ABSTRACT
The visual arts in education comprise a complex and varied range of 2-D, textiles and 3-D activities, closely connected in that all involve the reordering and transformation of materials, from the highly resistant to the most malleable, under the impulse of visual and tactile experiences and sensations. Artists and craftspeople have a highly developed design sense and can clearly visualize in the mind's eye and further clarify their intentions in various graphic forms. Practical activity itself can therefore provide access to the symbolic system of the aesthetic field in the broadest possible sense, for many visual arts processes are universal, being practised across the world. The visual arts have many obvious connections with the other major art forms, sharing their profoundly expressive qualities by likewise addressing issues to do with birth, life, death and the whole human dilemma, in the most potent ways. Every branch of the visual arts has its history and contemporary practitioners.
