September 2007

It is always exciting, even for teachers, to start a new year with full tubes of paint, long sharp pencils, and stacks of clean sketchbooks. I hope the start of your new school year or your new semester has begun smoothly, and that your term will be productive and rewarding in many ways.

Synergies 2007 Conference in Toronto

With only one month to go before the Conference in Toronto, our attention turns to some of the special features.

• Dr. Olivia Gude, an award winning Chicago artist and educator is the Keynote Speaker. Come to hear her ideas about inter-generational learning and creating community art.
• Dr. Bill Zuk is the Gaitskell Address speaker who will speak on “Community Voice: Building a Strong Art Based Education”
• Over 60 workshops to choose from
• The CSEA Panel Discussion on Issues in Art Education.
• Wine and Cheese Reception, entertainment, tour of the Fine Arts Facilities at York University
• A Gala Luncheon, Awards, Trade Fair, Guest Speakers, Silent Auction
• And more….

As you can see, this will be a great conference and you will not want to miss the chance to participate in this wonderful event.

York University: The conference takes place at York University, which is located at 4700 Keele Street, North York.

Registration: Connections to the on-line registration form and other information can be made from the CSEA website.

Accommodation: Many of you have been waiting for this information. The Conference Hotel is Holiday Inn Toronto Yorkdale, 3450 Dufferin Street, Toronto. Rate: $129, reservations at 416-675-9636 or

Provincial Affiliate CSEA Awards

At this time, we have award recipients selected from several provinces, but many provinces still have not forwarded nominations. If you know of someone in your province who deserves to be acknowledged for significant work in art education, please forward a nomination. Forms and details can be found on the CSEA website.

Sharon McCoubrey
CSEA President

January 2008

CSEA Awards for 2007

One highlight of the annual CSEA Conference is the presentation of awards to deserving Canadian art educators. We are always pleased to be able to acknowledge the many ways in which individuals have worked for our discipline of art education.

The two categories of awards include the provincial affiliate awards, which recognizes someone within a province, nominated by peers. The second category of CSEA Awards is the single national award, the CSEA/SpecialtySchools Canadian Art Educator of the Year. Nominations can be forwarded from any part of Canada, and a sub committee of the CSEA Executive reviews the nominations and selects the recipient.

It givers me great pleasure to congratulate the Canadian Art Educator of the Year for 2007, Dr. F. Graeme Chalmers!

It will be impossible to give a full picture of the magnitude and quality of the tremendous work that Graeme has accomplished during his many years as an art educator, but I will try to provide a grief profile of his work. You will see why Graeme is so deserving of this award.

Graeme Chalmers, Canadian Art Educator of the Year for 2007

Graeme is currently a Professor in the Faculty of Education at UBC, although we know he is looking at retirement in the near future. Graeme is an acclaimed teacher, scholar, researcher, author, and artist.

We are fortunate that Graeme settled in Canada after growing up in New Zealand and spending time in other countries. His education includes: University of Auckland, NZ is where he studied Fine Arts, and Art History, and then obtained a Teaching Diploma. He went on to obtain a Master of Arts at Indiana University and then a PhD at the University of Oregon.

Graeme spent some time teaching high school at Papakura School in New Zealand, which was followed by his post secondary teaching at Concordia University, the University of Oregon, and UBC, where he has spent many years in various role, including supervising many graduate students.

Graeme’s high quality, sustained work in art education has been acknowledged through many awards, including the following.

Teaching Awards:

Issak Walton Killan Award for Teaching
Sam Black Medal for Education in the Arts

Scholarship Awards:

June King McFee Award
Distinguished University Scholar (UBC)
Fulbright Travel Award

Service and Other Awards:

BCATA Higher Education
Heritage Canada Communications Award
Distinguished Fellow, National Art Education Association
Edwin Ziegfeld Memorial Award
NAEA Pacific Region Art Educator of the Year
NAEA Art Educator of the Year Award
NAEA Board of Director’s Award – Editing

Among Graeme’s many skills are researching and writing, which have resulted in three published books, including “A Nineteenth Century Government Drawing Master” “Women in the nineteen-century Art World” and “Celebrating Pluralism: Art, education and cultural diversity”

Other publishing achievements include various chapters in books, numerous articles, and reviews in many publications. Graeme has also served as editor of important art education publications, such as Studies in Art Education, the Handbook of Research in Art Education, and International Journal of Education through Art.

For the most part, Graeme’s work has focused on arts education and multiculturalism, arts education and the built environment, and art education history. In addition to the publications, Graeme has given many invited presentations related to these topics. Many teachers will know of Graeme’s long-term work for the International Baccalaureate Organization.

If we look specifically at Graeme’s service to CSEA, several highlights stand out. Graeme has been a member of the CSEA since 1969! He was an editor of Investigart, which later became our current publication: Canadian Review of Art Education (CRAE). Many of you will likely remember the notable Gaitskell Address Graeme gave in 1998, entitled “Learning from Mrs. Crippen”

As you can see, Graeme Chalmers is a Canadian art educator who accomplished a great deal for art education, and is very deserving of this award. Congratulations, Graeme. Thank you for all your work, and our best to you for the next chapter!

