Art Education and the Aesthetics of Land Use in the Age of Ecology

Abstract

The pedagogy of landscape art is represented by five dominant art education metaphors: pictorial space, the system of linear perspective, the sublime landscape, the mapping impulse, and the machine. Each of these metaphors is used to illustrate the historical objectification and stereotyping of the environment through landscape art. A sixth metaphor of art teaching, ecological pedagogy, is proposed as a means by which to critique stereotypes and to promote compassionate and caring representations of the environment. Art education is considered to be vital to students' awareness and understanding of how visual images influence their interaction with the environment.