Virtual Walks
Details on how to participate will be announced after the opening ceremony of the conference!
KEYNOTE SECTION
Susan M Coles
Steve Willis
Allan G. Richards
Janinka Greenwood
Olusegun Michael Adeniyi
Bee-Lian Kehk
Click on the name!
Susan M Coles is an Artist, Coach (National Professional Qualification for headship NPQH) and former President of the National Society for Education in Art & Design (United Kingdom). She is also Honorary Fellow of the NSEAD and Member of Council NSEAD. Susan M Coles also acts as a secretary to the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Art, Craft, Design in Education, she is Associate of the Big Draw, World Councillor (Europe) for InSEA, International Society for Education through Art. Susan is also known as a Visual Arts Education Activist and a Chair of Trustees Monkfish Productions CIO. Trustee of AccessArt. Her activities can be found on Twitter: @theartcriminal or on webpage: www.artcrimes.org.uk
Title of the conference paper: Networking and advocacy, or The Wisdom of Crowds
Susan M Coles
Networking and advocacy, or The Wisdom of Crowds
I want to explore the theme of collaboration through networking.
In his book "The Wisdom of Crowds" James Surowiecki, the American writer and journalist, contends that groups of people can be collectively more effective at solving problems, undertaking innovation and decision making than individuals or elite groups. What happens when you also start to learn collaboratively and together in a network? How does the community of inquiry create learning space, and also support the well being and self esteem of those involved? Our community, our collaboration, our networks - they all give us opportunities to promote and to defend art craft and design education. This then, is my story.
Steve Willis taught art in public schools for 23 years before joining the faculty at Missouri State University in Springfield where he is a Professor of Art Education. His research interests are in indigenous and spiritual knowledge and practices, but mostly focuses the practice of spirituality in visual art. He has served as a consultant for various schools, school districts, and community arts organizations; has presented at national and international conferences, and has published book chapters, papers in national and international journals, and continues to serve on the editorial boards. His most recent book with Richards, A. is (2020) Global Consciousness through the Arts: A Passport for Students and Teachers, 2nd ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt. His art can be seen here.
Title of the conference paper: A reflection on Mindful Meditation
Steve Willis
A reflection on Mindful Meditation
At this time of the global pandemic, lives can seem out of control as chaos and violence are in the news and in the streets of our neighborhood. This is particularly true in the United States as protests are common and the COVID virus continues to expand as many people in the US ignore precautionary medical advice and continue to socialize in close proximity without a mask.
Chaos and turmoil are difficult even for the citizen who has experiences in difficult times such as warfare, social unrest, economic crisis, and health concerns like Ebola, avian flu, aids, and now, COVID-19. But this talk will focus on helping children. I will propose school procedures that can help stabilize the students and their environments. In this, I will refer specifically to Mindful Meditation.
Dr. Allan Richards, a native of Jamaica, completed post graduate degrees in Mexico and the United States. He taught K-12, undergraduate and graduate students in art, mathematics, biology, and agricultural science before joining the faculty at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Richards has lived, worked, studied, completed research, taught, and visited 25 countries which continues to influence his research and teaching in Art Education. Funded by a grant from the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the University of Kentucky, Richards and his colleague’s research focused on improving the quality of life for persons with dementia and their caregivers through learning in the visual arts. His research also focuses on addressing issues of individuals who are deprived of social, political, and economic equality and justice. To build global consciousness and engender a more sustainable international community of fairness, justice, and peace, Allan Richards believes art education is fundamental and a powerful vehicle that engages students to foster and sustain human rights. Global Consciousness through the Arts: A Passport for Students and Teachers (2nd Edition) is his most recent book with Willis, S. (2020).
