ABSTRACT
Museums have long been developing educational programs for art appreciation. The learning goals for such programs can be divided into three groups: 1) to acquire various types or levels of knowledge; 2) to participate in meaning-making; and 3) to acquire generic skills of visual thinking. In this chapter, we propose a fourth approach, Art Appreciation for Inspiration and Creation (AAIC), based on our theoretical and empirical studies on art appreciation. AAIC is an approach to art appreciation in which new perspectives are acquired, new activities begin, new ideas for creation are obtained, motivation to make art is activated, and art creation occurs. The core part of AAIC is based on our psychological model of inspiration through art appreciation (ITA), which emphasizes a “dual focus” on both the evaluation of artworks by others and reflection on the viewer’s own art-making. We identify key elements for AAIC and explore two examples of AAIC practices that were conducted in a museum in Japan.
