Gender Issues in Art Education: Content, Contexts, and Strategies.

The editors' presentation of the authors in this book is warm and personal. You immediately sense that the editors really care about the authors they have selected. Each article is accompanied by a photograph of the author and a short autobiographical statement, creating a more personal context for understanding. Collectively, the essays in this book address the concerns of women, art, and education in the aftermath of movements such as DBA-E, multiculturalism, and postmodernism.

Following a forward by Laura Chapman, the book is divided into three parts. "Content" defines the knowledge basis of art education. "Contexts" addresses issues related to learner populations, instructional delivery systems, and settings. The articles in Strategies" discuss models and means of improving the understanding of gender and achieving equity in and through art education.

The authors included are: Christy Park, Kristin Congdon, Elizabeth Barber, Sally McRorie, Julie Springer, Elizabeth Sacca, Cynthia Colbert, Doug Blandy, Vesta Daniel, Laurie Hicks, Roger King, Elizabeth Ament, Debra Attenborough, Mary Wyrick, Robyn Turner, Frances Thurber, Enid Zimmerman, and Ann Calvert. This history of the visual arts since World War II has been substantially revised, expanded, and updated. Six new chapters discuss recent trends and artists, including minimal and conceptual art, Arte Povera, the influence of Joseph Beuys, neo-Expressionism, neo-Conceptualism, and the work of Feminist and Gay artists as aspects of Postmodernism. The revision also chronicles the emergence of African-American and regional American artists, as well as new trends in Latin American, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, modern African, Caribbean, and Aboriginal art. It is an indispensable resource.

VIDEO VIEWING

This story/concert video brings the award-winning children's book by Debra Frasier to life through music by entwining shots of animated characters with Minnesota orchestra musicians as they perform. Narrated by the book's author, the video features an animated cast of characters ranging from a herd of reindeer to a tiny child. The video's merging of the On the Day You Were Born story with a concert experience is a celebration of the natural world that features the family of sun, moon, oceans, rain, trees, animals, and people welcoming a child to Earth. The quality of the visuals and music is superb. The computer animation retains the simple look of Frasier's original cutpaper book illustrations. The images don't have a computerized look. Except for the child, which moves smoothly, the other characters move as though they are paper cutouts. This collaboration of literature, music, and art is a powerful interdisciplinary resource for all ages.