The Artist-Teacher

Abstract

The notion of the artist-teacher is not new and different versions of this couplet have occurred over time most commonly, though not exclusively, within higher education institutions in which artists have traditionally been employed as teachers on undergraduate and post-graduate programmes. We know that the Bauhaus, for example, employed many artists as teachers who each espoused an artist-teacher philosophy, including Walter Gropius and Paul Klee and different aspects of this pedagogical practice were employed by Richard Hamilton, Harry Thubron, Tom Hudson and Anton Ehrenzweig and more recently by Carolee Schneemann and Sonia Boyce. In each case artists have been able to bring quite distinct approaches to the pedagogical space in order to initiate and facilitate learning. However the development of practical-theoretical award-bearing academic programmes aimed at developing the notion of the artist teacher is a more recent initiative.