Jed Brown

he/him

Education: Bachelor of Science in art education (May 2000)

McNair Project: Is a Sketchbook the Backbone to Becoming an Artist? (1999)

Mentor: Penelope Miller, Ph.D.

There are many methods for teaching art, so what is the right way? There are some researchers that discourage the Discipline Based Art Education (DBAE) system. They feel like it instructs the student on how to talk like an artist but it does not teach the process that is involved in making an artwork. I believe the best way for students to learn the process is by implementing the "Visual Journal" into every art curriculum.

By researching the International Baccalaureate program for art and the visual arts education program in New South Wales, Australia, is the basis for the idea of using a visual journal. These two programs stress the practice of research for every art project assigned. This mean smore than just drawing simple/quick sketches for reference. It is a process that the students learn for becoming an artist, which is the four major aspects of the DBAE: art history, aesthetics, production, and criticism. The only difference is that the students actually apply the DBAE steps, instead of just learning them.

After conducting my own research that combined using the four aspects of the DBAE and the criteria set by the International Baccalaureate and the Australian programs for the visual journal, I am pleased with the positive results. The subjects that I worked with began to think more in-depth with their projects and explored many ideas, which they were less likely to do in their regular art class. The bottom line is the subjects got a feel for what it is like being an artist.