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Winter 2016
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as well.There was a push to get students really engaged in
art appreciation, and to teach them to truly look at art and
see the role of art in culture and our world.
“By viewing artwork, we get insight into the world —
insights into human experience,” Stewart explained.
During his time at KU, de Francesco discussed this
new dimension in art education, and spoke on the need
to engage in reflective practice by always thinking about
how things are being done and regularly considering
what does and doesn’t work.
“We call it ‘teacher as researcher’ today,” Stewart said.
So the focus in art education remained one in which
students were deeply involved in their own development
as artists, but were also learning the importance of art
appreciation. At this time, the program at KU boasted
many required studio art courses, but only one teaching
methodology course prior to student teaching.
Things shifted again in the
mid-1960s. An emerging idea
was the concept of the “aesthetic
dimension of experience.” This
approach to teaching allowed
students to have an enriched
experience of the world, as it
taught them how to perceive
various forms of art, including
dance, theatre, visual art and
music.Manuel Barkan of Ohio
State University wrote an impor-
tant paper about the idea of the
aesthetic experience, suggesting
that future teachers needed to be
taught how to think like artists, art historians and art critics,
which would then lead to insight into the human experience.
Evan J. Kern, who was hired by Barkan at Ohio State,
brought ideas about aesthetic education to KU as he
served as the first dean of visual and performing art. He
was followed by a colleague from Ohio State, Dr.Mary
Erickson, and they both worked to promote this idea of
aesthetic education among the other faculty of KU.
Eldon Katter, who was hired at KU the year before
Kern came, was office mates with Erickson.The two of
them built upon the ideas of these other great figures in
KU’s art education history and developed a model for
a participatory response to art that was very active and
hands-on.The pair also led students to think within the
three models, and introduced more teaching methodology
courses to the program. Studio courses also continued
to be important, including one with a focus on the use
of new communication technology in teaching art.This
course was taught by Dr.Thomas Schantz, a graduate of
KU who returned after earning his doctorate at the Penn-
sylvania State University.
Stewart arrived at KU in 1986, and
Dr. John White, the current chair of
the art education department, came
six years later, among many other
talented faculty members.
“I brought with me my love of
education and teaching, and so,
along with all of my colleagues, we’ve
gotten a
lot of work
done both
here and at the national level,”
Stewart explained.
Because of the faculty’s
national involvement, KU
continues to be known as a
significant place for learning
across the country.The depart-
ment that began with Henry
Sharadin has become something
new, and something better suit-
ed to coincide with the current
ideas about art and education.
“Now, we’re very much practice-based, and very in
touch with what happens in the classroom and out in the
schools where our students go on to actually practice their
craft,” Stewart said proudly.
New ideas and courses on subjects like feminism, gender
issues, social justice, special needs and ways of learning, class,
race and alternate settings are now being offered in the art
education department, and there’s always room for more.
“It’s very different from the early days,”Stewart explained
with a smile.“At that time,when they were teaching drawing,
they would just say, go out, look carefully and draw. But
now, it’s so much more, and we’re still growing.”
Left: An examination in
drawing is given in 1909.
Right: Dr. Marilyn Stewart
“By viewing artwork,
we get insight into the
world – insights into
human experience,”
– DR. MARILYN STEWART