Journal Articles by Lisa LaJevic
Qualitative Inquiry, 2008
A/r/tography is an arts-based research methodology that inquires into educational phenomenon thro... more A/r/tography is an arts-based research methodology that inquires into educational phenomenon through artistic and aesthetic means. A/r/tographical research engages in pedagogical inquiry where the distinctions between researcher and researched become complicated, responsive, and undone. A/r/tography, the authors argue, develops the relationship between embodiment and ethics as a being-with. In this manner, ethics does not refer to the rationalist acquisition of knowledge or moral codes that advocate particular bodily behaviors but instead suggests that participating in a network of relations lends itself to gestures of non-violence. This article extends previous writings on a/r/tographical inquiry through a particular examination of the use of visual journals in a preservice teacher education course. Through the intertextuality of image and word, visual journals enable teachers and students to make meaning and inquire creatively into educational issues in a space that respects self and other.
Studies in Art Education, 2011
This article explores how student teaching experiences provoke pre-service art teachers to rethin... more This article explores how student teaching experiences provoke pre-service art teachers to rethink curriculum and pedagogy as an organic and living space that is connected to place, community, and local knowledge. Based on a larger qualitative study of urban pre-service art education student teachers, two student teachers’ journeys are highlighted as case studies for this article. Investigating information collected through student teacher interviews, classroom observations, and video elicitations, these cases exemplify how student art teachers embark on a journey that facilitates becoming a teacher through emergent and responsive curriculum that integrates art, materiality, and place. We highlight the importance of conceptualizing pre-service teaching as an embodied and relational way of knowing, and the important role that place as a focus of curriculum might have for effective and meaningful field experiences. Implications are discussed in terms of pre-service teacher education, urban teaching, and curriculum studies.
Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 2012
In this paper, we explore a knitted curriculum. Connecting the traditional craft of knitting with... more In this paper, we explore a knitted curriculum. Connecting the traditional craft of knitting with meaning-making, art, and activism, we attempt to understand live(d) curriculum through two pre-service teachers’ unique experiences. Based on a larger qualitative study that studies how pre-service art teachers make meaning and sense of their student teaching experiences, we investigate how student-teachers challenge traditional attitudes toward knitting and art, and explore the role knitting played in their development as art teachers. While the focus of the paper is on knitting as a curricular subject, we also rethink curriculum metaphorically through a knitted framework. Conceptualizing curriculum as “knitted” provides insight into the relational, embodied aspects of curriculum—how curriculum exists within and around each teacher and student in their everyday lives and the embedded intertwined threads of culture and society.
International Journal of Education Through Art, 2013
Using the metaphor of the ‘lost and found’, I will explore the curricular and pedagogical space o... more Using the metaphor of the ‘lost and found’, I will explore the curricular and pedagogical space of the arts in the elementary classroom and address implications for teacher education. The lost and found – a space where found items are kept for reclaiming by their owners – can help provide insight into the complexities and uncertainties of integrating the arts into the general elementary classroom. This article is based on findings from a qualitative study that attempted to understand arts integration and what is truly happening with the arts in elementary classrooms.
Visual Culture & Gender, 2013
Looking on, in, and under scarred skin, problematizes understandings of memory, subjectivity, and... more Looking on, in, and under scarred skin, problematizes understandings of memory, subjectivity, and self/other relations. Using arts-based inquiry, I investigate my scarred life stories while connecting it to feminist perspectives that expose social constructs of gendered scarred skin. As I peel back the complex surfaces, I highlight my female voice and personal experiences to explore the layered meanings in my scars. Questioning assumptions and understandings of scarred skin in relation to self and others, my goal is
to stimulate new ways to view, understand, and engage with skin scars.
