Burning in the light: Art in education and human development

The quality of art experience in education and human development is the focus of this qualitative phenomenological study. Illuminated with color and black and white photographs and drawings, the study includes a reflection on the researcher's own artistic development, examples and contemplations on teaching visual and performing arts to children and adult learners, and interviews with artists and educators. The interviews with visual and performing artists, a puppeteer, a poet, a traditional Native American leader, Waldorf master teachers, and a teacher of higher education speak about arts and society, arts and gender, arts in schools, and the changing role and definitions of art. In the study, the researcher integrates approaches to art developed by Rudolf Steiner (1861--1925), and Waldorf Education, in his own teaching in public schools, and presents art as a cognitive, emotional, and spiritual discipline essential in the transformation of personal and social consciousness. The study is relevant to students, teachers, artists, and parents.