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JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
arvey Goldstein's classroom at Highmead-
ow Common Campus does not smell like
most elementary- school art rooms. There
are no odors of paste, poster paint or mag-
ic markers to permeate the room.
Yet the home away from home for the
Michigan Art Educator of the Year has art
everywhere, dangling from the ceiling, stuck
to his desk, plastering the walls. A life-size
blow-up doll of the figure in Edvard Munch's
The Cry peers over Mr. Goldstein's shoul-
der as he teaches his first- through fifth-
grade students.
Perhaps the reason the room lacks the
distinctive aroma of an art class is the style
of teaching Mr. Goldstein embraces, a
method which garnered him the state prize.
He is now in the running for the national
award; the recipient will be named in April.
"Art projects have their place, but it is im-
portant to understand that art education
goes much farther than that," Mr. Goldstein
said.
As art department coordinator for Farm-
ington Schools, Mr. Goldstein has imple-
mented a different 'approach to the
traditiatal cut, color and draw style of art
education.
Now students learn about the
artists' lives, technological changes
and how they affect works, different
styles and periods in art. Children
are taught the fundamentals of cri-
tique and analysis, skills the stu-
dents can use in other courses.
"Harvey is probably the best art
teacher in the state," said Judy
White, assistant superintendent of
instructional services for Farming-
ton Public Schools. "He has helped
paint a vision as to how artimpacts
the students and how art develops
a child's critical thinking and Cogni-
tive development."
He also has taken student art-
work off of parents' refrigerators and
into the community. Through his
"Art in the Workplace" program, stu-
dent artworks appear in banks, restaurants
and other businesses in Farmington.
"We have to remind people of the impor-
tance of art education because that is usu-
ally the first item that is cut in a budget,"
Mr. Goldstein said.
He has taught his students to incorporate Harvey Goldstein enjoys teaching children new concepts.
the latest technology in their approach to un-
after several years to tell him how much he
derstanding art, as well.
The last two first-place winners of the De- meant in their education.
"It is a nice feeling to know that you have
troit Film and Television Association's an-
nual contest in the elementary-school division been an early influence in a life," Mr. Gold-
were students in his class. One project, titled stein said.
Mr. Goldstein did not originally plan
"The History of Art in Three Minutes," con-
veyed what students had learned about art to teach art. When he graduated from
Wayne State University three decades
history in Mr. Goldstein's class.
The state award, for all of its importance, ago, he used his degree in advertising to land
does not mean as much to Mr. Goldstein as an internship at Campbell-Ewald, a Detroit
the feeling when a child finally grasps a con- firm.
He qiiickly learned he had chosen the
cept he or she has struggled to understand.
Or the experience of having a student return wrong direction for a career.
T HE DETRO IT J EWIS H NEWS
Farmington
teacher
Harvey
Goldstein
wins state
award.
14
"I found that there are only so many ways
to draw an AC spark plug," he said. "I need-
ed something more."
He returned to Wayne State and eventu-
ally earned a master's degree in art educa-
tion. He began his teaching career in Detroit
in 1967. He moved to Farmington Public
Schools five years later. "In the nine years
that Ihave worked here, I have watched Har-
vey grow as a professional himself and the
way he reaches out and helps others grow,"
Ms. White said. "He is highly respected for
the work he has doae." 111