Affiliation:
1. ISNI: 0000000122157728 Grand Valley State University
Abstract
This study outlines a new approach to engaging students in artmaking within an undergraduate classroom by employing metaphors as artmaking strategies. Mark Ryden’s painting, The Apology, was used to teach preservice PK-6 education students how to derive meaning from art. Strategies of exploring students’ hopes, dreams and regrets indicate the importance of curriculum design focusing on students’ lived experiences and their social world. The study also offers examples of questions, creative inquiry and artmaking strategies that can be effectively integrated into students’ artmaking to foster deeper understanding and enhance conceptual thinking. Stories of students’ metaphoric images demonstrate how metaphor and imagery can be powerful tools for self-reflection and discovery as well as how teachers can develop art activities for and with students while empowering them to create a sense of self through art.