The Way of the Artist Educator paradigm: Fusing artistic studio practice and teaching pedagogy

The purpose of this autoethnographic study is to examine the experiences of visual arts educators who identify themselves as Artist Educators. In particular, this article investigates how these Artist Educators perceive the fusion of their artistic studio practice with their teaching pedagogy, and how the perception defines their identity and impacts their creative and classroom practices. This study involved a focus group of six individuals, including the researcher. All the participants were practising artists, currently employed or recently retired K-12 visual arts educators certified in the states of Maine or New Hampshire, and members of the Kittery Art Association. This study used a combination of interviews and an arts-based method for data collection. All the data were analyzed and resulted in seven findings that culminated in the Way of the Artist Educator – an alternative paradigm for a quality and holistic twenty-first-century visual arts education. This article presents the paradigm, discusses the study’s implications and offers suggestions for future research.