Art Education Commons^™

Echándole Ganas: Pláticas Of Belonging + Resistance In Art + Design, Itzanya Bravo

Masters Theses

This thesis centers the experiences of Mexican American students, alumni, faculty, and community-based artists navigating art and design higher education in the United States. Grounded in the question ¿Dónde está la gente latina?—where are the Latino people?—this research examines how representation and culturally sustaining practices shape Mexican American students' sense of belonging and creative agency in a country with systems built on white supremacy

Using pláticas as the primary methodology—a relational, conversational approach rooted in community and storytelling traditions—alongside autohistoria-teoría and Chicana Feminist Epistemology, this study draws on eight in-depth pláticas with Mexican American creatives across art + design higher …

What Teachers See: Collaborative Artmaking In Chinese And U.S. Elementary Schools, Jiayu Shi

Masters Theses

This study explores how elementary art teachers in the United States and China perceive and use collaborative artmaking with their students. Driven by my personal journey as a Chinese student and art educator now studying in the U.S., this research asks: How do teachers in these two countries compare in their views of collaborative artmaking, including its social-emotional outcomes, benefits, and challenges. I conducted semi structured interviews with three elementary art teachers: two from China (one veteran, one early-career) and one from the U.S. with experience in both rural and urban schools. Findings show that teachers in both contexts value …

Studio Archeology: Uncovering Pedagogical Potential In Artist Spaces, Julia I. Ambros

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates artist studios and their potential for pedagogical application, focusing specifically on grounding the abstract act of making an inspiring studio in the identification and analysis of tangible creative methods used by artists in their studios. This project combines the thinking of four authors–Eisner (1979); Sullivan (2005); Sjöholm (2014); and Bennett (2010)–into a theoretical framework that characterizes the studio space as an art practice research site that reflects the artist’s values, provides readable evidence of thinking and making processes, and influences the future trajectory of one’s art-making. Treating the studio space like an archaeological dig, this project conducted …

Cartooning From Life: A Graphic Guide To Using Non-Fiction Comics In Education, Maxwell Zawatsky

Masters Theses

The world is a visual place nowadays. Media, books, movies, art, and more constantly surround us. What might we do if we consciously incorporate this visual stimulus into our educational spaces? What might we learn about ourselves and the world around us?

In this comics thesis, non-fiction comics are the focus. Through personal reflection and semi-structured interviews with three cartoonist-educators, non-fiction comics’ role in current and future pedagogical practices is explored, with the aim of thinking about how these types of works encourage exploration of oneself, others, and the world at large. I offer three guiding tenets for educators who …

Critical Connections: An Evaluation And Envisioning Of Partnership Between Art Museums, Schools, & Central Offices, Bennett R. Portillo

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates systemic impediments to implementing partnerships between schools, art museums, and school districts’ central offices. This research suggests cross-sector connection and worker solidarity as strategies for resisting extremists efforts to de-coordinate the U.S. education system. Research methods include a review of existing literature and interviews with practitioners for the purpose of identifying shared values, challenges, and misconceptions in partnerships. From an anti-deficit perspective, the data analysis critically evaluates educational non-profits’ corporate values and re-centers practitioners' interpersonal investments.

Open_______, Eitan Boiarsky

Masters Theses

This thesis examines how ambiguity can function as a deliberate design strategy rather than a condition to eliminate. While modern design traditions have prioritized clarity, efficiency, and immediate legibility, this work revisits Umberto Eco's concept of the Open Work and Oskar Hansen's Open Form to argue that openness is not a failure of design but a method within it.

Through a series of workshops and object-based experiments, ambiguity is structured as a design instrument that invites interpretation rather than delivering fixed meaning. Participants encounter unfamiliar forms with deliberately withheld information, producing moments of hesitation, speculation, and reinterpretation. These encounters demonstrate …

Love Letters To Insects: Affect-Based Science Communication, Manuela Guzmán

Masters Theses

Love Letters to Insects is a series of artists’ books that, mimicking a scientific insect collection, asks how visual narrative can shape and reframe our relationship to our environment.

