The Department | Program Orientation | Curricula | Admission Requirements | Art Education Associates | Galleries | Department of Design | Spencer Museum of Art | Libraries | Museums | Art History Department | Facilities | M.A. Handbook
The visual arts education program of the Department of Design offers work leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Art Education (B.A.E.) and Master of Arts (M.A.) with a major in art education. It also offers a program leading to initial teacher certification in art education for qualified individuals who have earned appropriate undergraduate art degrees. Many of the courses in this program carry graduate credit.
Integral to all programs of study is an emphasis on art museum education. The undergraduate program includes methods courses that entail the use of the art museum in public school art education. At the graduate level, students can concentrate their course work in art museum education. The Study Abroad Program, available to undergraduate and graduate students alike, offers invaluable first-hand experience in European art museums.
The art education program works closely with the School of Education, the Department of History of Art in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Spencer Museum of Art, and other appropriate areas of the university.
The program is discipline-based and emphasizes knowledge and skill in the four disciplines contributing to visual arts education: aesthetics, art criticism, art history, and art production.
Both undergraduate and graduate study in art education at KU help individuals develop (1) expertise in the theory and practice of art education; (2) competence in conducting sophisticated research and applying the results to professional practice; (3) in-depth skill and knowledge covering the four disciplines of art education; and (4) a rational system for evaluating performance in these areas.
The combination of studio, art history, art education, and general education course work, as well as the work in the classroom, helps undergraduate students develop competencies to become master teachers. The extended undergraduate program leads to recommendation for licensure in art education for grades K-12.
The master's program is planned according to the needs and interests of individual students. The course work includes advanced professional and scholarly study for art educators and art museum educators, advanced study for individuals in related disciplines, and an initial licensure program for those holding baccalaureate degrees in other fields who seek entry into art education. This initial licensure work typically also requires collateral undergraduate study.
The master's program offers two emphasis: Fine Arts and Art Museum Education. The Fine Arts emphasis involves course work in studio, art education, and/or history of art. The Art Museum Education emphasis involves the study of art museum education and art education, as well as fieldwork in an art museum setting.
Admission requirements are detailed in the University of Kansas Undergraduate Catalog and Graduate School Catalog. To obtain additional information and an application form for admission, please write to
The University of Kansas
Visual Arts Education
300 Art and Design
Lawrence, KS 66045
Telephone (785) 864-4401
An affiliate of the National Art Education Association (NAEA), the Art Education Association is a professional study organization open to undergraduates and graduates in visual arts education. Members receive NAEA News, Art Education, and Studies in Art Education. Students in this organization meet on a regular basis for professional activities.
A number of designated areas provide the opportunity for art education students and faculty members to display their work. Galleries are open in the Art and Design Building, the Kansas Union, and in downtown Lawrence, Topeka, and Kansas City.
The Department of Design is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. The department is part of the School of Fine Arts and has a faculty of 31, with 600 students. In addition to the B.A.E. and the M.A. degrees in art education, the Department of Design offers the B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees in ceramics, industrial design, interior design, metalsmithing/jewelry and textile design. The department also cooperates with the Department of Art in offering B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees in painting, printmaking, and sculpture, and with the Department of Theatre and Film in offering the B.F.A. in theatre design and the M.F.A. in scenography.
The Spencer Museum of Art at KU has a superior collection and is a major resource for students in visual arts education. Housed in an excellent building, the collection spans the history of Western art from ancient Egypt to contemporary America. Strengths include medieval sculpture, early Renaissance painting, German and Austrian baroque objects, 19th-century paintings, photographs, old master prints, decorative arts, textile, small sculpture, and plaquettes. Holdings in Asian art are particularly broad and significant.
Graduate students use Watson Library, the largest library on campus, which has a superb collection of periodicals, books, and primary resource materials. The Kenneth Spencer Research Library's Special Collections of old and rare books and documents are extremely helpful in certain types of research. The Art and Architecture Library provides source material on art education, art, artists, art criticism, and aesthetics.
The Museum of Anthropology has a collection of ethnographic and prehistoric archaeological materials, primarily from the North American Great Plains and Northwest Coast, Africa, New Guinea, and Australia. The Wilcox Collection of Antiquities in Lippincott Hall houses original red-figure vases, Greek and Roman coins, inscriptions, and full-sized plaster casts of antiquities. Art education students have access to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. The Nelson offers an extensive collection, including a particularly strong Southeast Asian section.
The art history department of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is also in the Spencer Museum of Art. It offers a broad selection of undergraduate and graduate-level courses on the history of Eastern and Western art as well as contemporary art. The department works closely with the museum's staff.
The art and design departments of the School of Fine Arts provide major resources for the art education program. The Art and Design Building, with 130,000 square feet of space, houses all of the major studio art and design programs except metalsmithing/jewelry. The building contains well-equipped and spacious work areas and houses photography and film-making labs, central shops, a slide library, an exhibition gallery, studios, and classrooms.
The university's computer center, library system, institute for life span studies, infant research laboratory, gerontology center, and humanities center provide additional resources for art education graduate students.
The School of Education Learning Resource
Center, housed in the Dole Human Development Center, includes
many instructional and curriculum materials in art education.
Art curriculum guides from school districts throughout the country,
current school textbooks, selected reference works, National Art
Education Association publications, and various instructional
packages compose the art education section. The center has a number
of CEMREL aesthetic education products. Facilities also include
an extensive microcomputer unit with a variety of software for
use by students.
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The University of Kansas School of Fine Arts Lawrence, KS 66045 785/864-3421 |
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