This study examines the use of aesthetics in the art education curriculum as a strategy for building oral language skills and critical thinking skills. In this study reproduced artworks were used to stimulate discussion; students learned to scan paintings using a technique called aesthetic scanning during which they learn how to look at a painting orally through guided questioning by the classroom teacher. It was concluded that providing oral language opportunities through the implementation of the aesthetic scanning program was an effective way to promote oral language skills and critical thinking skills in the kindergarten classroom. Arts, as a core subject can be taught through Disciplined Based Art Education (DBAE). With DBAE all students are given the oppportunity to actively engage in oral language activites as they aesthetically view works of art.

Text in Afrikaans / This thesis entitled The contribution of Erich Mayer towards the establishment of an aesthetic consciousness and the promotion of an art identity in South Africa to the end of the 1930s, is a study of the ideas, ideals and contributions of the German-Jewish artist Erich Mayer concerning the establishment of a national art identity in South Africa. Mayer was born in Germany in 1876. Because of ill health he came to South Africa, where he settled in 1898 and developed an affinity with the Afrikaner pioneers in the rural areas. This natural connection with the Afrikaner pioneers was the main motivation behind his participation in the Anglo-Boer War. With his sound European background and training at various art academies in Berlin and Stuttgart, he soon realised that a knowledge of European art history or any awareness of an aesthetic consciousness concerning the fine and applied arts was sadly lacking within the general South African community and more specifically amongst the early Afrikaners. As a student, Mayer developed a keen interest in traditional German arts and crafts, which, according to him, contributed to the specific national Germanic character. This interest prompted him to conduct research and document examples of folk art among the Afrikaners as well as other indigenous communities, in an attempt to establish an aesthetic awareness in South Africans, and more specifically among Afrikaners. Mayer was of the opinion that the development and marketing of these cultural objects and artefacts would contribute towards a unique art identity with a strong South African national character. Apart from his interests in the fine and applied arts, Mayer also researched the vernacular architecture, furniture design and household articles of both Afrikaner pioneers and Africans. He travelled widely in South Africa, researching his interests and presented lectures on these themes which he published in newspapers and magazines in an effort to create an awareness of the rich indigenous folk art. / Hierdie proefskrif is 'n studie oor die bydrae van die Duits-Joodse kunstenaar Erich Mayer tot die vestiging van 'n estetiese bewussyn en die bevordering van 'n kunsidentiteit in Suid-Afrika tot aan die einde van die 1930's. Mayer is in 1876 in Duitsland gebore. Weens gesondheidsredes het hy hom in 1898 in Suid-Afrika gevestig waar hy veral met die Boerepioniers op die platteland geidentifiseer het em hom gou tuis gevoel het in die landelike milieu. Hierdie natuurlike toegeneentheid tot die vroee Afrikaners het aanleiding gegee tot sy later deelname aan die Anglo-Boereoorlog. Met sy grondige Europese agtergrond en opleiding aan verskillende kunsakademies in Berlyn en Stuttgart, het Mayer gou besef dat die Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskap in die algemeen, maar veral die vroee Afrikaners in die besonder, 'n algehele gebrek geopenbaar het aan enige Euopese kunshistoriese kennis of enige estetiese bewussyn oor die beeldende en toegepaste kunste. Mayer is vroeg reeds blootgestel aan en het besonder belanggestel in die kunshandwerk van die Duitsers wat deel uitgemaak het van eeue-oue Duitse tradisies en wat bygedra het tot die unieke nasionale volksaard van die Duitsers. Met hierdie belangstelling het Mayer stelselmatig begin om die unieke kunshandwerk van die Afrikanerpioniers te versamel. Hy het hier 'n geleentheid gesien om via voorbeelde van plaaslike kunshandwerk 'n estetiese bewussyn by die Suid-Afrikaans gemeenskap en meer spesifiek by die Afrikaner aan te wakker. Mayer was van mening dat die sinvolle ontwikkeling en bemarking van hierdie kulturele voorwerpe en ontwerpe daartoe sou kon bydra om 'n eie kunsidentiteit met sterk nasionale karakter in Suid-Afrika tot stand te bring. Wat die beeldende en toegepaste kunste betref, het Mayer 'n wye belangstellingsveld gehad en het hy ook omvattende navorsing oor die inheemse boukuns, meubelontwerpe en kunshandwerkartikels van die vroee Boerepioniers, asook oor die van die inheemse bevolkingsgroepe, onderneem. Hy het die land deurreis op soek na geskikte voorbeelde van kunshandwerkartikels, gereeld lesings aangebied en artikels gepubliseer, die alledaagse Boerelewe op die platteland visueel gedokumenteer en op die manier 'n besondere ryk nalatenskap daargestel. / History / D. Litt et Phil. (Geskiedenis)

Within the field of theological aesthetics, this project assesses the divide between theological accounts of art and the re-emergence of religious imagery in modern and contemporary art. More specifically, American Protestant theologians and their accounts of visual art will be taken up as a representative set of contemporary theological inquiry in the arts. Under this category, evaluation will be made of three diverse traditions in American Protestant thought: Paul Tillich and Liberal Protestantism, Francis Schaeffer and the Neo-Calvinists, and the open evangelical accounts of Nicholas Wolterstorff and William Dyrness. With respect to modern and contemporary visual art, this evaluation judges the degree to which theologians have understood the primary concepts and dominant narratives of various modernisms and postmodernisms of art since the end of the nineteenth century, recognised the watershed moments in the lineage of the twentieth century avant-garde, and acknowledged the influence of critical theory not only upon the contemporary discourse in aesthetics and art production but also in the social reception of art. In tracing the re-emergence of religious imagery in modern and contemporary art, this project takes up three diverse traditions: the Crucifixions of Francis Bacon and the memento mori art of Damien Hirst, the ‘re-enchantment’ of art in the work of Joseph Beuys, and the art of ‘False Blasphemy’ associated with lapsed Catholics like Rober Gober and Andres Serrano. By assessing what theologians have written concerning visual art and the surprising return of certain religious imagery in modern and contemporary art, this study will intimate a new way forward in a mutually beneficial dialogue for art and religious belief.

