"Aesthetics in Art Education" - 02/01/20

By: E.L. Lankford

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Within this article Lankford breaks down the basic, '6 topics of Aesthetics' for art educators in order for them to gain a better understanding of how to use them in the classroom. These six topics are the concept of art, values in art, metacriticism, the artworld, artistic expression, and aesthetic experience. Continuing my feelings from the, “A Role for Aesthetics in Centering the K-12 Art Curriculum” by Tom Anderson and Sally McRorie, I feel that a split between this break down of what aesthetics is in the classroom is the best way to prepare students for their understanding of the larger topic at hand. I believe that if students are aware of the varying parts of aesthetics, they are more likely to connect the dots of how to implement this concept into their own work.

As an educator it should be my goal to facilitate a classroom that celebrates every portion of aesthetics. The more that I encourage the in-depth conversations with students about these categories the more the students will unknowingly or intentionally adapt their compositions and concepts. While the majority of my comments have been more so targeted towards secondary students this system can also be applied to primary school students! This break down easily allows for educators to better understand how to interpret the guidelines for student understanding. For example, a primary student understanding their value in artwork will look completely different than a secondary student.