Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Concerns on the interrelation of theory and practice have been manifested in several debates about the role of critical theory in art and design studio practices. There is a widely held assumption in art teaching that theory gets in the way of creativity and spontaneity, and this opposition is commonly articulated in terms of visual versus verbal intelligence. However, there are prevailing beliefs lately that, putting theory into practice encourages students to engage with complex ideas and explore related art concepts through studio activities. Hence, this paper develops a teaching and learning strategy for integrated art theory and practice. The discipline-based strategy proposed in this paper is comprised of five overlapping stages, and it is believed that a successful implementation of this strategy can help bridge the boundaries in art and design education.