Visual arts are a class of art forms that include: painting, sculpture, photography, and other disciplines that focus on the creation of artworks which are primarily visual in nature. Visual arts are said to be important in schools since they tend to develop the intelligence, as well as the overall personality of students. In fact, studies have shown that students who are exposed to visual arts tend to display above average intelligence when it comes to mathematics and science.

Likewise, students who are greatly exposed to visual arts have been observed to exhibit refined manners and develop a much-matured outlook on life. Most educators have also noticed that students perform better in class when visual arts are incorporated in their curriculum.

Moreover, visual arts provide meaningful self-expression of all students. This is also the reason why a great number of educators have integrated visual arts in some of their subject areas in the curriculum. Visual arts educators make use of rich arrays of content to design curriculum that will enable students to be able to meet various standards at different grade levels.

In order to meet the standards, students must be able to learn vocabularies as well as some concepts that are associated with diverse types of work in the visual arts. Likewise, students are expected to exhibit their competence in various levels in visual, oral, and written form. As early as kindergarten, children are taught how to make choices that would enhance the communication of their creative ideas.

Students that are in the middle grades are expected to apply the knowledge as well as the skills in the visual arts to their ever-expanding personal world. Students at this level tend to consider visual art works within its historical concepts that creates in them a deeper appreciation of their own values, and likewise appreciate the values of others and somehow discover the connection of visual arts to the universal needs of people in terms of their values and beliefs.

Students in the higher levels are expected to create more complex and insightful works of visual arts that will reflect the maturation of their creative as well as their problem-solving skills. And although, visual arts classes make use of varied tools, techniques, and processes, students are expected to understand the relationship of different types of media, styles, forms, techniques as well as some of the processes involved in the creation of their own form of visual art. Students are also taught how to recognize the intrinsic value of visual arts and what makes it important in the lives of all educated persons.

Visual arts are also used in therapy procedures for aiding child development. Visual arts assist in educating disabled children, especially those who are blind and have hearing problems. Aside from that, visual arts also help in building communities, mural projects, and are also used to provide education for mentally ill individuals.

At present continuous studies are being conducted to discover more benefits derived from incorporating visual arts in educating students.

“Oh, I’m not very creative,” is the complaint of many individuals when approached about starting up a craft. The truth is that everyone is creative. Some of us just got the notion in third grade that since we weren’t the best artist in the class that we weren’t “the creative type.” The Creative Type: a mysterious individual with messy hair and outrageous attire who frequents museums and the theatre and mutters tirelessly to him/ herself when in public. As legendary as Santa Claus–and just as fictional. Real creativity manifests itself in a myriad of different ways. Creativity is that urge that makes you want to move the furniture around, for the third time this week. Creativity is the calm that comes over you as you chop vegetables for tonight’s dinner. Creativity is the tickle of excitement you get when you find a new scenic route to work. As humans, we have a basic need to express ourselves, and how we express ourselves is creativity.

A Short History of Crafts

Crafting has gone in and out of fashion over the last few decades. In the 1940s crafting was done out of necessity. Because of WWII, making do and using up what you had was a respected form of patriotism. Middleclass women made quilts from their family’s old clothes, and their children used catalogues or ads to make paper valentines or Christmas cards. Worn out sheets were made into pillowcases, then into handkerchiefs, and eventually used as rags. There were not the malls open in the evening as there are today, nor were there the myriad forms of entertainment to be had, so people stayed home and worked needlecraft or baked.

This mentality continued throughout the forties and fifties, but as the war generation aged crafting changed. Crafts were something you made in your leisure time. Since crafting was traditionally a women’s activity, it was tied to domesticity and subordination. As the women’s liberation movement entered the scene, crafting was looked down on as anti-progressive. Mass produced clothing and other articles made sewing virtually obsolete.

Crafting Today

Today is a new movement, present even among the very educated, wealthy, and politically progressive. Betsy Greer coined the term craftivism, a call to shrug off the plague of mass produced goods available, in turn for an appreciation of all things unique and handmade.

Many still ask why, when it is cheaper, faster, and more convenient to pick up this or that dust catcher at your neighborhood Wal-Mart, why would anyone pick up a needle? The answer is manifold.

Some craft because the activity creates satisfaction and gratification in a way that few other forms of entertainment today do. They enjoy both the process of creating as well as the finished product. There is a certain amount of pride and confidence felt when using something made with one’s own hands–whether it is a bookshelf or a crocheted dishcloth. And then there are the crafters who do what they do for no other reason than that crafts are fun.

Perhaps others craft for their health–although they may not realize it. Crafting has a very positive impact on one’s mental health, as it engages the mind in creative and imaginative problem solving, as well as the hands. Psychologists and therapists have taken note, and many nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals offer craft classes as a potent form of recreational therapy.

Crafting has also created its own community, which is a huge draw in our isolated society. Whether you scrapbook or throw pots, there is likely an association in your city where you can join with other like-minded individuals to craft regularly. This feeling of community extends even within one’s own family. Many parents now schedule a regular arts and crafts time with their children. This is time well spent–crafting with children builds important practical skills as well as interpersonal bonds.