Review of Research in Visual Arts Education, 1977-1996

Although the Division of University Extension had carried on extramural summer classes in art and a summer art school for high school students since 1950, it was not until 1962 that the Division organized Extension in Visual Arts and not until 1963 that a head was appointed, a position changed to director in 1968.¹ Acting as a liaison between the University's College of Fine and Applied Arts and the Krannert Art Museum on the one hand, and local organizations and institutions² on the other, and utilizing the services of other sections of the Office of Continuing Education and Public Service--the Speakers Bureau, Visual Aids Service, Short Courses and Conferences, and Field Representatives³--Extension in Visual Arts brings art and art education to people who would not otherwise have access to it. The Section provides programs and services, initiated by the Section and by local requests:⁴ extramural credit and noncredit classes; conferences, seminars, and workshops; and speakers for local groups. It provides art films and film strips and, since 1963, a traveling art exhibit, available on a rental or membership plan to non-commercial groups.⁵ Visual Arts also sponsors programs of art education, among them the creative Art for Children Program, which meets on Saturdays at the Urbana campus and which provides training for teachers and art experiences for children (originally, in 1964, for children in grades one through six, but since 1974 for children from pre-school through grade twelve)⁶; Adventures in the Arts for Women, a summer workshop at Allerton Park (begun in 1965); the Allerton Park Art School for high school students (which was extended from a two-week to a three-week session in 1963)⁷; and the Automotive Styling School for high school juniors and seniors (begun in 1970)⁸. Since 1967, the Section has published the Art Newsletter, a publication which carries art news and announcements of state art events and conferences of interest to amateurs and professionals.⁹ In 1973, the University-wide Division of University Extension was reorganized, and the Office of Continuing Education and Public Service was created on the Urbana campus to handle the sections transferred to local campus control, among them the Extension in Visual Arts.¹⁰

1. Helen Farlow, History, The University of Illinois Division of University Extension, 1933-1968, A Progress Report, RS 31/1/0/4, p. 32.

2. "Extension in Visual Arts," Division of University Extension announcement, n.d., RS 31/7/0/2, p. 1.

3. Farlow, pp. 25, 32.

4. Study Seminar Report, Adult and Extension Education in Visual Arts, Phase II, November 11-13, 1963, RS 31/7/0/1, p. 1.

5. Farlow, p. 32; "Extension in Visual Arts," pp. 2-11.

6. "Extension in Visual Arts, Narrative Report, 1967-68," Walter M. Johnson Papers, RS 31/7/20, Box 1, p. 1; "Creative Art for Children" and "Saturday's Children," Extension in Visual Arts announcements for 1964-65 through 1974-75, RS 31/7/0/1.

7. Farlow, p. 32.

8. "Automotive sygling School," Extension in Visual Arts announcement, n.d., RS 31/7/0/1.

9. Art Newsletter, vol. 2, no. 3 (Spring, 1968), RS 31/7/0/1.

10. Board of Trustees Transactions, 57th Report, March 21, 1973, pp. 183-84; July 18, 1973, p. 326.