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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations Department of Middle and Secondary Education 8-10-2021 Navigating Chaos and Taking Risks: An Art Teacher's Experience through A/R/Tography. and A Pandemic Amy N. Sery Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/mse_diss Recommended Citation Sery, Amy N., "Navigating Chaos and Taking Risks: An Art Teacher's Experience through A/R/Tography." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2021. doi: https://doi.57709/24113538 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Middle and Secondary Education at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University.

It has been accepted for inclusion in Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu. ACCEPTANCE This dissertation, NAVIGATING CHAOS AND TAKING RISKS: AN ART TEACHER’S EXPERIENCE THROUGH A/R/TOGRAPHY… AND A PANDEMIC, by AMY N. SERY, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Advisory Committee.

It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor of Philosophy, in the College of Education & Human Development, Georgia State University. The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chairperson, as representatives of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship as determined by the faculty. _________________________________ Melanie Davenport, Ph. Committee Chair _________________________________ _________________________________ Jennifer Hamrock, Ph.

Michelle Zoss, Ph. Committee Member Committee Member _________________________________ Date _________________________________ Gertrude M. Tinker Sachs, Ph. Chairperson, Department of Middle and Secondary Education _________________________________ Paul A.

Dean, College of Education & Human Development AUTHOR’S STATEMENT By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by the College of Education and Human Development’s Director of Graduate Studies, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission.

Sery NOTICE TO BORROWERS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: Amy Noel Sery Department of Middle & Secondary Education College of Education & Human Development Georgia State University The director of this dissertation is: Melanie Davenport, Ph. College of the Arts Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 CURRICULUM VITAE Amy Noel Sery Department of Middle & Secondary Education College of Education & Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 EDUCATION: Ed.

2021 Georgia State University Art Education M. 2010 Lesley University Curriculum & Instruction B.A 2005 Georgia State University Art Education PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 2021-Present Adjunct Instructor, Remote The Art of Education University Osage, IA 2016-Present Visual & Media Arts Teacher Briarlake Elementary School DeKalb County Schools 2014-2016 Instructional Technology Coach/STEM Liaison Briarlake Elementary School DeKalb County Schools 2005-2012 Art Teacher Powder Springs Elementary School Cobb County Schools PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS: Sery, A. Stories of research: A journey into teaching for artistic behavior. National Art Education Association (NAEA) Research Pre-Conference, Boston, MA.

Building professional capital and reclaiming professional development: Perspectives from P-12/university boundary spanners. Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) Conference, Atlanta, GA. Academy for Future Educators (AFT) Closing Celebration Sery, A. A haven for creativity: Exploration in a choice studio.

Georgia Art Education Association, Valdosta, GA. Georgia graduate research seminar. Georgia Art Education Association, Valdosta, GA. PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 2021 National Art Education Association 2021 Georgia Art Education Association NAVIGATING CHAOS AND TAKING RISKS: AN ART TEACHER’S EXPERIENCE THROUGH A/R/TOGRAPHY… AND A PANDEMIC by AMY NOEL SERY Under the Direction of Dr.

Melanie Davenport ABSTRACT Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) (Douglas & Jaquith, 2009; Douglas, Jaquith, & Thompson, 2018) is a fairly new pedagogy in art education that gives students choice and agency in the classroom. In the following dissertation, I position myself as an art teacher who utilized this pedagogy as an a/r/tographer (Springgay, Irwin, Leggo, & Gouzouasis, 2008), navigating the spaces in/between being an artist, a researcher, and a teacher. The research evolved to include my experiences teaching remotely during the global pandemic of 2020. Through this arts-based qualitative research, I used a multimodal method of inquiry that allows for meanings to change (MacDonald, Baguley, & Kerby, 2017) making “the research responsive to practice and to those involved in that practice” (Springgay, Irwin, & Kind, 2008, p.

In framing my methodology within a/r/tography, I looked to the rhizomatic connections/weavings/folds (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987) between Bourriaurd’s relational aesthetics (Bourriaud, 2002; Budge & Clarke, 2012; Choi, 2013) and the Studio Thinking Framework (Hetland, Hogan, Jaquith, & Winner, 2018) to examine my experiences through living inquiry (Irwin, Kind, & Springgay, 2005). The significance of this study is to better understand the inter-connectedness of artmaking and teaching through living inquiry during a pandemic. In this arts-based, action research study, I utilized the creation of artwork and short visual journeys (svj) as a research tool through an auto- a/r/tography. As the navigator of the art room, I created and recreated the space and designed the curriculum based on TAB principles and the Studio Habits of Mind.

I was interested in the changing landscape of my classroom studio, in this case the space transformed to a virtual studio, and how that might look if conceptually mapped from my observations and reflections of its use. Also, I wondered what might happen when a TAB teacher practiced what she preached through working as an artist alongside her students, modeling the Studio Habits of Mind through creating original works, not demonstrations. Keywords: Teaching for Artistic Behavior, a/r/tography, pedagogical change, arts-based educational research, qualitative research, visual research methods, Studio Habits of Mind NAVIGATING CHAOS AND TAKING RISKS: AN ART TEACHER’S EXPERIENCE THROUGH A/R/TOGRAPHY… AND A PANDEMIC by AMY NOEL SERY A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction in the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in the College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 2021 Copyright by Amy N. Sery 2021 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to give a heartfelt thanks to my committee chair, Dr.

