International Journal of Education Through Art - Volume 21, Issue 3, 2025

This article challenges the assumption that traditional drawing is less powerful than digital means of producing images. The power of digital imaging technology is widely perceived to render traditional drawing instruction less relevant in visual arts programmes at all levels. This assumption is the result of what Gilbert Ryle called a ‘category mistake’, corrected by understanding that drawing is the progenitor of digital means, rather than a different ontological category. The article proposes that drawing pedagogy remains an efficient, economical means of nurturing an intelligence of seeing; subsequent applications of such intelligence have facilitated all technologies, including the relatively recent digital means of image production and manipulation.

The following research investigates why a significant proportion of higher education art school students struggle with critical studies (the theoretical, written course component) and what can be done to remedy this. By employing a pragmatic, mixed-methods approach that combines action research and arts-based practice, the findings suggest that the dichotomy of theoretical and practical course delivery within an art school setting perpetuates a theory/praxis schism in student learning. A potential solution to this binary learning system emerges from this research by suggesting how arts-based pedagogy combined with formal writing conventions may increase student’s critical studies academic comprehension. A new epistemological term emerges to classify this learning and teaching approach as ‘thraxis’, which is defined as a triadic delivery of art school education (theory – thraxis – praxis). Thraxis proposes a bridging point to more effective theoretical engagement via arts-based protocols that destabilizes the division between studio practice and theoretical enquiry.

This study explores how community-based art education (CBAE) fosters social justice in the face of urban displacement. In YongHe, Taiwan, when redevelopment threatened a vital public space, a collaborative project mobilized residents and students to co-create participatory art interventions. This initiative cultivated a pedagogy rooted in commoning and citizenship, as artistic inquiry enabled participants to confront housing precarity, reimagine belonging and enact civic engagement. Grounded in social justice art education (SJAE), the project embedded art learning within a lived commons using arts-based participatory action research (AB-PAR). A central intervention – building a temporary structure called the Shell-less Snail in a public space threatened by urban development – critiqued technocratic urbanism and reclaimed space through collective creation. Ultimately, its civic impact earned national media attention, illustrating how collaborative art-making can cultivate civic agency and critical spatial awareness. It offers valuable insights for K-12 educators seeking to empower students as agents of systemic change and reimagine democratic urban futures from the ground up.

This article rethinks decolonization through the lens of posthuman-a/r/tography, a theoretical framework that integrates posthumanist philosophy with a/r/tographic methodology. The inquiry was initiated by a chance encounter with a seagull perched atop sʔi:ɬqəý qeqən, a sculpture representing First Nations culture on the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus in Vancouver, Canada. Inspired by contiguity in a/r/tography, and drawing on visual artworks, narrative, avian visual systems and quantum physics, I sought to challenge dominant understandings of decolonization and contribute to a reimagined interpretative pathway. Later, as an educator, I extended this inquiry into my K–12 art classroom, where students engaged in learning with and from non-human entities. Their responses open new possibilities for decolonial pedagogy. I argue that decolonization is not only an act of integration and/or reconciliation between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people but also an ongoing process of entangled becoming among beings, events, perspectives and relationships.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in pre-service art teacher education remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by investigating Japanese pre-service art education students’ (N = 14) perspectives on text-to-image generative AI. Conducted through a hands-on workshop, the study explored both opportunities and challenges of AI integration within K–12 art education. Participants expressed concerns about AI’s potential to diminish creativity, artistic development and critical thinking through over-reliance. Conversely, they recognized AI’s affordances in enhancing creative potential, streamlining tasks and reshaping teacher identities through co-creation. The findings reflect a nuanced blend of optimism and scepticism, underscoring the complex and evolving role of AI in disrupting art education practice.

Review of: Teaching Artistic Strategies: Playing With Materiality, Aesthetics and Ambiguity, Fatma Kargin, Dorothée King and Selena Savic (eds) (2024)

Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 162 pp.,

ISBN 978-3-83767-334-0, p/bk, EUR 46.00/USD 55.00

ISBN 978-3-83947-334-4, e-book, open access