Hot off the presses, Social Justice Art: A Framework for Activist Art Pedagogy. Stay tuned for book events.
Had so much fun learning from the very talented and creative teaching artists at the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program during a workshop I led on “Social Justice Art Education” on February 25, 2014. This tremendous group works with youth groups all over the city and had fantastic insights on what it means to be working artist-teachers trying to empower–not just direct–young people.
Back in lively Jaén, Spain for another lecture on Art, Community, Education, and Justice at the Universidad de Jaén. This time we created zines to explore concepts of critical pedagogy, empowering learners, and collaboration in social justice art education. With a few breaks for café con leche in between, we had provocative conversations about Roma audiences, the role of music in community building, and the possibilities of using visual art even if you’re “not an artist.”
We boarded a bus bright and early in NYC for MTS‘s first conference road trip to Baltimore for the annual meeting of the American Alliance of Museums. The teen participants wow’ed the international audience with their poise, professionalism, and insight into what works for teens in museums. Afterwards we explored Baltimore, paddled dragon boats in the harbor, and stuffed our bags with pens and post-its at the exhibition hall.
In early January, I began a grant-funded project with the Art Education Partnership (with backing from the Institute of Museum and Library Services) to review museum education literature focused on learning outcomes in the arts. Working with Susan McCullough and a team of graduate research assistants, we conducted an intensive review of over 150 studies on museum education that resulted in several additions to ArtsEdSearch, the incredibly useful resource for art education research.
New article alert: I have a visual essay in the International Journal of Education through Art’s special issue on Community Art. Responding to their call for visual essays, I created a series of maps that respond to some of the key questions surrounding community arts including, Why we do it? Who we consider the artist? What kinds of learning and teaching it fosters?
Dewhurst, M. (2012) Where Are We? Mapping the field of community arts. International Journal of Education Through Art. 8(3). [Note: Visual Essay]