UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The 1965 Art Education Seminar at Penn State is a landmark in the field. Participants and attendees included leaders who shaped the field into the next century. Organized by art education faculty members Ed Mattil (Penn State), David Ecker and Jerome Hausman (Ohio State), and moderated by Harlan Hoffa (Penn State), the seminar was funded by the U.S. Office of Education and planned in conjunction with leading art educators such as Elliot Eisner (University of Chicago), Kenneth Beittel (Penn State), and Manuel Barkan (Ohio State). Participants at the 1965 seminar argued that curriculum in visual arts education should draw on contemporary art practice, and introduce art history and criticism to school children. They carried these ideas back to their institutions, exploring them with succeeding generations of graduate students who then implemented new paradigms.
Penn State will reflect on the 50th anniversary of this important event with a three-day conference April 1–3 at University Park.
"The conference will serve as a critical reflection on the 1965 seminar held at Penn State, which served as a milestone event in the field," said Professor B. Stephen Carpenter II, member of the conference planning committee.
Current and emeritus Penn State art education faculty and students, as well as alums and scholars from across the globe, will present at the conference. Penn State President Eric Barron is scheduled to make a few remarks on Friday afternoon. The conference format will include panels, roundtable sessions, a poster session and discussions. Additional planned outcomes of the 2016 conference include published proceedings, online resources and documentation.
The 1965 seminar was a 10-day gathering at Penn State, and became a benchmark in academic art education. The 1965 seminar influenced profoundly the study and practice of art education in the United States as it brought together artists, art historians, critics, art educators, curriculum experts, and psychologists. The seminar is a landmark in the field as it shifted the focus of art education from psychologically grounded, developmental approaches to teaching and researching to a more self-conscious stance as part of the humanities and interdisciplinary scholarship.
For complete details, and to register for the event, visit http://sites.psu.edu/arteducationseminarfifty/. Attendees can pay for single day or full conference registration. Pre K-12 teachers can earn ACT 48 hours by registering for and attending the conference Friday (5 hours), Saturday (6 hours), and Sunday (2.5 hours). For more information, contact pennstate50@psu.edu.
The conference is made possible through a grant from the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at Penn State, and support from the College of Arts and Architecture, the Penn State School of Visual Arts, and the Art Education Program.