E-Book Overview
The book combines case studies with diverse groups across the country that are using different media - including mural arts, dance, and video - with an informed introduction to the theory and history of community-based art. It is a perfect handbook for those looking to transform their communities through art.
E-Book Content
Art • Education “This is an indispensable book for educators, activists, and anyone interested in social justice. Beth Krensky and Seana Lowe Steffen’s guide to community-based arts education challenges the notion that art is a luxury reserved for elites and practiced by the gifted. In their hands, art education becomes a democratic, transformative tool for invigorating blighted communities, reducing student dropout and alienation, and inspiring participants to solve social problems. Krensky and Lowe Steffen’s clear, step-by-step examples show how to build partnerships between nonartists and professional artists, kids and seniors, and local communities and schools. Engaging Classrooms and Communities through Art will inspire citizens, politicians, and social service agencies to previously unheard of levels of performance, reflection, and creation.” —Margaret D. LeCompte, professor of education, University of Colorado, Boulder “Beth Krensky and Seana Lowe Steffen’s guide to community-based arts provides a crucial guide to understanding and facilitating community arts actions as well as a theoretical construct that places community art at the center of cutting-edge, creative artistic investigation. This book validates the multiple roles of community-based artists as intuitive visionaries, educators, and community leaders.” —Hugh J. Merrill, Kansas City Art Institute; artistic director, Chameleon Arts and Youth Development Beth Krensky is assistant professor of art education and the Area Head of Art Teaching at the University of Utah. She is an artist, activist, and educator. She is one of the founding members of the international artist collective, the Artnauts, and was the cofounder and artistic director of Project YES (Youth Envisioning Social change). Seana Lowe Steffen concurrently works with Mapleton Public Schools as an instructional guide for teachers in Expeditionary Learning, and consults business leaders through her Transformative Leadership Institute. She was a faculty member and founding director of INVST Community Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. For orders and information please contact the publisher Engaging Classrooms and Communities through Art “This publication goes beyond a descriptive survey by providing readers with a different way of knowing and creating effective community arts partnerships, thus enabling education and arts leaders to bring to life the central ideas of Shirley Brice Heath and Milbrey McLaughlin regarding the power of informal, nonclassroom teaching and learning. The true winners of this publication will be our nation’s youth.” —Linda Johannesen, senior author, Different Ways of Knowing; cofounder, Animate Your Learning! Beth Krenksy and Seana Lowe Steffen Krensky and Lowe Steffen “Authentic dialogue, local leadership, and creative critique: all these mark this book’s approach to the arts in communities and classrooms. A convincing guide for all those who see the arts as foundational to communities’ vigor, youth development, and respect for cultural continuities.” —Shirley Brice Heath, professor at large, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University Preface by Tim Rollins Engaging Classrooms and Communities through Art ISBN-13: 978-0-7591-1068-7 ISBN-10: 0-7591-1068-9 90000 A Division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 1-800-462-6420 www.altamirapress.com 9 780759 110687 Cover photo: Story Quilt, 2001, 5 ½ x 10 ½, Beth Krensky and t