Israeli art education imagined cartographies

Abstract

Our paper addresses the stated need for art educators to develop inquiries into the history of non-Western, non-Anglophone art education systems. In response, we look at data taken from the history of Israeli art education and the development of Israeli art curricula in order to offer a historical sketch of the development of school art curricula in Israel. We frame our sketch using the perspectives of multiculturalism and critical theory. In the course of our discussion we reference scholarship from North America and Europe. However, our focus is primarily on shifts in Israeli policy in the direction of acknowledging greater diversity and multiculturalism. We trace these themes, starting with pre-state Israel and concluding with contemporary Israeli concerns with equity and social justice. We note parallel concerns with the same social issues in scholarship from North America and Europe. The main purpose of this comparison is to bring attention to the “blind spots” and “black holes” in Israeli visual arts syllabi where both Arab and Jewish Eastern culture and esthetics have been overlooked. We note parallels between these omissions in the Israeli visual arts curricula and attempts to correct similar lacunae in North American visual arts education.