This study reports on the development of a curriculum guide to insure some degree of experience uniformity in the first art course available to students in high schools in Mesquite, Texas. Current general education and art education literature as well as curriculum guides from American schools provided the behaviorally oriented framework and objectives, content, and teaching strategies. The guide reflects a balance between the ideal and the real physical environment in which the guide will be implemented. Conclusions include the concepts that teacher education in using behavioral objectives is necessary, that a behaviorally oriented guide will work in Mesquite high schools, that behavioral objectives will facilitate evaluation, and that the trend toward tri-part subject content will increase in art curricula.

The purpose, of this research study was to attempt to discover if a unit of study on aspects of the visual arts of the people of India and Indo-Canadians could result in positive attitude change toward this target group. The basic premise upon which the program was developed was that improved ethnic attitudes could be generated by focussing on similarities in beliefs and practices among the cultures of India, Indo-Canadians, and mainstream Canadians as reflected in their aesthetic products. The research design used was a nonequivalent control group design. Three intact sixth grade classes in a large suburban school district comprised the sample. Two classes participated in the program while the third class was used as a control group. All three groups were pre- and posttested on measures indicating their attitudes towards Indo-Canadians. A Semantic Differential Measure and a Bogardus Social Distance Scale were the major instruments. This experimental design was complemented by the observation of the two treatment groups throughout the implementation period. The results of the posttest indicate that a significant positive change in students' attitudes took place as a result of the treatment. The exploration of cultures and cross-cultural similarities in beliefs and practices through the visual arts would therefore appear to be a promising means of improving attitudes towards ethnic groups. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

In North America, art museums have rendered services to elementary schools since the early 1900s. Although the scope and number of these services have expanded in the past several decades, the nature of the art museum-elementary school collaborative relationship can be problematic, and even counterproductive to the enhancement of quality of art education. There are some crucial issues related to the nature of and factors underlying collaboration among elementary schools and art museums, that need to be carefully considered in order for these efforts to be successful and fruitful. Since the relationship between attitudes and behavior is reciprocal, the attitudes of art museum educators in regard to art museum-elementary school collaboration are crucial to the quality and effectiveness of any collaborative endeavors and directly impact art museums' contribution to elementary art education. Therefore, this study explores art museum educators' attitudes in regard to art museum-elementary school collaboration. The present investigation is the only study of its kind in Canada to date. From the fall of 1997 to the spring of 1998, I conducted a survey of art museum educators in the province of British Columbia, Canada as well as interviews involving nine informants working in two art museums. Moreover, in order to meaningfully interpret the interview data, I observed the informants' daily routines in these galleries and collected documents related to the two study sites. This mixed method design was used to study BC art museum educators' attitudes in regard to art museum-elementary school collaboration relative to six specific issues: 1) models of art museum/gallery-school collaboration; 2) pedagogy and methods of art museum/gallery programs for elementary schools; 3) art museum/gallery programs and resources for elementary school teachers; 4) elementary school teacher participation in school-oriented art museum education; 5) content of art museum/gallery programs for elementary schools; and 6) linkage of art museum/gallery school programs and elementary school curricula. The results of this study suggest important implications to the future of collaborative endeavors bringing together elementary schools and art museums by highlighting issues related to the dynamics of the art museum educator - elementary school teacher relationships, professional knowledge and expertise, and curriculum links that strongly impact on such partnerships. They also provide guidance for future related research. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

