National Art Education Association Research Articles

On Fridays We Play Games with Friends

Abstract For a 2022 panel presentation for the National Art Education Association, five art educators who were originally connected within a cohort of graduate students shared the significance of how play invites working together, creates intentional community, and informs and sustains their art, teaching, and research practices. This article features the transcript of the panel discussion, which examines their experiences of playing games together resulting in problematizing issues of access, articulating themes of relationality, and emphasizing the seriousness of play.

More Than: Art Education and the Promise of Wholeness

Abstract In this invited paper for the 2022 Elliot Eisner Doctoral Research Award in Art Education Runner-Up from the National Art Education Association, Jody Stokes-Casey presents an iteration of a key argument from her dissertation Art Education Shaping Historical Narratives in the Mississippi Delta: A Polyptych Study of CARE, that art education through its mobilization as more than offers a promise of wholeness. Oral history quotes from the research site, a community art center in the Mississippi Delta known as CARE, offer illustrative folds throughout the article.

Recognizing Greatness in Our Own Time

Recognizing Greatness in Our Own Time

Art Education When the World Is on Fire

This article is a revised version of the Studies in Art Education invited lecture that was to have taken place at the annual convention of the National Art Education Association in March 2020. Taking into account the challenges of the global pandemic and the possibilities presented by uprisings for racial, climate, and social justice across the world, it is a call to action to art educators. Contributions of art education scholars connected to racial justice and environmental action are recognized as a shared inheritance from which one can draw to carry on such work. Notions of inheritance, interbeing, and irresistibility are analyzed as they connect to art’s unique and distinctive contributions to activist work. Drawing from scholarship and thinking both within and outside of the field of art education, I make a case in this article for action in the face of the possible end of the world as we know it.

Art education during the COVID-19 pandemic: the journey across a changing landscape

The field of art education has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in complex ways. Art educators have been challenged with teaching visual arts skills, practices, and concepts, to students in virtual classrooms using non-conventional means. Their principal goal has been to provide quality education in the visual arts for all students. They recognize that having a visual arts education impacts the quality of life of everyone and their ability to understand and communicate in our complex world. In their efforts to provide meaningful and effective education, art educators have had to manage new instructional delivery systems and to ensure the health and safety and social emotional learning of their students and themselves in their educational spaces. They responded by using social media, video conferencing, and other digital technology to deliver instruction. The National Art Education Association provided a wealth of digital resources to support virtual instruction during this time. These resources enabled art educators to successfully address the educational needs of their students. The long-term impact of the pandemic will require research to understand the nature of the impact of the pandemic on education and how educational policy needs to be adjusted to reflect the new post-pandemic educational landscape

Thinking About Art: The Role of Single-Visit Art Museum Field Trip Programs in Visual Arts Education

The 2015 passing of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to replace No Child Left Behind was celebrated within the arts community (Arts Education Partnership, 2017; National Art Education Association,...

Joyously Playing with/in Church

Here you are called to contemplate the antics of Big Gay Church (BGC), considering how the NAEA Queer ritual revels in joyous excess, deploys humor and absurd actions that move participants toward healing damaged psyches and souls. The BGC performing troupe tackles critical social injustices and does so through unexpectedly delightful and irreverent services that confront pain, cruelty, erasure, and abuse. Four or more colleagues have led this scholarly, political and performative inquiry for more than a decade, attempting to replace damaging actions with healing gestures of love, caring comradery, and contemplative reimagining of what church could be. Perhaps most significantly, this arts-based performative inquiry theoretically celebrates all that is queer, and encourages pre-service art educators and those who guide them to embrace diversity and inclusion while in pursuit of equity and engagement. The manuscript opens by outlining how queer inquiries reclaim unattended lives, expands perspectives, and celebrates queerness for all. The paper then shares an overview of Big Gay Church as an annual academic ritual at the National Art Education Association (NAEA annual meeting, Methods and modes of presentation vary by co-presenter – most building on childhood lived experiences of Church. This second section’s illustrated counterpoint to descriptions of s typical presenter’s contributions to the BGC service. The third section, describes presenters’ varying methods and narratives, and assert this play-group employs farce, irony, and humor while leveling institutional critiques (particularly tackling NAEA’s evolving relations with the LGBTQIC+ special interest group. The Conclusion traces BGC service, the pedagogical and historical challenges the group calls congregants to help undertake, and ALWAYS doing so with joy.

Big Gay Church VARchive: Decade One

Abstract Big Gay Church exists at the intersections of arts, education, religion, performance-based pedagogies, activism, and queerness. This archive documents a decade of collective queer creation. As of 2019, Big Gay Church (BGC) officially completed a decade of services at the National Art Education Association’s annual conference. In addition to the phenomenological experiences of attending the services, this decade-long queer performance/participatory collaboration produced a wealth of visual culture artifacts. Here, the authors present the most complete catalogue of Big Gay Church artifacts amassed to date.