Art Education , 2013
We have come to the realization that the Earth is not invincible; we must preserve our habitat fo... more We have come to the realization that the Earth is not invincible; we must preserve our habitat for it to remain hospitable. So how can we, as teachers, educate future generations about specific environmental topics such as pollution and sustainability and their effects on the Earth? One exciting way we found to incorporate science into the art curriculum is through the use of ecological art, more specifically a process of reverse pollution. Reverse pollution attempts to change a contaminated environment back to its original unsoiled state. Over the last decade artists have begun to experiment with reverse pollution techniques, such as reverse graffiti, which focuses on cleaning environmental surfaces. Having recently been introduced to the works of Moose,' the artist known for inventing the reverse graffiti technique, we decided to design a curriculum to increase student awareness of ecological issues. Hoping to inspire students to become agents of change through art, the activity encourages students to investigate the adverse effects of pollution, reflect upon how their actions impact the Earth, and engage in ecologically friendly artmaking practices. This article examines ecological art and reverse pollution, and presents a lesson idea that expands upon the traditional reductive art process by using reverse graffiti to "clean" dirty surfaces such as cars, sidewalks, windows, or walls, transforming them into public pieces of ecological art.
Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities, 2013
Researching how Arts Integration is practiced in a primary school, this article explores
how elem... more Researching how Arts Integration is practiced in a primary school, this article explores
how elementary teachers understand, implement, and experience Arts Integration. Weaving together personal experiences, teacher interviews, focus group sessions, classroom observations, and written texts, I investigate how the arts are often devalued in Arts Integration. Not only are the arts used for decorative purposes, but the arts component in Arts Integration is greatly diluted as well. Addressing what can be done to attend to the problem of devaluing the arts in the classroom, this essay holds implications for teacher education, Arts Integration and curriculum development.
Art Education, 2014
What does an introduction to and engagement in performance art offer K-12 students? In this artic... more What does an introduction to and engagement in performance art offer K-12 students? In this article, we respond to this question by proposing a lesson inspired by the artmaking practices of the contemporary artist Erwin Wurm. Performance art can be defined as any form of work that combines the artist's body and a live-action event with or without additional media, props, or tools. Having re-emerged as a credible subject matter and medium over the past 2 decades (O'Reilly, 2009), performance art is now serving as a fundamental meaning-making practice for artists across the world. With this rising popularity, we have become interested (and anxious) about the possibilities of teaching performance art in K-12 schools. The remainder of this
article introduces performance art by examining the role of the body in art education and art history (e.g., the body as a subject in art and as an artmaking medium) and attempts to understand performance art as a living bodied curriculum through an investigation of Wurm's artistic process and related art lesson ideas for the art classroom.
Art Education, 2015
How can we challenge students to re-imagine their world(s) through performance art? As art educat... more How can we challenge students to re-imagine their world(s) through performance art? As art educators, many of us are concerned with exposing our students to contemporary artmaking practices. We aim to create fresh lessons that expand their understandings of art in today’s world while highlighting the importance of imagination. With a personal interest in performance and street art, art forms that have gained popularity in recent years, we, the authors, continuously seek out ways to include such exciting processes into our curriculum. This article explores an engaging lesson inspired by Robin Rhode, a South African contemporary performance artist, that asks students to perform and document intra-actions with static chalk drawn re-imagined worlds.
The International Journal of Arts Education, 2017
This article explores how a college art education program implemented early field experiences in ... more This article explores how a college art education program implemented early field experiences in order to respond to the needs of an elementary school that cut its visual art program. After examining policy regarding the visual arts in K-12 US schools and art teacher certification, this paper focuses on the experiences and reflections of a college
program coordinator and pre-service art teachers who designed and taught in-school art workshops for elementary students who did not have access to a formal visual arts program. The author suggests that the early field experiences were beneficial for the pre-service art teachers and examines six topics that surfaced from the data: the organizational structure of the workshops, getting to know the students, instructional resources and teaching strategies, classroom management, assessment, and shifting roles.
