Lucy Bartholomee

Convergence: Feminism, Intersectionality, and Decolonization Unite to Elevate Creativity and Camaraderie

Lucy Bartholomee – University of Texas at Arlington, USA – attending in-person

Kathy Brown – University of Arkansas, USA – attending virtually

Abstract:

The creative buzz of art educators and artists coming together at conferences and professional development events generates an electric energy. This presentation explores ways these inspirational experiences can be enhanced by research, inquiry, and creative work during the Creativity Tour & Symposium, at InSEA and other art education gatherings. Specifically, we consider how themes of Feminism, Intersectionality, and Decolonization elevated the creative experience of art educators traveling together on PD programs. Coming together from different regions we find that we share a sense of caring, a love of art, history, and contemporary culture, and a shared desire for community. Camaraderie develops naturally between art educators at different stages of their careers, elevating the experience beyond the planned program. Together, we are confronted by the wealth of colonization still evident in palaces, gardens, treasuries, and art collections. Yet the cathedrals and palaces are often literally constructed on and with the remains of Roman colonization centuries earlier. The intersectionality of the architecture serves as a physical example that deepens our philosophical understandings of ourselves, our communities, and the locals we encounter. Feminist authors and female-identifying artists enhance the ‘curriculum’ of art galleries, historical sites, street art, and our own art making during the program. The outcome is deeply meaningful, life-enhancing, and creatively inspiring. The embodied experiences of traveling and learning together allows all idealities to hold space, even in the midst of complicated historical sites. Understanding that each of us brings an entangled perspective to any one object or environment creates a point of reciprocal discourse and ontological shifts. The Creativity Tour and Symposium illuminates the power of said convergence. In this session we, two American women of different sociocultural backgrounds, will discuss our recent collaboration in Spain and its emerging, generative outcomes.