Colour in art education: does the history of colour matter for practice?

Mottram, Judith (2026) Colour in art education: does the history of colour matter for practice? In: CLP Forum Book Series :. International Colour Association.

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is colour education in art and design disciplines within post-secondary university-level programmes, and how disciplines use the history of colour in practice. While focusing on the Global North, UNESCO and the OECD inform global practice and promote the idea of disciplines having broad and coherent bodies of knowledge that provide the basis for independent lifelong learning. Sources closer to disciplinary teaching suggest that colour is often not a core part of current art and design curricula and, when present, is subject to misconceptions and misinformation. This is reflected in the visibility of colour in subject teaching frameworks. As ‘creative’ subjects, the understanding of creativity in contemporary art and design practice and theory, frames consideration of colour knowledge and practice. The chapter concludes with studies by the author that interrogated how we have not been colouring the curriculum. Contemporary art and design practices are operating relatively effectively without explicit understanding of current colour knowledge. As such, the chapter concludes support for some of the colour literacy project objectives in relation to the training of fine artists and designers and agrees that undergraduate curricula do need review.