Art Education

Lori Fuller was recently on WCIA for her art education program with older adults with memory loss at Savoy Place. The video may be viewed here  

Art Education PhD candidate, Jean Carlos Valentin Velilla received a Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship. Jean Carlos will continue his arts-based autoethnographical and sociological work on queer male Puerto Rican arts teachers. Congratulations Jean Carlos!

Grace Eunhye Bae (Art Education) is a member of the 24–25 graduate cohort for “Collisions Across Color Lines,” the third Interseminars project funded by the Mellon Foundation. Grace shares how her experiences and interests connect with Interseminars. In what ways do your research interests connect to the theme “Collisions Across Color Lines?”

Dr. Jorge Lucero was recently featured in Amy Jackson's article, "What’s Your Artistic Practice? How Art21, Curating, and Jorge Lucero Made Me Feel Like an Artist Again" in Art 21.

Dr. Laura Hetrick and her team, Dr. Stephanie Ceman, Cell and Developmental Biolgoy, and Dr. Tracey Wszalek, Director of Beckman’s Biomedical Imaging Center and Co-Director of the Carle Illinois Advanced Imaging Center are included in the 2023-2024 Beckman Institute Annual Report. Reimagining autism in research is on page 20 of the report here.

Dr. Laura Hetrick was named a Humanities Research Initiative Summer Fellow for her research, “Auto-ethnography of an Autistic Professor: Navigating a Neurodiverse Academic Life.” This award supported research preparation for my solo authored book about being an autistic professor that I will begin drafting in fall 2024 during use of an approved Humanities Release Time award. Specifically, I will travel to a United States Society for Education through Art (USSEA) regional conference in Santa Fe, NM where I have two accepted proposals to speak on my autistic lived experiences. These two presentations’ scripted notes and any audience feedback will be later turned into respective chapters of the book.

Sharayah Cochran, Art History was recently named as a Humanities Research Institute Graduate Fellow. Grace Eunhyn Bae, Art Education and Samantha Jenae Jones, Design for Responsible Innovation, were named as Graduate Fellows of the Interseminars Initiative, 2024-2025 CONGRATULATIONS!  

Laura Hetrick, with Stephanie Ceman and Tracey Wszalek were recently interviewed in Smile Politely, "An unlikely team with a new approach to autism research" by Lauren Cravens.

Realist Artist Jennifer Cronin’s Upcoming Solo Exhibition Takes Us on a Cosmic Journey Chicago: Elephant Room Gallery is thrilled to present artist Jennifer Cronin’s 5th solo exhibition at the gallery entitled “Star Stuff”, opening on Friday, September 20th from 6 to 9pm. The exhibition will be on view through October 26th. The gallery is located at 704 S Wabash Avenue in Chicago’s South Loop Neighborhood. More information can be found on the gallery’s website: www.elephantroomgallery.com Jennifer Cronin is known for her uncanny realism from her large scale figurative oil paintings to her meticulous pencil drawings. Over the past few years, her work has moved into a magical realm of neon colors, mysterious shapes and luminism. Her latest body of work in “Star Stuff” takes inspiration from the night sky, finding pieces of cosmic mystery in our everyday landscapes. Even though the work is dark, it is not sad or complacent. It invokes a connection to something outside of ourselves: distant galaxies, the passage of time, and the mystery of our existence. “Star Stuff” is about all of us: where we are from, where we are and where we are going. For Cronin, this work is a reflection of her growth as an artist and as a human being. Cronin pulls inspiration for her subject matter from her own surroundings on frequent walks in her neighborhood in Chicago. “…I can still find pieces of it everywhere. The dotting of artificial lights across a landscape, or the mysterious je ne sais quoi of a liminal space in the alleyway. Stories of this urban landscape are not that different from the stories of an endless night sky. I can find it right here–reasons to be, moments of cosmic mystery, connection to something outside of myself, the thrill of being alive in this very time and space.” - Cronin   Jennifer Cronin is a Chicago-based visual artist known for her realistic paintings that explore the mystery and complexity of everyday life. Cronin’s work has evolved many times over, delving into psychology, income inequality, and climate change. Her most recent work celebrates the mundane, infusing quotidian scenes with a sense of magic and mystery. In support of her forthcoming body of work, Jennifer was awarded grants by the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation and Chicago DCASE. Jennifer’s work has been featured on NPR, Newcity, and Sixty Inches from Center and included in exhibitions at the Elmhurst Art Museum, Museo Internazionale Italia Arte, and the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Jennifer received her BFA in painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is represented by Elephant Room Gallery in Chicago. The artwork in this series was funded by a grant from The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, and partially supported by an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Art Education Associate Professor Laura Hetrick was recently in an article published by the Beckman Institute "With, not on: Reimagining autism in research" by Jenna Kurtzweil.

