John Dewey's formulation of the primacy of aesthetic experience in all human endeavor is investigated in order to promote the inclusion of a fine arts requirement in the curriculum of higher education. In particular, Dewey envisioned art as necessary to develop moral, thus social sensibility because moral precepts derive from imagination, and art is both the child and stimulator of creative imagination. An analysis of the "qualitative experience" concept provides an introduction to Dewey's fully-elaborated aesthetic theory. Subsequently, the role of such experience is evaluated in both personal and social terms. Then, it is argued that the establishment of a fine arts requirement in General Education is necessary to ensure the propagation of the experience. Supporting arguments from educational theorists and behavioral scientists serve to buttress the Dewey proposition as well as to demonstrate that the content of the proposed fine arts course must incorporate theoretical, historical and practical components.

This study explores ideas of inclusion and exclusion - in/exclusion - within art and education contexts, more specifically how they shift and alter within the processes of selection to one Scottish institution of Higher Education in Art and Design. The empirical focus of selection is told through detailed narratives that follow the thinking and responses of a diversity of selectors to the visual and written submissions of wide ranging applicants. These discussions make visible the ways in which candidates are deliberated into and out of the institution and are layered further by a broader quantitative look, exploring how this detail plays out more widely in the chances of in/exclusion across all applicants. This research has implications for a number of areas, including policy and practice on social in/exclusion, particularly as it relates to the arts and Higher Education. However, it is not solely an access or admissions study; it tries to extend understanding and approaches to in/exclusion by questioning what people are being included into as well as the ways of in/excluding. It gets inside and lays open a process of decision-making that has not previously been explored in this kind of depth and is made visible here through an often troubling, personal, methodological and theoretical assemblage of stories and crossings. My own shifts as a learner, artist and educator en/unfold with selection narratives and rich visual images that confront and question issues of representation, difference and risk as they surface within the research. It is this very detail of insight, getting inside those areas that are often unspoken and unseen that makes this investigation so unusual, adding new layers of questioning and understanding to the many approaches that exist in thinking and acting on in/exclusion. If there was any sense that in/exclusion to Higher Education in the Arts and Design might be determined or resolved simply by altering indicators and numbers in terms of social class, education or the spatiality of where an individual lives, then this study offers a different kind of view. It reveals a more complex process of looking and decision-making, in which selectors often try to see beyond the surface of the visual and written in search of the individual. It shows the shifting balance in what is looked for in a process that is fraught with chance, ethics, trust and emotional dilemmas. In doing so, it makes the case for a more reflexive and ontological engagement in approaches to in/exclusion. Nothing is certain. In/exclusion becomes an assemblage of elements that displace across selectors, taking new forms and combinations that are rooted in qualities that applicants bring with them as well as what selectors bring into the process. How these fold together can lead to very different outcomes.

The purpose of this investigation is to present to teachers in the field of art education a list of words which are essential to successful mastery of the subject matter found in certain textbooks used in the art department at the North Texas State Teachers College.

The problem of this study was to determine whether there was any relationship between selected personality variables and art production with structured and non-structured stimuli.

While a number of recent studies have addressed the overall educational experiences of larger groups of gay and/or lesbian students within institutions of higher learning, there are no in-depth studies which address the experiences of a small number of gay men and/or lesbians who are students in programs of visual art. This comparative case study of two gay male students of visual art considers three primary questions: what are the ways in which individual subjectivities and cultural practices of white, gay, male artists inter-relate; what is the impact of each artist's cultural productions on the broader culture in which they are located; and, what are the experiences of each subject within the postsecondary visual art's program in which each was enrolled. Data was collected through formal interviews, participant-observation, and an examination of the art practices of each subject. This study draws on the contributions, and the inter-relationships, of feminist, postmodernist, and queer theory literatures. In response to the first primary question, this study identifies: a range of denominators by which the subjects name themselves; four categories by which affiliated communities might be identified; a strong positive relationship between individual subjectivities and the practices of art. Second, this study concludes that: public response to the art practices of dissident subjects may vary in terms of mediums and methods; the relationship between language and visual art is variant between the two artists but the embeddedness of language in visual art is recognized; the subjects hold opposing views with respect to the role of the art object within culture, but, in both cases, the art object is seen as being integral, positively or negatively, to individual identities; art is a means to cultural knowledge, that is, visual art may serve as a means of articulating various queered theoretical standpoints; and finally, that the possibilities of camp are a means by which queer identities may be articulated and constituted in visual art practices. In response to the third primary research question, this study concludes that: there is either a lack of gay or queer content matter and expertise, or a strong negative reaction against queer experience in the programs of visual art presently considered; and finally, that the university is a site of cultural practice which continues to be a major legitimizer of social authority. In general terms, with respect to epistemologies, research methodologies, and texts, a number of necessary adaptations emerge which reflect the unique experiences of queer researchers engaged in the production of social knowledges with queer subjects. The research findings suggest that the incorporation of the needs of queer students into the Academy and the Arts would prove valuable, not only to students who so define themselves, but, because different perspectives reflect different and expanded knowledges, would contribute to the learning/living experiences of all post-secondary students of visual art. Recommendations for further research include continuing inquiry which similarly considers the experiences of lesbians in visual arts programs, and for larger scale studies with gay and/or lesbian students which may provide alternate kinds of data.

