Preface:

Visual art can often seem like an island within the world of primary and secondary education. The subject is useful, perhaps, as a break from ordinary academic subjects; for some students, it may be the only constructive outlet for otherwise untapped talents. Yet its relevance in the universe of knowledge is not well known. I designed the seminar “Visual Art and Society” to address the problem of visual art’s apparent remoteness: to know that art is, in fact, intimately tied to a broad range of subjects, including math, science, history, and social science. The goal of the seminar was to prompt each participant to see how his or her discipline may have been influence by, or had an influence on, painting, sculpture, graphic design, and a variety of other visual media.