Beth Balliro /Contemporary Conversations at the MFA

Tonight, September 29th, Art Education faculty member Beth Balliro will host the inaugural Contemporary Conversation at the Museum of Fine Arts in the new Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art.  Free with admission, these talks will meet outside of the gallery every 15 minutes between 6 and 7:30.  Tonight, the discussion will feature El Anatsui’s Black River.  On Thursday, October 20, the discussion will feature Mark Bradford’s Backward C.

Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education

Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education  

As many of you know, our own Lois Hetland, Associate Professor of Art Education, is also a Research Associate at Project Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education.  In  September 2007 her book (with co-authors Ellen Winner, Shirley Veenema, and Kimberly M. Sheridan) was published by Teachers College Press -it can be ordered  at: http://www.teacherscollegepress.com/.

The result of in-depth research of the “habits of mind” that are instilled by studying visual art, Studio Thinking provides art teachers with a language for describing what they intend to teach and what students actually learn. This language will help advocates explain arts education to policymakers, help art teachers develop and refine their teaching and assessment practices, and help educators in other disciplines learn from existing practices in arts education.

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