MA, Kent State University, 2014, College of the Arts / School of Art

Teaching socially transformative art lessons can instill positive social change in individual students, classroom environment, and the school setting. However, many art teachers do not attempt socially transformative art lessons at the risk of disciplinary action, termination, personal safety, and reputation. This single subject case-study examines a successful socially transformative art lesson executed in the classroom and reveals strategies that will assist other art educators.

Committee: Linda Hoeptner Poling PhD. (Advisor) Subjects: Art Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, Art Education

This study explores a collaborative and co-learning process with three Chinese-American families living in the Bay Area, California. These families and the researcher worked together toward creating an interactive website that sought to make learning Chinese art and culture fun and meaningful for Chinese-American children. The families were involved in the design process and discussed how Chinese children's identity is shaped by their family cultures and educational experiences. The participants discussed how children learn about Chinese art and culture, the kinds of Chinese art they can learn from their communities, and how they might appreciate and talk about Chinese art. The participants also reviewed the interactive and educational websites the children used, discussed the usability, visual design, interactivity, and educational features of the website, and iterated and finalized the paper prototypes of the website. This participatory process is expected to encourage mutual understanding between the parents and the children, incorporate children's needs and voices into the educational website design, and finally inspire changes in their future lives. The study examines the theories of multicultural art education, and how they are related to the participatory action research methodology. It also looks at how the research is connected to the Chinese-American community, and why the study uses Chinese traditional art as the main content of the participatory process. This study explores the technological perspective of the research, which includes a discussion of the theoretical support for using interactive technology in education, current practices in art education, an analysis of usability and user-centered design process, and a review of a list of educational websites. This study could be read as a step-by-step account of how to collaborate with the minority groups to build socially and culturally sustainable developments. Instead of studying on people, thi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Eisenhauer (Advisor); Deborah Smith-Shank (Committee Co-Chair); Karen Hutzel (Committee Member); Clayton Funk (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Asian American Studies; Design

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2011, Art Education

This thesis is designed to reconsider art therapy through the lens of a well educated and newly experienced art educator. It follows the relationship between art education and art therapy as they evolve, following largely separate paths over time, to develop a conversation that will begin to examine how art therapy has been applied to art education in the past, and to offer possible suggestions for further research in several overlapping points of study. I use a critical pedagogy framework and a generic qualitative research methodology as I conduct my research to develop ideas and raise questions that I feel have the potential to improve my pedagogical strategies and to open up a new set of possibilities for other art educators as to how art therapy might be reconsidered. The main research question that this inquiry explores is how can art therapy inform an art education curriculum? This study includes a historical inquiry, emphasizing events, theories, and some of the key figures who have made significant contributions to both art education and art therapy, and a review of recent accounts in which art therapy and art education have been used in conjunction. My own experience and practice is another focus of this study, and I relate trends in literature back to my own ideologies and approach to pedagogy. The purpose of this study is by no means to offer advice to art educators on how they can function as art therapists,. This study does not suggest that art educators can or should expect to function in the same ways as an art therapist might, and it does not encourage art educators to try to diagnose developmental problems or disabilities in their students because of the information that can be garnered from art therapy. It is my goal in writing this to simply begin a preliminary conversation that can perhaps offer ideas to art educators on how to think about improving their practice, and ideas for me on how I might improve my own, from ideas that are rooted in t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Vesta Daniel PhD (Advisor); Jennifer Eisenhauer PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Art Education

In this case study, I examine the extraordinary work of contemporary artist Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson and the intersection of my experience as an educator serving as a co-curator for Symphonic Poem, a major retrospective exhibition of her work in 2003. I examine the role of museum educators in developing and presenting exhibitions that empower visitors to discover their own meaning in Aminah's complex and layered work. My examination of the case and my research related to it highlight the challenges and opportunities that face museum educators and all museum workers in an era when museums are examining their relevancy as they compete with all types of cultural and commercial events and venues for people's time and attention. This collaboration between a curator of contemporary art and an educator provides an alternative approach to traditional museum practices and organizational structures and raises important questions concerning the training and practice of museum professionals. In addition to examining the role of museum educators in exhibitions, this work presents strategies to encourage K-12 students and visitors of all ages to critically confront issues of identity, race, and oppression that hover just below the rich patterns and button-encrusted surface of Aminah's work. In the world the artist has created, being black is the norm, but everyone is invited to participate by sharing their memories, stories, and dreams. Art like that of Aminah Robinson helps to fill in the gaps that the modern museum created in regard to marginalizing and ignoring the voices of women and minorities. Educators in the post-museum can become border-crossers themselves in creating exhibitions, linking them with a broad range of communities, and encouraging visitors to become border-crossers as well.

