Meet the Educators

I started Artfully Learning in 2017, while I was preparing to become a certified art educator. Back then, art education was a shift from my previous work as an art historian, independent curator, and gallerist. While I was working in schools, I developed lesson plans that incorporated ideas from what I knew from working in the art world. I wanted to find a way to relate diverse concepts from art history within a modern day school curriculum, and utilize contemporary art in collaboration with students’ experiences, interests, and relevant learning in other subject areas. Artfully Learning was born from this motivation and my experiences in both the education and fine art environments. 

Since I have basically been working in support of other artists and art educators, I have little time for my own artistic practice. However, in the early weeks and months of 2020, I had more time to spend in my studio. I decided that my first artworks in a while would be a series of mixed-media portraits of educators that would reflect themes that I have been presenting on Artfully Learning, advocating art’s unique multidisciplinary impact within the educational curriculum. I call this set of portraits The Educators. My main objective behind the imagery I make, is to assert that educators are artists and vice versa. Each portrait is an example of a teacher, teaching artist, educational reformer, or visual artist whose methods are in tandem with theories and practices formative to both making art and teaching. 

Teachers are not typical subjects of artworks, however there are instances of educators being depicted in works of art. I was inspired by several examples, including portraits by German-American artist Winold Reiss that pay tribute to teachers in Harlem during the 1920s (see: “Winold Reiss’ Intersectional Art Education”), a time of significant educational reform and striving towards social justice within the United States educational system. The Educators features both notable figures as well as relatively unsung pedagogical trailblazers. Every portrait is accompanied by a quote on education that has been accredited to the individual. This series is a compilation of these drawings, but it goes further than just presenting them in a monographic or slideshow format. Like I do throughout the entire Artfully Learning platform, I intend to show the benefits of integrating visual art practices within a pedagogical framework, in order to make art and artistic knowledge accessible to a diverse and multigenerational population. This audio-visual series is a historical overview of the progressive education movement through the lens of art and artistic innovation. Each portrait is part of the narrative. 

The first episode (i.e. the introduction) is available to watch below. The rest of the episodes will be exclusively available to my Patreon subscribers. By becoming a Patreon patron, you are helping me to continue writing and creating resources and other content for educators, artists, students and anyone who is interested in art and education.

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