Text in Afrikaans / This thesis entitled The contribution of Erich Mayer towards the establishment of an aesthetic consciousness and the promotion of an art identity in South Africa to the end of the 1930s, is a study of the ideas, ideals and contributions of the German-Jewish artist Erich Mayer concerning the establishment of a national art identity in South Africa. Mayer was born in Germany in 1876. Because of ill health he came to South Africa, where he settled in 1898 and developed an affinity with the Afrikaner pioneers in the rural areas. This natural connection with the Afrikaner pioneers was the main motivation behind his participation in the Anglo-Boer War. With his sound European background and training at various art academies in Berlin and Stuttgart, he soon realised that a knowledge of European art history or any awareness of an aesthetic consciousness concerning the fine and applied arts was sadly lacking within the general South African community and more specifically amongst the early Afrikaners. As a student, Mayer developed a keen interest in traditional German arts and crafts, which, according to him, contributed to the specific national Germanic character. This interest prompted him to conduct research and document examples of folk art among the Afrikaners as well as other indigenous communities, in an attempt to establish an aesthetic awareness in South Africans, and more specifically among Afrikaners. Mayer was of the opinion that the development and marketing of these cultural objects and artefacts would contribute towards a unique art identity with a strong South African national character. Apart from his interests in the fine and applied arts, Mayer also researched the vernacular architecture, furniture design and household articles of both Afrikaner pioneers and Africans. He travelled widely in South Africa, researching his interests and presented lectures on these themes which he published in newspapers and magazines in an effort to create an awareness of the rich indigenous folk art. / Hierdie proefskrif is 'n studie oor die bydrae van die Duits-Joodse kunstenaar Erich Mayer tot die vestiging van 'n estetiese bewussyn en die bevordering van 'n kunsidentiteit in Suid-Afrika tot aan die einde van die 1930's. Mayer is in 1876 in Duitsland gebore. Weens gesondheidsredes het hy hom in 1898 in Suid-Afrika gevestig waar hy veral met die Boerepioniers op die platteland geidentifiseer het em hom gou tuis gevoel het in die landelike milieu. Hierdie natuurlike toegeneentheid tot die vroee Afrikaners het aanleiding gegee tot sy later deelname aan die Anglo-Boereoorlog. Met sy grondige Europese agtergrond en opleiding aan verskillende kunsakademies in Berlyn en Stuttgart, het Mayer gou besef dat die Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskap in die algemeen, maar veral die vroee Afrikaners in die besonder, 'n algehele gebrek geopenbaar het aan enige Euopese kunshistoriese kennis of enige estetiese bewussyn oor die beeldende en toegepaste kunste. Mayer is vroeg reeds blootgestel aan en het besonder belanggestel in die kunshandwerk van die Duitsers wat deel uitgemaak het van eeue-oue Duitse tradisies en wat bygedra het tot die unieke nasionale volksaard van die Duitsers. Met hierdie belangstelling het Mayer stelselmatig begin om die unieke kunshandwerk van die Afrikanerpioniers te versamel. Hy het hier 'n geleentheid gesien om via voorbeelde van plaaslike kunshandwerk 'n estetiese bewussyn by die Suid-Afrikaans gemeenskap en meer spesifiek by die Afrikaner aan te wakker. Mayer was van mening dat die sinvolle ontwikkeling en bemarking van hierdie kulturele voorwerpe en ontwerpe daartoe sou kon bydra om 'n eie kunsidentiteit met sterk nasionale karakter in Suid-Afrika tot stand te bring. Wat die beeldende en toegepaste kunste betref, het Mayer 'n wye belangstellingsveld gehad en het hy ook omvattende navorsing oor die inheemse boukuns, meubelontwerpe en kunshandwerkartikels van die vroee Boerepioniers, asook oor die van die inheemse bevolkingsgroepe, onderneem. Hy het die land deurreis op soek na geskikte voorbeelde van kunshandwerkartikels, gereeld lesings aangebied en artikels gepubliseer, die alledaagse Boerelewe op die platteland visueel gedokumenteer en op die manier 'n besondere ryk nalatenskap daargestel. / History / D. Litt et Phil. (Geskiedenis)

Title: Against Dualism - Conceptual Art in the Context of Functional-Normative Theory Author: Michaela Brejcha Department: Department of Aesthetics Supervisor: Mgr. Ondřej Dadejík, Ph.D. Abstract: The present dissertation thesis focuses on the problem of theoretical reflection of conceptual art in Anglo American aesthetic discourse in the second half of 20th and the beginning of 21st centuries. It is based on the claim of many conceptual artists and also some theoreticians, which emerged in the nineteen- fifties, that the conceptual art or tendencies have nothing in common with aesthetics or aesthetic theory. This work shows that this presumed discord draws on reduced understanding of what is the aesthetics and, at the same time, this understanding itself is based on the dualistic paradigm, which presents one of the most fundamental frames for our approach to reality. In the context of analysis of selected texts of Anglo American aesthetics, eight particular distinctions of dualism will be defined, which to a great extent contributed to the rejection of aesthetics by conceptual artists, and on the other hand to bad recognition of conceptual art by the aesthetic theory. As an alternative to the dualistic approach in the context of definition of conceptual art, the fluid and dynamic conception of aesthetics...