Notes on Contributors
Bernard W. Andrews
is Professor of Education at the University of Ottawa where he teaches undergraduate elementary arts and music certification courses, and graduate arts education, creativity, curriculum theory, and program evaluation courses. His research focuses on educational music, interactive teaching strategies, arts education partnerships, research methods, and teacher development in the arts. He has undertaken two national research initiatives as Principal Investigator: ArtsSmarts Evaluation funded by the J. W. McConnell Foundation; and the New Music for Young Musicians Project funded by the Canada Council in collaboration with provincial arts councils. Bernie has recently completed three projects: New Sounds of Learning: Composing for Young Musicians funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC); Sound Connections: Composing Educational Music funded by the Trillium Foundation; and Making Music: Composing with Young Musicians funded by SSHRC. These research/creation projects have resulted in the composition of 147 new pieces for educational purposes. Currently, he is Principal Investigator for The Genesis Project: An investigation of contemporary music composition, also funded by SSHRC, which involves the commissioning of 12 new works by composers-in-residence of major Canadian symphony orchestras. His research has been recognized with the Brick Robb Research Award (OSSTF), Partners for Change Award (OADE), Award of Commendation (OMEA), Excellence in Innovation Award (CMEA), and Fred L. Barlett Memorial Award (OPSBA), in addition to several publication awards. Bernie was the Founding President of the Arts Researchers and Teachers Society (ARTS)/ La societé des chercheurs et des enseignants des arts (SCEA).
Kathy Browning
is an Art Educator and Artist. She has a Ph.D. and B.Ed. from University of Toronto, an M. F. A. from York University, and a B.F.A. Honours from the University of Manitoba. Kathy has taught Visual Arts and Technology at the elementary, secondary and university levels and Visual Arts, Methods: Instructional Strategies, and Social and Legal Issues in Education in the Faculty of Education, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Kathy has been having photography exhibitions for over 40 years. She has shown work in all art media in Canada and the United States. Kathy directed and produced 14 Videos of Visual Artists in Greater Sudbury which profile Aboriginal, Métis, Francophone, and artists and the interconnections they have made with the community (see https://www3.laurentian.ca/visual_artists/). Kathy presents her videos and Teachers Facilitation Guides along with her students’ exemplars and curriculum created at provincial, national, and international conferences. This video series has received the Curriculum Services Canada Seal of Approval and the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education, Excellence and Innovation in the Integration of Technology in the K-12 Classroom award.
Ranya Essmat Saad
is a Canadian immigrant with Egyptian roots. She obtained a BFA of Art Education, followed by Masters of Art Education from Concordia University. Ranya is currently a Ph.D. student in Art Education at Concordia University. Her research focuses on religious festivals and street theaters as sociopolitical and cultural narratives in Canada and Egypt.
Rita L. Irwin
is a Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Art Education and Curriculum Studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Rita has been an educational leader for a number of provincial, national and international organizations, including being President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies, Canadian Society for Education through Art, International Society for Education through Art, and Chair of the World Alliance for Arts Education. Her research interests have spanned in-service art education, teacher education, socio-cultural issues, and curriculum practices across K-12 and informal learning settings. Rita publishes widely, exhibits her artworks, and has secured a range of research grants, including a number of Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada grants to support her work. She is best known for her work in a/r/tography that expands how we might imagine and conduct arts practice-based research methodologies through collaborative and community-based collectives. In recognition of her many accomplishments and commitments, she has received a number of awards for her teaching, service and scholarship including the distinction of Distinguished Fellow of the National Art Education Association, the Ted T. Aoki Award for Distinguished Service in Canadian Curriculum Studies, the inaugural Canadian Art Teacher of the Year Award, the Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring from UBC, the Elliot Eisner Lifetime Achievement (NAEA) and the Herbert J. Coutts Award for Distinguished Service (CSSE).
Maia Kim Giesbrecht
holds degrees from McGill University: a Master’s in Educational and Counselling Psychology and a Bachelor’s degree in Music; and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa. She has been working with Professor B. W. Andrews on various projects since 2011. Her research interests are music education and creativity in the arts. Maia currently works as a clinical supervisor in the mental health field and has previously worked in the field of education in various capacities.
Shelley M. Griffin
is an Associate Professor of Elementary Music Education in Brock University’s Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Studies, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. She obtained her Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Education Degrees from the University of Alberta, and her Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Prince Edward Island. Shelley previously taught in the Department of Music, University of Prince Edward Island and in the Department of Elementary Education, University of Alberta. Prior to university teaching, she taught with the Western School Board, Prince Edward Island. Shelley’s research interests include children’s narratives of musical experiences, pre-service music teacher education, narrative inquiry, informal faculty mentorship, and collaborative scholarship. Shelley continues to present at a variety of Canadian and international conferences on music education and teacher education. Her research articles, including co-authored publications, appear in various journals and edited books. In addition to her scholarship, Shelley is an active musician in the Niagara, Ontario region, performing regularly as a flutist and as a soprano with Avanti Chamber Singers.