Portrait of a Methodology: Portraiture as Critical Arts-Based Research

Abstract In this invited paper for the 2019 Elliot Eisner Doctoral Research Award in Art Education from the National Art Education Association, Sarah Travis draws upon her dissertation, Portraits of Young Artists: Artworlds, In/Equity, and Dis/Identification in Post-Katrina New Orleans, to offer a critical arts-based interpretation of portraiture methodology. Portraiture methodology is a form of qualitative inquiry developed by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot and Jessica Hoffmann Davis. With examples from her dissertation research into artist identity formation in teens, Travis delineates connections between portraiture methodology, critical race theory, and arts-based research through the five central lenses of portraiture: context, voice, relationship, emergent themes, and the aesthetic whole.

Understanding the Relationship Between Research and Practice: A National Survey of Visual Art Educators

Abstract What influences K–12 educators to change practice? How does research inform these changes? What can the field of visual art education glean about research from a K–12 perspective? This paper describes the findings of the survey completed by members of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) conducted in 2015. Following the survey, we focused on how the 440 K–12 visual art educators in the study understand, use, and conduct research. Using a grounded theory approach, we interpreted the responses to the question: “What changes have you made to your professional practice on the basis of your research or the results of others?” Change is defined by how educators enrich and expand their practice using research. For this study, we defined research broadly, from reading scholarly literature in the field, conducting research studies in their educational settings, or how professional learning experiences/degrees enrich or strengthen their practice. Findings from this survey suggest that K–12 visual art teachers use research to change their professional practice in the areas of curriculum, pedagogy, student-centered approaches, and assessment. As authors, we suggest providing professional learning around research in the field of art education and the value of collaboration between K–12 educators and those working in pre-service/graduate art education programs.

A review of the Common European Framework of Reference for Visual Literacy – Prototype (CEFR-VL)

In the Common European Framework of Reference for Visual Literacy (CEFR-VL) the researchers present competencies for teaching, learning and assessing art, conceptualized as visual literacy, offering constructive possibilities for modifications and implementation in Europe and potentially globally. The CEFR-VL is comparable with other international approaches to framing curriculum and assessment approaches, including the General Certificate in Secondary Education in England, International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, the National Standards created by the National Art Education Association in the United States, and design and craft focused practices in Europe. Given multiple incarnations of art, design and craft making worldwide, articulating what visual literacy means, along with re-shaping and revising the framework in an ongoing way, offers a helpful infrastructure for use by the global community of art educators, creators, students and scholars who are committed to the visual and to visual sensitivity, and to situated meanings and interpretations of visual and material cultures of production and consumption.

Commentary: Art (Education) of Governmentality

Abstract This essay considers efforts to forefront knowledge dissemination at National Art Education Association (NAEA) National Conventions as a form of governmentality on art education scholarship. Starting with an analysis of the presenter policy as well as the review criteria, we consider how this rhetoric reflects neoliberal ideology and actually limits the potentials of the field for change, critique, and diversity of insights. From within this paradoxical space, we offer provocations, strategies, and quandaries. Through usurping the governmentality bearing down on thought and research dissemination, we join counter factions that have worked and continue to occupy the margins and centers of the NAEA National Convention.

Finding the Research Possibilities of Computer Technologies in Art Education

The purpose of this study is to try finding the research possibilities of computer technology in art education and understand why computer technology has such a great impact on our contemporary education. The methodology of this study is based on the analysis of literature review. I have tried to find the importance articles in the journals of art education such as Studies in Art Education and Art Education published from the National Art Education Association, one of the most well-known organizations in the field of art education. To draw the purpose of this study, I found articles and categorized the information using key words such as aesthetic, feminist, gender issues, and interactivity. After analyzing, I have discussed about the research possibilities and important issues of computer technology in art education and then categorized the information found in each article into four different subheadings: 1) the visual effects of computer graphics in art education, 2) gender issues based on the computer technology, 3) interactive multimedia and social interactions among students, 4) research possibilities with computer technologies in art education. The findings are as follow. Firstly, there were many research possibilities of computer technologies in art education such as ways of criticizing the contemporary art world. Secondly, I found that computer technology has a great impact on art education because students are more eager to engage with computer technologiesbased media activities and very familiar with new media either at home and school. Therefore, we, as educators, must address how the student will be systematically engaged with computer technologies in their educational environment and should determine what knowledge and skills prospective teachers bring to our teacher education programs and how and where they acquired this knowledge.

Making Partnerships With STEAM

John Maeda had me at “Hello.”When the former president of the Rhode Island School of Design spoke at the 2012 National Art Education Association (NAEA) Convention in New York, his words supported m...

