Art Curriculum Guide by S. Robledo-Maderazo

Tomaseviae-Daneeviae, M. (1999, September). Do You "Speak" the
     Visual Language?. Paper presented at the Annual World Congress
     of the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA),
     Brisbane, Australia.

URL: www.cell68.com/curriculumguide/DoYouSpeakVisualLanguage/
01.html

Summary: The article attempts to provide a systematic analogy between verbal language and communication by examining the common definitions of language and relying mainly on a two-dimensional model of language structure borrowed from Sassure, a Swiss linguistic theoretician. Using the model's basic language units, the author poses that visual cues can be used in place of verbal ones to comprise a visual language system. Given this, the author discusses how the visual language can be used to develop early language skills (in the case of this paper, English as a foreign language). The article touches on the arguments for emphasizing the importance of art education as a means to developing students' visual language skills, or their ability to "read" and "write" in the visual language; it is recognized that attaining visual literacy can "help further learning of other subjects and expanding contemporary-highly-recognized life skills and abilities." To help make the argument, the article examines the use of the visual language in two schools which practiced integrated teaching of English with an emphasis on art for children ages 4-11.

Literacy Connection: This article attempts to validate the notion that visual language and verbal language are analogous and that they can be used in tandem to develop overall communication skills. In this case, literacy is concretely shown to extend beyond our traditional understanding of it as ones linguistic competence through reading and writing; the author points out the importance of visual literacy in assessing and developing other literacy skills.

Significance: For art educators concerned with both the status of art education in public schools as well as the improvement of verbal literacy skills, this article offers a good theoretical foundation for the assertion that there is a need for art to be considered as part of the core curriculum. It offers a model that systematically shows the existence and possibilities of a true visual language and how that language is taught in an art classroom. Furthermore, the article shows how the visual language can be used to improve verbal language skills through its example of an integrated English course with an emphasis on art. This provides crucial support for a truly interdisciplinary approach to literacy pedagogy. Finally, there are further implications for the use of art and visual literacy skills to improve English language instruction.

URL: www.cell68.com/curriculumguide/GrammarOfVisualLiteracy/
01.html

Summary: This article makes the case for art education within a literacy context by describing the increasing need for visual literacy as a result of the increase in the world's "pictorial" communication. Specifically, there is a focus on interactive media in such contemporary forms as DVDs, web sites, and CD-ROMs and the need to study how people cognitively process and interpret images. Its goal is to begin to uncover the grammar of visual literacy by studying how a group of adolescents responds to and discusses different images in an interactive presentation. The resulting framework offers a working model for the different "grammar" components of visual literacy.

Literacy Connection: Connections are assumed between verbal literacy and visual literacy and a deeper understanding of the mechanics of visual literacy is sought. The article reports on the increasing importance of visual literacy skills based on continuing developments in interactive technology. Like that of verbal language, the article uncovers a beginning grammatical structure for the visual language that can be studied and learned to improve visual literacy skills.

Significance: For art educators, any in-depth study emphasizing the importance of studying art and becoming adept at visual communication is significant. Such articles help boost the social relevance of art education by pointing out the increasing needs for art-related skills. The grammar uncovered here offers a real, practical framework for building arts curricula that helps develop visual literacy skills with the end goal of improving students' abilities to function in the real world; studying art becomes something necessary for all students rather than those with a predisposed interest, "talent", or in need of another elective.

Thwaites, T. (2000). Multiliteracies - A New Direction for Arts
Education. Retrieved October 15th, 2002, from
www.aare.edu.au/99pap/thw99528.htm.

URL: www.aare.edu.au/99pap/thw99528.htm

Summary: The article was written in response to the New Zealand government's development of the national curriculum framework which was perceived to have deprioritized arts education in favor of math, science, language, and information technology. First, the article outlines the process by which the curriculum framework was developed, including the specific calls made by the state which signaled the shift away from arts education towards new communication technology and linguistic knowledge. The discussion then turns to the larger context of literacy theory and the role of literacy in society throughout history. It is within this context that the author discusses semiotics and meaning in order to set up the argument for recognizing arts education as a literacy-promoting area. Finally, the conclusion is that there needs to be a conceptualization of literacy towards a multiliteracies approach which could help arts education assert itself as a core subject.

