Rachel Mason

Art teachers and action research

Abstract The qualitative educational research literature is increasingly advocating the use of literary/artistic techniques. This article describes and evaluates educational action researches by three art teachers, and questions why they have not capitalised methodologically on their artistic expertise. Analysis of commonalities in practitioner-based research in education and practice-based research in art and design reveals significant differences in these two paradigms however. Whereas artists and educational researchers both engage in qualitative problem solving and may use the same kinds of materials and tools, they develop different kinds of hypotheses, look for different sorts of evidence and apply different quality controls.

Modernism and Postmodernism in Contemporary Korean Art: Implications for Art Education Reform

This paper reports the findings of research into cross-cultural influences on Korean contemporary art and the artists’ aesthetic and cultural values and beliefs. Findings were that predominant Western influences during the Korean modern period have been American-Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, but that these trends have been acculturated rather than assimilated; that Korean Modern Art continues to dominate the Korean fine art world since it is practised by very established artists and master-craftsment; and the work of the younger less-established artists who are absorbing postmodern values, is more representational and eclectic stylistically, and sets out to convey messages and meanings about social problems in contemporary Korean life. The growing concern with Korean cultural identity is interpreted, in part, as a response to the demands of the international art market, but is represented through the artists’ use of traditional Korean content and processes, or pursuit of Korean metaphysical/philosophical ideals.

Problematising multicultural art education in the context of Taiwan

In this paper I reflect on the experience of working with Taiwanese art educators. The data I revisit comes from participation in four art education conferences between 1995 and 2001, a three‐month period of residence at Changhua University of Education teaching a masters programme, three intensive summer programmes organised for Taiwanese art teachers in London and doctoral supervision. In these reflections I consider what these experiences have taught me about multicultural art education and pedagogy in Taiwan, their key characteristic and some East–West differences. I conclude that multicultural art education reform in Taiwan is distinctive in the way it engages both with homeland studies and global visual culture. The absence of national sovereignty means that Taiwanese art teachers are ideally placed to experiment with post‐modern developments in art curriculum practice.

School Children's Visualisations of Europe.

‘Images & Identity’ was a two-year curriculum development project in which citizenship and art educators in the Czech Republic, England, Ireland, Germany, Malta and Portugal collaborated on the production of teacher education materials. The article begins with a critical analysis of educational policy for European citizenship and of the potential contribution visual art and citizenship education might make to understanding what it means to be European. The main body of the article reports on a small-scale survey of school childrens visual representations of Europe carried out in advance of the curriculum development. This survey elicited received, recreated and created representations. Whereas many were totemic symbols of European identity downloaded from the Internet, a surprising number were personal artworks in which children explored and developed their personal feelings and ideas. This article describes and analyses the images the children selected, remixed and/or created, focusing on the subject matter, metaphorical meanings and interpretative themes. Findings about their orientation to European citizen identity were that it was dominated by physical and social perceptions, and whilst largely positive, these perceptions varied according to nationality, ethnicity and age.