An art and design university is a particular kind of "semiotic landscape," comprised of teachers and students heavily invested in the difference that non-linguistic modes of expression make to meaning and human experience. Here both experienced and emerging creative practitioners experiment with the signifying possibilities of, for example, wood,…

This paper explores how Canadian identity remains a white identity through an examination of the ways in which cultural diversity in Canada has been promoted and controlled in law and in practice through Jakeet Singh's (2004) notion of "culture-blind multiculturalism." It then turns to one instance of this kind of myopic cultural reproduction…

Student-organized exhibitions hold the potential to greatly enhance the visual arts school curriculum. Student art exhibition events can address socio-economic issues, function as part of integrated or interdisciplinary projects, and even unite students from different continents using today's high-speed Internet connectivity. Although there is…

Since 2000, the impact of technologies on society has been critical, significant, and extensive. In this paper, the author explores art educators' perceptions and approaches to working with technology, in light of the emerging technology as a significant and increasingly prevalent art education tool, as a means of student communication, and as a…

This article explores the potential of heterotopia as a way to prompt us to think differently about children's art-making. Foucault uses the term to describe a space of difference. As something that is not easily located within a system of representation, a heterotopia is not amenable to interpretation. It is this resistance to interpretation that…

Recent theoretical and technological developments redefine the discipline of architecture substantially. Current day approaches in design pedagogy focus on personal and bodily experiences of the "subject" and the need for investigating new ways and methods to enhance awareness of spatial experiences is inevitable. In order to establish a heuristic…

Education reforms from teacher-centred to student-centred courses usually come with the adoption of new teaching strategies. However, following the growing design and development of student-centred teaching and learning innovations in many fields of study, not many efforts have been found in the field of software application teaching. Therefore,…

This article discusses a Bachelor of Design honours year typography project in the medium of letterpress. The "Letter-space" project positioned letterpress as a textual, spatial and structural visual language, through which the experiences and meanings of a local urban place were translated, mapped and given form through typographic design. We…

Creative participation in the arts is a complex and abstract concept that bridges the gap between cultural production and its consumption. It is highly contextual and defined through a range of discourses besides aesthetics that concern access and inclusion, cultural identity, socio-political rights, collective working, transformation and…

Education as a liberating and democratic process remains an aim and belief in discourses within the field and beyond. The arts also have a tradition in which "artistic freedom" is valued even if what constitutes artistic freedom is contested. In this article an educational discourse in which dialogue is considered a means to personal and…

An American artist and art educator discusses her experience teaching at the American University in Cairo, Egypt (AUC). Students are confronted by local and international discourse about authenticity, integrity and influence. They express their frustration and anxiety about their chances for success in the global art market. The author questions…

In this article I report on a study into fine art lecturers' assessment practices in higher education. This study explores the ways that lecturers bring themselves into the act of assessment (Hand & Clewes 2000). I interviewed twelve fine art lecturers who worked across six English universities. Lecturers were asked to relate to me how they learnt…

"Learning through art in the museum" is a Masters' level module established in 2006 through collaboration between the School of Education at Roehampton University, London and Interpretation and Education staff at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. On completion of the module, participants were asked to reflect on how the experience had altered their…

This article identifies recent, mainly Nordic, research approaches to visual arts education. A concept map was developed as a heuristic tool in order to highlight salient traits and blind spots. Contemporary research typically has its origin either in "education" or in "the art world", with an emphasis either on art "as language" or on "art as…

"Artist-teacher" is a conceptually rich term in the field of art and design education used to describe the professionally distinct roles of artist and teacher. George Wallis (1811-91), a nineteenth-century artist and teacher, the subject of this article, first used the term "artist-teacher" to describe himself and his theories of art education. To…