Debra McLauchlan
(1951–2016) was a professor of Drama Education in the Department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Having obtained her PhD at the University of Toronto in 1996, Professor McLauchlan spent the last 20 years at Brock University inspiring pre-service teacher education candidates and graduate students in Drama Education with a zest, commitment, and passion for lifelong engagement in the Arts. A natural leader, she was a respected spokesperson for Drama Education locally, nationally, and internationally. Her research contributions to the field of education encompassed a wide variety of publications including books, monographs, book chapters, articles, and theatre study guides. Debra, a valued colleague, educator, and dear friend of many, is sorely missed by all who were blessed to have known her.
Glenys McQueen-Fuentes
B.A. (McGill), Lecoq International Physical Theatre School (Paris), M.Ed. (Brock), is a movement specialist, theatre professional, educator and workshop facilitator who has lived and worked in France, New Zealand, Mexico, and Canada. Recently retired from Brock University, her areas of research include creative pedagogy, intercultural awareness and movement-based Applied Theatre. As Co-Director of DramaSound Projects, she and her composer husband create original, mood-based instrumental music and new methodologies for using music and movement for education, for the arts, and as methods of communication for learning in any context. Under Mind the Gap Communications, she and colleague Christine Boyko-Head, advise, consult, and facilitate interactive sessions in creativity, empathy and team-building for education, health, and business.
Laura Nemoy
is an education and quality improvement researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her work focuses on inter-professional collaboration and patient safety using ethnographic and simulation-based approaches. Laura holds a Master’s of Arts in Education from the University of Ottawa. Under the supervision of Dr. Bernard W. Andrews, Laura conducted her thesis, Experiencing Resonance: Choral Singing in Medical Education, interviewing medical students about their experiences singing in a medical student choir at a Canadian medical school. Laura comes from an inter-disciplinary academic background, graduating from McMaster University’s acclaimed Arts & Science Program. She is also a dedicated choral singer, and currently sings in a chamber choir in Toronto, the Exultate Chamber Singers, under the direction of Dr. Mark Ramsay.
Lori Lynn Penny
has been teaching all subjects of music theory at all levels for more than 40 years. She was admitted to the Royal Conservatory’s College of Theoretical Examiners in 2005. As an advocate for the importance of music study, she marks rudiments, harmony, and history examinations from across Canada and the United States. She is also a writer and reviewer for Frederick Harris Music, co-authoring the Conservatory’s new Celebrate Theory series – preparatory to level 8. Lori Lynn received a Bachelor of Music in Elementary School Music from the University of Calgary, as well as a graduate Diploma of Fine Arts with a specialization in the Kodály Concept of Music Education. She recently completed a Master of Arts in Music Theory at the University of Ottawa and is currently finishing a Doctorate in Education with a concentration in Teaching, Learning, and Evaluation. Her research on the topic of music theory pedagogy combines her dual interests in music theory and music education. Lori Lynn is a member of the Ottawa Region Branch of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ORMTA), serving as Treasurer since 2002. She is also Treasurer of the Gloucester Music Teachers’ Association and Director of the Gloucester Music Club. Along with her regular teaching, Lori Lynn has tutored post-secondary music theory students and prepared others for entrance exams at leading Canadian universities. Her students have been recognized with Awards, Medals, and Scholarships from Conservatory Canada, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Ottawa Region Branch of ORMTA.
Jennifer Rowsell
is Professor of Literacies and Social Innovation at University of Bristol’s School of Education in the United Kingdom. Her research interests include multimodal, makerspace and arts-based research with teenagers; digital literacies research; and, more recent work in posthumanist and affective approaches to literacy teaching and learning as well as research on the digital divide. Dr. Rowsell has worked and conducted research in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She has written, co-written, and co-edited twenty-five books on a range of topics from handbooks on literacy studies to multimodality to Bourdieusian sociology and English education. She is co-editor of the Routledge Expanding Literacies in Education book series with Cynthia Lewis (University of California at Santa Cruz), and she is the Department Editor of Digital Literacies for The Reading Teacher.
Michelle Searle
holds a PhD in curriculum with a focus on assessment and evaluation. Her doctoral work explored the role of arts-informed inquiry as a methodological enhancement in educational program evaluation. She has received the Credentialed Evaluator (CE) designation from the Canadian Evaluation Society, and she is also a member of the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT). Michelle has experience leading research and evaluation teams in the fields of education and health. Her research focuses on increasing the usefulness of program evaluation through a focus on collaborative evaluation approaches and innovative forms of knowledge dissemination that enhance capacity within organizations. She is skilled at using complementary methods drawn from qualitative and quantitative approaches to provide strong evidence for the convergence and collaboration of program findings. By using mixed and multiple methods that are often infused with Arts, Michelle is gains a deeper understanding of the phenomena under study and uses this knowledge to inform policy, practice and scholarship. In addition to being a nationally funded scholar, Michelle Searle’s scholarship in the field of evaluation has been recognized with awards from both the American Evaluation Association and Canadian Evaluation Association. As a researcher-practitioner, she has gained experience working at local, national and international levels. At all of these levels, her goal is to promote the systematic inquiry for the purposes of data-informed decision-making.