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon McCoubrey
CSEA President

December 2007

There is just enough time to fit in one more message to you within the year 2007. If your schedule has been similar to mine, the past few weeks have been packed with teaching, marking, meetings, writing and more. And, if your hope is similar to mine, the next couple of weeks will provide a break from that work.

Synergies 2007 Conference in Toronto

The conference at York University in October was a success with many valuable workshops sessions, inspiring keynote speakers, and some fun social times. I will offer some highlights about the Conference soon, including profiles of the CSEA Award winners.

On behalf of the CSEA Executive, I would like to extend a sincere thank you to the committee from the Ontario Society for Education through Art, under the leadership of Paul Naccarato, for their organized planning and good ideas that made this conference a success. They were good to work during this collaboration for the conference planning. We wish this provincial art educators group much good luck in their future work. Thank you Paul and committee!’

I would also like to welcome all of you who are new CSEA members! We trust you will find it valuable to your work to receive the CSEA publications and other communications. As this is your national body, I encourage you to contact me or other executive members, if you have any questions, or suggestions for the CSEA.

2007 – 2008 CSEA Executive

There are several changes to the Executive for the coming year. Boyd White from McGill University has been the editor of our journal, Canadian Review of Art Education (CRAE) for many years, and has decided it is time to pass the reins on to another editor. Thank you, Boyd, for the professionalism and expertise you brought to this position of editor to ensure that we have a high quality research journal. Richard Lachapelle from Concordia University has agreed to take on this editorship. We look forward to seeing the flavour you will bring to this publication, Richard.

We are not loosing Boyd from the executive because he will continue as Conference liaison, along with Cathy Mullen as they are co-chairs for the CSEA Conference in Montreal on November 6 – 9, 2008.

We are losing Michelle Zederayko from our executive after three years of serving as our Secretary General. Michelle has worked so hard to establish an efficient organization system for the operation of the CSEA. The constancy and the need for attention to details make this job demanding, and Michelle met the challenge so well. Thank you Michelle for helping the CSEA in such a significant way. We look forward to the time when you decide to serve on the CSEA Executive once again.

With those changes, the new CSEA Executive list is as follows.

We look forward to serving you, the membership of CSEA during this coming year, in the various roles that are in these executive positions. Our goals are to effectively be a voice for Canadian art education in various contexts and to support art educators at all levels.

ReVisions: Readings in Canadian Art Teacher

The creation of new resources is one way we support art educators, and we are pleased to announce the release of our newest resource: “ReVisions: Readings in Canadian Art Teacher Education”. Congratulations to editors Rita Irwin, Kit Grauer, and Mike Emme for a beautiful book that has its current and relevant content presented in such a creative manner. You will find all the details about this book and how to order it on the CSEA website.

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Hopefully you will have a holiday break that is relaxing and enjoyable, and that makes you look forward to the New Year with anticipation and enthusiasm.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon McCoubrey
CSEA President

July 2008

Summertime may mean a time of relaxation and holidays for some of you, but others may be teaching classes or keeping your computer busy with a writing project. Whatever your activities may be this summer, I hope you find some time to take a break, relax, and perhaps find your way to your studio to engage in a little art making that so often eludes us as we meet the demands of being art educators.

Canadian Art Educator of the Year

Two years ago, we introduced a new award, a single Canadian Art Educator of the Year Award that would be awarded to an art educator who made significant contributions to art education in Canada. The first recipient was Dr Rita Irwin, who is about to take over the role as President of the International Society for Education through Art, congratulations, Rita. The second award recipient was Dr Graeme Chalmers, who is about to take on the role of retirement!

After some discussion at our executive meeting, it was agreed that it would be preferable to have a national art educator award for each of two areas, K – 12 and Post-Secondary, given the nature of the work in each context is somewhat different.

Fortunately, our sponsor, School Specialty Canada (Sax Canada) agreed to support two awards. Thank you to Harry deBoer from School Specialty for continuing to be supportive of the CSEA.

Two national awards will now be presented at this year’s CSEA Conference in Montreal, one for the Post-Secondary Art Educator, and one for the K – 12 Art Educator.

The forms for nominations have been revised and appear on the CSEA website. Given this change has taken place recently, the timelines have been extended for this year only. Take note that the nomination deadline is September 20. Please read the forms carefully for the list of items required for the nomination package.

The nomination requirements are not difficult, so we encourage you to think of whom among your colleagues is deserving of this award, and begin to gather information for a nomination. The awards provide an excellent way to give a deserving person a pat on the back, and to give some attention to art education.

Don’t forget our conference this year at Concordia University in Montreal, November 6 – 9, 2008. This conference will provide the best setting and opportunity to discuss and learn about the issues that are important to art education currently. A CSEA Conference is always a rich professional experience, and well worth the effort to attend.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon McCoubrey
CSEA President