Cultivation of Aesthetic Experience as the Aim of Environmental Art Education: A Deweyan View

Abstract

Challenging the dichotomy of nature and culture is broadly seen as a key aim of environmental art education. Some of the literature on the topic focuses on the question of what metaphor for the relationship between nature and culture environmental art educators should adopt and attempt to convey to their students. In this article, I argue that such a focus reflects a problematically instrumental conception of art education, a conception that seems to partly stem from confusion about the epistemological status of art. To bring clarity to this matter, I will examine John Dewey's ideas about the nature of aesthetic qualities and aesthetic experience. According to Dewey, aesthetic qualities are culminations of human‐environment transactions. He believed that art, contrary to science or other forms of declarative knowledge, operates indirectly, qualitatively, and imaginatively. In light of this, it seems implausible that the arts could be used to convey a specific metaphorical worldview to students. I argue that the aim of environmental art education should rather be to cultivate students' ability to experience the world aesthetically.