The Canadian Review of Art Education

Braiding A/r/tography & Métissage: Thinking together on the work of Sonny Assu

Nicole Rallis, Shannon Leddy, Rita Irwin — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Three art educators come together to respond to the work of Sonny Assu, Ligwilda’xw of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations, who was invited as an artist-in-residence to a graduate seminar on Indigenous visual expression as pedagogy. Engaging with the concepts of Indigenous métissage, diffraction, and a/r/tography, we weave together our personal stories, identities, and practices. We discuss ways to engage in anti-colonial teaching practices that provide openings for students to retrace, reimagine, and reconcile their understandings of Indigenous-settler relations in Canada. Our call to action asks art educators to consider Indigenous métissage as an important diffractive research practice and pedagogical praxis.

Zaagi’idiwin: Reflections on Love, Indigenous Teaching Practice, and the Hoop Dance Project

Lauren Hill, Beany John — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

This paper reflects on an elementary school hoop dance project organized by a
white music teacher, taught by an Indigenous hoop dancer, and guided by the Anishinabek goodlife teachings. It suggests that the hoop dance project, and specifically the hoop dancer’s teaching approach, allowed students to experience new, unique, and beneficial learning that engaged the first goodlife teaching: Zaagi’idiwin (love). Furthermore, the experience was a valuable example
of Indigenous educational practice, centering relationship and participation. The research argues that current educational realities can impede these best practices and run counter to healthy, holistic and culturally based learning.

Creating Artist Citizens: Transformative Movements in Art Education and Programming

Dianne Pearce de Toledo — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Increased professionalism, a powerful art market, and the technological revolution are begging for an overhaul in arts education and museum programming. This paper provides insights into alternative approaches that have emerged over the last fifty years and hints at the urgency for future iterations. During my time as an art professor, I implemented alternatives to today's art schools, such as field schools, free schools, and ek-stitutions. From fourteen years working in Mexico, I learned of social and cultural movements like rural boarding schools, the Free School of Sculpture, and the Intercultural Documentation Centre. Back in Canada, when I was working as a museum educator, my programs were influenced by concepts such as educational turns, participatory programs, museum hacking, and the social work of museums. This paper presents transformative movements in arts education and programming, each with the goal of creating artist citizens ready to participate in a global society.

Aesthetic Education Camp: Benefits for Artists, Teachers, and Presenters

Marie-Christine Beaudry — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

For five years, Montreal’s Place des Arts has offered an aesthetic education camp in Montreal, in partnership with New York’s Lincoln Center Education, for artists, teachers, and presenters to support their cultural mediation efforts with students. This article reports on a study conducted on this innovative initiative. The results attest to the positive repercussions for the professional practices of the participants. Training in multidisciplinary teams led to the development of a shared vocabulary and the emergence of a community of practice. The findings indicate that cultural initiatives can have a positive impact on both cultural workers and those in education.

Perceptions de la Culture des Jeunes chez des Enseignant.e.s Spécialistes en Arts au Secondaire et Stratégies pour L’intégrer à L’Enseignement

Christine Faucher, Samuelle Rousseau Lamontagne — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Les résultats d’analyse d’entretiens menés avec des enseignant.e.s en arts visuels, en danse, en musique et en art dramatique ont permis de mieux comprendre leurs perceptions concernant la culture des jeunes et les stratégies pour l’intégrer à leur enseignement. Parmi ces stratégies figurent la pédagogie négociée, le recours à des repères culturels ancrés dans la culture non formelle des élèves et l’aménagement d’espaces de rencontre entre cette culture et la culture transmise à l’école. Cette recherche permet d’enrichir la pratique enseignante de spécialistes en arts du secondaire souhaitant s’actualiser et rejoindre leurs élèves dans la complexité de leurs univers culturels.

Materiality, Tactility, and Artmaking: An Exploration of Diasporic Trauma through Creative Pedagogy

Yasaman Moussavi — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

This paper explores the role of artmaking and tactile materials in learning and overcoming “stuckness” (Hage, 2009; Cangia, 2021), a state of discomfort caused by mobility constraints through an autobiographical approach. I explore how the tactile material artmaking processes can generate educational sites, and serve as a pathway to process trauma. The findings of this paper can empower learners to harness the therapeutic potential of artmaking, fostering resilience and growth through the creative process.

Hidden Memories, digital photo collage, 2023

Heather ‘Von’ Steinhagen — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Hidden Memories is a digital collage featuring a handmade sewn doll and a group of mushrooms. The mirrored composition reflects the hidden connections and unspoken communication between people, nature, and memories. The doll was created while living with my grandma during her cancer treatment in Cowessess First Nation. It symbolizes my journey of reconnecting with my roots, using the sewing tools, quilting squares and guidance she gifted me. Infused with medicinal herbs like sweetgrass and yarrow, the doll embodies our shared experiences and lessons.
The mushrooms represent the mycelium networks that connect plants, mirroring our own energetic connections to family, land, and culture. This natural phenomenon symbolizes the unseen ties that shape our identities and relationships.

Special Issue Editorial: Indigenous Perspectives and Art Education/Research/Practice

Heather ‘Von’ Steinhagen — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Open Issue Editorial

Abena Omenaa Boachie; Adrienne Boulton — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400