Borders and boundaries.

While on vacation last summer, we saw two highly entertaining art cinema films: Ulee's Gold and Mrs. Brown. In terms of character and setting, the two films had little in common. Set in present time, Ulee's Gold was about a beekeeper in central Florida. Mrs. Browm, set in nineteenth-century Scotland, focused on a time in the life of Queen Victoria. But in both films, the central characters were grieving the loss of a loved one, and lived, to some extent, in isolation of society. Both existed within self-imposed boundaries. Ulee's boundaries defined his personal space. Queen Victoria's self-imposed boundaries were the walls of Balmoral Castle.

For many years following the death of her husband Albert, Queen Victoria never left Balmoral. She learned second hand of the needs of her world empire. Except for occasional outings with commoner John Brown, she remained out of touch with the natural world and with the people she served. There were shots in Mrs. Brown of Queen Victoria peering out the castle window that reminded me of this month's Looking/Learning centerfold piece, Self-Imposed Boundaries.

In Richard Cleaver's sculpture, three faces are contained behind the facade of a 1905 Victorian school building. As the title, painted across the bottom of the piece, suggests, the boundaries are self-imposed. This bears an eerie resemblence to schools I have visited in the past, where virtual communities are created within the imposed boundaries of classroom walls. For security reasons, outside doors are locked and, in some schools, so are classroom doors. Behind the locked doors of the classroom, the children learn about the art world via art reproductions, videos, CD-ROMs, laser disks, and the Internet. Meanwhile, outside, within walking distance of the school lives a quiltmaker, a wood carver, an interior designer, and a landscaper. Inside, the children do sculptures of imaginary animals in the style of Northwest Coast totems, while squirrels, rabbits, and pigeons go unnoticed outside.

This issue is about striking a balance between the self-imposed boundaries of classroom walls and the undefined borders of a classroom without walls. The idea of devoting an entire issue to community activism came about as a result of a conversation at the National Art Education Association conference held in New Orleans last March. Michael Emme, an art educator at Central Washington University, approached me about the possibility of creating a theme issue for this coming year focused on community activism. He and other members of the Caucus on Social Theory in Art Education saw a need for crossing the bridge between theoretical writing about social issues in art and the daily business of students making art about their lives, their community and society at large. When Michael said something about "the borders we create between members of our community" and "art experiences that crossed classroom boundaries," I decided we could make his ideas work with this issue featuring Richard Cleaver's Self-Imposed Boundaries. Michael's call for Praxis from members of the Caucus went out on the Internet. As Michael says, "Praxis is the term for that special border crossing moment when theory transforms into action." More than a dozen art educators responded to his playful invitation to share their concerns with a wider audience of practitioners. Eight of the articles selected -- dealing with issues ranging from homelessness and the environment, through child welfare and AIDS awareness to general community building -- are the result of Michael's efforts. I am most appreciative of his help on this issue. I am pleased with the diversity and the different types of communities represented in his selection.

The alignment of articles focusing on community activism with the national visual arts standards is somewhat forced this month, especially since it seems there is no obvious group of art standards that support the social theory of local community activism. However, the art learning that is achieved when we move outside classroom walls into local communities does meet the published national standards, as we have tried to demonstrate by linking them to a variety of content standards.