Literacy Connection: The article was written to offer a strategy for challenging the newly developed New Zealand Curriculum Framework's perceived marginalization of art education in favor of promoting literacy, traditionally defined as linguistic skills such as reading and writing. The author suggests that art educators adopt a multiliteracies approach which would help redefine "literacy" to include visual, aural, gestural, spatial and multimodal meanings. It is argued that by taking on this broader, more holistic approach, a new emphasis can be placed on the role of arts education as a key factor in building true literacy. To make its argument, the article outlines a thorough survey of definitions of and theories about literacy in the context of education, including an overview of the social roles that literacy has played throughout history.

Significance: This article directly addresses an issue that seems to be a recurring theme in art education: the decline and marginalization of the arts in public education through policy development and curriculum frameworks. What is especially powerful here is that the author points out how a nation's economy can drive education policy to redefine its priorities; in this case the "pro literacy canon embraced by the [New Zealand] state" is being used to increase the "drive to promote literacy, numeracy and information technology in schooling" to support the demands of the "knowledge economy". The solution strategy promoted here—the adoption of a multiliteracies approach—is of great interest to art educators in the United States as well. Here, arts education has historically been deprioritized in favor of the "core curricula" of math, science, social studies, and English. The multiliteracies approach is applicable to counter the specific notion that English should be emphasized over art to improve literacy skills. I believe that linguistic skills should in fact be emphasized, but not to the detriment of studying art with its accompanying visual, aurual, gestural, spatial and multimodal literacy skills. Without art in the core curriculum, students stand to lose out on other important literacy skills that are becoming more and more important in the United States with the continuing rise in new communication technologies and mediated messages. Finally, the section titled "Literacy" provides all educators with some important contextual notes on the use of the literacy concept historically. There are important notes regarding literacy policy's relation to diversity that can help remind us of the importance and need for a critical, multicultural discussion on literacy. The author states: "Linguistic and cultural diversity have become central issues in education and the meaning of literacy pedagogy must change to meet this shift away from the 'old order'. Differences can be used as a productive resource, and the ability to switch between cultural discourses, whether through language, gesture, symbols, or material objects, offers a break from the old monocultural ways of meaning making." This has particular importance in art curricula such as mine that emphasize diverse contemporary art and artists that seek to explore and create critical meaning.

URL: www.cell68.com/curriculumguide/CulturalLiteracyLanguages/
01.html

Summary: The concept of cultural literacy is studied by looking at the practices of a Catholic school administrative organization in Australia that emphasizes the use of interdisciplinary modules to promote cultural tolerance and exchange. It defines cultural literacy as "a developmental process enhanced by appropriate learning experiences, [involving] the acquisition of cultural knowledge, skills and understandings." To this end, the article outlines the important role of arts education. According to the article, arts education "contributes significantly" to the acquisition of cultural literacy as the arts are "deeply embedded in and are outward expression of cultures." By studying art, students are learning about other cultures, reaching new understandings about the lives of other people. Moreover, by making art, students learn more about their own cultures and how it relates to those of other people. The article offers the framework used by the studied organization to ensure that the school curriculum promotes cultural literacy. Two specific modules are examined as examples.

Literacy Connection: This article highlights a literacy that has become more and more important but has not been discussed as readily as traditional verbal literacy or even visual literacy—cultural literacy. Like traditional literacy, cultural literacy can be fostered through a deliberate course of study and is continually developed through continued practice. The article also touches on ideas of visual literacy through its discussion of the use of art education to learn about different cultures.

Significance: This notion of cultural literacy is a very important one that I have not seen covered in very many places. Approaching cultural diversity and exchange from a literacy perspective allows for the acceptance of a transformative curriculum in today's schools; it acknowledges the need, viability, and relevance of promoting discourse between different communities for the welfare of society. This coupled with the discussion of the use of art as a core subject in teaching about different cultures makes it of special interest to art educators interested in covering the work of artists from diverse backgrounds. The cultural literacy framework can also be used to support an issues-based art curriculum like the one I hope to teach in my classroom, as it emphasizes the need for exploring community histories and struggles through studying and making art.