The International Journal of Arts Education, 2018
This article focuses on how one US college art education program offered teaching opportunities f... more This article focuses on how one US college art education program offered teaching opportunities for preservice art teachers to work with adults with varying abilities. Weaving together the preservice teachers’ reflections with the course instructor’s experiences, this article introduces the junior-level art education course that asked preservice art teachers to lead an art gallery tour and teach a hands-on printmaking workshop to adults with varying abilities. Because it was the first time this experience was offered, this article aims to highlight the preservice teachers’ reflections that hold
implications for future use in teacher education programs.
Art Education, 2019
This article explores a curricular activity that invited students to become investigative perform... more This article explores a curricular activity that invited students to become investigative performers and learn about others through documentation. Inspired by Sophie Calle, an artist who combines photography and performance to examine the concept of documentation, students were asked to engage in an art-making activity through which they followed a friend or family member and photographed his/her actions, personal belongings, or social media pages. Relating the lesson to topics such as “following” friends on social media and “Facebook stalking,” students examined how a person conveys information allowing others to learn about her/his life.
Art Education, 2019
Looking for a K-12 art teaching position can be a daunting endeavor. What do school district admi... more Looking for a K-12 art teaching position can be a daunting endeavor. What do school district administrators and art teachers feel is important when hiring visual art teachers and how do they carry out the job search process? This is a question I often hear from my preservice art teachers as they near the end of their college teacher preparation program. Although research about the job search process for K-12 art teachers is available (Bain 2005; Buffington, 2011a, 2011b; Stephens 2007; Tollefson-Hall, Bobick, Derby, & Villeneuve, 2012a, 2012b), information is outdated and/or limited, in particular for aspects such as the art teaching demonstration. To better answer my preservice art teachers’ question, I invited administrators including superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, vice-principals, art supervisors, curriculum supervisors, and art teachers from public New Jersey (NJ) school districts to complete an online Qualtrics survey that explores various aspects of the search and hiring process of K-12 art teachers. There are three main components to the hiring process: the application, interview(s), and teaching demonstration. This article summarizes a few findings from the study and provides resources I hope will be helpful to any art teacher who is looking for a new K-12 teaching job.
Papers by Lisa LaJevic
Looking on, in, and under scarred skin, problematizes understandings of memory, subjectivity, and... more Looking on, in, and under scarred skin, problematizes understandings of memory, subjectivity, and self/other relations. Using arts-based inquiry, I investigate my scarred life stories while connecting it to feminist perspectives that expose social constructs of gendered scarred skin. As I peel back the complex surfaces, I highlight my female voice and personal experiences to explore the layered meanings in my scars. Questioning assumptions and understandings of scarred skin in relation to self and others, my goal is to stimulate new ways to view, understand, and engage with skin scars.
The International Journal of Arts Education, 2018
This article focuses on how one US college art education program offered teaching opportunities f... more This article focuses on how one US college art education program offered teaching opportunities for preservice art teachers to work with adults with varying abilities. Weaving together the preservice teachers’ reflections with the course instructor’s experiences, this article introduces the junior-level art education course that asked preservice art teachers to lead an art gallery tour and teach a hands-on printmaking workshop to adults with varying abilities. Because it was the first time this experience was offered, this article aims to highlight the preservice teachers’ reflections that hold implications for future use in teacher education programs.
Art Education, 2015
Performance and Street Art Performance art is an art form where the artist’s body is the primary ... more Performance and Street Art Performance art is an art form where the artist’s body is the primary locus of creative expression. Unlike traditional painting or sculpture, performances are ephemeral situations or events that take place in a specific space and time. Artists may engage in performance to explore social or personal issues with literal physicality “in which the human figure is aestheticized and infused with allegorical meaning” (O’Reilly, 2009, p. 15), or set up live social events centered on a unique shared experience. Another reason to communicate creatively through the body is to contradict the notion of high-art, where an art object has a monetary value and may be bought and sold. As a site of performance, the body can be conceived as a living artwork. It is a relational way of knowing—a way of making meaning of one’s self and others (as well as the connections between them) at any given place or time (Pembleton & LaJevic, 2014). Performing Reimagined Worlds
Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities, 2013
Researching how Arts Integration is practiced in a primary school, this article explores how elem... more Researching how Arts Integration is practiced in a primary school, this article explores how elementary teachers understand, implement, and experience Arts Integration. Weaving together personal experiences, teacher interviews, focus group sessions, classroom observations, and written texts, I investigate how the arts are often devalued in Arts Integration. Not only are the arts used for decorative purposes, but the arts component in Arts Integration is greatly diluted as well. Addressing what can be done to attend to the problem of devaluing the arts in the classroom, this essay holds implications for teacher education, Arts Integration and curriculum development.