Melanie Davenport, who encouraged me throughout this process, in both iterations of my doctoral journey, and my advisor, Dr. Caroline Sullivan, who helped bring me back into the world of research. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Drs. Jennifer Hamrock and Michelle Zoss for their advice and support.

A special thanks to Dr. Melody Milbrandt, who helped spark my interest in art education and began the doctoral journey with me. This has been a long journey and there are many professors and colleagues at Georgia State University who have aided and inspired me. In particular Drs.

Janice Fournillier and Jodi Kaufmann for introducing me to arts- based research, my 2018 EdD cohort for their continued support and camaraderie, and Dr. Teresa Fisher-Ari for encouraging me to present my work. A particularly special thanks to Esther Kim, one of my cohort colleagues, who read and helped edit this work. To all of my family and friends who supported me through this process, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Finally, I would like to dedicate this study to my husband and my daughter, whose love and support helped to navigate me through to the end. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES. vii NAVIGATING THE CHAOS, A PREFACE. viii … my self.

viii … my art. viii … my research. ix … my teaching. ix Taking risks.

x 1 BECOMING AN ARTIST, A RESEARCHER, A TEACHER. 1 Artist as Navigator. 2 Researcher as Navigator. 6 Teacher as Navigator.

7 Statement of the Problem. 12 Purpose of the Study. 15 2 TEACHING FOR ARTISTIC BEHAVIOR. 17 The Pedagogy of Teaching for Artistic Behavior.

17 A History of Teaching for Artistic Behavior. 25 The Fountainhead: Progressive Education. 31 iv 3 A STORM, A HURRICANE, A TSUNAMI. NOPE, A PANDEMIC HITS THE WORLD, 2020.

41 Summer and The Rise of Serymoji. 43 The New School Year – 2020-2021. 45 The Fear of Returning. 45 The Storm Redirected My Journey.

46 4 AUTO-A/R/TOGRAPHY AS METHODOLOGY. 48 A/r/tography as Inquiry, Navigating the In/Between. 50 Context: A Living Inquiry. 52 Relational Aesthetics with a Pedagogical Lens.

55 Data Collection: It’s About the Process. 62 5 NAVIGATING THE A/R/TISTIC WATERS. 66 Interlude: A Chaotic Mind. 80 Working and playing.

84 Virtual Reality: A Studio Transformation. 100 This is the End. 124 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Un/Finished artworks and artifacts.

Timeline of my artworks. Taken & modified on iPhone at my local Publix on March 12, 2020, 4:02 PM. Four virtual studio slides from Mrs. Serymoji’s Virtual Art Studio.

A/r/tographical Navigation of Choice. Choice chart poster. A Storm is Coming. Time-lapse A/r/tographical Map of Choice.

Teachers Need to Go Back to Work. My Teaching Assistant. Drawing together, Sophie’s horse, mine behind. Virtual Reality SJV.

Rhizomatic Memories SVJ. Sophie as Navigator. Guide to Creating an SVJ. 108 vii FORWARD As this research unfolded, there was a storm on the horizon.

We were all, and by “all,” I mean the entire world, in the same storm in 2020 and 2021, though journeying in very different boats. A global pandemic hit with a powerful force; countries around the world were shut down and people forced to quarantine in their homes. Only essential workers could go to work in most places for a time. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was getting IRB approval for my research, and by the end of the 2019/2020 school year, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with my research.

The pandemic didn’t waver into the new school year, so it became a part of this dissertation. Instead of changing my research due to being virtual, I used my experiences to edit and add to my study. I didn’t want to change aspects of my original study, so within this dissertation, there are annotations and scribbles using the “Draw” feature in Microsoft Word to note disruptions and highlight connections. These annotations and scribbles are an overlay so you can read the text and understand what I wanted to do initially in a pre-pandemic art classroom.

viii NAVIGATING THE CHAOS, A PREFACE … my self This has been a journey, a quest really. From the beginning of my teaching career, I have sought more – more knowledge, more insight, more relationality between who I am and what I do. I turn 43 in the summer of 2021, having begun my doctoral journey ten years prior. During the first iteration of my doctoral journey, I focused on arts-based research and taking studio classes to focus on creating my artwork – on being an artist.

I even had a show in my neighborhood hair salon! Then I took a break from my studies and teaching, though it wasn’t meant to last so long, and I finally came back. It was during those in/between years of heading back to school that I fell in love and married again. The most profound event in my life happened during my break in studies, becoming a mother to a Spina Bifida warrior. There was this moment in time during which being an artist, a researcher, and a teacher was not the most important thing.