Helping Kids Turn Out Queer: Queer Theory in Art Education

Abstract

This article explores the possibilities of queer theory in art education, and I playfully, perhaps provocatively, ask how art education can help kids turn out queer. Moving away from both victim narratives of queer subjects and the attention on gay artists, who often are the focus of scholarship in art education, I contemplate the ways in which art education researchers address queerness and how those forms of address impact the relations that are (im)possible within the educational dynamic. I ask, “In what ways has queer been addressed in art education research, and how can other scholars push forward with such work to continue queer projects?” I observe a need to challenge fears around queer topics and contemplate how queerness, embedded in theory and practice, disputes and disrupts art education research.