An Analysis of Current Research in Studies in Art Education and the International Journal of Education Through Art

In this article, we present an analysis of current art education research published from 2014–2016 in Studies in Art Education and the International Journal of Education Through Art. Focus is on the state of art education research and the National Art Education Association Research Commission’s Research Agenda. We use comparison charts to highlight critical elements of research studies in these two journals. We conclude that both journals present timely and relevant art education research, and we suggest more specific information be integrated into research reports so readers and researchers know more about how inquiries were conducted. Gaps that exist in the literature could be filled with a more balanced reporting of descriptive, experimental, theoretical/paradigm, historical, and philosophical research. More inquiry also is needed that addresses significant topics, through use of rigorous methods, that might inform future development of an articulate policy and practice in art education.

Evaluating a Museum-Based Professional Learning Community as a Model for Art Education Leadership Development

In alignment with the National Art Education Association’s (NAEA) 2015-2020 Strategic Vision, Enid Zimmerman conducted an evaluation of Summer Vision DC (SVDC), an NAEA-sponsored, museum-based art education professional learning community program. The purpose was twofold: to provide feedback to the leaders of the program (including Renee Sandell, program director), and to create a model for art education leadership programs in school and museum settings. Background information about the program is followed by a description of the evaluation design and research process, including a conceptual framework, data analyses, interpretations of an online survey and focus group meeting, and feedback from the program leaders. We conclude this study with explanations about the impact of the program and revisions and outcomes that were initiated to reinforce quality leadership in a professional learning community. We offer recommendations for further professional development using the SVDC leadership model for developing personal, collaborative, and public voice that can take place in diverse educational contexts.

The Leadership-of-Nonleadership in Art and Its Teaching: An Immanent Conversation

In what follows, we position our differing conceptualizations of leadership in art education adjacent to one another for readers to explore their contingent performativity. Accordingly, we are emulating the convergence of papers, ours and those of other scholars, artists, and teachers who, at the 2016 National Art Education Association Convention, addressed the theme of leadership cross-pollination. Considering that the presenters’ address of this theme constituted a contingent multiplicity of artistic and scholarly perspectives suggests that the event of the conference likewise constituted an ideational assemblage and art education a field of immanent research and practice. As immanent forces, both the conference and the field of art education offered attendees opportunities to experience leadership cross-pollination from in-between and across the differing papers and presentations. It is that immanent performativity that we are inviting readers to summon as they perform an experimental reading in-between and across our two writings on the leadership-of-nonleadership in art education.

Cultivating Research Through Digital Ecosystems

Abstract The research culture of art education is an ecosystem of ideas and inquiry. This ecosystem of research extends into the varied forms of digital mediation. Now in its fourth year, the National Art Education Association Research Commission’s objective is to cultivate, connect, and amplify art education research. In this essay, we theorize the analogy of research ecosystems and use the example of our Interactive Café as a space that fosters research culture. Digital forums such as the Interactive Café function as a place where individuals who produce and use research can interact and exchange ideas. Our position is that digital mediation needs to strengthen interdependence and vibrancy through spaces and events that connect a diversity of knowledge producers and stakeholders. For the Research Commission, research that is born digital is ripe with potential to connect, evolve, and amplify throughout the field.

Sara Joyner: The First State Art Supervisor in Virginia

This biographical narrative of Sara Joyner (1900-1967), Virginia’s first state art supervisor, draws on writings by Joyner, original state Department of Education reports, and personal interviews to describe an exceptional art educator, activist, and founder of the National Art Education Association (NAEA). As a White, privileged woman raised in the racially segregated South, she was courageous in her efforts and insightful in her convictions. As Virginia’s first state art supervisor, she worked toward advancing art education for all children in Virginia. Joyner helped organize a Negro Art Section of the Virginia Education Association, and in 1947 hired Mary Godfrey, the first African American assistant supervisor of Art Education in Virginia. Joyner played an important role in the founding of NAEA and was NAEA’s first Vice President. As an art teacher, art administrator, and agent for social change, she is a role model for all art educators.

Finding Big Gay Church: An Academic Congregation Exploring LGBTQ Intersections with Religion, Art, and Education

Using the metaphor of mapping as an overarching metaphor, this article presents an amalgamated version of the first five years of Big Gay Church, an annual session at the National Art Education Association’s convention since 2009. Big Gay Church is a collaborative small group of queer art educators and allies coming together to explore the intersections of religion, education, the arts, culture, and LGBTQ identities. By using tools and constructs from dramatic inquiry and other performance pedagogies, as well as inviting attendees to fully participate as members of the congregation, we transform this conference session into an opportunity for scholarship, action, connection, and fellowship. Such arts-based academic interventions can provoke a re-imagining of ways forward, together, in education and research.