Here are some quotes from this month's just-arrived ART EDUCATION
magazine. Unfortunately the NAEA has seen fit to take down the
electronic versions of their journals from the wonderful
findarticles.com, so I have done some reading and typing for you here.
Mayer, Veronica. "Rediscovering Ruth Faison Shaw and Her
ART EDUCATION/ September 2005, pp. 6-11.
"Her philosophy of education was based on the fact that children learn
from playful sensory experiences with simple materials and playing
games of their own invention."
"She took dictation from stories created by 5 and 6 year old
"Children were considered artists who had unique creative potential."
"...the teacher should never assign a topic."
"In 1907, Montessori introduced a method that emphasized the
development of initiative and self-reliance by permitting children to
do by themselves the things that interested them, within strictly
"Cizek, one of the most important educators to influence the
Progressive Education Movement in the United States, considered his
young students as artists. He was an "artist-teacher" and thought that
to expose a child to adult art work could influence his or her
creativity in a negative way. Cizek also allowed children to
experiment with different media."
"Shaw refers to the teacher as a guide who wins the child's confidence
and learns from the child at the same time that the child is learning
from the teacher."
"At the end of the 1960's...with the develop of a new paradigm in which
art was seen as an intellectual and scientific activity..."
A timeline of Art Education practice contained in the article shows in
1969 "Creativity no longer dominates"