Abstract

Art is a productive embodied process through which ideas, attitudes and identities are created. According to Dewey (1980) and Greene (1995), embodied experience through art is seen as the awakening of the viewer’s consciousness through aesthetic experience with a work of art, which by extension becomes a life experience. This presentation focuses on the use of the art course as a democratic system of learning, through which children have the opportunity to come into contact with the work of leading Cypriot artists and through artworks, to learn about the historical events of 1974, to reflect, to be moved and to be activated to take action towards the social problems of their country.

Emphasis is also placed on didactic examples and actions implemented in schools in Cyprus concerning the use of art for the development of critical thinking and active citizens.