While a number of recent studies have addressed the overall educational experiences of larger groups of gay and/or lesbian students within institutions of higher learning, there are no in-depth studies which address the experiences of a small number of gay men and/or lesbians who are students in programs of visual art. This comparative case study of two gay male students of visual art considers three primary questions: what are the ways in which individual subjectivities and cultural practices of white, gay, male artists inter-relate; what is the impact of each artist's cultural productions on the broader culture in which they are located; and, what are the experiences of each subject within the postsecondary visual art's program in which each was enrolled. Data was collected through formal interviews, participant-observation, and an examination of the art practices of each subject. This study draws on the contributions, and the inter-relationships, of feminist, postmodernist, and queer theory literatures. In response to the first primary question, this study identifies: a range of denominators by which the subjects name themselves; four categories by which affiliated communities might be identified; a strong positive relationship between individual subjectivities and the practices of art. Second, this study concludes that: public response to the art practices of dissident subjects may vary in terms of mediums and methods; the relationship between language and visual art is variant between the two artists but the embeddedness of language in visual art is recognized; the subjects hold opposing views with respect to the role of the art object within culture, but, in both cases, the art object is seen as being integral, positively or negatively, to individual identities; art is a means to cultural knowledge, that is, visual art may serve as a means of articulating various queered theoretical standpoints; and finally, that the possibilities of camp are a means by which queer identities may be articulated and constituted in visual art practices. In response to the third primary research question, this study concludes that: there is either a lack of gay or queer content matter and expertise, or a strong negative reaction against queer experience in the programs of visual art presently considered; and finally, that the university is a site of cultural practice which continues to be a major legitimizer of social authority. In general terms, with respect to epistemologies, research methodologies, and texts, a number of necessary adaptations emerge which reflect the unique experiences of queer researchers engaged in the production of social knowledges with queer subjects. The research findings suggest that the incorporation of the needs of queer students into the Academy and the Arts would prove valuable, not only to students who so define themselves, but, because different perspectives reflect different and expanded knowledges, would contribute to the learning/living experiences of all post-secondary students of visual art. Recommendations for further research include continuing inquiry which similarly considers the experiences of lesbians in visual arts programs, and for larger scale studies with gay and/or lesbian students which may provide alternate kinds of data. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

