The purpose of this study was to explore Photovoice methodology, a relatively new and increasingly popular form of Participatory Action Research (PAR). Photovoice was examined in order to determine whether or not it might assist art educators in expanding access to the arts for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Photovoice has been used in a variety of fields to address a broad range of issues, however, few Photovoice projects have been conducted to investigate topics in art education. This study centered on the following questions: “What are the potential benefits of Photovoice?” and “How might Photovoice assist in the development of a more accessible art education program for people with autism?” For this study, I interviewed four individuals who had conceptualized, organized, and/or facilitated one or more Photovoice projects. Each was asked to discuss their research background as well as describe their interests and experience conducting Photovoice. Using content analysis to identify predominant themes encoded in the interview data, I compiled a set of codes and categories in order to highlight the most salient features of Photovoice from the perspective of the Participants. This data was then compared to “best practices” in art education. “Best practices” establish guidelines for the education of students with disabilities, including students with ASD. Analysis of the interview and “best practices” data revealed four themes: (a) The importance of planning and organization,(b) factoring in technical issues, (c) structuring participation, and (d) therapy vs. empowerment. Through the evaluation of these four themes, I formulated several key assertions to support the claim that Photovoice will not likely be incorporated into the “best practices” curriculum. However, Photovoice may still have a place in the art classroom as a means to inform and enrich practice on a small scale. / text

The purpose of this study was to see how visitors to the Landmarks Video media station in the Art Building at The University of Texas at Austin described how they make meaning while watching video art and what learning models those visitors drew on in their responses. I conducted a qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews to see how visitors described their meaning making process. I used discourse analysis to compare the visitor’s responses to art and film theories to see where the responses and the existing theories overlapped. I applied the results of the discourse analysis to determine how visual literacy and media literacy could be used in museum education surrounding video art. Visitors drew on a variety of background experiences in their responses to the videos Sigalit Landau’s DeadSee (2005) and Dara Birnbaum’s Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman (1978-1979) including past experiences with art and film as well as experiences with feminism, pop culture, and politics. Their responses also related to a variety of areas within art and film theory. While background knowledge helped the participants begin to make meaning with the videos, it also blocked them when the video touched on something beyond their comfort level. I researched current uses of visual literacy, including uses in the museum, and current trends in media literacy. Due to the fact that the visitors’ reactions related to art and film theory, but they were finding themselves blocked in their meaning making, I conclude that a museum education program that uses current museum education practices in visual literacy, but incorporates techniques from media literacy, would be successful in helping visitors articulate their interpretations of a piece of video art and move past what is limiting them. / text

Jane Addams influenced the lives of many immigrant Chicagoans through offering a variety of community oriented services including art education programs at the Hull-House. This study examines the origins and philosophy of both the Butler Art Gallery and Labor Museum, and discusses each program’s role for residents, visitors, and guests of Hull-House. In addition to providing a historical basis for Jane Addams as an art educator, this study discusses the techniques for community organization that were utilized by Hull-House residents, including Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. / text

This study investigates Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low’s role as an art educator. The study is framed around the years of Low’s life, 1860-1927, concentrating on the years 1912-1927, when Low’s role as an art educator was most pronounced. An examination is made into Low’s early artistic influences and training, and artworks made by Low are discussed. An overview of the Girl Scout organization is presented, and Low’s working relationship with Boy Scout founder Sir Robert Baden-Powell is analyzed. Evidence of art education in the early Girl Scout movement is examined, including handbooks, artist merit badges, nature study and observational drawing, and the personal recollections of an early Girl Scout. Low’s art education contributions beyond the scope of Girl Scouts are also investigated, including her role as a charter member of the Savannah Art Club. The study concludes by suggesting a historical reframing of Low as an art educator is needed. / text

