Community-Based Art Education Across the Lifespan: Finding Common Ground

by Pamela Harris Lawton, Margaret A. Walker, Melissa Green

Overview

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of Community-Based Art Education (CBAE). CBAE encourages learners to make connections between their art education in a classroom setting and its application in the community beyond school, with demonstrable examples of how the arts impact responsible citizenship. Written by and for visual art educators, this resource offers guidance on how to thoughtfully and successfully execute CBAE in the pre-K–12 classroom and with adult learners, taking a broad view towards intergenerational art learning. Chapters include vignettes, exemplars of practice, curriculum examples that incorporate the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, and research frameworks for developing, implementing, and assessing CBAE projects.

“This is the book I have been waiting for—carefully researched, thought-provoking, and inspiring.”
—Lily Yeh, Barefoot Artists Inc.

“A practical guide for community-based art education that is theoretically grounded in social justice. Insightful suggestions for working with communities, planning, creating transformative learning, and evaluating outcomes are based in the authors’ deep experience. This book is a timely and welcome volume that will be indispensable to individuals and community organizations working in the arts for positive change.”
—Elizabeth Garber, professor emeritus, University of Arizona

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807778005
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	08/02/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Pamela Harris Lawton is a practicing artist and associate professor of art education at Virginia Commonwealth University. Margaret A. Walker is a clinical associate professor of art education at the University of Maryland, College Park, and coordinates the master’s programs in Visual Arts and Arts Integration in UMD’s College of Education. Melissa Green is a museum educator, artist, and creative community engagement designer.

Table of Contents

Foreword Olivia Gude xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

What Is CBAE and Why Should We Get Involved? 2

A Brief History of Community-Based [Visual] Art Education 3

Summing Up, Looking Ahead 6

Part I Planning CBAE Projects

1 Definitions, Frameworks, and Developmental Theories 9

Terms and Definitions 9

E.R.E.C.T.: Constructing a CBAE Conceptual Framework 11

CBAE and Psychosocial, Cognitive, and Artistic Development 12

CBAE and Creativity 21

Summing Up, Looking Ahead 25

2 CBAE, Educational Theories, and Research 26

Situated Learning and Legitimate Peripheral Participation 26

Experiential Learning 27

Transformative Learning 27

CBAE as Engaged Pedagogy/Andragogy 30

CBAE Research Paradigms 30

Summing Up, Looking Ahead 38

3 Getting Started: Locating Stakeholders and Communities 40

Why Community-Based? 40

Navigating Privilege 44

Getting Started 46

Summing Up, Looking Ahead 54

4 Planning the Project: Setting Goals and Learning Outcomes 56

Working Within Time Constraints 57

Developing a Budget 59

Setting Goals and Learning Outcomes: Scope and Sequence 59

Summing Up, Looking Ahead 65

Part II Implementing, Celebrating, and Evaluating CBAE Projects

5 Challenges and Opportunities: Fostering Transformative Experiences 69

Examples of Opportunities and Challenges in CBAE Projects 70

Mutual Growth for Community Participants, Artist-Educators, and the Larger Society 77

Partnership Challenges and Opportunities 79

Summing Up, Looking Ahead 85

6 Share/Publish/Exhibit/Celebrate: Generating Community and Developing Leaders 86

Planning Celebratory Events 86

Summing Up, Looking Ahead 89

7 Assessment and Evaluation: Learning Outcomes and Enduring Understandings 92

Assessment 92

Evaluating the Collaboration 98

Summing Up, Looking Ahead 99

Conclusion 102

Appendix A Community Asset Map Template 105

Appendix B Age-Integrated Curriculum Plan Template 106

Appendix C Sample Age-Integrated Curriculum Plan for Carving Out Freedom 108

Appendix D Online Resources 110

Appendix E CBAE Secondary Unit Plan Samantha Strathearn 113

Appendix F CBAE Elementary Unit Plan Adjoa Burrowes 140

Appendix G CBAE Proposal Erin McArdle 158

Appendix H CBAE Proposal Buffy Kirby 168

References 171

Index 179

About the Authors 191

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“I have been a teacher and community artist for over 40 years and I was fully engaged with this text. I found myself nodding in agreement, frowning in concentration as I considered a fresh perspective, or ironically smiling at pointed advice concerning making plans based on the reality of time constraints.”
—Olivia Gude, Angela Gregory Paterakis Professor and Chair of Art Education, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)

“This is the book I have been waiting for—carefully researched, thought-provoking, and inspiring. It is for everyone who is concerned with enhancing social cohesion and understanding. It shows how we can bring diverse groups together to create, empathize with each other, and celebrate. This is what our fragmented society urgently needs.”
—Lily Yeh, award-winning artist and founding director of Barefoot Artists Inc.

" A practical guide for community-based art education that is theoretically grounded in social justice. Insightful suggestions for working with communities, planning, creating transformative learning, and evaluating outcomes are based in the authors' deep experience. This book is a timely and welcome volume that will be indispensable to individuals and community organizations working in the arts for positive change."
—Elizabeth Garber, professor emeritus, University of Arizona

Editorial Reviews

Much has been said recently about the need to foster inclusivity and to build bridges between schools and the communities that they serve. However, few resources are available to guide educators who wish to take action. Through sharing their broad experience with CBAE and walking the reader through the steps they have used to create successful projects, Lawton, Walker, and Green are able to fill this void. They explain how they were able to establish common ground with diverse stakeholders while also offering transformative experiences to students. Artists and teachers who desire to promote greater community engagement, either by working with K-12 schools or by serving older learners, will find this book an inspirational and useful roadmap.”

—Teachers College Record

“A thorough guide written in an accessible tone and filled with theoretically sound, pragmatic, (re)constructivist strategies.” — Studies in Art Education

“The strength of this book is the broad range of information it offers for the researcher, K-16 art educators, community artists and non-profit organizations. It provides a road map for putting together a collaboration which can result in finding a community’s core strength and empowering people’s collective voice. This well documented research with multi-generational populations supports age-integrated arts learning curriculum and offers ways to making positive contributions by creating community and finding common ground.”

—International Journal of Lifelong Learning in Art Education

From the Publisher