Image of Terry Allen's Road Angel at The Contemporary Austin
The world's largest art education convention, The National Art Education Association's (NAEA) conference, is host to over 1,000 participatory workshops, panels, and seminars for art educators in elementary through higher education. The NAEA works to provide expertise and tools to its many attendees to help them effect change on their local levels. For UT Austin students and professors alike, it is an opportunity to share scholarship and network among peer researchers and educators in the field.
Last year, Art Education masters candidate Emma Grimes went to the NAEA convention as an attendee. She returned this year, but this time to present her thesis findings as part of the Professional Learning through Research (PLR) Working Group's session, "Research Exemplars of Collaboration Across Divisions." Working within the museum space, Grimes' research crosses boundaries between museums, special education and art education.
Grimes' thesis study grew out of her experience working at a small private school in northwest Austin for children with developmental disabilities. What began as a temporary job concurrent to her studies, developed into research dedicated to finding new ways to engage students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in creative experiences. An internship with The Contemporary Austin gave Grimes the inspiration to locate her research within The Contemporary's outdoor sculpture park, Laguna Gloria. In a collaboration with a special education teacher from a school in Austin, Grimes helped to prepare a class of 7-9-year olds for a trip to a new environment. Grimes' research considers the role of museum educators, examining the methods that docents use to engage special needs audiences and the benefits of a museum field trip for visitors with ASD from the perspective of the Associate Director of Education at The Contemporary Austin.
"In my study, I sought to understand the barriers and reluctance that teachers faced when considering this specific type of field trip for their students," said Grimes. "Not only that, but I wanted to carry out the process of planning and going on a field trip to a contemporary art museum with a class of children with ASD."
Image courtesy of Clare Donnely
Also focused on an overlooked demographic, undergraduate Visual Art Studies' student Madi Beavers presented at NAEA on the subject of integrating LGBTQ+ artists into K-12 lesson plans.
"As a LGBTQ+ individual myself I see it as important to not only educate students and youth about myself and others like me, but about the vast diversity present in the art world," writes Beavers.
A Bridging Disciplines student as well, Beavers sees their research subject as connected to both social entrepreneurship and social activism. Beavers' research is twofold: they compiled a list of LGBTQ+ visual artists that would serve as sources of teaching instruction and then iteratively implemented and revised lesson plans showcasing LGBTQ+ artists and individuals in a high school classroom.
Beavers writes about the impact of their research, "It is my intent for this research project to serve as tools not only for my career in art non-profit and art education, but for others like myself."