Volume 20, numéro 2, 2025 Twenty/Vingt 20 Sous la direction de Nancy Long

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Célébrer le 20^e volume de la revue Canadian Art Teacher / Enseigner les arts au Canada (CAT), c’est témoigner de l’essor, pour plus d’une génération, de l’éducation artistique ainsi que de la recherche et de la création en ce domaine ! C’est reconnaître l’influence et l’excellence des publications canadiennes.

I would like to take advantage of this celebration to outline the transformation and continuity of some ideas that have mobilized our pan-Canadian community, and to review, in reverse, my own journey over the last two decades, from 2024 back to 2004. Je partagerai mes réflexions bilingues principalement autour des notions suivantes : génération, étiquette (labels), inclusivité, collaboration et émancipation.

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In this short reflection, I share vignettes about interactions with arts educators who have lifted me up, magnified my understanding, sparked my curiosity, broadened my capacity, supported my vision, opened doors, illuminated pathways, and encouraged me to keep going. Evident in each of these experiences is how art education can enrich one’s inner world, propelling a re-envisioning of the self and who one can become. These experiences have shaped my values and become the source material of my scholarly and professional publications over the years.

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The Imagine Aliens project invited participants to design alien planets, create extraterrestrial life forms, and develop artworks and stories to bring these worlds to life. By using science as a creative prompt, the study demonstrates that a balanced interplay of art and science can make STEM subjects more accessible and create deeper engagement with both disciplines. Conducted in Montreal schools, Imagine Aliens engaged students aged 6 to 13, using a custom website and playing cards to guide research and boost the creative process. This article highlights two findings: how the science-based prompts challenged and expanded upon students’ perceptions of extraterrestrial life, and how the artworks became a site for research, imagination, and scientific curiosity. Imagine Aliens entangles academic disciplines, allowing each to influence the other equally, placing the learner’s focus on research, curiosity, and imagination, unrestrained by disciplinary boundaries.

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This article examines the evolution of art education in Canada over the past two decades, highlighting the shift from skills-based approaches to broader methodologies centered on “arts-thinking,” integrating visual culture, social justice, and research-creation. Despite these theoretical advancements, the authors observe a disconnect between academic discourse and practical application in schools and communities. To bridge this gap, art educators Marie-Pier Viens and David LeRue share their experiences integrating theory and practice in their respective teaching contexts. Viens discusses collaborative project-based learning in secondary schools, in connection with community artists, emphasizing the development of essential skills and engagement with contemporary issues through art. LeRue explores community-based art education, addressing its potential for fostering arts-thinking among diverse populations outside traditional academic settings. The authors propose closer ties between theory and practice to provide learners with critical thinking skills necessary to engage in contemporary artistic discourse.

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Art exists with the ability to actualize an idea or concept. My work is a constant search for the best way to interpret my beliefs about myself and my world. I do not limit myself to one medium, style, or concept. Although I make paintings with traditional Chinese materials, such as rice paper, vegetable dyes, and mineral pigments, through visual means, I want to speak worldwide—an artistic language that blurs the boundaries of diverse cultures, ethical beliefs, and geographical locations.

This series of paintings’ name, Voyage in Time, originated from a documentary film by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1983, which draws an analogy with the art of cinema through the romantic, misty beauty of poetry. I argue that art and education unfold their truth; it is a voyage in time—both the educators and students involve themselves and evolve in lifelong dialogues with self and each other. This series was made in 2016 when I started to create art through gouache using new techniques. It inspired me to inquire about the intrinsic link between forms and contents in paintings that are meaningful in various teaching processes or curricula if we view it as a combination of forms and contents. The youths in the artwork, holding flowers in their hands, imply metaphors that resonate with adolescence, nihility, confusion, richness, and hope as they encounter the complexity of life. I hope to motivate people to expand their imaginative associations of individual and general experiences beyond specific things and rise to a philosophical meditation on life.

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In 2018, Kathy Browning spent 32 days in New Zealand on the South and North Islands taking 15,240 digital photographs. This was followed by a year of close study and editing of her digital images as ways to share photographic stories of this artistic research. How can one represent the deep feelings experienced when one is taking the photograph? The visual narrative that emerged from this series is similar to grounded theory used for her academic research. Thus, instead of travelling to the islands with a set of preconceived ideas, a research protocol or a list of ‘what-to-photograph’, the author let this field of study, the landscape of New Zealand, guide the photographic act. The article also addresses how after decades of teaching and showing art in exhibitions, the media of photography inspired and informed her teaching of visual arts education.

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In the spring of 2022, the Vancouver Art Gallery presented an exhibition titled Kids Take Over, which was the result of a collaboration between the education and curatorial departments. Using a variety of gallery education techniques, the Program Coordinator for Schools and Youth worked with children and youth to respond to works from the gallery collection. These responses, along with photos and student artwork, were displayed in the exhibition. This paper presents an overview and reflection on the project. Interviews with those that participated in Kids Take Over demonstrate the positive impact the project had on everyone involved. Several recommendations for other galleries and classroom educators are discussed.

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This paper explores the role of mindfulness practices in mitigating challenges of burnout by fostering emotional regulation, creative engagement, and overall well-being. Drawing on the principles of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s (2003) Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Ellen Langer’s (2000) mindful learning, and my own experiences as an art educator, this article highlights practical mindfulness techniques that can be seamlessly integrated into the daily lives of art educators and teachers in general, helping to cultivate resilience, reduce stress, and rediscover their passion for teaching and creativity.

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These images visually address the space between the physical and spiritual. The group title of Silent Songs refers to the space between musical notes, so music can be played and understood. Similarly, these images refer to the space between thoughts–the place of silence where humanity coexists with divinity. It is easy to recognize the similarity of celestial and cerebral thoughts as dot-patterns and star patterns.