ABSTRACT
Engaging in visual art is primarily a creative process which expresses meaning in visual forms through painting, drawing, ceramics, natural materials, sculpture, printmaking, photography and installation art. Historically artefacts served multiple purposes (Hicks & King, 2007) and more recently with the advent of social justice and ecological art, the power of art to effect change has gained wider recognition (Greene, 1995; Ní Bhroin, 2019; Quinn, 2010). Indeed, for some artists, making art is akin to a form of activism in itself (Ballengee Morris & Tavin, 2013; Freedman, 1994). This chapter argues that socially engaged art (which focuses on social injustices) and ecological art (which engages with the interrelationships between living things and their environments) provide an art-based model for meaningful integration of art education with social justice education (SJE) and education for sustainable development (ESD). Crucial to the chapter are practical exemplars, which privilege the idea of children as artists and of art as transformative action.