Alison Shields
is an artist and art educator living in Victoria, BC. She is an Assistant Professor in Art Education at the University of Victoria. She received a Ph.D. in Art Education from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in painting from the University of Waterloo. Her doctoral research took her on a cross-Canada journey interviewing over 125 artists in their studios to examine painting as a way of learning. She continues to examine artists’ practices within her current research that explores how an artist-in-residence enriches the learning for students within art education. Shields has participated in local and international artist residencies and has exhibited her paintings across North America. Her most recent paintings of artists’ studios will be shown in a solo exhibition titled Studio as Portal, at McClure Gallery in Montreal in 2020. Her artistic and research interests include studio practices, arts-based and artistic research, artist residencies and painting. Her paintings can be viewed at alisonshields.com
Anita Sinner
is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art Education at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Her interests include theoretical perspective in the visual arts, arts research methods, including life writing and a/r/tography, international art education, curriculum development, teacher education, and community art education.
Darlene St. Georges
is a Métis artist, poet, PhD candidate at Concordia University, and an Assistant Professor, Art Education, University of Lethbridge, Canada. Her creation-research embraces the unfolding metamorphosis of scholarship by harnessing multiple lines of inquiry through visual imagery and poetics. She explores complex issues of identity and politicized memory to create spaces in which alternative histories can emerge.
Peter Vietgen
is an Associate Professor of Art Education in the Faculty of Education, Brock University, Ontario, Canada. A previous Visual Arts Consultant/Curriculum Advisor with the Toronto District School Board, Peter is the current President of the Canadian Society for Education through Art, the national subject association for Art Education in Canada. Peter’s research interests lie in the areas of Teacher Education and the Arts, Social Justice and Equity Issues and the Arts, Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Arts Education, Visual Arts and Literacy Connections, and Art Gallery/Museum and School Partnerships. A passionate advocate for Arts Education in schools, Peter has presented his research at conferences locally, nationally and internationally. Over the years, Peter has been involved in curating a number of art exhibitions and has often been called upon to serve in the role of juror in exhibitions locally and around the world. An artist himself, Peter enjoys a keen interest in the art and practice of photography.
John L. Vitale
holds a doctoral degree in Curriculum Studies from the University of Toronto and is currently a Professor in the Schulich School of Education at Nipissing University. John also has 12 years of experience as a secondary school music teacher, which included serving as the Department Head of Arts at Victoria Park Collegiate in Toronto. Moreover, John maintains a number of teaching and scholarly interests, including music education, music and media, arts-based methodologies, fiction-based research, and alternative pedagogies. As an author, John has over 30 publications to his credit, including a number of book chapters and journal articles. Moreover, John has presented his work at over 40 conferences, including international venues in Italy, France, Portugal, as well as numerous venues across the United States. As a professional bassist, John has performed at over 1,200 national and international venues with four different Juno Award winning artists, including numerous festivals, public concerts, and television appearances throughout Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean. In addition, he has dozens of studio performance credits, including the Juno nominated album “Utopia” by Juno Award winning artist Robert Michaels. Moreover, John also has numerous compositional credits, including the score to award-winning children’s animated film Attic-in-the-Blue (first place winner at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival).
Jennifer Wicks
is a Ph.D. candidate in Art Education at Concordia University. Informed and influenced by her multi-disciplinary art and teaching practice, Jennifer uses collaborative and art based methodologies in her research to explore artist/teacher/researcher identity, curriculum development, pedagogical approaches, classroom design, and atmosphere to understand better the impact on student learning and creative development.
Kari-Lynn Winters
is an Associate Professor, award-winning Canadian children’s author, performer, and playwright. She currently teaches drama-in-education, dance-in-education, and language arts to teacher candidates at Brock University in the Faculty of Education. Holding degrees from UBC, OISE/UT, Brock University, and the National Theatre School in literacy education, teacher education, and the arts, her research interests include: refugee education, mental health, social equity, STEAM, body image, embodied pedagogies, children’s literature, drama, and multimodal literacies.
Seonjeong Yi
completed her second Master’s in Art Education at Concordia University in 2017. She developed a workshop program for the Heeum Museum of Military Sexual Slavery in South Korea to raise awareness about the “Comfort Women” issue as public pedagogy through participatory action research. She was planning to pursue a doctorate at the University of British Columbia at the time of her unexpected passing in the summer of 2017.
Thibault Zimmer
is a first-year doctoral student whose research focuses on curriculum studies, critical pedagogy and museum education, arts-based research methodologies, and community-based art education.