How the Arts Affect
Student Learning
Is learning in the arts good for a
student? Does it make a student a better citizen (Defined,
perhaps, as a person who is thoughtful, diligent and a good
problem solver)? A number of studies have, in fact, been
conducted to support this premise. Researchers have shown that
taking art classes increases young people’s academic
achievements and contributes to their positive social
development. Students of art also perform higher on
standardized tests. Furthermore, these students are found to
have developed skills and habits of mind that make for better
thinkers and workers.
The Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum is
currently exhibiting high school artwork from our local
schools--public, private and home. I wondered how some of these
young artists would describe the value of studying art. Why
take art classes in high school when it is not a required
subject? What effect does it have on your study habits and
manner of thinking?
Helen Bice has been interested in art since
she was a small child. A senior at Ridgewood High School, she
won a First Place in Painting for A Walk, a small
watercolor with a Japanese minimalist feeling about it.
Applying only a few brush strokes, Helen created an airy,
intriguing painting. Helen’s parents, both painters who
attended Pittsburgh Art Institute, nurtured Helen to love making
art. Like her parents, she loves to paint and hopes to continue
taking art courses at COTC next year. Art is personally
valuable to Helen because it helps her relieve stress and
express her emotions. It’s a way to calm and center herself, a
necessary prerequisite for thinking ideas through.
Jessica Davis from River View High School
also won a First Place. Her mixed media work, a mosaic using
small colored paper, was a self-portrait that included a
photograph of herself. The picture is light-hearted and
whimsical. Jessica, a senior, has been drawing since she was
young. She loves taking art classes because they involve more
than the brain. They require thinking and doing, and are just
more fun. She appreciates her teacher, Malinda Baker, who
encourages everyone and takes the time to work with students
individually. Mrs. Baker teaches students art appreciation so
they learn not only art techniques such as drawing and blending
colors, but also social studies. Every year one of Mrs. Baker’s
classes studies ancient Egyptian art, and the students use this
knowledge to recreate their own Egyptian art.
As a child, Coshocton High School senior
Jared Cotterman always had a sketchbook in his hand. He was so
busy drawing that he didn’t have time to do the mundane, like
clean his room. Jared has several works on display at the
Museum. His Variations on “Dreams” won an Honorable
Mention in Drawing. Rendered in colored pencil, Jared’s picture
has a fantasy theme—a human-sized, grasshopper is approaching a
human-like creature that is asleep on a bed. Jared catalogs the
benefits of art learning like a child at an amusement park who
is lining up his favorite rides to take. It’s how he best
expresses himself. It fosters creative thought. He likes the
way it involves problem solving. Myrtle Beall, Coshocton’s art
teacher, assigns abstract assignments and lets her students
interpret the assignment. Jared likes the freedom and
creativity this allows him. Her assignments push students to
think outside the box. When asked if he saw a connection
between art and his other classes, Jared said that art teaches a
sense of logic, perspective and how things fit together. He
uses these same skills in math. Jared is planning to attend
Capital University next year as a music major. For Jared,
creating art is like making music. Both push him to understand
all the components of a problem, to work hard and experience the
joy of creating.
Sarah Meek began drawing at four years
old. When she was in third grade and taking art classes from
Vivian Williams, art blossomed into her passion. Her mixed
media piece, Liv Tyler, won a Second Place in the
Teen-Age Talent exhibit. To create this portrait of a very
glamorous lady, Sarah has cut thin strips of writing text from
magazines and pasted them on the paper. These strips create
texture and shading to her black and white picture. It’s an
interesting technique. Sarah enjoys the art-making process
because it hollows out a peaceful time for her. She becomes
absorbed in the process, blotting out outside noises and inside
mumblings. She, like Jared, credits Mrs. Beall with teaching
her more than skills and technique. Mrs. Beall encouraged Sarah
to take risks and to reveal herself, through her artwork. Sarah
used to strictly follow the rules. Now she pushes herself and
her skills to make something all her own. Sarah says that art
ties into everything, especially history. Ancient Greece
becomes more than the Trojan horse and the story of Troy—it is
the people and their art, which reveals their culture. Art also
helps with math skills and teaches one to organize time.
If you want to see the artwork these young
people are creating, check out Teen-age Talent on exhibit
through May 15th at the Museum. If you want to find
out what they are learning as they study art, just ask one of
the artists in the show. Is learning in the arts good for a
student? Does it develop a better citizenry? I’m convinced!
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