Delving into the historical construction of the nature-culture divide, my thesis considers how colonial history has shaped modes of representation in Latin America that distance, objectify, and “other” living beings. Engaging with science, history, philosophy, and decolonial and Indigenous perspectives, as well as the work of comic artists and theorists, I think about the way I learned to interact with my environment and find in visual storytelling a place to challenge …

Learning From The Remains: Meditations On Sustainability, Julae Tan

Masters Theses

What remains when a person or material assemblage is stripped of its

component parts?

What is left is the remainder, an irreductible core.

Purely cerebral learning can be fleeting. A hybrid approach of cerebral and

visceral, “perverse” learning grounded in a familial understanding of the

remainder yields a more resilient pedagogy that endures long after leaving the

site of formal education.

This research was completed under the aegis of the 2025/26 Sustainability

Design Lab and features the subject of making with paper discards as the

primary mode of interrogation.

Via a collection of essays, a literature review, as well as …

Arts-Based Violence Prevention For Youth: A Literature Review, Amber Lynn Isaac

Expressive Therapies Theses

This narrative literature review examines arts-based approaches to violence prevention and trauma-related support among school-aged children and adolescents in school and community settings. Violence is conceptualized as both interpersonal and structural, encompassing physical, emotional, relational, and systemic harms that arise through unequal access to safety, opportunity, and resources. The review then explores how these conditions increase vulnerability to trauma exposure, particularly among youth in marginalized and underserved communities, and considers the psychological impacts of violence on youth development. Centering the resilience of children and adolescents through relational strengths, adaptive coping strategies, and creative capacities, this review then examines the benefits …

Sing Without Even Light - How The Arts Inform And Enhance Learning, Creativity, Imagination, And Wellbeing In Elementary Classrooms In Kajiado, Kenya: Discovering Creative Confidence, Lindsay L. Stewart

Educational Studies Dissertations

Creativity and imagination can be felt, described, seen, and measured. In this study, this is achieved through a reflective process and awareness of creative practice and its potential. The process can aid and increase understanding of self, cognitive and creative process, social-emotional interactions, agency, and action, and reveals an individual’s developmental level of creative confidence.

A gap exists in student and teacher voice regarding their creative awareness and confidence. This study reveals how 29 children ages 8-15 and 14 teachers from Kajiado, Kenya, describe creativity and imagination, supporting both learning and wellbeing.

The study applies an Arts-Based Research approach, primarily …

Nurtured Meaning: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of The Tree Of Life In Contemporary Women's Art, Christina A. Defilipp

Educational Studies Dissertations

The Tree of Life has historically flourished across cultures as an archetypal image of interconnection, regeneration, and continuity. In the Anthropocene, however, its symbolic vitality is reframed by the realities of environmental crisis. This study investigates how contemporary women artists across the globe sustain and reinterpret the Tree of Life’s meaning to express themes of ecological, spiritual, and cultural relevance. Employing a qualitative design grounded in hermeneutic phenomenology, the study analyzes publicly available artworks and published reflections, including interviews, catalog essays, and artist statements. A purposive sample of twenty women artists from diverse cultural traditions forms the dataset, each represented …

Teacher Professional Development In Art Museums, Tamar Rosenfeld-Cohen

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study examines teachers’ professional development and learning experiences in art museums, attempting to bridge the gap in the literature regarding the links between teachers’ identities and learning experiences to their teaching, and the disparity between the needs and tenets of adult learning and the teacher professional development experiences that are offered to teachers (Mehta & Fine, 2019).

This study intended to identify the effective and meaningful features of art museum teacher professional development offerings, conceptualize teachers’ experiences in these programs and how art museums can support their own needs, personal preferences, and professional requirements. Based on a mixed-methods research …

A Description Of Zhao Zhang’S Nature No. 2 And Xiaoxuan Xu’S An Unusual Feast Of East, Sicheng He

Dissertations, 2020-current

This research presents a new path in the development of Chinese music by aiming to incorporate both modern Western and ancient Chinese influences in form, texture, tonality, topic, and other dimensions of style and structure. Two Chinese composers whose recent compositions for the piano share similar characteristics: Zhao Zhang (b. 1964; Nature no. 2, 2013) and Xiaoxuan Xu (b. 1990; An Unusual Feast of East, 2022). The research will discuss how Zhao Zhang and Xiaoxuan Xu accomplish this fusion of old and new in their recent piano works Nature no. 2, (2013) and An Unusual Feast of East, 2022. …

Cultural Competency Beyond The Classroom: Employing Visual Culture Art Education In Museums, Kaylee Long

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

In an increasingly diverse and media-dominated world, critical thinking and cultural competency have become crucial skills. Visual Culture Art Education (VCAE), a pedagogy employed in the formal education setting, serves as an effective practice to foster these skills. Although not explicitly employed, elements of VCAE are found in museums. As VCAE has shown success in the classroom environment, museums can supplement their current practices through the conscious use of this pedagogy. Through a multi-site case study of five art museums in the Mid-Atlantic region, this project aimed to find ways that VCAE practices could be adapted into the museum setting.

