This book is for the reader who believes that thinking about and making art is intelligent behavior and that art as a subject in the K-12 school curriculum should not be used as an alibi for other curricular objectives. It examines and makes explicit those cognitive behaviors normally associated with most higher order thinking and problem solving activity and explains how they function in the act of creative forming. Its goal is ultimately to find ways to use these behaviors in the construction of an intelligent art curriculum for K-12 American schools.
This is perhaps the only text in the field designed to assist teachers in meeting the challenges of teaching in the Goals 2000 curriculum and evaluation reform effort, acquainting them with both the National Art Standards and with the assessment processes needed in order for them to become accountable.
Mind in Art grapples with current and relevant theory, research, and unsolved problems. It is cohesive as it attempts to bring together information that is only partially known, even among those who are college professors. And it takes a critical look at the ideas and points of view that have created divisiveness and shabby thinking in the field. In this book Charles Dorn significantly advances thinking in the field of art education.
Biography
Charles M. Dorn
"Mind in Art contains charts, graphs, diagrams, and paintings that illustrate Dorn's points. He also includes summaries, references, key terms, and study questions at the end of each chapter. These structural devices make it easy to focus on arenas of interest--and turn the book into meat and potatoes for anyone who values art education as an essential part of developing the whole child."
—American School Board Journal"Dorn has performed a great service for art teachers who would like to understand the varied theories that deal with thinking and knowing in and through art. More than a summary of thought about artistic cognition, Dorn's book spells out the curricular and pedagogical implications of the material he discusses. Because he is so knowledgeable, and because his text is so clearly written, it will appeal to everyone who cares about the intellectual as well as the practical and aesthetic contributions of art to education. This book should become a classic."
—Edmund B. Feldman
Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor of Art Emeritus"Destined to become one of the major pieces of art education thinking in this era....Charles Dorn's knowledge of a broad range of relevant fields of research--including brain theory, psychology, learning theory, aesthetics, educational philosophy, developmental theory--is phenomenal and provides the strongest foundation for his very challenging thoughts about what art education needs to be....This book will not provide any 'cookbook' art lessons but it does provide a rich theoretical context (the 'conceptual art curriculum') for making very practical decisions about what should be taught in classrooms at all levels....All those in leadership roles in art education will need a source that is well grounded in research and a broad view of education. This book represents original thinking close enough to the mainstream that it is likely to become the major work everyone must relate their own position to."
—John A. Stinespring
Texas Tech University"A significant advance in thinking in the field of art education....Not only is Dorn's scholarship solid and quite remarkable, but he writes with a clear knowledge of how politics and theories have influenced conceptions of art education across decades....The field badly needs this book to solve some of its most persistent problems."
—Karen Lee Carroll
Maryland Institute, College of Art
