Dr Michael DAY
michaeldday@comcast.net
Member, Executive Board,
International Society for Education through Art, USA

Michael Day is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the Department of Visual Arts, Brigham Young University. Professor Day visited China in 1998 sponsored by the Getty Education Institute and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. He has served as visiting scholar at the Hong Kong Institute of Education and the National Taiwan Normal University. Dr Day co-edited the Handbook of Research and Policy in Art Education (2004). He served as President of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) from 1997 to 1999. His most recent publication is the 8th edition of Children and Their Art (2007).

Creativity, Visual Culture, and Contemporary Art

One can only imagine the global consequences of failing to educate even one generation of young citizens. Education is steady work, never completed, always under construction. The high stakes for education have risen even higher in today’s fast-changing world. Fueled by advances in communications technology, the arts have gained a status of unprecedented influence in contemporary life and culture, particularly within the most developed countries. A 20-second television commercial utilizes dance, drama, music, graphic design, and animation to assure that the message is powerfully conveyed.

However, education in many countries fails to recognize the powerful place of the arts in the daily lives of children and young people. Arts education is not given place in the school curriculum commensurate with the status of influence the arts hold in national and world cultures. Creativity has burgeoned in contemporary fine and applied visual arts, including painting, sculpture, installation, video, graphic design, architecture, and animation to name a few. Yet, art curriculum in many ways has fallen behind and too many children and young people are not provided with adequate art education. Concerned leaders must address the status of the arts in the school curriculum.

Michael DAY博士

Michael DAY教授是美國楊伯翰大學前視覺藝術學系系主任及榮休教授。他曾於1998年獲贊助訪問中國，又曾在香港教育學院擔任客席學者是。1997至1999年間，他曾任全國藝術教育協會(NAEA)主席。最新著作為新版的Children and Their Art (2007年)。

「創意、視覺文化及當代藝術」

資訊科技的發展使藝術在現今生活及文化中更具震撼力。然而在藝術教育方面，很多國家仍忽略藝術在兒童青少年日常生活的重要性，未提供足夠的藝術教育課程。視覺藝術課程往往落後於社會。有心的教育決策者必須正視藝術在學校課程中的地位。