In this article, we think-with nots, knots, and (k)nots in the interstices of theory, methodology, pedagogy, and art. We define the (k)not as a bringing together of nots--openings toward creativity, mapping, and disruption--and knots--openings toward connection, entanglement, and speculative futures. Playing (k)nots within our own relations,…

A 10 week supportive arts program was conducted in Jinja, Uganda via the collaboration between a local nongovernmental organization, a Ugandan artist, and two art therapists from the United States. The artist facilitated weekly artmaking sessions for former unhoused youth being served by the organization, as well as engaged in weekly virtual…

Our research project explores mentorship in four studies located in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and online. We questioned how and if performing mentorship in communal spaces created online could nurture and facilitate the levels of trust, vulnerability, security, and support we had experienced through in-person mentorship. We share the…

This paper describes the pedagogical roots of the work we do, both as teachers and as performers; and how our work reaches beyond the classroom and into community, eliciting narratives and weaving them through improvised dance and music collaborations, eventually onto the walls of an art museum. Our concept was to solicit stories that told of some…

The Artist in Residence at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland offers an arts program that is deeply engaged with the field of disability studies. By moving beyond an exclusively medicalized model of disability, hospitalized children and adolescents are situated as experts on their own lived experience. Artists, art therapists, and pediatric…

This article discusses forms of arts-based mediation in museums that use creation as the primary tool in the learning process. We present four mediation experiences based on the arts-based teaching methodologies promoted by the project 'Art for Learning Art'. These experiences have been developed in four museums: the Centre Pompidou Málaga, the…

In January 2021 the author read "Hey, Kiddo" by Jarrett Krosoczka. The author connected on so many levels with this graphic novel memoir, and knew that it would speak to their students, as well. Krosoczka not only wrote "Hey, Kiddo," but he illustrated it, as well. The author states they knew the healing impact a book could…

Near the end of February 2020, the Art Education Club officers at California State University, Northridge introduced members to a collaborative collage artmaking project, inspired by Marty McCutcheon's "Check It Out" project. Club members--preservice art education students, mentor art teachers, and higher education faculty--had recently…

Over the last decade, cultural institutions have worked hard to connect audiences with contemporary arts practices that are no longer created by a sole person working alone but by artists who work collaboratively and across disciplines. Like generalist teachers, contemporary artists utilize practices and pedagogies to engage audiences (including…

As an art specialist intern at a museum-based preschool, the author facilitated an art studio session every afternoon for 5-year-old students. She naively envisioned children creating artworks that followed her lesson plans and instructions. However, as she embarked on this journey and began teaching these sessions, she witnessed two startling…

In the vast repository of research on family involvement in schools, researchers agree that both students and schools do better when families are involved (Epstein et al., 2009; Lareau, 2011; Mapp, 2002). There is little research, however, on parent involvement in the arts. Notwithstanding the lack of published data, programs offer funding and…

Posing the question, "What does it mean to care?" this visual work came about through a collaboration between teachers, children, and a local artist to render experiences of care from children's daily lives within an early years laboratory school. Working from a perspective of material-discursive intra-activity (Barad, 2003, 2007), this…

A primary purpose of schooling is to provide opportunities for children to develop positive dispositions about learning and persistence, hone academic content knowledge, and develop skills for applying content in relevant ways. To this end, instruction has focused to a large degree on literacy and math instruction. Social studies, science, and…

The familiar figure of the teacher, alone in front of a classroom and enclosed by four walls, pervades what is possible in teacher education. What if we could decentre anthropocentric teaching practices and 'become teachers together' with other human and nonhuman teachers? Could a garden become a teacher? A plant? A spider? This article engages…

The Palo Alto Art Center sought a solution to the challenge that loyal family audiences, visiting weekly for art studio classes, rarely visit the contemporary art exhibition galleries. This article relates the experience of using the human-centered design process, often called Design Thinking, as the methodology to create a solution for family…