Visual Journals: Multifaceted Approaches for Application

A panel consisting of a university professor, PhD candidate, middle school visual arts instructor, community art center director and school district visual arts supervisor will outline and discuss a variety of ways visual journals can be implemented in teaching, professional development and community workshops. Pulling from a wide range of experiences with art making, teaching situations, community involvement, mentorship and supervision; panel members will share how they have used the visual journal in their personal studio practices and how it can be used to motivate students, teachers and community members to explore their personal lines of artistic inquiry. Visual Journals are proven innovative platforms for encouraging meaningful art making, fostering arts based research and promoting divergent thinking. These creative workspaces provide a firm grounding for the diverse stylistic, conceptual and contextual art making concerns of artists of all ages. Insights gained from dedicated engagement in the practice of visual journaling aids in providing art students a solid foundation for developing a voice in their personal art making. Participants will leave this session with successful strategies that promote process-oriented art making, artist-directed research and learning, as well as tactics to broaden community outreach.