URL: www.cell68.com/curriculumguide/ArtReading/01.html

Summary: This study looked at the results of a large body of research to determine the extent at which visual art instruction enhanced reading skills. Specifically, the study performed meta-analyses to answer two research questions: 1) Can art instruction by itself improve reading? and 2) Is teaching reading through art more effective than teaching reading alone? To answer the first question, the study found that art instruction by itself does not necessarily improve reading with the exception of slightly improved reading readiness. In response to the second question, the study found a small improvement in reading as a result of an integrated arts-reading curriculum.

Literacy Connection: The study demonstrates a real connection, although slight, between learning to read and the visual arts, having implications on the importance of art instruction. It also shows that art instruction alone does not necessarily improve reading skills, reminding us of the limitations of art instruction and the need to create interdisciplinary curricula that can enhance literacy development.

Significance: Any study that brings together all the literature regarding the effects of art instruction on reading development only helps us to better understand the relationship between visual arts and literacy skills. As stated in the article, even though the findings were mild, some important observations were made regarding the research in the area of arts instruction: 1) Research methodology in arts education research needs to be improved (particularly teacher effect and control group issues); 2) Only a few of the reviewed studies met the researchers' standards for scientific validity, hinting at a need for more studies to be conducted; 3) There needs to be more research that tries to find out not only if there is a connection between visual arts and literacy learning, but how and why visual art actually enhances reading development. Despite its modest details, the finding that visual art instruction does help literacy instruction is yet another piece of data that can be used to support the existence of art classes in public schools in the face of declining programs. Also, by determining that art instruction alone does not necessarily improve reading development, the study serves as a reminder to all art educators concerned with improving the literacy skills of their students that they need to actively incorporate literacy activities into their curriculum in order to maximize learning.

Summary: This lesson on the role of art in society starts from an examination of five traditional European-American theories of art—formalism, instrumentalism, imitationalism, expressionism, and institutionalism. After students have a basic understanding, they survey different examples of Chicano protest art and discuss them using the different theories, all the while critically questioning the strenghts and shortcomings of the theories. The lesson is also intended to get students to acknowledge and build upon their existing beliefs about the role of art.

Positive Aspects: This topic is a crucial one when talking about art; this lesson addresses the subject in a fairly thorough way. It requires the students to learn about traditional theories and provides them the opportunity to realize that such ideas are socially constructed. The discussion about the Chicano protest art is a good idea as it challenges the applicability and universality of the five theories, especially when it comes to artwork by communities of color struggling against the dominant culture. Finally, this lesson allows the students to reflect on their own assumptions about why people make art and how art is to be valued.

Development Areas: The lesson could be improved by giving a little context to each theory—the historical context in which each theory thrived, the issues each theory was positioned to address, the type of artwork that received attention as a result of the popularity of the theory. It would also be good to offer examples of theoretical approaches to art from other cultures. For example, how do Chicano art theorists analyze artwork? Would such ideas be more applicable to the protest art shown here? The artwork suggestions and optional activities offer a lot of solid options for adaptation.

Adaptation: This lesson and the rest of the larger unit that it belongs to are highly adaptable to my planned art curriculum. The ideas dealt with here would be perfect to start out an introductory art class as they would open up the discussion about the role of art in society and how the different values placed on art are socially constructed. In my class, I would make the changes discussed above to offer a clearer picture of how these theories manifest and the effects they have on the art that is created. To begin the lesson, I would open up with a sketchbook freewrite asking the students to discuss the standards they personally use to judge the value of a work of art.

Summary: Students are presented with several works of art that contain some sort of narrative content. Using visual literacy concepts, students will try to "unlock" the story through interpretation. The teacher will facilitate the process through questions and prompts. The students are asked to focus on visual elements and cues, such as the relationships between the figures, the focus of the artwork, the rendering style, etc. Additional emphasis is placed on the students mega-cognitive ability by asking them to observe how they were able to decipher the narrative. Finally, students are asked to create a narrative about themselves or someone they know. They then give the story to another student who will create a visual interpretation which they will later respond to. An alternate activity is to have the students do their own artwork about their life using symbols that communicate something special about who they are.

