Archive for October 14th, 2008

Art is literacy of the heart

October 14, 2008

Elliot Eisner

Elliot Eisner is emeritus professor of Art and Education at Stanford University. He is active in several fields including arts education, curriculum reform, qualitative research.

Originally trained in the visual arts, Eisner received his Ph.D in education from the University of Chicago in the 1960s, where he studied with Joseph Schwab, Bruno Bettelheim, and Phillip Jackson.

Eisner’s work has supported Discipline-Based Art Education, and he developed the importance of forms of representation in education. During the 1980s, he had a number of exchanges with Denis C. Phillips regarding the status of qualitative research for educational understanding. Eisner also had a well-known debate with Howard Gardner as to whether a work of fiction such as a novel could be submitted as a dissertation (Eisner believed it could, and some novels have since been successfully submitted).

Eisner publishes regularly; his works include hundreds of articles and over a dozen books. He also frequently speaks before teachers, administrators, and at professional conferences.

Eisner has served as president of many professional organizations, including the American Educational Research Association, the National Art Education Association, and the John Dewey Society. In 2005, he received the Grawemeyer Award.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_W._Eisner