Crafting A/R/Tographic Spaces For New Art Educators through Visual Journaling

My thesis is a multimodal project inspired by a/r/tography, a theoretical framework that involves thinking holistically about art educators as artists, researchers, and teachers who navigate these identities fluidly in their lives within and outside of school settings. The core of a/r/tography is a way of thinking about these three main (overlapping) arenas that art educators move in between and the unique and unpredictable possibilities that emerge from practicing in these ever-changing spaces. My aim was to use a/r/tography as a point of departure for crafting resources and spaces that new art educators can utilize to better understand and navigate their multiple identities. I believe that nurturing each of these identities has the potential to make us better teachers capable of thriving in the often-challenging world of public education. The spaces I hoped to cultivate encourage reflective practice, sustainable art making, and connecting with other art educators. This project involved several moving parts that support my goals, including: my own first-year teaching journal, a website, digital documentation of the first-year journal, and this written component that provides the theoretical frame for this project.