KENNEDY, CHRISTOPHER LEE, Ph.D. Mycological Provisions: An A/r/tographic Portraiture of Four Contemporary Teaching Artists. (2014) Directed by Dr. Leila Villaverde. 284 pp. This is a critical and qualitative research study exploring the work of four contemporary artists using social art practice as a form of public pedagogy. The study examines a collection of projects authored by each artist to understand the political and ethical dimensions of this work and the complexity of teacher/artist identity. The aim is to consider how these practices operate pedagogically, and how social and participatory artworks more generally produce public pedagogies. During the summer of 2013, a series of mushroom hunts were organized to collaboratively discuss each artist’s work, and reflect on the field art education. Throughout fungi is used as a post-formal epistemological lens to deterritorialize boundaries between art and education, and as a material for collaborative dialogue and art making. The findings of the study shed light on the changing nature of art education and teacher/artist subjectivity. Artists involved in this work were found to take on a number of complex and shifting identities that affect their capacity for critical reflection. This is complicated by the institutionalization of social practice and public pedagogy, impacting the ethical and political scope of this work, which is predominantly available to privileged middle to upper class white students and publics. Despite this, the majority of artworks explored in this study are able to circulate critical public pedagogies as an alternative to conventional arts education, offering examples of experiential, project and place-based approaches to learning and critical pedagogy. MYCOLOGICAL PROVISIONS: AN A/R/TOGRAPHIC PORTRAITURE OF FOUR CONTEMPORARY TEACHING ARTISTS by Christopher Lee Kennedy A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 2014 Approved by Dr. Leila Villaverde_________________ Committee Chair APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation written by CHRISTOPHER LEE KENNEDY has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Chair Dr. Leila Villaverde Committee Members Dr. Glenn Hudak Dr. Sarah Cervenak Michael Christiano _______ March 20, 2014________ Date of Acceptance by Committee _______March 20, 2014______ Date of Final Oral Examination ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all of my committee members, especially Dr. Leila Villaverde for continually pushing me to critically question and confront my own assumptions about art and learning. Her patience, quiet resolve and insight have been an incredible gift that I am immensely grateful for. Also, a heartfelt thanks to my dear friends Caroline, Kate, Rob and Cassie for inspiring this project and their willingness to talk candidly and openly about their work. I would not have been able to complete this journey without all of you. With intense burning love, thank you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………….....vii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………..viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................1 Guiding Questions ...................................................................................... 4 Why this Study? .......................................................................................... 4 Limitations .................................................................................................. 5 Organization of Inquiry............................................................................... 6 II. WEATHER ............................................................................................................7 Fungi and Multiple Ways of Knowing ....................................................... 8 Critical Theory .......................................................................................... 12 The Learning Self ..................................................................................... 14 Navigating Relationships between Education and Learning .................... 17 Rhizome: An Epistemology of Becoming ................................................ 20 Indeterminacy and John Cage ................................................................... 23 Art and Chaos ........................................................................................... 28 Post-Formal Thinking and Creativity ....................................................... 33 III. GROUND .............................................................................................................36 Art Education and Teaching Artists .......................................................... 37 A Brief History of Art Education ................................................ 37 Philosophical Shifts in Art Education ......................................... 41 Critical Art Pedagogy .................................................................. 46 Teaching Artists in the United States .......................................... 49 Contemporary Teaching Artists .................................................. 51 Exploring Post-Studio Project-Works ......................................... 53 A History of Participatory and Social Art................................................. 58 Power and Dialogue in Community Art Practices ...................... 62 Public Pedagogy........................................................................................ 65 The Public Sphere ....................................................................... 65 Counterpublics ............................................................................. 67 Approaches to Public Pedagogy .................................................. 68 Counterpublic Pedagogy ............................................................. 70 iv IV. THE HUNT ..........................................................................................................73 Methodology ............................................................................................. 74 A/r/tography ................................................................................ 74 Portraiture .................................................................................... 76 Research Process and Methods ................................................................. 78 Participant Selection .................................................................... 78 Pre-Interview Survey ................................................................... 80 The Mushroom Hunt - Interview ................................................. 80 Focus Group ................................................................................ 84 A/r/tographic Inquiries .............................................................................. 85 Exhibition .................................................................................... 85 Mycography ................................................................................. 87 Crochet Sculptures and Drawings ............................................... 89 Media and Video Work ............................................................... 90 Reflexive Inquiries ...................................................................... 90 Positionality .............................................................................................. 91 Confronting Assumptions about Art and Learning ..................... 91 Participant Connections ............................................................... 94 Participant Challenges ................................................................. 95 Further Reflections ...................................................................... 96 V. SPORES ...............................................................................................................99 South: Robert Peterson ............................................................................. 99 Journal Entry: A Return to the Ramapo Mountains .................... 99 Rob’s Story ................................................................................ 100 The Ghetto Biennial .................................................................. 104 Journal Entry: Exploring Off-Path ............................................ 112 Radio Transmission Ark ............................................................ 113 Discussion ................................................................................. 117 North: Cassie Thornton ........................................................................... 119 Journal Entry: Another Mountain, a Greater Climb .................. 119 Cassie’s Story ............................................................................ 121 Feminist Economics Department .............................................. 123 Teaching is my Art Practice ...................................................... 133 Journal Entry: A Bear of a Descent ........................................... 139 Discussion ................................................................................. 140 East: Caroline Woolard ........................................................................... 142 Journal Entry: Manhattan is a Furnace ...................................... 142