## Editorial

# Art Education: Literary Connections and Beyond

Heather McLeod, Memorial University of Newfoundland

hmcleod@mun.ca

This issue of the *Canadian Review of Art Education* (CRAE) follows close on the heels of our previous one due to the many worthy submissions made in the preceding months. Several contributions make a strong link between visual art education and the literary arts. As well, we include an account of one of art education's histories, strategies to support relational thinking in qualitative research, findings on creativity, and an overview of professional museum education training programs in Canada. Readers will find three sections: a salon section featuring creative work; an essay section; and a section for research articles. Our cover image titled: *Mystic Mosaic* (digital painting with 23K gold stencil, 10 12 x 20' prints) is by multi-media artist and art educator, Bill Zuk. In the artist's own words this work explores "the interdisciplinary nature of visual art and poetically narrated film dealing with the majesty and mystical quality of mountains".

<figure><img src="image_1.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1. Zuk, W., M. (2018). *Mystic Mosaic*. (Digital painting with 23K gold stencil, 10 12 x 20' prints). Artist's Collection, Victoria, BC.</figcaption></figure>
## Salon

We thank Gisela Ruebsaat for her accomplished editing contribution to our salon section which includes two publications. Poet Merle Nudelman is part of a collaboration between the Long dash Poetry Group and studio artists of the Women's Art Association of Canada. Poems are written in response to paintings that resonate for the poets, and, in turn, the poems provide creative impetus for the artists. Nudelman's piece includes a series of poems inspired by the art. She also reflects on ways in which engaging with the art stretched her poetic vision, both in terms of form and content.

Bill Zuk brings together visual art and poetry in a collaborative film production which explores the beauty of visual form, the eloquence of poetry, and the harmony of ideas born out of a unified storm of creativity. This piece was previously published in the *BC Art Teachers' Association Journal*. Zuk's film, *Mystic Mountain* (2018), debuts here.

## Essays

In our essay section Gerard Curtis and Heather McLeod examine the history of art education in Newfoundland and Labrador, which, they argue, echoes the province's socio-political and cultural struggles and successes, and the impact of an ongoing boom and bust cycle in resource development. From modernism and post modernism, and Discipline Based Art Education to Visual Culture Art Education, the development of the Visual Art Program at the Grenfell Campus of Memorial University in Corner Brook provides a cautionary tale on the vagaries of promoting artistic traditionalism over contemporary meta-modernism, and the role of art in the classroom in reflecting global society at large.

## Research Articles

There are five research articles in this issue. Kelly Young explores how the visual arts shape the future direction of the literary arts in her pre-service teacher education classroom. She draws upon the imagination while outlining a cross-curricular curriculum and exploring a theoretical and practical relationship between visual and poetic aesthetics. Engaging in ekphrastic poetics facilitates the emergence of critical storytellers.

Thibault Zimmer uses reflective letters as an arts-based research method for exploring curriculum implications within an alternative educational program in an inner-city high school. Students, administrators and teachers informed the research by shedding light on the teaching and learning. Through the literary and visual arts, letters in this paper address the critical and pedagogic discourses experienced, and Zimmer issues a call to shift educational paradigms.

Sheri Klein argues qualitative research can be an emotional and often conflicted process. Because many art educators use such research design and methods, it is important to notice and examine the dialectical tensions which may emerge resulting in internal and external conflicts and a wide range of emotions and feelings for researchers. To disrupt binary thinking, Klein presents strategies which support relational thinking in qualitative research and the creation of rhizomatic research cultures.

Hsiao-Cheng (Sandrine) Han presents findings from a participatory observational case study focused on creativity. High school students worked in the virtual world to create an ecosystem. Han questioned how the virtual world creation process could foster student creativity; how students expressed their creativity; and what teachers could do to further student creativity.

Richard Lachapelle, Thibault Zimmer, and Anita Sinner, reviewed museum training programs to assess the current state of professional museum education training in Canada. They conclude the offer of professional museum education training in Canada is slowly improving.

Heather McLeod, Editor-in-Chief, *Canadian Review of Art Education*.