Qualitative Inquiry, 2008
A/r/tography is an arts-based research methodology that inquires into educational phenomenon thro... more A/r/tography is an arts-based research methodology that inquires into educational phenomenon through artistic and aesthetic means. A/r/tographical research engages in pedagogical inquiry where the distinctions between researcher and researched become complicated, responsive, and undone. A/r/tography, the authors argue, develops the relationship between embodiment and ethics as a being-with. In this manner, ethics does not refer to the rationalist acquisition of knowledge or moral codes that advocate particular bodily behaviors but instead suggests that participating in a network of relations lends itself to gestures of non-violence. This article extends previous writings on a/r/tographical inquiry through a particular examination of the use of visual journals in a preservice teacher education course. Through the intertextuality of image and word, visual journals enable teachers and students to make meaning and inquire creatively into educational issues in a space that respects self ...
Art Education, 2014
(2014). Living Sculptures: Performance Art in the Classroom. Art Education: Vol. 67, No. 4, pp. 4... more (2014). Living Sculptures: Performance Art in the Classroom. Art Education: Vol. 67, No. 4, pp. 40-46.
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Journal Articles by Lisa LaJevic
to stimulate new ways to view, understand, and engage with skin scars.
how elementary teachers understand, implement, and experience Arts Integration. Weaving together personal experiences, teacher interviews, focus group sessions, classroom observations, and written texts, I investigate how the arts are often devalued in Arts Integration. Not only are the arts used for decorative purposes, but the arts component in Arts Integration is greatly diluted as well. Addressing what can be done to attend to the problem of devaluing the arts in the classroom, this essay holds implications for teacher education, Arts Integration and curriculum development.
article introduces performance art by examining the role of the body in art education and art history (e.g., the body as a subject in art and as an artmaking medium) and attempts to understand performance art as a living bodied curriculum through an investigation of Wurm's artistic process and related art lesson ideas for the art classroom.
program coordinator and pre-service art teachers who designed and taught in-school art workshops for elementary students who did not have access to a formal visual arts program. The author suggests that the early field experiences were beneficial for the pre-service art teachers and examines six topics that surfaced from the data: the organizational structure of the workshops, getting to know the students, instructional resources and teaching strategies, classroom management, assessment, and shifting roles.
implications for future use in teacher education programs.
Papers by Lisa LaJevic
to stimulate new ways to view, understand, and engage with skin scars.
how elementary teachers understand, implement, and experience Arts Integration. Weaving together personal experiences, teacher interviews, focus group sessions, classroom observations, and written texts, I investigate how the arts are often devalued in Arts Integration. Not only are the arts used for decorative purposes, but the arts component in Arts Integration is greatly diluted as well. Addressing what can be done to attend to the problem of devaluing the arts in the classroom, this essay holds implications for teacher education, Arts Integration and curriculum development.
article introduces performance art by examining the role of the body in art education and art history (e.g., the body as a subject in art and as an artmaking medium) and attempts to understand performance art as a living bodied curriculum through an investigation of Wurm's artistic process and related art lesson ideas for the art classroom.
program coordinator and pre-service art teachers who designed and taught in-school art workshops for elementary students who did not have access to a formal visual arts program. The author suggests that the early field experiences were beneficial for the pre-service art teachers and examines six topics that surfaced from the data: the organizational structure of the workshops, getting to know the students, instructional resources and teaching strategies, classroom management, assessment, and shifting roles.
implications for future use in teacher education programs.