Research Interests

Much of my research attends to the facilitation and encouragement of those citizens often excluded, ignored, disconnected, and unrecognized as potential participants in discussions about art and the development of art programs. My research has attended t o the accommodation and inclusion of the myriad aesthetic interests and viewpoints that are encountered and experienced in a pluralistic society like that found in the United States. I have also speculated on the role of images and image making in the so cial change process. Recently, my focus in this regard has been on environmental issues and the relationship of social ecology to art and community.

Research methods are derived from critical theory and cultural studies. Critical theory supports my search for social contradictions and inequitable power relations for the purpose of social transformation. Commonly accepted ideas can be revealed to be fallacious, rigid, and contribute to unwarranted and misguided social applications. Approaches from cultural studies have assisted me in seeing the ordinary as extraordinary.

My research often requires cross-disciplinary or transdisciplinary strategies. As such, research questions and procedures have, at times, been formulated in collaboration with scholars from other disciplines or research orientations, as well as with peop le from outside of the university context. My participation in such research is motivated by my belief that the problems with which I am engaged require responses that synthesize multiple viewpoints and sources of information. These problems are often t he result of scholastic myopia and can only be re-visioned in partnership with others. Collaboration provides intellectual stimulation as distinctions between personal positions disintegrate through the creation of new expanded visions.

Selected Bibliography

Disability Studies
(in progress). A disability aesthetic, integration, and critical pedagogy. In A. Nyman & A. Jenkins (Eds.), Issues and approaches to art students with special needs.
(in press). Gender reconstruction, disability images, and art education. In G. Collins & R. Sandall (Eds.), Gender issues in art education: Content, contexts, and strategies.
(1993). Community-based lifelong learning in art for adults with mental retardation. Studies in Art Education, 34(3), 179-187.
(1991). Conceptions of disability: Toward a socio-political orientation for art education. Studies in Art Education, 32(3), 131-144.
(1989). Ecological and normalizing approaches to disabled students and art education. Art Education, 42(3), 36-43.
(1983). Printing Poetry in Blissymbols: An Arts-of-the-Book Apprenticeship for Four So-Called Moderately Mentally Retarded Persons. Dissertation. The Ohio State University.
Pluralism and Democracy in the Arts
with Congdon, K. G., Hicks, L., Hoffman, E., & Krug, D. (1994). The Green Quilt: An example of collective eco-action in art education. The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, 14, 35-43.
with Congdon, K. G. (1991). Pluralistic approaches to art criticism. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
with Congdon, K. G. (1988). Community based aesthetics as an exhibition catalyst and a foundation for community involvement in the arts. Studies in Art Education, 29(4), 243-249.
edited with Congdon, K. G. (1987). Art in a democracy. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Return to Home Page