Title of the conference paper: Art Education in the Time of Coronavirus, Reflecting on Today, Anticipating Tomorrow and the Influence of White Supremacy
Allan Richards
Art Education in the Time of Coronavirus, Reflecting on Today, Anticipating Tomorrow and the Influence of White Supremacy
In preparing the keynote address for and thinking about the title designated to the Czech Republic InSEA conference, Art Education in the Time of Coronavirus, Reflecting on Today, Anticipating Tomorrow, it raised two principal questions in my mind as it related to COVID—19 pandemic and the protests we have been experiencing in the United States and abroad. Why are Black and Brown people disproportionately infected and killed by the COVID—19 pandemic? While so many Black and Brown people unjustly brutalized and murdered by the police for years, the brutal murder of George Floyd cause an eruption of protests and anger on the streets of the United States and abroad, why? While different, the thread that seems to connect these two situations is racism.
Racism is an attitude of superiority that is developed over hundreds of years and manifests itself into privilege for some people who use this privilege to advance themselves and denigrate Black and Brown people educationally, economically, politically, and socially. A modern multiracial society cannot sustain or advance itself by pretending that racism does not exist because it is perceived not to impact some people. Addressing racism is not about taking from one group to make the other better but to strengthen society so that all its people can thrive equally. Nelson Mandela says, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." My anticipation for tomorrow is to improve the human condition by educating students to recognized racism and how to address it. This is the focus of my presentation for the Czech Republic InSEA conference. In addition, I will discuss pedagogical approaches and strategies to achieve this goal.
Janinka Greenwood is Professor Emeritus at the University of Canterbury, and Director of the Research Lab for Creativity and Change. She has a long-standing engagement with the uses for arts for learning and with arts-based research, and strong interests in learning communities, cultural difference, post-colonialisms and practice-based research methodologies. She has various projects with colleagues in Norway, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh as well as in New Zealand, and works with local and international students. Her current research focuses on learning communities and grounded place-based projects for change. Her publications can be found here.
Title of the conference paper: Inside-Outside: a post-Covid exploration of the possibilities of art education
Janinka Greenwood
Inside-Outside: a post-Covid exploration of the possibilities of art education
At the same time as lockdown has isolated and insulated many inside the space of an apartment, in the world outside tempestuous movements rage. The virus, wildly infectious and minimally understood cuts an alarmingly rising curve. Hundreds of thousands mass in demonstrations about race, power, political interests, human rights, sectarian angers. Truths, speculations, petty gossip and lies mingle in social media and journalism. Economies teeter. Existing territorial and power disputes continue, perhaps grow. The power we have as individuals, always somewhat fragile and limited, now appears further restricted by enforced seclusion and technologically mediated communication.
A widely lauded function of the arts is that art–making provides both a medium and a critical yet visceral framework to question, explore and make at least transient and perhaps troublesome sense of the inner human situation and the world outside. In arts education we probe how artists in our heritages have struggled with such sense-making and work to facilitate new relevant navigations into making meaning in the face of problems. In this post-Covid era (and I use the term post- in the sense of something begun but not yet completed) we have plenty of material that needs to be made sense of. However, it seems that many of our most familiar tools have been confiscated and our opportunities curtailed. Some arts may be made in solitude; others depend on physical interaction. All expect and need audience. The varied ways of using one or more of the arts as a medium for learning, for research or for health have developed in contexts that allow embodied and interactive collaboration. Can we usefully adapt our existing practices to survive the restrictions of this time? And can we do so with aesthetic flair as well as with educational effectiveness? This presentation will be in part theoretical, teasing out the core elements of what makes arts education effective. It will also examine some post-Covid examples of communal art-making that have sought to break through the barriers of separation, more or less successfully.