Through the use of a case study methodology, this research presents a qualitative analysis of Eureka! The Creative Arts Series, an instructional art education television series from 1995. In recognition of the reality that no lesson in the field is value-neutral, the study seeks to determine the implicit and explicit messages about art education communicated through the various features of the series. The dominant art educational message is established with the use of an essential tool: a 2008 list of 45 puropses for art education. Using this list, the study distills the eight epsiodes of Eureka! down to their central, most frequently espoused messages. This information is then used to enhance understanding of how an effective art educator presents material, as well as how a successful art education television program may function. / text

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Art integration research has received much attention of late, yet the focus generally examines ways integration practice and pedagogy support or enhance outcomes of high stakes testing. Serving as a counterpoint, this qualitative action research study, grounded in my experiences as a middle school arts integration specialist, addresses the value of visual culture art integration as a site of youth empowerment. Working collaboratively over a period of four months with three non-art educators to create and teach a series of social justice art integration units with sixth graders, I examined ways an integrated art and visual culture curriculum fostered safe spaces for students to take risks by deconstructing and reconstructing their identities, beliefs and understandings of others and their world through artmaking. In chapter one, I recount early teaching experiences that prompted the research questions in which an examination of which arts integration pedagogies best stimulate students to examine visual culture, articulate voice, and question power relationships that perpetuate social inequities. I address the theoretical lens of social justice art education as it frames the study and examine and discuss the current literature surrounding visual culture and art integration in chapter two. Chapter three delineates methodologies employed in the action research study including data collection measures of visual journaling, artmaking and photography. In chapters four, five, and six, I recount the process in which students engaged with, responded to, and created artwork through three curricular units--in social studies examining the intersections of culture and visual culture as evidenced through advertising, in language arts class collaboratively exploring persuasion through environmental and ecological art installations, and in math class integrating Fibonacci's theories through art making. Findings, discussed in chapter seven, indicated that visual culture art integration, used by teachers is often mislabeled out of insecurity and is a viable methodology for increasing student engagement. When students work collaboratively a space is created for them to regain power in the classroom and increase empathy awareness for themselves and others. Furthermore, art making, within a non-art classroom, can be a particularly successful arena through which middle school students articulate and clarify their voices.

Arts organizations are moving toward a more open space through community outreach programs. This space allows for art-focused dialogue to occur that facilitates interaction between people. This dialogue then opens the door for new relationships to transpire. The move toward dialogical and relational space in arts organizations is based on demographic, economic, and ideological changes in arts fields that reflect a growing opportunity for democratization through the arts. This study utilizes a website and mission statement review, survey responses, and a case study to explore how arts organizations (including museums, arts centers, artists' communities, arts councils, and art and craft schools) are serving community needs by creating a relational and dialogical space within and outside of their walls.

The Hockney - Falco Thesis (THFT) refers to findings published by the artist, David Hockney, and his fellow collaborator, Dr. Charles M. Falco, University of Arizona Professor of Optical Sciences. THFT builds upon Hockney's theories first published in his book, Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters (2001, 2006), by further demonstrating how some Renaissance artists including, van Eyck, Lotto, and Caravaggio, used optics as tools for creating works of art.This arts-based case study reveals that Hockney and Falco's discoveries were significantly informed by their respective practices of art and imaging, and demonstrates why Falco's experiences with Hockney, specifically, has and continues to influence his scientific research practice. These findings support Sullivan's (2004, 2005, 2006) theory of art-practice as research and demonstrate that THFT has significant implications for research and instruction of art and visual culture education.

Both in and out of the classroom, critically discussing and exploring the issues of gender, race, power, equality, and social justice can be a social and emotional minefield for educators and students alike. In politically charged times, escaping pre-formulated reactions and creating real change and empathy can seem a nearly impossible task. Some educators have turned to the visual and creative arts to provide students with emotional connectedness, visceral responses, and modes of self-expression. In this study, I examine two education programs to understand the effectiveness of social justice pedagogical methods using phenomenological research. My focus is on the educators' experiences, influences, and personal pedagogies. I plan to highlight three successful programs to better understand how complex and emotional issues can be better explored through art and visual culture and how other educators can adapt these methods to their own classrooms.