Committee: Christine Ballengee Morris (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Art

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Art Education

By the end of the 20th century, many independent schools of art and art departments embedded in comprehensive universities required undergraduate students to complete a series of introductory courses commonly referred to as foundations. Interpreted literally, these foundations were perceived as the basic building blocks for all artistic practice. Regardless of a student's future studies in fine or applied art forms, in tactile or digital media, she was required to start out with these fundamentals. Organized around drawing, color theory, and concepts in 2- and 3-dimensional design, the standard foundations sequence prioritized formalist concepts and technical proficiency. At the dawn of the 21st century, the goals and objectives of traditional foundations are actively being challenged. While some argue that beginning students still need to become fluent in a fundamental visual language defined by the elements of art and principles of design, others look at the diversity of practices, purposes, and contexts for making art in the early 21st century and wonder if it is possible or desirable to define a single set of commonly employed, fundamental skills and concepts. Amidst the pluralism and criticality of the contemporary art world, alternative foundations curricula have begun to emerge. Brave New Basics: Case Portraits of Innovation in Introductory Undergraduate Studio Art Foundations Curriculum describes two programs that reflect developments in postmodern artmaking and theories of critical pedagogy. This report is the result of my examination of introductory courses at Carnegie Mellon University and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago over the course of the 2006-2007 academic year. On my visits, I reviewed institutional documents, observed classes, and spoke with faculty and students. I used Lawrence-Lightfoot's (1983) portraiture methodology to guide my observations, analysis of data, and eventual construction of contextualized narratives to describe these (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Patricia Stuhr (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Art

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This historical research study situates the pedagogical work of Dr. Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs (1915-2010) within the histories of art education. By situating a Black women art educator into the histories of art education during the 1940s-1960s, the history of art education must be reconsidered. By tracing and crafting a bridge from the work of Carter G. Woodson and the concept of fugitive pedagogies to Dr. Burroughs, a clearer picture of the art classroom within de facto segregated high schools emerges. Utilizing alternative historical methods such as microhistory, critical fabulation, and place-based methodologies, Margaret's educational career comes into focus, challenging the dominant narratives within histories that continue to obfuscate the work of Black art teachers. The analysis first looks at Margaret's biographical information prior to becoming a teacher, including her experiences within the school systems of Louisiana and Chicago. From there, I trace the ways that art education became a major theme in her life, and the ways that her art teachers worked to provide her the opportunity to become an art educator. The second section focuses on two different layers of analysis: one utilizing the tenets of fugitive pedagogies to deepen our understanding of Margaret's work in her high school classroom; the second focusing on the importance of place and how being in Bronzeville and dedicating herself to her community impacted her and gave her a reason to leave the classroom and become the head of the DuSable Museum of African American History.

Committee: Joni Acuff (Advisor); Clayton Funk (Committee Member); Shari Savage (Committee Member); James Sanders III (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Art Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

After multiple years of teaching art education at the college level, I have witnessed apprehension amongst undergraduate students when asked to discuss contemporary art that tackles social justice issues like racism, heteronormativity and classism. Moreover, art teachers are also in a difficult position of struggling with how to help students open up relevant classroom discussions. My study designs an innovative and playable Contemporary Artwork Data Visualization (CADV) tool as a pedagogical device aimed to support undergraduate students' engagement with contemporary artworks that address social justice. Specifically, the study evaluates the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing the CADV teaching tool into a college level digital artmaking class that requires dialogues and art making relevant to social justice. Furthermore, the study is committed to building a “buffer zone” that can alleviate the fears and potential “minefields” that teachers and students may encounter when confronting controversial social justice issues in the classroom by appreciating relevant contemporary artworks provided databases that the CADV connected to. The guiding question for this research is “How can the use of data visualization to introduce contemporary art impact students' engagement with social justice issues in a digital artmaking class?” The CADV was developed with the theoretical guidance of Critical Multicultural Art Education pedagogy and John Dewey's Art as Experience. This study was conducted using action research as the methodological framework. Using observations, students' in-class reflections, student interviews, samples of student work and journals, this study analyzes the impact of employing the interactive CADV as a primary pedagogical tool to introduce and explore justice oriented contemporary art. Moreover, to consider the impact of this study beyond the horizons of the digital art classroom at a macro-level of employing the CADV as a pedagogical model i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Joni Acuff (Advisor); Shari Savage (Committee Member); Jennifer Richardson (Committee Member); Richard Fletcher (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Educational Technology; Higher Education; Instructional Design; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

