The Visual Arts have the power to enrich the lives and endeavors of humankind. In a highly technological society such as ours, the visual arts serve as a humanizing force, giving dignity and a sense of worth to the individual. They provide the means by which aesthetic quality and order are derived from the exercise of an individual’s creativity and critical understanding.
Through Visual Arts Education, students learn the meaning and value of creativity and innovation by:
- demonstrating originality and inventiveness in work and being open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives;
- developing, implementing, and communicating new ideas to others; and
- acting on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the domain in which innovation occurs.
Through Visual Art Education, students obtain critical thinking skills that shape their efforts and affect their personal value choices by:
- exercising sound reasoning in understanding and making complex choices and decisions;
- understanding the interconnections among systems; identifying and asking significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions; and
- framing, analyzing, and synthesizing information in order to solve problems and answer questions.
Through Visual Arts Education, students learn to communication through visual images for complete literacy includes the ability to understand, respond to, and talk about visual images by articulating thoughts and ideas clearly through more than written and spoken word.
Visual Arts Education prepares students for success in school, work, and life:
- strengthening LITERACY as the Visual Arts are an essential language;
- developing a GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE workforce since the Visual Arts develop essential skills for global competitiveness in the 21st century; and
- nurturing ENGAGED LEARNERS for the Visual Arts promote active and complex learning.