ABSTRACT
This section lays out examples of an ideal art classroom, where students feel comfortable being themselves and exploring what it means to be an artist. The art classroom is full of surprises, starting with when the students walk through the door. The teacher has reimagined the set-up of the classroom. Students are not confined, but instead move around the class, offering new materials and insights into their own work and the works of their classmates. This is a loud classroom, bursting with stories and excitement about what will be created next. Students talk to each other, or enact live performances, or sit quietly and sketch. No one is forced to do the same thing as any other, each is given time to find their own pathway through the art process. Through all this, the teacher stands by, ready to be a guiding force, but does not impose him/herself upon the students. When this new mindset – teaching for independence and creativity – is adopted, what can the art classroom accomplish?
