International Journal of Education Through Art - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2007

Today we lag behind the events. Reality has disappeared in the wake of the acceleration of things. Simulacra guarantee the continuation of the real. Signs that used to represent things have become drained of their meaning and there is no absolute truth, merely different versions of events or things. We now live in a world without originals and Baudrillard suggests we now must capture forms and make them relate to each other rather than liberating them. If we are to accept Baudrillard's view of the world, we must first acknowledge that consumption has become the basis of social order. This article addresses how we, as art educators, must help those we teach understand how the imagery and text of the virtual world is manipulated. By informing and educating individuals to understand these processes and products we can provide them with a clearer view of the imagined and constructed world, thereby enabling them to articulate their own visions through ever growing and changing technologies.

This paper discusses four key principles of the Reggio Emilia approach. The first concerns the multiple possibilities children possess for forms of communication. The second concerns the connections between different languages (disciplines) that are the basis for learning and understanding. The third focuses on creativity as process rather than product. The fourth explores the ways individual and group knowledge processes are developed for children, teachers and parents through research based aesthetic activity.

This paper presents findings about the rich, colourful, mathematical patterns on the indigenous plaited mats produced by skilled artisans in Uganda. There is a need to research and make use of these designs so that they can find new audiences, inspire African product design and be exploited commercially within Africa and beyond. To support this argument, examples of patterns are presented in this paper. They provide evidence of the craft tradition and its allied knowledge and skills and demonstrate its pedagogic and aesthetic value. The paper concludes with a step-by-step, do-it-yourself guide to pattern making.

The increased aging of people in today's world reflects the longevity of human beings in recent decades. This has brought degenerative diseases to the aging population however, causing physical and mental deterioration and affecting their relationship with their communities. Since the first diagnosis of this pathology by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1907, Alzheimer's disease has been on the rise. While medical science focuses on revealing the causes and origins, other fields use their own means and tools to look into different aspects of the disease. This paper summarizes some of the research and findings form my doctoral thesis which asserts the significance of this disease in today's society and the importance of visual arts in conveying information about it.

This paper examines some of the claims made for visual culture education in the context of globalisation. The history of art and design education in the United Kingdom is retraced to argue that new ideas are seldom accepted outright and that the present curriculum amounts to an array of practices lacking a coherent philosophy that have built up over time. Some reservations about the visual culture movement are expressed and suggestions are made for a broad, intercultural curriculum.

Revealing Art, Matthew Kieran, (2004) London: Routledge, 296 pp., ISBN 9780415278546 (pbk), 14.99

Why We Make Art and Why it is Taught, Richard Hickman, (2005) Bristol and Portland, OR: Intellect Books, 175 pp., ISBN 1841501263 (pbk), 14.95/29.95.