| Currently, many art museums provide family programs. Since 1997, I have been studying art-museum family programs, primarily in the United States, as a participant, intern, and researcher. However, the more I studied art-museum family programs, the more I noticed a significant lack of research on this type of art education. Because the family is an important educational institution, art educators should study art-museum family programs and develop theories in order to enhance intra-familial education through those programs. Hence, the research questions of this study are: What kinds of experiences do families have in art-museum family programs and what significance do these experiences have in their daily lives? What implications do these findings have for art educators working with families?; This is a case study of eight extended families' art experiences during three current art-museum family programs in New York City, and their art experiences after their participation in those programs. This study examined these participants' art experiences through the observation of programs, interviews with educators and program participants (primarily in their homes), and the examination of a variety of materials, including artworks, photographs, and household objects.; The findings of the study indicate that participant families had rich art experiences in their everyday lives, particularly in terms of personal art-appreciation and art-creation activities, and that such personal art experiences constituted significant self-education within these families. However, interpersonal art experiences between adults and children were infrequent, and adults often did not acknowledge the fact that children were imaginative, persistent, and dedicated cultural producers and self-educators. For these families, participation in family programs is only a part of their art experiences and the relationship between family members' day-to-day art experiences and their experiences during family programs is relatively weak.; Based on these findings, this study urges a paradigm shift concerning the concepts and processes of both intra-familial education and family programs. Through open-ended dialogue focusing on both art and participants' everyday interests, art-museum family programs should enhance both personal and interpersonal education within the family, in which everyone is a learner, learning from others and by him/herself. |