Positive Aspects: The lesson is a good combination of visual literacy exploration and actual artmaking that builds on discussed concepts. It is a good example of a complete art lesson that includes looking at artwork, studying its techniques and content, and executing an artwork that takes into consideration information gained from previous activities. The lesson also allows the students to personalize the knowledge by using what they learned to create an artwork about someone they know or themselves.

Development Areas: The suggested artworks are not as diverse or contemporary as they could be. I believe that there is a need to find artwork that students can relate to in one way or another—by medium choice, cultural relevance, familiar subject matter, etc.

Adaptation: This lesson would fit into my unit on Storytelling. It is a perfect companion piece to my lesson on comics and serial narratives that also deals with metacognitive analysis of how one understands a visual narrative. I would probably do this lesson first, as it deals with a single image. I also plan on providing more images than offered by this lesson plan so that my students can move towards images that they feel a connection to; there are plenty great examples of images containing narrative content that would be suitable to this lesson.

Summary: Students are shown works of art—preferable murals or prints—and asked to find meaning in and interpret them. Emphasis is placed on using evidence in the work itself and from contextual information given by the instructor. The discussion also stresses the importance of the chosen medium and the meaning implied by it.

Positive Aspects: This lesson allows for multiple options—using original artwork, reproductions, or videos—making it easier to apply in different classroom situations. It also emphasizes Chicano artwork, the meanings behind them, and the development of inquiry skills necessary for "decoding" and "reading" artwork. Finally, this lesson hits on an important concept: media choice as a source of meaning.

Development Areas: This lesson is a little too lecture and discussion oriented. I prefer to allow for some hands-on work and artmaking, even if it is just a short exercise. In addition, the lesson requires the teacher to do a lot of talking and directing. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially since a lot of it is discussion facilitation, but in the case of this lesson and its lack of hands-on artmaking, it seems excessive.

Adaptation: Parts of this lesson can be incorporated in my lesson on public art and murals. Students will see firsthand community murals in San Francisco's Mission and South of Market districts. We can use them as the basis for the discussion on media choice and possible interpretations.

Summary: One part of a larger unit on Chicano art, this lesson has students work in groups to design a mural in the attempt to protest or persuade an audience. The lesson emphasizes formal aspects ("effective definition of shope, use of symbols") and the success of the piece based on its intended purpose ("impact on their intended viewers").

Positive Aspects: The lesson calls for the class to break up into two groups and roleplay as mural creators and viewers of the finished mural. This roleplay is a great way to gauge the sorts of impressions the murals will make on a viewer; it also allows for a discussion about the impressions a viewer has about an artwork and the formal elements that help push them in that direction. Finally, the lesson creates the space to talk about protest art and how different techniques are more or less effective and persuasive.

Development Areas: The lesson could include more of a survey of Chicano murals and protest art that places the artwork in their proper context: What were the issues they were addressing; what were their proposed solutions; what was going in the world during that time?

Adaptation: This lesson will be adapted more or less directly into my curriculum. There is a planned unit on Society in which a lesson on public art and murals will be taught. In addition, I plan to take my students to the Mission and South of Market districts of San Francisco to see the Chicano and Filipino community murals firsthand. To follow up, I will use this lesson plan to have the students create their own murals.

Summary: Students will observe different works of art, advertisements, packages, and illustrations that incoporate text and linguistic characters. Through discussion, they will explore how the text and characters convey meaning visually: Are the letters hard-edged; Is the typeface communicate a certain feeling; What do the size and color of the text effect how they are experienced? A short overview of the development of type and printing processes provides some context for the artwork shown.

Positive Aspects: This is a good way to make the connections between fine art and graphic design. It demonstrates how both endeavors deal with the same technical and conceptual challenges in order to convey meaning. The lesson also offers a number of activities and homework options to tailor to different students. It also has students focus away from what the text actually spells to the implied meaning hinted at by visual elements; students see how text can be used to communicate implicitly as well as explicitly.

Development Areas: As originally intended, this lesson is one small part of a larger unit on the use of text in visual art. I believe that this lesson can be broken down into two parts, with one adding more of an emphasis on the history of printing technology. This would help them appreciate later lessons on digital technology. Also, there could be a discussion about typography and a visual presentation on different typographic possibilities. As for samples, emphasis should be placed on easily recognizable ones such as magazines that the students are familiar with or packaging for products that they frequently use.

