Research in Visual Arts Education - The National Society for ...

BETWEEN VISUAL ARTS AND VISUAL CULTURE
as gallery education (Mette Houlberg, the Danish National Gallery) and the
mediation of the visual arts in the network society (Anne Sofie Løssing,
University of Aarhus).
Furthermore, Doctorate theses such as Beth Juncker’s About the process. A
research narrative on the significance of the aesthetic in children’s culture (2006),
Bjarne Sode Funch’s The psychology of art appreciation (1997), and Birgitte
Tufte’s School and media – a construction kit for the pedagogy of moving images
(1995), are significant contributions to the development of certain themes in
visual arts education. These dissertations are therefore included in the list,
as well as the Ph.D. thesis of Susan Hinnum The struggle for reality (2002),
which concerns the Danish art scene of the nineties.
M.A. theses
The first of the 82 Danish M.A.’s in visual arts education was awarded in
1997 and the last one in 2005. The theses are generally about 100 pages long
and the best of them have made genuine contributions to Danish research
in arts education. Scrolling down the titles of the theses, one can conclude
that curriculum studies, aesthetic and artistic leaning processes and the possibilities
of ICT in art education are the three dominant themes of the theses,
followed by drama and body in art education, museum and gallery education,
children’s pictorial production, learning potentials of contemporary
art, picture analysis, multicultural art education and design.
The methodological approaches used in the theses are mostly empirically
based, such as action research, participant observation, interviews, and
development work, while some students have chosen more theoretical
approaches such as comparative literature studies or text analysis. The epistemological
approaches vary from phenomenology to critical hermeneutics
and discourse analysis.
Seven theses have been awarded for independent and excellent performance:
Kirsten Meisner Christensen’s thesis on pictures and narrativity
(1998), Ingerid Bach Hansen’s thesis on the learning potentials of contemporary
art (2001), Kirsten Plum Throlle’s thesis about a personal web site
produced by children (2001), Karsten Arvedsen’s thesis on the development
of visual arts education towards a focus on visual culture (2002), Hanne
Nissen Bøgesvang’s thesis about drawing as a bodily rooted experiential medium
(2004), Dorte Villadsen’s thesis on education in art galleries (2004),
and Helle Rasmussen’s thesis about aesthetic learning through pictorial production
(2004).
88 NORDIC VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION IN TRANSITION