The purpose of this study was to illuminate characteristics of the pedagogical learning environment in three contemporary MFA Visual Arts programs in the United States and to investigate effective pedagogical practice for graduate art students in preparation for teaching in higher education. According to the College Art Association (CAA), the MFA is considered the terminal degree in the visual arts, unlike other related fields such as art history and art education, where the doctorate is the highest degree. While MFA students can pursue a professional practice of creating and exhibiting their artwork after graduation, many students also enter the MFA with the aim of becoming college art educators. However, there has been a lack of research that specifically examines the degree to which MFA visual arts students are being prepared for teaching. How are students preparing to become college art faculty, and what professional development programs are provided to graduate art students to help them teach art at the college level? These are questions that were the background context of this dissertation study. This study took the form of a cross-case analysis that employed qualitative and descriptive case study traditions. Data were collected from multiple sources: primary documents and semi-structured interviews with nine MFA students, six studio art faculty members, and three administrators at three MFA programs. This study presented findings of: (a) the pedagogical preparation offered to graduate students by the selected art schools; (b) the perceptions of graduate art students, studio art faculty, and administrators regarding the quality of current academic career preparation, specifically for teaching, in their MFA programs; (c) the insights of those participants into the most important characteristics of college teaching preparation; and (d) suggestions by the participants for the best practices that lead students to become successful college art educators. Based on the findings through an analysis of the learning and practical experiences of MFA students and the perspectives of faculty and administrators, I hope that the study will extend the field’s understanding of the state of college teaching preparation in higher art education.

When he opened the 24th annual exhibition of students' work on the 1st July, 1927, Professor F.W. Armstrong gave the following account of the beginnings of the Grahamstown School of Art: ... The appointment of a master was the responsibility of Sir Langham Dale, the Superintendent General of Education in the Cape Colony. His choice for the first art master of the Grahamstown School of Art was Mr.W. H. Simpson. Simpson had studied at the South Kensington Museum then at the Royal Academy. During the 1870's he had exhibited in the Royal Academy, at other exhibitions in London, and in the provinces. Intro. p. 1.

Founded in 1892, the Portland Art Association (PAA) served as Oregon's and the Pacific Northwest's leading visual arts institution for almost a century. While the Association formally dissolved in 1984, its legacy is felt strongly today in the work of its successor organizations, the Portland Art Museum and Pacific Northwest College of Art. Emerging during a period of considerable innovation in and fervent advocacy for the arts across America, the Association provided the organizational network and resources around which an energetic and diverse group of city leaders, civic reformers and philanthropists, as well as artists and art educators, coalesced. This thesis describes the collaboration among arts and civic advocates under the banner of aesthetic education during the Association's first four decades. Though art education continued to be critically important to the organization after 1932, the year the Association opened its new Museum, art was no longer conceived of as an instrument for improving general community life and programs focused on more specialized, fine arts-related activities.

"...the writer undertook in this studyan evaluation of the seven major art museums of Texas and their contribution to public-school education. Chapter I served as an introduction to the study. Chapter II traced the development of the art museum in American, dating back to the period of colonial settlements in New England. It also presented the history of the art museums in the five key cities of Texas: the Elisabet Ney Museum of Austin, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, the Fort Worth Art Association, the Children's Museum of Forth Worth, the Witte Memorial Museum of San Antonio and the Contemporary Arts Association of Houston. In addition, the general policies and programs of the Texas museums were discussed. Chapter III evaluated the programs of the seven majoy art museums according to the standards set up by the Texas Art Education Association...Chapter IV will present the writer's conclusions and recommendations." -- leaves 35-36.

Notre mémoire se concentre sur l'Exposition d'art français organisée dans les locaux de la Art Association of Montreal à l'hiver 1909. Il révèle le déplacement du débat français sur la neutralité de l'État en matière de beaux-arts vers la scène internationale en analysant son contexte et son organisation. En étudiant son contenu, il précise l'expression « art français » telle qu'elle est comprise par l'administration publique et qui inclut surtout des artistes qui participent aux Salons parisiens. Enfin, il souligne l'approche éducative qu'adopte la presse montréalaise à l'égard des nouveaux courants artistiques.