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

I proposed that both Bruner's (1963) idea of the spiral curriculum and Yenawine's (1992) theories of teaching for visual literacy in the museum set the stage for significant learning for students when used together. If school teachers lay a foundation of knowledge about a museum object, especially through museum resources, then the student may transform and apply this 'prior knowledge' (explicit memories from the classroom) while on the museum visit tour. When docents utilize Yenawine's (1992) methods toward the goal of visual literacy, the semantic knowledge of the classroom is then fused with museum learning, building stronger memories and facilitating deeper understanding as students learn about museum objects. This research explored the correlation of these two theories in a qualitative manner based on observations of actual museum visit preparation in classrooms in Casper, Wyoming, and how it related to a museum tour at the Nicolaysen Art Museum and Discovery Center. The research revealed that conditions do exist within the community that would facilitate Bruner's (1963) idea of a learning spiral, yet not in the manner envisioned. The observed conditions toward a spiral was accomplished through the participant teachers relating the museum exhibit to their operational curriculum in a variety of curricular areas, such as language arts and science, when docents related the tour to classroom learning, and not through museum resources or Yenawine's (1992) methods toward increasing visual literacy, as was previously considered.

No description available.

Much has been said about what artists experience when they make visual art individually, but less has been said about what artists experience when they make art together. The study is based on the author’s perception, elaborated below, that artistic co-creation in the visual arts seems to be regarded as less valuable than individual artistic creation. To explore and richly describe the experience of artistic co-creation from the perspective of artists themselves, I initially invited three duos of artists to create visual art together in an experimental, time-bound co creation. After the onset of COVID-19, however, I amended the study by inviting participants to co-create art by virtually passing pieces of art to one another. I then interviewed them about their experience. Guided by a phenomenological approach, I conducted semi-structured interviews using questions sourced from the study purpose and related research questions. These interviews, held periodically through the co-creative project, sought to uncover the emergent themes of the experience of artistic co-creation. After reviewing the transcripts from these interviews, I created a representative written likeness of each duo experience, called a portrait, using the qualitative modes of portraiture. Six themes emerged from these portraits in the ways the artists reflected on their experiences of creating art together, including: moments of relationship and connection in the process of co-creation, the context and structure of the experiment, seeing experiences differently in the process of co-creation, finding agreements between the perspectives of the co-creators, developing creative rhythms based on temporal parameters, and learning in the partnership of the project. I did not begin this study with a formally-articulated conceptual framework, but I was influenced in my thinking by Basquiat and Warhol’s relationship and subsequent collaborative artworks. This research contributes to the literature in key areas by examining existing assumptions about the value of artistic co-creation in the visual arts.

This dissertation is about new materialism as it relates to art education. It is a speculative inquiry that seeks to illuminate the interconnectivity of things by considering the ways in which things participate in generative practices of perceiving and making. To do so, the dissertation pioneers an arts-based methodology that allows for broad considerations about who and what can be considered an agent in the process of art making. In this inquiry, the researcher is an artist-participant with other more-than-human and human participants to construct an (im)material autohistoria-teoría, a revisionist interdisciplinary artwork inspired by the work of Anzaldúa. The term w/e is developed and discussed as new language for expanding upon Braidotti's posthumanist subjectivity. New theories called thing(k)ing (including found poetry) and (im)materiality are discussed as movements towards better understanding the contributions of the more-than-human in artmaking practices.

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.

This study is an historical-philosophical analysis of art education in elementary, secondary, and normal schools in the United States from 1883 to 1910 as revealed through the Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Education Association. Its purposes are to define and describe the role, practices, and status of art education as related to or influenced by selected philosophies, psychologies, theories of learning, and research, along with other prevalent factors such as the scientific, industrial movements, and mores of the period. Art education was found in an admitted state of infancy as the period began. 1883 marked its initial separation from the Manual Training Department and first recognition as an entity. This study of its status traces growth and improvement to a point of tentative public acceptance, and re-attachment of the Art Department to the Manual Training Department as an equal partner. Evidence presented seemed to indicate that progress had been made by art education in several important ways. School administrators had recognized that art did have a legitimate role in education, and a national organization had been formed to act as a forum. A uniform course of study had been presented, and current research in mental development had been considered. The scope of art instruction had been broadened to better serve educational and practical needs. Facilities had been improved, and there was a growing number of trained teachers and supervisors.