Julie Williams

17 April 2018
LBS 405

Reflection #9: Chapter 3 Visual Arts

1. Visual arts are believed to be before spoken language.

2. Skills in arts are used in a wide variety of occupations.
3. If our brain does not have rules, the brain would construct visual options randomly.
4. Art can help emotionally disturbed, autistic, and any student with a disability thrive in school.
5. Inner city students need art. They are not exposed to it as much.

Chapter 3 is all about the visual arts, visual arts include: design, art production, paper/canvas

work, photography, drawing, illustration, and painting (Jensen, pg. 49). Visual arts have been happening

since the beginning, there has been evidence of artwork in caves over 1.5 million years ago, art is

something built into our minds. It has been said art begun before the spoken language, humans have

always had visual art programed into their brain, before language. Visual art helps to construct meaning,

it represents a world that is not done through the basic curriculum, there is more room for creativity and

growth through art. There is a healthy emotional expression when art is being done, and it can help

develop growth in other subject areas. Higher test scores, critical thinking, problem and solution, stress,

disability, and overall mental health is what visual art can do for students.

Visual art allows the brain to see creatively, the brain is constantly challenged by a series of

problems that visual art can help solve. By drawing, visualization and planning actions come about, which

can help students analyze, build vocabulary, and they can clarify their ideas better, drawing can begin as

early as 3 years old. With visual art, students can represent what they want to see, this helps with

expression and release of stress when students are free to represent their feelings metaphorically and

physically (Jensen, pg. 60). Students can learn skills that are used through a wide variety of occupations

in life such as: dentist, graphic designers, repair persons, and neurosurgeons (Jensen, pg. 54).

Implementing art into the classroom can be done through giving out sketchpads, where students can solve

problems, find resolutions, and create graphic organizers. Teachers can role model the joy of art,
introduce the 3 aspects of art: pleasure, functionality, and study of art (Jensen, pg. 66). As educators, we

must integrate the arts into their curriculum, this giving students the opportunity to actually create art, not

only view it.