications. For art galleries it is an important tool for promotion, marketing, interaction, participation and the enhancing of the visitor experience. For arts educators it is an opportunity to broaden the participation of people wanting to learn through art, and to consider how Instagram may contribute to an art gallery based learning program. There is limited research about the use of Instagram by visitors to an art gallery and the role it plays in their experience. This article is drawn from a research study into the use of Instagram by visitors to the Gerhard Richter exhibition at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (14 October 2017 - 4 February 2018). The research project, which was informed by spatial theory, found that the use of Instagram at the gallery engaged visitors in a manner that transcended the physical space and extended their aesthetic experience. This finding is significant for arts educators seeking to engage students through social media during visits to art exhibitions.

Steam education: Fostering creativity in and beyond secondary schools

Abstract: Current educational policy is dominated by a discourse of transferability, scalability and innovation, within a climate politicised by 'creative industries' and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education in Australia. STEM has been promoted as an authentic and engaging approach to education, particularly as Australia tries to boost its performance in international testing. However, STEM has consistently been challenged by STEAM, where 'arts and design' represent the 'A'. STEAM advocates for creativity and expression to be included as a core part of any interdisciplinary approach. There is no defensible reason why the 'A' of arts should not be included in domain interconnectedness and the development of critical and creative thinking skills' preparation of students for the global economy. Assessing the 'state of play' involving STEM and STEAM in Australia, this paper considers the widespread adoption of STEM in education, and its missed opportunity for integrating arts skills and capacities into the creativity agenda. Harris (2016) has argued in favour of a more 'ecological' whole-school approach to fostering creativity that promotes not only creative approaches to STEM subjects, but importantly arts subjects as well, including environmental, partnership and professional development components. The Harris Creativity Index is reviewed, and salient creative skills and capacities posited which allows teachers to implement pedagogical procedures that can improve creativity within schools through more whole-school transdisciplinary STEAM approaches.