Abstract
This project was an Alternative Culminating Experience for a Master of Arts in Education: Curriculum and Instruction with an Elective Emphasis on Arts in Education. It followed Pathway I: Artist as Educator. The purpose of Learning to do Art With a Capital A was to develop the researcher as an artist through both research and newly acquired skills in order that she personally experience the creative process before she applied what she learned to her teaching. Since the researcher was a science teacher, initially the goal was to infuse art into existing science curriculum. As time progressed, it became evident that art needed to be valued as its own discipline. Researching the contributions of the educational philosophers John Dewey (1934), Donald Arnstine (1967), Elliot Eisner (1998), and Howard Gardner (1989, 2003) created the academic scaffolding that brought meaning and purpose to the art skills the researcher was developing. The researcher took courses in which she learned to make puppets, perform skits, dance, sing, draw and paint. Experiencing art and reflecting on those experiences resulted in the confidence and capacity to lead others. Two years of course work led to a small service learning community art project with the researcher and 15 junior high students. In response to a need to increase awareness of the school’s recycling-bins, the students volunteered to design and paint them. It was a time consuming endeavor but a successful one. Documenting the process enabled and enriched the experience. Writing this culminating experience allowed for in depth introspection, assimilation, and appreciation of the arts. The researcher will continue pursuing and advocating for the arts.