University-based teacher educators’ first three years on the job are often imbued with tension, as they must renegotiate their professional identities and pedagogical philosophies in relation to ambiguous and sometimes conflicting expectations of what they should do and stand for in this role. As role models for aspiring art teachers, art teacher educators have a powerful influence on their pre-service students’ views of teaching, and on their emergent professional dispositions. However, despite the moral and intellectual significance of their work, and the diversity of their identities and work contexts, research on this population is limited and does not reflect current demographics in the field. While existing studies suggest some of the tensions that art teacher educators—both new and veteran—face on the job, research has not yet explored how new faculty members, specifically, experience their earliest years in the role nor how they learn to develop personally authentic art teacher education pedagogy. This qualitative multi-case study responds to these gaps in the literature, and to the understanding that new knowledge-for-practice is often generated within spaces of creative tension such as career transition. The study participants were eight full-time art education faculty members with less than three years in the role. Individual and cross-case analysis of data collected through semi-structured interviews, qualitative questionnaires, and reflective tasks, revealed that participants’ tensions were predominantly influenced by discrepancies between (1) their established occupational roles/identities and practices, and expectations placed upon them in the art teacher educator role that they had not fully anticipated, and (2) their own, and others’ art-education-related (ideological) values. Most of the participants identified strongly with discipline-specific values (e.g., being grounded in activism and arts-informed social justice). These values functioned as core elements of their professional identities and of their teaching, research, and scholarship. However, in some cases, there were difficulties in translating these values into effective art teacher education pedagogical content knowledge. The data analysis suggested that through reflecting on tensions, participants gained increased professional self-understanding and keener awareness of the forces that enable or constrain the enactment of their personal pedagogical values. Additionally, the data suggest that greater intentional preparation and support for this role (particularly mentorship that validates their established identities and backgrounds) prior to and during the early years, could greatly benefit art teacher educators’ adjustments into the academy and facilitate their building of pedagogical content knowledge for this role.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The tensions I experienced as a Stellenbosch University student made me curious to delve into potential exchanges between the boundaries of worthwhile art and valid education. I explored the capacity of interactive artworks to contribute to realising the university‟s institutional vision. This research venture seeks to inspire innovative approaches to education that can potentially decrease discrepancies between institutional policy and practice. The primary question examines the nature and effect of students‟ responses to an interactive artwork placed on the Stellenbosch University campus. These reactions subtly exposed the particularity of the Stellenbosch University context and indicated aspects of art education in the expanded field that could aid higher education institutions in fulfilling their transformative role. An anti-colonial paradigm guided me through a crucial attentiveness of the power issues embedded in knowledge production, validation and dissemination. The reflexive process of qualitative research permitted a captivating interdisciplinary landscape that spans from policy documents to philosophical enquiries. I studied the lived experiences of students, lecturers and staff members at Stellenbosch University through individual and group interviews. A case study research design was employed to use the patterns picked up in these single cases to lead me toward more entrenched underlying issues and attitudes. Nuanced research findings were the result of the anti-colonial prism that caused me to place equal value on difference and coherence in my enquiry. Visual metaphors such as my interactive public artwork translate philosophical ideas into practice and communicate these ideas right to the heart. This is how art can bridge the divide between in- and out-of-class education and aid the university in preparing students to become purposeful citizens. Not only does this project signify the university‟s institutional transformation, but it also adds to the transformative impact of the university on all its stakeholders; a necessary process that enables greater social impact. Belonging is a crucial aspect in this regard, because it enables students to internalise the knowledge acquired through higher education. And one of the key underlying messages of higher education is that graduates are citizens that should contribute their skills and knowledge to positively enhance society. The interview feedback revealed that the artwork was successful in guiding students‟ thoughts and conversations to form new knowledge because it was an honest space where people could articulate their opinions. Interdisciplinary learning is a powerful tool that enriches curricula and increases the impact of university education. The university needs to allow students to belong and then develop responsibility and empathy toward societal needs, and it appears that the artwork roused some of these sentiments. In order to become an institution that launches the thought leaders of the future, Stellenbosch University needs to harness all collaborators that collectively contribute to an integrated understanding of life and an expanded appreciation of knowledge. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die spanning wat ek as „n Stellenbosch Universiteit‟s student ervaar het, het my nuuskierig gemaak om dieper in die moontlike wisselwerking tussen die grense van betekenisvolle kuns en ware opvoeding te delf. Tydens my studie het ek die vermoë van interaktiewe kunswerke om tot die verwesenliking van die universiteit se institusionele visie by te dra, ondersoek. Hierdie navorsing poog om innoverende benaderings tot opvoeding te soek wat die gapings tussen instititionele beleid en praktyk potensieël kan verminder. Die primêre vraag analiseer die aard en effek van studente se reaksies op „n interaktiewe kunswerk wat op die kampus van die Stellenbosch Universiteit geplaas was. Hierdie reaksies het die besonderse konteks van die Stellenbosch Universiteit blootgestel. Hierdeur is aspekte van kunsonderrig in die uitgebreide veld aangedui, wat moontlik hoër onderwys institute in hulle transformatiewe rol behulpsaam kan wees. „n Anti-koloniale paradigma het my deur „n kritieke bewustheid van die magsstryd waarin kennisvorming, geldigheid en verspreiding gewikkel is, begelei. Die terugskouende proses van kwalitatiewe navorsing het „n fassinerende interdissiplinêre landskap toegelaat wat strek vanaf beleidsdokumente tot filosofiese ondersoeke. Die ervaring van die studente, lektore en personeel van die Stellenbosch Universiteit is deur onderhoudsvoering met individue en groepe bestudeer. „n Gevallestudie navorsingsontwerp is gebruik om patrone in hierdie enkel gevalle in te span om versteekte onderliggende vraagstukke te ontbloot. Genuanseerde navorsings bevindings is na vore gebring deur anti-koloniale prisma wat my gelei het om gelyke waarde op beide verskille en ooreenkomste te plaas. Visuele metafore, soos my interaktiewe publieke kunswerk, het filosofiese idees in praktyk oorgeplaas. Dit is hoe hierdie idees reguit na die hart van die deelnemer spreek. Kuns kan so die skeiding tussen binne- en buite-klastyd onderrig oorbrug en die universiteit ondersteun in hul poging om studente as doelgerigte landsburgers voor te berei. Hierdie projek dui terselfdetyd op die universiteit se intitusionele transformasie nie en op die transformatiewe impak van die universiteit op al sy belangegroepe. Om aan „n groep te behoort „n belangrike aspek omdat dit studente in staat stel om die kennis, wat hulle deur hoër onderwys verkry het, te internaliseer. Dit sluit by een van die onderliggende sleutelboodskappe van hoër onderwys aan naamlik dat graduandi landsburgers is wat hulle vaardighede en kennis tot positiewe uitbouing van die samelewing moet aanwend. Die terugvoer van die onderhoude weerspieël dat die kunswerk suksesvol was in die begeleiding van studente se gedagtes en gesprekke, om nuwe kennis te vorm. Dit is moontlik gemaak deur die eerlike spasie waarin die mense opinies kon lig. Inter-dissiplinêre kennisverryking is „n kragtige werktuig wat kurrikulums versterk en wat die impak van universiteitsonderrig verbreed. Die universiteit behoort studente te laat voel asof hulle behoort en om verantwoordelikheid en empatie vir die samelewing se behoeftes by hulle te kweek. Dit blyk dat hierdie kunswerk sekere van daardie sentimente na die oppervlak gebring het. Vir Stellenbosch Universiteit om a instelling te word wat denkleiers van die toekoms vorm, verg dat al die deelnemers wat kollektief bydra tot „n geïntegreerde verstaan van die lewe uitbrie op die waardering van kennis.