Adaptation: The larger unit is a well thought-out one that could work in one form or another in my curriculum. The main obstacle is the length of time it would take to complete the entire unit. As for this lesson, I think there are some important discussion points and presentation ideas that can be used and worked into a different lesson. For example, I think the use of the artwork and packaging is a good way of introducing the concept of text as image, especially when you incorporate some of the changes suggested in the last section. I would also incorporate a sketchbook response where students would find a magazine ad or MTV show bumper or interstitial and analyze the use of text.

Summary: The "Art Crimes" website is the online spot for viewing and learning about graffiti. Users can view photos of graffiti from all around the world, read interviews with graffiti artists, examine pages from artist blackbooks, and purchase related supplies and goods. In addition to the website's original content, "Art Crimes" provides a huge collection of links to related content, including links to international graffiti and hip-hop sites.

Positive Aspects: "Art Crimes" is a huge resource that continues to be updated regularly. It offers full-color photos of contemporary graffiti from well-known and new artists that hail from locations all around the world. The site is informative and respected by graffiti enthusiasts, and best of all it is regularly updated. It is a great site for those who are new to graffiti as well as for seasoned graffiti artists. Finally, the website makes a point of providing hi-resolution images. It really is geared to the visual enthusiast who is serious about examining the artwork. This is great if the images are to be used in a high school art curriculum for student research and lecture slides.

Development Areas: The site is not the most user-friendly. Information is scattered throughout the homepage, making it a little challenging to find exactly what you are looking for. It would be great if there was content specifically aimed at art educators, but in reality this is not what this site was intended for. Also, the articles on graffiti history are not as thorough as they could be. It would be great if this site had a sort of introductory set of articles that would serve as a primer to graffiti, especially if that included a history that extended beyond the use of graffiti in hip-hop culture to exploring art historical connections as far back as say the Lascoux cave paintings.

Application: "Art Crimes" can be used in my classroom as a source for slide materials as well as a starting point to build lessons on graffiti, murals, public art, etc. It would also be useful for a lesson on the role of art in different cultures; it could illustrate the importance hip-hop culture has placed on graffiti and the related visual arts as well as the themes explored in the artwork's content. Students will also be free to use "Art Crimes" for their research paper as well as their artist statement on their influences.

Summary: The Getty was instrumental in the adoption of the Discipline-Based Arts Education (DBAE) framework that was developed in response to a decrease in school art instruction and the elimination of many teaching positions due to budgetary cutbacks in schools across the United States. The institution has created an arts education website providing lesson ideas and plans based on DBAE that promise to help provide a thorough, "academic" arts curriculum. In addition, the website offers a thorough image gallery that contains all the artwork described in the Getty lesson plans and curriculum guides.

Positive Aspects: The lesson plans on the Getty ArtsNet are some of the more thought out art lessons out there. The Getty is really trying to "legitimize" art education, and their methodical approach is apparent in the preparation that went into their proposed curriculum. The lesson plans are well researched, and the connections to art history are already made. For those who use traditional slides, the Getty also sells slide sets for each lesson.

Development Areas: Because of its unique perspective, the Getty tries to transform art education into a mostly intellectual exercise, emphasizing a traditional study of art history and the traditional western canon (many example "masterpieces" are coincidentally are a part of the Getty art collection). While well-intended, this can be problematic as it transforms the study of art into a dry practice of memorizing the names of paintings and learning to mimic the techniques and formats of the "masters"; art becomes relegated to the elite knowledge of a few learned scholars. Even though this runs contradictory to my view of art and the curriculum I intend to teach, there are some lessons and ideas that I can take from the ArtsNet site.

Application: This site is a great way to generate lesson plan ideas. By using the provided lesson plans as starting points for my own lessons, I can build on their lessons and tailor them to my larger curriculum and the needs and abilities of my students. For example, I incorporated a lot of ideas from their lesson on chicano murals and protest art into my lesson on community murals. Also, I borrowed some of the slide and discussion ideas from their lesson "Should Art be for Art's Sake?" into my curriculum's introductory lesson, "What is Art?" And of course, their image gallery can be very useful to use as slides in my lessons.

