Introduction

Transforming English Language Arts with Visual Art, Poetry, and Related Texts

There is growing evidence that artistic literacies and, indeed, varied artistic ways of knowing (visual art, drama, music, creative writing, and storytelling), can be a catalyst to creative expression, critical thinking, and enriched understanding across the disciplines. Artistic literacies can be viewed as a dynamic and holistic learning process that invites inquiry and transformative learning. Maxine Greene (2007) and Elliot Eisner (2002) have written extensively about the importance of including the arts in education as a way to understand the social, cultural, and historical conditions that shape learning. The arts can be a catalyst that sparks imagination, potentially leading to personal empowerment, innovative thinking, and positive social change. Learners have opportunities to experience, reflect, design, create, and apply new skills.  Highlighting the “arts” in English language arts opens up greater possibilities for transdisciplinary learning and the development of global competencies (Magro and Honeyford, 2019).  The arts have the potential to encourage emotional intelligence skills such as empathy and awareness; in addition, artistic literacies have the potential to encourage  metaphoric thinking, curiosity, self-efficacy,  and close observation. Art can be a catalyst to improved reading comprehension and writing. Throughout the resource guides, I provide essential questions as well as specific lessons and unit plans that highlight the visual-writing connection throughout the book/curriculum resources. Through artistic multi-modal learning, individuals may be more motivated to explore theme, identify symbols and images to express their ideas, and then share these with others through collaborative ventures, presentations, performances, and artistic creations.  The classroom can be viewed as an artistic atelier where ideas might be explored, shared, and realized in ways that have a deeper level meaning beyond the traditional classroom. The evolving areas of eco-literacies and environmental art, for example, exemplifies the power of visual images to encourage active exploration and critical thinking about ways we can work more effectively and urgently to restore the grandeur of nature as well as protect and honour the Earth.

Flexibility, freedom to learn in new ways, and creative expression can be connected to artistic literacies. I began developing shorter theme- based units of art and poetry for my students during the 2020-2021 Covid-19 pandemic.  I designed a series of self-directed interactive learning modules that included visual art connections to poetry, plays, novels, and non-fiction.  The modules also had applications for educators teaching drama, history, world issues, psychology, and sustainability.  I connected these themes to different windows of learning: psychological, existential, social, cultural, environmental, and imaginative.  With positive feedback from my students, I began to explore and research different ways that I could connect the fascinating world of art more closely with English language arts skills such as listening, writing, reading, speaking, viewing, and representing.

For over four decades, I visited  countless art galleries and museums worldwide. I was inspired to build a personal art history book collection by finding unique texts at bookstores, thrift markets, and local and international galleries.  During my solo travels overseas, I viewed the local art gallery/museum in any given destination as a safe haven and cultural touchstone. I also drew upon my study and teaching of literature for over 40 years. I saw the importance of connecting art images to literature as a way of enriching reading comprehension and writing.   No doubt, educators will have their own creative ideas for integrating art into English language arts. Many art museums have opened up their collections to the Public Domain; virtual art gallery tours, digital learning resources, and interactive videos have made art more accessible than ever. I limited my use of poetry and art sources only to those accessible in the Public Domain. The ideas in this book can be further applied to contemporary and new works of art. The digital links to learning resources exemplify the new ways art can be reimagined. In exploring the vast collections of art, poetry, myths, legends, and narrative, I discovered many stellar artists and writers who may not be as well- known as the “classic” artists. I wanted to “bring alive” the brilliant artistry of artists like Virginia Francis Sterrett, Angelica Kaufman, Frederick Stuart Church, Edmund Dulac, Walter Crane, John Clare, Christina Rossetti, and many others. Collectively, their work had a major impact on art and design in 20th century and contemporary poetry,  book illustration, and design.

This artistic project is an invitation to all educators to re-imagine the potential of teaching from an imaginative and dynamic stance that highlights possibilities and potential for significant personal and social learning. It is my hope that this book might be a catalyst to new inquiry projects and further research that can enrich the lifelong journey of learning.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Kelly Abelus, Ingrid Olson, and Stacey Wood for their  dedication  and expertise in helping digitize over 2,000 art images.  I am grateful Carley McDougall and DD Gordon of Campus Manitoba for their encouragement and support in helping realize this evolving project.  I am very grateful to Jocelyne Scott for her keen insights and edits of  earliers versions of these books and to Jessica Anthony for her copy -editing expertise.

Thank you,

Karen M. Magro, September 2, 2023

References

Eisner, E. (2002). The arts and the creation of the mind. Yale University Press.

Greene, M. (2007). Imagination and the healing arts. https://maxinegreene.org/uploads/library/imagination_ha.pdf

Magro, K., & Honeyford, M. (2019). Transcultural literacies: Re-visioning relationships in teaching and learning. Canadian Scholars Press.