Integrating contemporary artmaking practices, specifically approaches to matter (which includes materials, objects, bodies, spaces, etc.) within PK-12 art education, has potential to open pathways for artmaking, meaning, and identity formation. However, art education literature suggests that translation of contemporary artmaking practices into PK-12 pedagogy and curriculum is influenced by teachers' personal definitions and approaches to art, artmaking, and views of matter. Therefore, it is important to gain a better understanding of the ways preservice art teachers perceive and use matter in their own artmaking practices as well as the ways they think about the role of matter in PK-12 art education. This arts-based inquiry (which ultimately takes the form of a visual journal in and of itself) explores the ways five preservice art teachers (three undergraduate and two graduate students) perceived and used matter in their responses to studio prompts and visual journals, and how this related to the PK-12 art curriculum they created. Insights from this study inform ways of supporting preservice art teachers in integrating contemporary approaches to matter into their future PK-12 art classrooms in ways that open opportunities for their future students to engage with art and artmaking in meaningful and transformative ways. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]