Steppingstones

Representing the first extensive volume on the history of art education to be published in 20 years, this book will generate new interpretations of both local and global histories for 21st-century readers. Steppingstones captures pivotal moments in art education history within the United States and globally. Chapters are situated within the broad and active stream of history, identified by the authors as places to pause, step down, and deeply explore these moments and the vibrant terrain that surrounds them. Some steppingstones in the volume are new and fresh reappraisals of familiar and well-recognized landing places in art education history. Other steppingstones contain discussions of previously unknown or overlooked material uncovered by the authors. Digging deep, getting beneath, and revealing steppingstones that embrace a pathway through the past, this book explores dynamic and spirited narratives about the people, institutions, events, tensions, and international perspectives that have shaped and continue to direct the course of art and design education.

Book Features:

• Investigates contemporary issues through a lens toward the past, including issues of race, cultural protocols, intersectionality, international influence, White privilege, and other social concerns.
• Presents contributions from well-known senior scholars alongside new voices of several emerging scholars of color.
• Includes biographical accounts of African American artists and educators, and the role and influence of the Harlem Renaissance.
• Contains discussion of art education in colonial India and explores complex relationships between colonizer-colonized histories.
• Focuses on art education in the United States with discussion of specific international influences.
• Offers contemporary best practices for doing historical research and strategies for teaching art education history courses at the university level.
• Highlights the significance of digital humanities and digital scholarship.

Paul E. Bolin is professor emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin. Ami Kantawala is adjunct associate professor of art and art education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Mary Ann Stankiewicz is professor emeritus at The Pennsylvania State University.

“This volume’s multivocal approach to the history of art education is exactly what is needed in this moment, when remembering and working with the past is necessary for creating educational opportunities that are socially just, culturally responsible, and necessary to supporting democratic citizenship. By focusing on case examples, contributors to this volume reveal the social, cultural, and political complexities associated with art and education, while simultaneously modeling effective practices in historical research. This book is required reading for all those working to advance an art education that is responsive and responsible to the field’s history and future.”
—Doug Blandy, professor, University of Oregon