Visual culture as a strategic approach to art production in education
Mie Buhl (Danish University of Education)

The concept of visual culture challenges traditional approaches to art production
in education. Art education lacks adequate concepts for understanding
contemporary productive processes. The article suggests that the theoretical
framework for the productive process should be reconsidered. Visual culture as a
strategic approach focuses on conditions surrounding viewing rather than on
the substance of aesthetic objects. A new terminology is needed for use in
student and teacher dialogue. The article presents a model for teaching art productionbased on a visual culture approach to visual arts and mass media. This approach differentiates between and elaborates on 'dimensions of pictorial logic', 'production strategies', 'concept thematizing' and 'reflexive positioning'.

Titanstra: a bridge between cultures: a text photo story
Joachim Kettel (University of Education, Karlsruhe)

This project aimed to engage secondary-school pupils in an experimental openlearning situation. They had to structure the learning process themselves and identify their own artistic strategies and research methods so as to arrive at personal artistic statements. In the intensive, difficult and painful process of becoming exposed to a strange place, pupils were initially disturbed and/or alienated. This internal and external confrontation triggered exploratory processes in which forgotten places that had been experienced differently were associated with a new place and a new self open to, contingent upon and increasingly dominated by personal questions and actions. In artistic research it is possible to achieve multiple results through intensive self-reflection, external observation, investigation, documentation and associations. The results are affected by individual choices in an artistic exploration strategy where methods and knowledge anchored in the pupil's prior understanding are acquired inductively during the process of exploration in a way that resembles scientific research.

Francis Musango: his contribution to art and art education in Uganda
George Kyeyune (School of Oriental and African Studies)

This short biography traces the artist and educator Francis Musango's artistic
development in his role as an art educator in pre- and post-independence
Uganda. Analysing his work over the last 50 years helps us to understand the way in which developments in Ugandan art practice, of which Musango has been an integral part, have reflected the ideological positions of certain mentors.

Film spectatorship between queer theory and feminism: transcultural readings
Belidson Dias (University of BrasiliaSusan Sinkinson (University of British Columbia)

This article presents an emergent stance in critical literature on visual culture
education. A study focused on queer and feminist spectatorship, it considers
intersections among critical pedagogy, art education, film, feminist studies,
queer studies and transculturalism. Through the lenses of postcolonialism, feminism and queer theory, it pursues an understanding of how a shift from traditional models of spectatorship to feminist and queer spectatorship might affect teaching and learning in visual culture education. It constitutes a dialogue between two scholars concerned with spectatorship as a pedagogical device and
includes a critical discussion of Pedro Almod�� and Trinh T. Minh-ha's films
because they expose the subject as a crucial element for understanding spectatorship and subjectivity in visual culture education.

Enhancing creativity in art education through brainstorming
Çigdem Demir (Gazi University)

Enhancing creativity is as important as teaching art and design principles and elements of art. Creativity has to be developed and constantly exercised. The purpose of the research reported in this image text was to experiment with ideas in the literature about creativity in art learning contexts and new theories about short-term, highly performance-based brainstorming lessons. In this research, brainstorming techniques were used with two different age groups. For the younger students, brainstorming helped them express their ideas quickly and freely. For the university students, a brainstorming lesson carried out in parallel with practice and theory lessons had a strong effect on their performance in
long-term projects. Brainstorming sessions can be useful therefore in keeping creativity alive.

The Fire Fox: a multi-sensory approach to art education in Lapland
Mirja Hiltunen (University of Lapland)

This article explores ways in which art education in northern border areas and
remote rural districts empowers action. The main emphasis is on an integrated art and science project called the 'The Fire Fox' that took place in Finnish Lapland, Utsjoki, in March 2004. The project aims were to extend art into the wider community, develop individual creativity, raise the quality of artistic achievement, strengthen self-esteem and foster shared understanding between people from different cultural backgrounds. The article reports on a series of multidisciplinary arts workshops where the majority of artworks were made of snow and ice and tied to a particular time and place. There were several organizations involved in the Fire Fox project. This article evaluates the project and takes into account the specific educational needs of the school, other local parties, participants from outside the Utsjoki
municipality and the art students from the University of Lapland. The article concludes that the Fire Fox project provided support for local identities as well as facilitating the development of art-based social innovations inspired by northern culture.

An ecological approach to art education:
environmental aesthetics
Jale Erzen (Middle East Technical University)

Art curricula are often linked to the notion of an end product and a prevailing definition and concept of art. These are usually limited by cultural attitudes. This article proposes that a course in environmental aesthetics that gave priority
to experiential methods without ignoring theoretical work on relations between aesthetics, culture and nature would prepare students with the necessary sensitivity and awareness towards perceptual, sensory qualities. The author's claims that students' creativity and imagination have to be activated through sensory perception before any traditional art techniques or theories can be educationally effective are based on 30 years of teaching such methods.