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"This is a book about making art. Ordinary art. Ordinary art means something like: all art not made by Mozart. After all, art is rarely made by Mozart-like people; essentially-statistically speaking-there aren't any people like that. Geniuses get made once-a-century or so, yet good art gets made all the time, so to equate the making of art with the workings of genius removes this intimately human activity to a strangely unreachable and unknowable place. For all practical purposes making art can be examined in great detail without ever getting entangled in the very remote problems of genius."
--from the Introduction

Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way. The book's co-authors, David Bayles and Ted Orland, are themselves both working artists, grappling daily with the problems of making art in the real world. Their insights and observations, drawn from personal experience, provide an incisive view into the world of art as it is expeienced by artmakers themselves.

This is not your typical self-help book. This is a book written by artists, for artists -- it's about what it feels like when artists sit down at their easel or keyboard, in their studio or performance space, trying to do the work they need to do. First published in 1994, Art & Fear quickly became an underground classic. Word-of-mouth response alone-now enhanced by internet posting-has placed it among the best-selling books on artmaking and creativity nationally.

Art & Fear has attracted a remarkably diverse audience, ranging from beginning to accomplished artists in every medium, and including an exceptional concentration among students and teachers. The original Capra Press edition of Art & Fear sold 80,000 copies.

An excerpt:

Today, more than it was however many years ago, art is hard because you have to keep after it so consistently. On so many different fronts. For so little external reward. Artists become veteran artists only by making peace not just with themselves, but with a huge range of issues. You have to find your work...

Simultaneously, teachers find it increasingly difficult to ignore the diversity of the learners who populate their classrooms. Few teachers find their work effective or satisfying when they simply "serve up" a curriculum--even an elegant one--to students with no regard for their varied learning needs. For many educators, Differentiated Instruction offers a framework for addressing learner variance as a critical component of instructional planning.

In this book the two models converge, providing readers fresh perspectives on two of the greatest contemporary challenges for educators: crafting powerful curriculum in a standards-dominated era and ensuring academic success for the full spectrum of learners. Each model strengthens the other. Understanding by Design is predominantly a curriculum design model that focuses on what we teach. Differentiated Instruction focuses on whom we teach, where we teach, and how we teach. Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe show you how to use the principles of backward design and differentiation together to craft lesson plans that will teach essential knowledge and skills for the full spectrum of learners.

• A step-by-step plan to make the first week of school a success
• Approaches for creating a positive discipline plan
• Methods for motivating students, especially reluctant readers
• Strategies for successful classroom management
• Suggestions for creating and grading student portfolios

Jump right in-doing art with toddlers and twos is fun, rewarding, and a wonderful learning experience. Children discover their world as they explore the 75 fun-filled art adventures in First Art. They will joyfully squeeze a rainbow, make their own (safe) beads to string, and create their very own art baggie book. First Art starts children on a lifelong journey full of exploration and creativity.

Award-winning author MaryAnn F. Kohl is a regular featured columnist for Parenting Magazine. She has also written the best-selling favorites Preschool Art, The Big Messy Art Book, Global Art, Cooking Art, Making Make-Believe, MathArts, and the new Preschool Art series which includes Drawing, Painting, Clay and Dough, Craft and Construction, and Collage and Paper. She lives in Bellingham, Washington.

Deepen your understanding of Comprehension Connections. Listen to Tanny McGregor's three Webinars, archived here for use with professional learning groups of any size:

Click here to access the webinars now http://www.heinemann.com/mcgregorwebinar/

• schema
• inferring
• questioning
• determining importance
• visualizing
• synthesizing.