Pethumanity | Thursday, February 1 – Saturday, March 2, 2024 | Opening Reception: Thursday, February 1, 2024 | 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Kamila Glowacki (BFA 2013 Art Education & Painting / MA 2018 Art Education) is the 2023 IAEA Art Education Museum Educator of the Year. Kamila Glowacki is employed at Krannert Art Museum. Annually, the IAEA recognizes the top art, design, and media educators for their excellence and service to the field. The IAEA awards and scholarship committee found Kamila Glowacki’s professional performance, service, and leadership to be exemplary in every regard and selected her for this recognition. The Illinois Art Education Association (IAEA) is the premier professional development provider for art, design, and media educators in Illinois. The organization serves thousands of teachers statewide through a wide range of programs and services. Learn more at ilaea.org.

The School of Art + Design and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology are pleased to announce that Associate Professor of Art Education and Beckman member Laura J Hetrick has been named a 2023-2024 OpEd/Public Voices Fellow.  One of only 20 scholars selected from across the University of Illinois system to participate in this prestigious fellowship, Professor Hetrick will join her cohort of Public Voices Fellows in crafting her research and expertise in ways that can contribute to public conversations of our age. The Public Voices Fellowship is a national program initiated with scholars from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and has since grown to include the nation’s top universities.  The Public Voice Fellowship aims to increase the public impact and presence of our nation’s top underrepresented thinkers.  This one-year Fellowship includes interactive seminars and monthly sessions with media insiders including NYT, CNN, and TED. The overreaching goal of the Public Voices Fellowship is to assist the Fellows with producing tangible thought leadership, including op-eds, radio/TV appearances, speeches, and TED talks.  As a scholar of art education, with research interests now focusing on her autistic lived experience, Professor Hetrick aims to redress the absence of information that is vital to better understand, support, and engage with some autistic individuals, recognizing that no two autistics are alike. Some of the concepts that she will address are intricacies such as masking/social camouflaging (a performance of neurotypicality aiding in hiding autistic traits to assuage potential bullying); imagining a radial spectrum as opposed to linear (to eradicate the hierarchy between high and low functioning labels); recognizing autistics as having heightened double empathy as opposed to no empathy; and considering neurotypical and neurodivergent as different operating systems (neurotypes). Hetrick said, “My hope is that by engaging with my work, people will have a heighted awareness of the perspectives of autistic people. I want to use my own voice to (re)educate the public on the actuality of what life is like from inside the highly misunderstood, yet vividly colourful autistic world that I inhabit daily.”

Alexandria, VA—The National Art Education Association has named Jorge Lucero, of Urbana, IL, as the recipient of the 2023 National Higher Education Art Educator Award. This prestigious award, determined through a peer review of nominations, recognizes the exemplary contributions, service, and achievements of one outstanding NAEA member annually at the National level within their division. The award will be presented during the NAEA 2023 National Convention in San Antonio. NAEA President James Haywood Rolling, Jr. states, "This award is being given to recognize excellence in professional accomplishment and service by a dedicated art educator. Jorge Lucero exemplifies the highly qualified art educators active in education today: leaders, teachers, students, scholars, and advocates who give their best to their students and the profession." Founded in 1947, the National Art Education Association is the leading professional membership organization exclusively for visual arts educators. Members include elementary, middle, and high school visual arts educators; college and university professors; university students preparing to become art educators; researchers and scholars; teaching artists; administrators and supervisors; and art museum educators—as well as more than 54,000 students who are members of the National Art Honor Society. We represent members in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, U.S. Possessions, most Canadian Provinces, U.S. military bases around the world, and many foreign countries. The mission of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) champions creative growth and innovation by equitably advancing the tools and resources for a high-quality visual arts, design, and media arts education throughout diverse populations and communities of practice. For more information about the association and its awards program, visit the NAEA website at www.arteducators.org

Illini Union Art Gallery, 1401 W Green St, Urbana, IL Wednesday, October 6 – Sunday, October 30, 2022 Opening Reception: Friday, October 14, 2022 | 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. Organized by alumnus Howard Kanter, and Jennifer Bergmark, this exhibition features alumni art and work by students enrolled in ARTE 475, Art Exhibition Practices, to honor a shared history and to continue a shared future.

In the first episode of the second season of Artist Praxis Podcast, Debora Faccion Grodzki talks with artist and educator Jorge Lucero. Lucero discusses the making of "Alongside Teacher" (2022), an artwork created as a network of exchange with other artists, educators, and practioniers. Among many things, Lucero talks about the pliability of Zoom to record conversations and the relation between books and conceptual art.

At Artist Praxis, we hear from one artist's creative process, learning all about their most recent finished project. We discuss everything artists work with, from materials to thoughts, from dreams to gestures, from feelings to tools.