What I Have Learned from “Other” Art Educators

This article is based on nearly 25 years of working with and studying folk art and folk artists. While certified art educators and their university teachers may think they are inclusive in their understandings about art and learning processes, generally speaking, they are either unaware or tend to ignore folk artists' ways of understanding the world. Several lessons learned from them are explored: a) a lesson about originality; b) a lesson about kit-bashing; c) a lesson about communal work and networking; d) a lesson about languages; e) a lesson about transcendence, redefined; f) a lesson about the educated; and g) a lesson about who the teachers really are. A postscript gives some concluding words on visual culture as an approach to art education as it relates to the content of this article.