The Seabed Aesthetics as an Approach for Developing Art Education Students' Handmade Carpet Design and Weaving skills

Nature is the first teacher and   source of a human being and the spring for each artist's unique formative and spiritual values. Art has the  potentiality of developing persons when comes near to nature. Creative art design raises the value of art pieces appreciation and thus increases their purchase power. The carpet industry depends on a designer's innovation and creativity in the production of works characterized with aesthetics  and efficiency. Hence, the idea of the current research was to utilize the aesthetics of  nature  as embedded  in the various color effects of the seabed as an approach for developing  art education students'  handmade carpet design and weaving skills. The significance of the current  research lies in the use of the formative  and aesthetic values ​​of designs inspired by the seabed to produce innovative handmade carpets   which help art education  students in the establishment of small  projects of  good economic return. The research was  limited to designs inspired by the aesthetics of the seabed - and the production of handmade carpets using the Gordes knot. The study sample was selected from  the third- year students at the Faculty of Specific Education, Department of Art Education, Kafr El-Sheikh University. The subjects were divided into two equal groups of 15 students each: experimental and control. The current research adopted a quasi-experimental design. An educational program, followed scientific and educational criteria   utilizing the aesthetics of the seabed as an approach to find suitable designs for the production of handmade carpets, was implemented. The program lasted for one semester with a weekly meeting. An Evaluation Checklist of design and weaving skills was prepared and  submitted to  a number  jurors of faculty members. Results revealed that there were statistically significant differences among the mean score of designs used in the carpet handmade favoring the exeperimental group and statistically significant differences among the mean score of  the formative techniques used in the carpet handmade favoring the exeperimental group.