Approaching art education as an ecology: Exploring the role of museums

In this article, we use two studies conducted in art museum settings as a means to discuss some of the opportunities and challenges for the field of informal art education. The first study explores artmaking processes that take place in a children’s museum, highlighting the need to consider the social nature of learning in informal environments. Second, a study with families in an art museum explores art appreciation and interpretation. Taken together—the creating and the responding—these two studies are used to point out how we might trace disciplinary processes in art beyond schools into the informal learning environments of museums. By looking across settings, applying disciplinary content as a lens, we suggest an ecology of learning opportunities for the pursuit of an education in art. Further study and documentation of informal art education experiences is needed to better understand and support the needs and opportunities for art learners in non-school environments.