E.3 Art History Pedagogy Caucus
Fri Oct 28 / 9:00 – 10:30 / Great Hall, rm 1022, Hart House
chair /
- Anne Dymond, University of Lethbridge
This is an open call for papers that consider any aspect of art history pedagogy.
key words: pedagogy
E.3.1 Crafting a New Modern Art Course
- Andrea Korda, University of Alberta
In Winter 2022, I experimented with a new kind of modern art course that moved away from canonical figures like Picasso and Pollock in favour of an emphasis on hands-on making. Inspired by Matt Ratto’s ideas about “critical making” and Leith Davis’s work on “embodied humanities,” students brought together hands-on crafting with critical reflection to consider how the conditions of modernity influenced (and continue to influence) visual and material culture. This approach helped foster community in the classroom, gave students a break from their screens, and provided opportunities for students to develop their critical reflection skills. It also allowed for a more inclusive learning environment by privileging students’ experiences and offering different ways for students to demonstrate their learning. In this presentation, I will describe the course’s objectives, activities, assessments, and outcomes. I will also provide resources for conference attendees who are interested in experimenting with crafting in their classrooms.
keywords: pedagogy, modern art, craft
Andrea Korda is Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of Fine Arts and Humanities at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus. She is the author of Printing and Painting the News in Victorian London: The Graphic and Social Realism, 1869–1891 (Ashgate, 2015), and her articles have appeared in the journals Word & Image, Journal of Victorian Culture, Victorian Network, Paedagogica Historica, and Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide. She is one of the organizers of the Crafting Communities project, along with Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Vanessa Warne, and co-curator (with Heather Caverhill) of the virtual exhibition Photographies, hosted by Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta.
E.3.2 Unboxing the Canon: Podcasting and the First-Year Survey
Linda Steer & Madeline Collins, Brock University
We will present a case study for deepening learning and developing critical acumen in a first-year art history survey. Unboxing the Canon is an open source podcast created by Linda Steer for her twelve-week course “Introduction to the History of Western Art” at Brock University. The second season was co-hosted with Madeline Collins, a fourth year undergraduate student. The podcast promises to “take a closer look at the history of Western art” and in doing so attempts to solve some of the common problems instructors face when teaching a survey such as this: how to teach the canon and simultaneously critique it; how to make the history of art meaningful for students who are not necessarily interested in history; how to teach a wide range of students with varying levels of preparation; and how to problematise the category of Western art, yet acknowledge that many students are deeply invested in it. By focusing on key issues, rather than chronology, Unboxing the Canon encourages students to question what they read and see and to connect historical material to the present moment. We will also provide an overview of both our experiences in working on this podcast together as well as some general tips should you want to create your own teaching podcast.
keywords: pedagogy, survey, podcasting
Linda Steer (she/her) is an Associate Professor of art history and visual culture at Brock University, which is located on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples. Steer is the creator of Unboxing the Canon, an open-source podcast for first-year students that introduces and critiques the canon of Western art. She is the author of Appropriated Photographs in French Surrealist Periodicals, 1924-1939, Routledge Press, 2017. Her current research investigates historical and contemporary drug photography.
Madeline Collins completed an Honours BA in the History of Art and Visual Culture at Brock University and is an MA student in the Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories program at OCADU. She was a Match of Minds Research Assistant at Brock University in 2021-22 where she co-wrote, co-hosted, edited and provided social media support for Unboxing the Canon. She is interested in the relationships between contemporary art and critical race theory.
E.3.3 Studio Problématique: Ten lessons learned from a collective landscape studio on hope
Heather Braiden, University of Montreal
The Land|Terre Design Research Network (LT DRN) was formed in 2018 to create a platform for the exchange of teaching and research in Canada and is positioned to take leadership and reflect on topics related to the natural and cultural environment for a more diverse and sustained future. In 2022, the network invited nine landscape architecture professors across Canada to coordinate their design studios using the common lens of an optimistic re-emergence. The Studio Problématique brief provided a general guide for instructors yet left the site choice and pedagogical approaches open. This paper scrutinizes course materials distributed to students for keywords and approaches to teaching before comparing the site analyses and visual outputs generated by students. We ask: What pedagogical themes and design solutions emerge when nine instructors at seven Canadian institutions of landscape architecture challenge their students to use the common lens of an optimistic re-emergence? To what extend did the studio leaders significantly alter their research or approach to teaching because of the common lens? Finally, how does the breadth of the studio problématiques reflect instructor expertise and ongoing investigations? Researchers will prepare a map showing sites across the country and demonstrate the diversity of the locations and approaches to teaching. Next, the researchers will compare site analysis drawings to find similarities and contradictions in the context, scale, location, concerns, and methodologies. Finally, the researchers will compare two projects that used similar analytical methods in radically different regions to present lessons learned through this pedagogical experiment. The paper presentation will close with a reflection on the experience of the studio leaders and the extent to which they modified their approach to teaching with an optimistic lens.
keywords: landscape architecture, design education, pedagogies of hope, visualization
Heather Braiden joined the Faculty of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Montreal in 2021. She is a founding member of Land│Terre Design Research Network, a national landscape architecture research network with a mission is to promote research focused on Canadian landscape architecture as it relates to climate change, indigenous issues and industrial heritage. Heather is particularly interested in natural phenomena as well as in the human interventions and technologies that shape and then recreate the landscape. The construction and evolution of these places, the recreational activities, and the meanings they carry, as well as the ways in which people have experienced and interpreted the land hold her attention.