Summary: The National Arts Education Association (NAEA) is an arts educators' membership-based organization that publishes a newspaper highlighting related news and issues, produces "Journal of Art Education", and organizes an annual convention. The newspaper serves as the year-round member forum. Each paper includes articles from each of the organization's committees, including specialized committees for women, LGBTQ, and art educators of color. The journal serves as one of the best academic journals on art education, covering current research, in-depth articles on current issues, and surveys of recent policy development. The NAEA convention offers workshops on new technologies, curriculum development, grantwriting, and other content important to art educators.

Positive Aspects: The NAEA is an important national organization that addresses the special intellectual and practical needs of art educators. There is a concrete need for professional organizations where art educators can get together and obtain reliable information on new developments in policy, learning theory, the art world, etc. that effect our work in the art classroom. The NAEA provides a number of different outlets—"NAEA News", "Journal of Art Education", and the NAEA convention. The NAEA's journal, "Journal of Art Education", is a great resource for art educators to think about their profession in a deeper way. Its articles challenge art teachers to think and rethink their approaches and theoretical bases for their pedagogy. And unlike most academic journals, the "Journal of Art Education" is layed out in a way similiarly to a consumer magazine, making it visually engaging and seemingly easier to read.

Development Areas: The NAEA website is lacking in usable content. It serves as more of a basic contact point with limited information about the NAEA. At the very least, they could use the website as an archive of the "NAEA News", so that members could easily access past articles.

Application: I am a current member of the NAEA and plan to attend a convention in the near future. The newspaper is a great way of finding out what is going on in other parts of the country. For example, a recent issue surveyed the implementation of state arts standards, including a simple but interesting comparison of the types of things different states are concerned with when it comes to public school arts education. I imagine that the NAEA would be a great way to network with colleagues and share curriculum ideas. While interacting with other teachers is important, I feel it is especially important to build a base of arts educators that I can share ideas and build with. Finally, the NAEA publishes a number of books and pamphlets that I think will be useful in my classroom, including a book on careers in art geared at high school aged youth.

Summary: "Art:21" is an educational video series on contemporary art produced by the Public Broadcasting System in 2001. The series is issue-based and explores the work of 21 artists through the use of the following themes: place, spirituality, identity, and consumption. The series has a companion book which explores the themes from more thorough art historical and art criticism perspectives and also reproduces the work of the artists with high-quality photographs, including some work which is not shown in the video series. Finally, the Art:21 area of the PBS website contains regularly updated content featuring the work of artists who were not a part of the original series. Of special interest to art educators is the "Art:21 Educator's Guide", a downloadable PDF containing lesson ideas and discussion questions to coincide with the viewing of the series.

Positive Aspects: To date, "Art:21" is one of the most current, comprehensive video productions to really explore the art world in a way that is accessible and relevant to artists and non-artists alike. The series approaches art in a down-to-earth, fun way that emphasizes the notion that art can be appreciated by all. The series also features the work of contemporary artists, many of whom are not featured in the typical art surveys that have been traditionally used in art studio and art history courses. The artists featured are also fairly diverse in work and demographics, with techniques ranging from traditional Pakistani mini-painting to graffiti and artists who hail from areas ranging from California to Puerto Rico. The book and website really enhance the series by providing a richer experience. Teachers and students alike can utilize both resources to deepen their understanding of the featured artists and artwork as well as explore artwork not covered in the series. Also, the website features video content for each artist, providing for a fuller, multi-sensory experience. Finally, the producers of "Art:21" promote the use of the series, book, and website by arts educators through the publishing of the rather thorough educator's guide.

Development Areas: The Art:21 total experience is actually pretty solid. It is apparent that the creators have gone above and beyond the production of a simple video series on art as they have really tried to make the "Art:21" not only informative, but incredibly relevant and useful. One notable example is the educator's guide's inclusion of URLs pointing to websites containing even more information on each featured artist. It is apparent that they are especially encouraging of further exploration into the topic. It is my understanding that the intention is to produce more installments to explore new artists and themes. One suggestion for further development would be to produce these further installments more quickly. Another would be to produce the series on DVD to allow for quick navigation to the different artists during a single class period. Finally, while the lesson ideas in the educator's guide are stimulating, I would be interested to see fully developed lesson plans based on the incorporation of the video series.

