Hello! I’m Gayle Ulrich. I am a designer, educator, friend, collector, aunt, crafter, reuse enthusiast, and home-cook. My work shifts between graphic, exhibition, and experiential design. I work with museums, schools, and nonprofits to build exhibitions, enhance learning spaces, and design learning tools. You can see my work at gayleulrich.com. I am interested in the parallels between designers and educators as “experience designers” and guides in participatory creation. I joined the CCNY art ed program to push my understanding of learning beyond the physical and into the personal. I am incredibly thankful for the faculty and peers who have expanded my thinking and practice.
There is a long list of words art education practitioners use to describe themselves: art teacher, arts educator, teaching artist, artist-teacher, etc. My thesis explores these titles and the way art education practitioners navigate their meaning and selection. How do art education practitioners define themselves? What words do they choose? What words do they avoid? What informs the selection?
This research will ask art education practitioners to name their work and how they navigate the personal, interpersonal, and societal implications of that name. This study will contribute to the existing art teacher identity conversation by providing a glimpse into today’s varied and complex arts education field through the experiences of its practitioners. I believe my background as a designer and educator will provide a different perspective to the existing research, which tends to lean heavily on the artist-teacher duality. Most of all, I hope this investigation provides the participating art education practitioners an opportunity to question and articulate the words they use to describe themselves and make connections in their practice.
This thesis research has been a great opportunity to read about different artists, educators, and researchers. A few of my favorites have been:
- Hooks, b. (1994) Building a Teaching Community. Teaching to Transgress. New York, NY: Routledge. 129-165
- Lippard, L. (1990) Naming. Mixed Blessings. New York, NY: Random House. 19-56
- Daichendt, G. J. (2009). Redefining the Artist-Teacher. Art Education, 62(5), 33–38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20694789
If you’re interested, you can find these and a few more here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nqwsMo-9ZfX0IZ3l9YDGNPsupJ7E4Hey?usp=sharing
