• Interpret a landscape
• Draw a person's face
• Paint a still-life
• Carve a totem pole
• Design a poster
• Build a clay bowl
• Design a web site

These activities are just a sample of the myriad endeavors which engage students in art classes. Some students are involved in a variety of activities using a wide range of tools and materials. Others, enroll in art classes that have a particular focus: life drawing, advertising design, ceramics, or Internet graphics.

Whether in general or special art classes, students often receive specific instructions for producing art. Directions are given about how to hold a brush, blend charcoal, or roll a clay coil. Teacher demonstrations frequently model how to apply a transparent wash, draw a nose, or fold and cut paper. And students routinely produce very credible works in response to such instructions.

But what have they learned? What is there to learn while being engaged in the production of art? How does participation in particular art activities contribute to acquiring important expressive skills and abilities for understanding and appreciating art?

These are fundamental questions that need to be addressed if art classes are to be perceived as more than an opportunity for the talented few to exercise their gifts, or as a holding area for academic misfits.

If art is to be construed as a mainstream academic subject, students must be able to articulate the values they derive as a consequence of their participation in particular activities. For instance, copying a black and white photograph while learning how to use charcoal to produce a range of grays from very light to very dark (a very common activity). Why should students acquire such a skill? What value is there in being able to use charcoal to produce a range of grays? Is copying a photograph an appropriate means for developing such skills?