Application: The organization of the series in issue-based "units" on place, spirituality, identity, and consumption is perfect as it mirrors the type of curriculum that I plan to develop. In fact, by curriculum features units on place and identity, making "Art:21" a perfect candidate for use in my classroom. I plan to show segments of the series to get my students thinking about the use of artwork to explore the themes covered by the artists. The educator's guide also provides some great lesson ideas and discussion questions that can easily be worked into my curriculum. Beyond my own curriculum, I would also like to share "Art:21" with my colleagues in other subject areas. The educator's guide emphasizes the use of the series—and the study of art in general—across disciplines. This would be a great way to raise the status of the study of art in the broader high school curriculum.

Summary: The Yerba Buena Arts Center is an arts institution located in downtown San Francisco. The museum highlights the work of young contemporary artists as well as the promotion of art to the broader San Francisco community. For example, the center hosts the regular "Bay Area Now" show featuring the work of rising artists from local Bay Area communities. In addition, Yerba Buena's mission seems to be to break from the stuffy image of the hallowed art museum by exploring pop culture as art and offering hands-on, multimedia components in almost every exhibit. The Yerba Buena Arts Center website has fairly detailed information on all their programs and exhibits. The education section includes teacher's guides for their current exhibits to be used when incorporating visits to the center as part of one's curriculum.

Positive Aspects: The Yerba Buena Center really works at making the art viewing experience less intimidating for those who are not used to exploring art. This is a healthy outlook that is compatible with the study of art in high school, as many students have preconceived notions of what art is, including stereotypes about art museums. The center's commitment to community-based arts program also encourages local arts educators to utilize the center as a resource for their classes. In fact, the center has its own community arts education programs aimed at middle school and high school aged youth. Yerba Buena's embracing of pop culture also serves as a bridge to build upon young people's existing interests to foster a sense of art appreciation. It is important to note that Yerba Buena is local and easily accessible by public transit. It is also located in an area of San Francisco that is within walking distance to other relevant resources such as the Filipino community murals in SoMa, the graffiti pieces on 6th street, a Twist piece on Market (an artist featured in "Art:21"), the Museum of Modern Art, the SF Public Library, and the Cartoon Museum of Art. Finally, the inclusion of teacher's guide for every exhibit makes it easier for art teacher's to generate ideas for lessons based on field trips to the center.

Development Areas: One major area that could use some work is the Yerba Buena Center's outreach to the downtown and SoMa communities. While the center is good about offering community programs, it has been my experience (through community organizing work with the SoMa Filipino community) that the young people in the community do not see the center as a resource that is open and available to them. This problem is rooted in the fact that the development of the center (along with that of the Metreon and Moscone Convention Centers, Yerba Buena's neighbors that were built more or less at the same time) displaced much of the community which had its roots in the area since the 1920s. In addition, it has been a while since center has had a large exhibit that appealed to the interests of young people. The most notable was the hip-hop exhibit which offered a history of the culture through artifacts, videos, performances, workshops, and public forums. This exhibit really excited a lot of local youth while it was up. It would be great to see more of the same in the near future. It would be great to see a large exhibit highlighting the work of local high school aged artists. The center could work closely with local arts educators to display student work as well as explore the issues effecting high school arts education programs. As for the website, it could be a little more user-friendly; information is often buried under several layers making it a little difficult to find exactly what you need.

Application: The Yerba Buena Center will be a resource that I will incorporate into my curriculum. I would like to offer field trips to the center and promote the regular use of the center to my students. It is accessible enough for my students to visit somewhat regularly. If used on a field trip, it would be easy enough to take the students to some of the other resources listed above. The theme of the trip could be "Art in the Community", as we would look at community murals, graffiti, and the visual design incoporated in local family businesses (as explored in the work of Margaret Kilgallen discussed in "Art:21"). I also plan to bring guest speakers from the center to my classrooms to talk about art in general, discuss the ins and outs of museums, highlight careers in arts institutions, and promote the center and its programs.