In Field Notes on the Visual Arts, 75 scholars, curators and artists traverse chronology and geography to reveal the meanings and dilemmas of art.

What is the relation of art and history? What is art today? Why does art affect us? In Field Notes on the Visual Arts, seventy-five scholars, curators, and artists traverse chronology and geography to reveal the meanings and dilemmas of art. Organized under seven major headings--anthropomorphism, appropriation, contingency, detail, materiality, time, and tradition--the contributions are written by historians of art, literature, culture, and science, as well as archaeologists, anthropologists, philosophers, curators, and artists. By bringing together voices that are generally separated both inside and outside the academy, Field Notes on the Visual Arts makes clear that the work of art is both meaningful and resistant to meaning.

Once in a great while, as the New York Times noted recently, a naturalist writes a book that changes the way people look at the living world. John James Audubon’s Birds of America, published in 1838, was one. Roger Tory Peterson’s 1934 Field Guide to the Birds was another. How does such insight into nature develop? Pioneering a new niche in the study of plants and animals in their native habitat, Field Notes on Science and Nature allows readers to peer over the shoulders and into the notebooks of a dozen eminent field workers, to study firsthand their observational methods, materials, and fleeting impressions. What did George Schaller note when studying the lions of the Serengeti? What lists did Kenn Kaufman keep during his 1973 “big year”? How does Piotr Naskrecki use relational databases and electronic field notes? In what way is Bernd Heinrich’s approach “truly Thoreauvian,” in E. O. Wilson’s view? Recording observations in the field is an indispensable scientific skill, but researchers are not generally willing to share their personal records with others. Here, for the first time, are reproductions of actual pages from notebooks. And in essays abounding with fascinating anecdotes, the authors reflect on the contexts in which the notes were taken. Covering disciplines as diverse as ornithology, entomology, ecology, paleontology, anthropology, botany, and animal behavior, Field Notes offers specific examples that professional naturalists can emulate to fine-tune their own field methods, along with practical advice that amateur naturalists and students can use to document their adventures.

If you ask a child to draw you a picture, you'll get an instant response, for the visual arts are natural means of expression that students of all ages use confidently, and often with stunning directness and depth. And for a teacher, incorporating visual arts throughout the curriculum builds in a level of energy, enthusiasm, and insight that can only enhance children's learning experiences. Visual Arts as a Way of Knowing is a serious yet fun resource for teachers who are curious about art and know that it can be an important part of their teaching. The book is meant to tease out the artist in you,to encourage you to take risks and delve into painting or drawing or just making things. For like writing, art is a matter of taking risks that can lead to wonderful rewards. Karolynne Gee draws on the stories of teachers and the reflections of children who have discovered they can create, and for whom that discovery is the great "Aha!". From that point on, you know how to make creative and aesthetic choices based on the principles of art, and art becomes a powerful tool in thinking, learning and problem solving. Visual Arts as a Way of Knowing features discussion of visual arts content, principles, techniques, and applications; guidance in planning and facilitating projects and assessing them with students; practical classroom management strategies to support learning in arts and across the curriculum; ideas for art specialists and teaching colleagues; strong support for teachers as risk-takers and learners alongside their students; a wealth of illustrations from fine arts, computer art, and student work that includes a range of work to show there is no "right way;" charts and field notes that can help you get started on a project or gives you a new way of looking at a topic. Visual Arts as a Way of Knowing blurs the lines between formal and informal art as well as between teacher and learner. It will provide many interdisciplinary connections and ways for you to think about integrating visual art in a thoughtful way and discovering new problems that will stimulate your own and your students' thinking.

Writing exercises and creativity advice from Barry's pioneering, life-changing workshop The award-winning author Lynda Barry is the creative force behind the genre-defying and bestselling work What It Is. She believes that anyone can be a writer and has set out to prove it. For the past decade, Barry has run a highly popular writing workshop for nonwriters called Writing the Unthinkable, which was featured in The New York Times Magazine. Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor is the first book to make her innovative lesson plans and writing exercises available to the public for home or classroom use. Barry teaches a method of writing that focuses on the relationship between the hand, the brain, and spontaneous images, both written and visual. It has been embraced by people across North America—prison inmates, postal workers, university students, high-school teachers, and hairdressers—for opening pathways to creativity. Syllabus takes the course plan for Barry’s workshop and runs wild with it in her densely detailed signature style. Collaged texts, ballpoint-pen doodles, and watercolor washes adorn Syllabus’s yellow lined pages, which offer advice on finding a creative voice and using memories to inspire the writing process. Throughout it all, Barry’s voice (as an author and as a teacher-mentor) rings clear, inspiring, and honest.

Provoking the Field invites debate on, and provides an essential resource for, transnational arts-based scholars engaged in critical analyses of international visual arts education and its enquiry in doctoral research. Divided into three parts--doctoral processes, doctoral practices, and doctoral programs--the volume interrogates education in both formal and informal learning environments, ranging from schools to post-secondary institutions to community and adult education. This book brings together a global range of authors to examine visual arts PhDs using diverse theoretical perspectives; innovative arts and hybrid methodologies; institutional relationships and scholarly practices; and voices from the field in the form of site-specific cases. A compendium of leading voices in arts education, Provoking the Field provides a diverse range of perspectives on arts enquiry, and a comprehensive study of the state of visual arts PhDs in education.

Thirteen distinguished anthropologists describe how they create and use the unique forms of writing they produce in the field. They also discuss the fieldnotes of seminal figures—Frank Cushing, Franz Boas, W. H. R. Rivers, Bronislaw Malinowski, and Margaret Mead—and analyze field writings in relation to other types of texts, especially ethnographies. Unique in conception, this volume contributes importantly to current debates on writing, texts, and reflexivity in anthropology.