Olusegun Michael Adeniyi, is an award winning Art educator-cum-social entrepreneur, passionate about SDG 4, most especially integration of quality art education in teaching and learning, and giving his students the best of Art education with a global perspective. His vision is to raise the standard of art education, advance the learning field of Art and inspire the next generations of artists and art lovers who will be innovative thinkers and global citizens. He teaches Art and Design currently at Caleb British International School, Lagos Nigeria and founder of Teaching Visual Art. He is the convener of Art Educators’ Hangout, a virtual meeting place for art educators on the continent of Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. He has received several awards and recognitions which include David Shepherd Award 2020; President’s Teacher Excellence Award 2019; Inspiration Teacher of the Year 2019; Global Teacher Award 2018; Wakelet Ambassador; TeachSDGs Ambassador; Outstanding Staff Award 2019; MIE Expert/Trainer 2019/2020; Commonwealth Science Competition, Winner 2017; British Council “Your World” Video Competition, Country Winner 2016. He is available for collaborative work in education and environment sustainability projects.
Online Published Portfolio
Title of the conference paper: Virtual Learning Space and Its Impacts During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdowns: A Case Study of Art Educators’ Hangout
Olusegun Michael Adeniyi
Virtual Learning Space and Its Impacts During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdowns: A Case Study of Art Educators’ Hangout
There is a growing demand for global competence and cross-cultural skills, and that international experience is invaluable for teachers and their students; but the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has put a halt to so many social and academic gatherings. For this reason, Teaching Visual Art has created a virtual meeting place for art educators tagged Art Educators’ Hangout. Reality of today’s world during the COVID-19 pandemic is that things are no longer the way they were. The world is observing social distancing and this has made it impossible for art educators to come together physically as the boarders are closed and countries are on lockdown. The Art Educators’ Hangout has offered the art educators the platform to discuss their works, interact and inspire one another towards advancing the learning field of Art and improving the quality of art education on the continent of Africa. The initiative is to foster dialogue and sharing stimulating art projects to improve creativity and art appreciation with the vision to build network of art educators across the continent of Africa that are locally relevant and influential with global perspective. This presentation provides the broad overview of the virtual learning space, Art Educators’ Hangout and its socio-economic impacts on Art educators during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
Bee Lian is a senior lecturer and the current co-ordinator for the Visual Arts group in the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore. She teaches pedagogy modules in the undergraduate, postgraduate-diplomas, professional development and masters programmes at NIE. Before joining NIE, Bee Lian taught in secondary schools and served as a curriculum officer in the Curriculum Planning and Development Division at the Ministry of Education (MOE). Bee Lian sees partnerships in education as critical for quality education and she continues to collaborate actively with MOE and other arts agencies such as the National Arts Council, in art education research and programme development.
Bee Lian completed her Master of Art and Art Education with Teachers College, Columbia University and subsequently received her Doctorate of Education from King’s College, London. Her research interest is in art teacher education, art teacher knowledge and art teachers’ reflective practice. Her research projects focus on teacher education such as art teachers’ teaching practices in Singapore classrooms and the use of technologies in art teacher education.
Title of the conference paper: Re-thinking the meaning of art for children and adolescents and the type of art education for the future
Bee-Lian Kehk
Re-thinking the meaning of art for children and adolescents and the type of art education for the future
The current pandemic has swept swiftly across the globe and destabilized many traditional social institutions that we are familiar with, and one such institution is schools. The present crisis has also forced us to confront fundamental issues in art education that we have perhaps, ignored or not taken seriously for a long time. Art education in schools is often subjected to political and social agendas and are ascribed roles that are consistent with and supportive of various governments’ ideals. While many of these roles of art education are reasonable and valid, it is timely for us to re-evaluate the meaning of art education for children and adolescents. In Singapore, we are fortunate that art is a mandatory subject for students from primary to secondary 2 level. However, what does art education mean to these young people and what can we do to create meaningful art experiences for them? In addition, present constraints brought about by the crisis such as social distancing measures, museum closures and online learning take away the very kind of learning in art that is anchored in actual physical viewing, demonstration, modeling and making. I will share experiences from Singapore’s context and discuss the need for art teachers to be technology-ready. I will also suggest that we think about why young people make art and the possible value it holds for them.