Art Education students develop the skills to become artists and teachers. Surrounded by the rich artistic environment of MassArt, students choose to either develop a single studio concentration, or to learn from a diverse breadth of studio practices throughout campus. Students on either path also develop their creative studio practice through the department’s sequence of Interdisciplinary Studio courses.
In classes, students explore theories of human development and the nature of art making, and develop approaches to the diverse needs of learners. Courses include regular visits to a variety of educational and art settings, familiarizing students with a wide range of teaching and artistic contexts, including public schools, after-school programs, alternative programs, art spaces, and community centers, museums, galleries, and artists’ studios.
Students also have the opportunity to take courses that focus on community engagement or on curatorial design, where they develop exhibitions of local artists and create educational materials for the public.
Practical experience is at the heart of the MassArt Art Education program. Our renowned Saturday Studios Program allows students to gain supervised and supported hands-on experience as educators. BFA students are also required to do a supervised practicum or internship. Students interested in getting endorsed for an initial license in visual arts teaching, select the school-based practicum. Students interested in community, museum or gallery settings select internships in those settings.
By graduation, Art Education students are culturally responsive educators who have developed critical skills, strategies, and approaches that address the diverse needs of learners. Our students catalyze inclusive, active, and activist learning for all, across educational contexts and environments.
Students who complete the Art Education BFA program are expected to be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes.
MassArt was founded on a deep understanding of the important role of art educators in preparing the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and innovators.
We celebrate our urban context and our historical partnership with the Boston Public Schools. We prioritize justice and equity while emphasizing engaged creative studio practice, social activism, and expansive scholarly work.
We prepare our students to be generous, resourceful, and reflective practitioners who catalyze inclusive, activist learning for all, across educational contexts and environments.
Our expansive approach to art education prepares our students for careers in public schools, museums, galleries and other community spaces.Beth Balliro Professor, Art Education
You will develop your creative practice through our sequence of interdisciplinary studio courses, and also have access to our campus-wide studio curriculum.
Our Art Education Speaker Series showcases artists and educators who embody a creative approach to teaching and promoting social justice.
Learn MoreHow it started: “My art has been a part of my life since I can remember, from when I was in Boston Public Schools and took art classes,” says Farmer, who went to high school at Boston Latin Academy and took art classes on the weekends. In 2013, she graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a degree in art education, and a minor in fiber arts.
MassArt “really opened up a world that I didn’t know existed,” she adds. “I remember going to an exhibit at the ICA of Mark Bradford, and he does these amazing pieces that I still to this day am very much inspired by — he uses found material, very textural also. Even though I grew up in Boston and had gone to the ICA and the MFA, I just didn’t know that there were people who were either similar to me or could make art for a living.”
“Gabriel Sosa: No Vehicles in the Park” opens on Saturday, Oct. 1, and runs through Jan. 8.
“A teacher at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston and deputy director of the Essex Art Center in Lawrence, Sosa works primarily with language and its inherent shortcomings, ambiguities and implications. …
“Also opening Saturday and on through Jan. 8 is Boston-based artist Cicely Carew‘s immersive installation “Quantum Sanctuary.” A Mass. College of Art and Design and Lesley Art and Design graduate, Carew is devoted to expressing radical joy and liberation through abstraction in her work. Her goal in this piece is to transport viewers to a space that activates the senses and promotes interconnectedness.”
The Fitchburg Art Museum is located at 185 Elm St., Fitchburg, and is open from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday; and from noon to 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month. Call 978-345-4207 or visit fitchburgartmuseum.org.