As art teachers engage with big ideas such as identity, relationships, power, and conflict in art lessons, students may share experiences of trauma with teachers. Especially if teachers have strong relationships with students, meaningful and personally relevant art lessons can lead to students sharing stories such as struggle with bisexual identity, battles with anorexia, stories of poverty, discrimination and fear of police. Art teachers are not being taught the skills to take care of themselves and cope with student trauma, leading to compassion fatigue, burnout, and dropout. Teacher self-care is essential with the increase in trauma-informed education. This research argues for caring pedagogies, where teachers are attentive to students' holistic selves, including trauma, along with advocating for meaningful art lessons that connect to students lives, creating a transformative, healing, and empowering space for students. There is a need for more professional development, support, resources, counselors, time, and structure to support and sustain empathetic teachers. It brings to light the challenges of being an empathetic art teacher, starting dialogue on how teachers cope with student trauma. I studied with a middle school art teacher in Columbus, Ohio who was experiencing compassion fatigue. Through a critical pedagogy and post-structuralist lens, I exchanged stories with her. To represent the teacher's voice, I turned each interview question response into a participant-voiced poem, and responded with a researcher-voiced poem to share my own stance. I created short stories written from a student perspective to demonstrate student trauma and resonate with teacher readers by combining true stories of the students, my experiences, experiences of colleagues, and fiction to conceal the students' identities. Themes included poverty/unsafe circumstances; homelessness and parents with disabilities; bullying, suicide, and family death; and single- (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Christine Ballengee Morris (Advisor); Dana Carlisle Kletchka (Committee Member); Jennifer Richardson (Committee Member); Shari Savage (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, Art Education

There is a disconnection between the visual and visuality when it comes to the issues of representation and identity for a particular group of people. According to Sturken and Cartwright (2001) visuality can concern how we see everyday objects and people, not just those things we think of as visual texts (p. 370). The relationship between images and their visuality renders serious consequences when the group (i.e. Black women) in question is misrepresented. Images of misrepresentation are even more consequential when it occurs within the realms of mass media and popular visual culture because the viewing audience is pervasive. So then, the question that must be asked is how can marginalized groups that are misrepresented in a highly visual world take control of their images? How can they acquire the agency to construct self and group identity? These questions addressed in this research study where their answers can be cultivated and examined within the realm of contemporary art, mass media and popular visual culture. I use a mixed methods approach to collect data through the development of both a focus group and use of content analysis, rhetorical analysis and a quantitative survey (i.e., The Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale). A focus group is useful in gaining knowledge from disenfranchised or marginalized groups. Specifically, the goals of this study call for the use of Participatory Action Research (PAR) with a small population of Black women at The Ohio State University and the use of a survey and questionnaires that measure self-esteem and perception. The main goal for conducting a theoretical and participatory study of the images of Black women in visual art and popular visual culture is to develop pedagogical recommendations of how visual culture scholars can use narrative inquiry and counter-narrative to explore race and gender representation.

Committee: Vesta Daniel Ed.D (Committee Chair); Osei Appiah PhD (Committee Member); Karen Hutzel PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; American Studies; Art Education; Womens Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2010, Art Education

This thesis explores the complexities and intricate nature of Critical Pedagogical theory and practice. Using an autoethnographic methodology and a framework of Critical Pedagogy, I reflect upon my own notions of criticality throughout my student teaching experience. These reflections are in relation to three key elements of Critical Pedagogy: Critical Consciousness, Dialogue, and Student Power. I also respond to these experiences in an effort to more thoroughly understand these notions, their implications, and how they have changed throughout the course of this research. The purpose of this research is to engage in a self-examination of my thoughts and actions as a critical educator, both past and present, and to (re)envision these in an effort to promote transformative pedagogy. This document suggests that Critical Pedagogy is and ever-changing and ongoing process of self-reflection, exploration, and invalidation. It also suggests that Critical Pedagogy can be/is a site of struggle, as well as of personal and pedagogical growth.

Committee: Kevin Tavin (Advisor); Christine Ballengee-Morris (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education