This report presents the findings of a case study excavating the event of the ‘Critique’ (crit), the formative assessment method within a Fine Art Studio Practice curriculum. Arguments informed by critical postmodernism, education theories and contemporary art criticism are utilised to construct a dialectic of higher education, contemporary art and fine art studio practice. An emphasis is placed on the importance of agency, expressed through intentionality and critical thinking, with a recognition of the relationship between ‘the self’ and ‘the other’. Using critical discourse analysis, the disjunctions between the espoused and practiced curriculum are explored. The researcher analyses how the assessment practices of the case studied are influenced by unexamined agentic factors, such as inter-departmental relations, lecturers’ assumptions and prior learning, and structural determinants, such as the medium-specific Bachelor of Fine Art degree structure and prevailing artistic traditions. The research findings indicate that these are underpinned by tensions between two orientations, the espoused curriculum’s discourse-interest informed by critical theory, and the theory-in-use. The latter is shown to have unexamined modernist leanings towards formalism and a master-apprentice relationship between lecturer and students, which encourages reproduction rather than critical, creative thinking. The dominant discourses in the case studied construct a negative dialectic of the artist-student that can be seen to deny student agency and authorial responsibility. Findings suggest that students experience this as alienating, to the extent that to preserve their sense of self, they adopted surface and strategic approaches to learning. An argument is made for lecturers’ critically reflexive engagement with their teaching practice, and thereby to model ethical relationships between ‘self’ and ‘other’ during ‘crits’. In addition, emphasis is placed on how assessment practices should be more aligned with the espoused curriculum, so that the importance of a reflexive relationship between form and content, process and product, intentionality and interpretation is acknowledged.

Technology offers opportunities for museums to expand the ways in which cultural perspectives relevant to objects on display can be exchanged and understood. Multimedia content offered online in an environment with user input capabilities can encourage dialogue and enrich visitor experiences of museums. This action research project using narrative analysis was an effort to develop the use of web technology in museum education practice, with an emphasis on constructivist learning. Concepts including the visitor-centered museum and multiple narratives led the researcher to collaborate with a pre-service art teacher education classroom and a local Hindu community to create content that might better develop understandings of one museum's Hindu sculpture collection that are personal, cultural, and complex.