Exploring “I Can Only Draw A Stick Figure”: The Influence Of Technology On The Creative Mind In Art Education, Tristan Stephenson

Art 895 Research Papers

Upon hearing someone is an artist, the public seems to commonly share the phrase, “I can only draw a stick figure.” To an art educator who aims to teach anyone about art, this statement may be perplexing. Even if individuals enjoy art as elementary-aged children, it appears people can lose an enthusiasm or mindset for art, regardless of ability. This phenomenological and arts-based study aims to break down why people think they cannot draw and better understand such thinking through the potential impact of today’s technology and digital culture. Information will be gathered through qualitative observations, documents, and visual materials, …

Differentiation In The Arts: Choice-Based Learning To Increase Engagement, Katie Caskey

Art 895 Research Papers

There are many ways in which an art educator teaches. However, some struggle to get students to be engaged with the subject matter or materials. Choice-based project learning can facilitate engagement by allowing students to choose the subject matter or medium in order to become more involved with the learning process. This Arts-Based Research study, using narrative inquiry and visual arts, explores the effects choice-based learning has on the outcome of a project and overall engagement within the learning experience. Students will be given choices throughout the project, essentially making it their own while also meeting the requirements of the …

Creative Aging: Living Well Through The Arts, Joshua Brown

Art 895 Research Papers

This research project discusses and analyzes arts programming designed to enrich the lives of older adults (defined here as people older than 55) using a qualitative approach with quantitative support, and how governments can fund community-based creative aging programming to promote wellness. Over the course of one semester, these research techniques were used to explore the practice of creative aging programming through analysis of state-level data, testimonials from participating artists, reviewing literature on the topic of creative aging, and examination of the artwork produced by older adults through these programs. These programs can directly impact the social health of older …

Exploring Visual Literacy Strategies To Improve Interpretation, Critique, And Artmaking In A High School Art Classroom, Abby Stallbaumer

Art 895 Research Papers

Visual literacy is an essential competency for secondary students as they navigate a world saturated with images and visual media. Intentional instruction of visual literacy enables students to analyze, interpret, and evaluate artworks while developing critical thinking and communication skills that transfer across disciplines. This Mixed Methods research study explored how the implementation of varied visual literacy strategies affects students’ ability to interpret, discuss, and create artworks in a high school level art classroom. Over a period of four weeks qualitative and arts-based techniques will be used to evaluate the outcome of the research through field notes from the researcher, …

Art Foundations In Student Digital Game Projects Within Online Learning, Isabelle John

Art 895 Research Papers

This qualitative study examined how traditional art foundations are reflected in student-created digital game projects developed within an online learning environment. As digital game-making becomes increasingly prevalent in art education, students engage in complex, visual decision-making that extends beyond technical execution. Through the analysis of student digital game artifacts, this study explored the presence of foundational art concepts, such as composition, color, spatial organization, visual hierarchy, and visual culture. Using a constructivist qualitative approach and visual artifact analysis, the study identified patterns in how art foundations were applied within online learning contexts.

Findings indicate that while art foundations were consistently …

Integrating Music And Visual Art: The Impact Of Using A Cross-Disciplinary Approach On Creativity And Engagement, Zoe E. August

Art 895 Research Papers

This study explores the integration of music into the visual art classroom and its impact on student creativity and engagement by encouraging emotional expression and multisensory exploration. The purpose of this research is to examine how access to music during instructional time can have a positive impact on student engagement and creativity. This study may also provide evidence to support the revision of school policies that prohibit student headphone use in the classroom during the academic day. Using a Mixed-Methods Case Study with an Arts-Based Qualitative Inquiry, this research examines how students respond emotionally and creatively when music is intentionally …