Medium a Month: Plastic Cups
Stacked or melted—art made from plastic cups One way to cultivate creativity is to make art from the mundane. There is tremendous freedom in experimenting with a… Read More
Literary Signposts Can Teach Visual Literacy Skills
How Notice & Note signposts support art appreciation and visual literacy The Lincoln Center Education’s (LCE) Capacities for Imaginative Learning emphasize authentic experiences with the arts—music, theater,… Read More
6 Nonfiction Reading Strategies that Cultivate Art Appreciation and Visual Literacy
What do nonfiction reading strategies and visual literacy have in common? These seemingly strange bedfellows share meaningful instructional ground when the nonfiction reading strategies are part of… Read More
Medium a Month: Toilet Paper
Elegant? Whimsical? Thought provoking?—Art made from toilet paper? One way to cultivate creativity is to make art from the mundane. This month’s medium is toilet paper. Last… Read More
10 Capacities for Imaginative Learning Inspire Imaginative Teaching
Lincoln Center Education (LCE), the education arm of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, has created the Capacities for Imaginative Learning. Operating as both strategies for, and… Read More
Teaching is more than direct instruction. Teaching is a process of enabling. It’s a process of giving people opportunities. It’s a process of encouragement. It’s a process of inspiration and of mentoring.
— Educator, researcher, writer, and speaker, Sir Ken Robinson, author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative. Can Creativity Be Taught? (video, 6:55) introduces some of his guiding beliefs and will link you to other talks.
Medium a Month: Hair
The rich historical and social symbolism of art made from hair One way to cultivate creativity is to make art from the mundane. There is tremendous freedom… Read More
Inspirational Insights #1: TED Talks’ The Source of Creativity
What I love about cartooning is that I have access to two different kinds of communication. There is verbal language. I love writing. I love putting sentences together. But language remains symbolic. It has to be filtered through our brains, whereas drawing is right there. It’s immediate, you just assimilate it without having to think about it. I love having access to both kinds of communication when I tell my stories.
— Cartoonist and Graphic Memoirist, Alison Bechdel, creator of ‘Dykes to Watch Out For’ and 2014 MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant Recipient. In two video clips, she discusses her motivations and the affirmation of the MacArthur Foundation award (3:23) and she shares her creative and technical process (5:05).
PRH allowed me to merge two things that have always been personally valuable, which is community activism and empowerment and art. It allows those things to come together very naturally; it’s not forced.
— Social sculptor Rick Lowe, founder of Houston’s Project Row Houses (PRH) and 2014 MacArthur Fellows Genius Grant Recipient. A video clip (2:20) that lets you witness the transformative potential of art.