Nov 20th Session 5C

Presentation 1: More Than a Dualism: Applied and Fine Art Education in Ontario, Dustin Garnet & Harold Pearse

Our presentation builds on and expands the significance of past investigations in two ways, first we position Ontario on the wider map of international histories of art education (Stankiewicz, 2009), and second we use stories of students, teachers, and school administrators of art education in Ontario to show the complexity and tension created between the South Kensington system and its transition into more humanist forms of art education. Art education in Ontario from 1850-1950 was a progressive and developing field influenced by a number of international philosophical and art movements and key political figures which have shaped both technical and collegiate streams of pedagogical practice (Stirling, 1991; Chalmers, 1993; Panayotidis, 1997).

The historical stories we present expand upon the known inherent tension between fine art and applied art and design. In the past, this dualism has been defined and outlined, but how did this tension actually show itself in the day to day lives of art students, teachers, and administrators? Utilizing archival research (Morris and Raunft, 1995) and material culture analysis (Bolin and Blandy, 2011) we position Ontario as a point of convergence for colonial art education influences. Our data sources include primary source documents found in the Toronto District School Board Archives, Queens University Archives and the Ontario Provincial Archives (Pearse, 2006; Garnet, in press). Material culture such as yearbooks, student art and technical equipment were examined to identify techniques, aesthetic tastes, and artistic philosophies that shaped art education in Ontario for one hundred years.

Our visual presentation will provide a detailed and multi-dimensional version of the past constructing history by spinning a web of historical accounts that rely on and weave together the analytical threads of archives, material culture, and teachers’ lives. We bring forward a dynamic contribution to understanding more localized forces such as cultural factors, artistic biases and predilections, and postsecondary pedagogical and andragogical practices which have affected the evolution and progression of art education in the province of Ontario. Implications of the effects and consequences of dualistic and binary thinking on art education theory and practice in general are also examined.

Presentation 2: Tradition And The Contemporary Collide: Newfoundland and Labrador Art-Education History, Gerard Curtis & Heather McLeod

The history of art education in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada, the most easterly, and one of the most isolated sections of North America, is as of yet largely unexamined (Pearce, 2006; Stamp, 2003).  It is a province proud of its historical traditions and values, yet these values are, at times, in conflict with contemporary global culture.  Having only recently (in political terms) left behind its British “territorial” status to join Canada in 1949 in a bitter confederation referendum still hotly debated, the province’s socio-political and cultural struggles, and successes, and the impact of an ongoing boom and bust cycle in resource development, are echoed both in the history of art education, and in its artistic evolution.

This situation makes NL an interesting micro-model in which to explore the political dynamics of art educational practice and artist training particularly in the shifting tenets promoted by the provincial educational department through the art curriculum.   From colonial traditionalism (Chalmers, 1990) to modernism and post modernism, and DBAE to VCAE (Grubbs, 2012), art educational issues including the role of First Nations and Inuit views and traditions, all play into a heady mix that art educators, at all educational levels from elementary to post-secondary, must navigate. 

Using primary documents, secondary sources and interviews we will present an evolving historical and contemporary socio-political diorama, showing how art education can serve not only as a historically reflective device, but also as an object of political and social challenge.  Examining both artistic self-determination and shifting provincial ambitions, Boland’s (2009) notions of imagination and speculation and principles advanced by Stankiewicz, (2007) will guide our interpretation.

This history provides a cautionary tale on the vagaries of promoting artistic traditionalism over contemporary meta-modernism, and the role of art in the classroom in reflecting global society at large. With a growingly mixed population that is still viewed within the narrow historical colonialist terms of British, Irish, and French immigrants, art education plays a significant role in a contemporary dynamic that can at times challenge this self-promoted geographic and historical myopia, including providing recognition of the province’s often ignored indigenous cultures.  Art in the province increasingly acts as a suturing mechanism, and a reflective device, through which to look at these tensions, allowing the art educator to play a somewhat subversive role to the larger historical, political, and social agenda.  Yet art education, and art have also been used as a tool to serve various shifting political agendas.

Negotiating this terrain as an art educator can be difficult and nurturing a future generation of educators and artists to surmount these issues, while providing awareness of them within the context of the global art market, can be a minefield.  Tradition and the contemporary collide, yet the dynamic of this play has produced some amazing results culturally, and walking this tightrope provides a model for a newer generation who have to be increasingly more multi-cultural and internationalist in their views.

Presentation 3: Passion and Persistence: A History of the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, Michael Maynard

Canada’s New Brunswick College of Craft and Design (NBCCD), located in Fredericton, has been an important influence on cultural development in the province with a heritage dating back to a federal government handicrafts training program of the 1930s. Over the years that outreach program has evolved into a contemporary post-secondary institution of fine craft and design, a designated centre of excellence. Today a range of College programs leading to certificates and diplomas, and an articulated program leading to a baccalaureate degree offered by the University of New Brunswick, provides students an educational experience unique in Canada. Appointed Principal in August 2007, I attempted to learn more about the venerable institution prior to beginning work on a new strategic plan. I quickly realized there was no formal documentation of the College’s history or development, very little institutional data available and only anecdotal recollections from current and former instructors and administrators. Therefore the focus of my doctoral interdisciplinary research study has been a history of the College, the first formal documentation of its development. This research has included interviews with key College staff and stakeholders, a comprehensive review of College documents and government files at the Provincial Archives, and the sourcing, editing and presenting of archival and contemporary visual material. This interdisciplinary focus and the resulting narrative, a combination of visuals and text, reinforces the pivotal role the College has played – and continues to play – as an important post-secondary resource in New Brunswick.

My study confirmed that the story of NBCCD is an important one within the context of North American post-secondary arts education, and worth sharing with a larger audience beyond the close-knit culture sector of Canada's eastern provinces.  

Aligned with the focus of the "Brushes with History: Imagination and Innovation in Art Education History" conference, I propose presenting an overview and summary of this graduate research to such an audience. Given its unique history and development, its longstanding focus on craft education, and the interdisciplinary narrative, the presentation will be of interest to conference participants whether their backgrounds are in visual arts or craft, in art education or history.