EXPERIENCE
Watershed Collaborative 2016 - Present Co-Founder, a nonprofit established to disseminate Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)
Hailey Group 2014 - Present Instructor and Coach, a consulting firm using VTS to nurture organizational leadership
Visual Understanding in Education 1997 - 2015 Co-Founding Director (with Abigail Housen) a nonprofit developmentally based educational research organization that created Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)
Development through Art 1994 - 1997 Partner, an educational research company, established prior to receiving nonprofit status for Visual Understanding in Education
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA 1992 - 1994 Visiting Curator
Mass College of Art, Boston, MA 1993 - 1994 Visiting Professor
Museum of Modern Art, NY 1983 - 1993 Director of Education
Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO 1978 - 1982 Founding Director
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL 1977 - 1978 Director of Education
University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 1976 - 1977 Visiting faculty, Art Education
Chicago Consortium of Colleges and Universities, IL 1976 - 1977 Instructor, MA program in interrelated arts
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 1976 - 1977 Guest faculty, Young Artist Studio program of the Teacher Education Department
DePaul University, Chicago, IL 1976 Guest faculty, Art Education and performance
South Street Seaport Museum, New York, NY 1974 - 1976 Director of Museum Programs
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 1969 - 1974 Associate Museum Educator-in-Charge, Department of High School Programs Coordinator, High School Exhibition Service
Visual Arts, NYS Council on the Arts, Syracuse, NY 1965 - 1968 Program Associate
Metropolitan Development Association, Syracuse, NY 1963 - 1965 Assistant to the Director
EDUCATION
2003 Doctorate of Fine Arts, Honoris Causa, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
1979 M.A. in Art Education, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT
1977 B.A. Governor’s State University, Park Forest, IL
1960—63, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
HONORS
2012 Educator in Residence, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA
2004 & 2005 Writing Residency, Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
1996 George A. Miller Visiting Scholar, University of Illinois,
1993 National Art Education Association Award for Distinguished Service
1990 New York State Governor's Award, on behalf of Visual AIDS and A Day Without Art
1987 National Art Education Association Museum Educator of the Year
1984 New York State Governor's Award, on behalf of The Museum of Modern Art
SELECTED WRITING
VTS and Montessori, a handbook for Montessori educators. Co-written with Jacqueline Cossentino, 2020. (In process)
“Art in School: As Essential as Language.” American Educator, Spring 2019
Visual Thinking Strategies for Preschool: Using Art to Enhance Literacy and Social Skills. Harvard Education Publishing Group, 2018
“The Key to Change: Teachers Working Together.” Harvard Education Publishing Group Voices of Education blog post, 2018
“Seize the Opportunity.” Harvard Education Publishing Group Voices of Education blog post, 2016
“Understanding and Teaching Visual Literacy: The Visual Thinking Strategies Approach,” co-written with Dabney Hailey and Alexa Miller. A chapter in Visualizing Learning:Essentials of Teaching and Integrating Visual and Media Literacy, Springer Publications, March 2015.
“Visual Thinking, Images, and Learning in College” Co-written with Alexa Miller. About Campus, Vol 19, issue 4. September 2014. Jossey-Bass
“Permission to Wonder: Using Art to Deepen Learning” UnBoxed, A Journal of Adult Learning in Schools, Issue 11, Spring 2014.
Visual Thinking Strategies: Using Art to Deepen Learning across Disciplines. Harvard Education Publishing Group. 2013
“What’s Going on Here? Using Art to Deepen Learning,” Harvard Education Letter volume 29:5 (September/October 2013).
“Why Do We Teach Art in Schools?” Co-written with Peggy Burchenal, Abigail Housen, Kate Rawlinson. NAEA News, April 2008
“Fuel: Giving Youth the Power to Succeed.” The benefits of art as an arena for adolescent development, 2004. Marwen, an Arts program for underserved youth, Chicago IL
“The Power of Art.” Commencement address, Kansas City Art Institute, 2003.
“Addressing the Needs of Youth: What I learned at Marwen.” Annual Report, Marwen, Chicago IL, 2003.
“Jump Starting Visual Literacy: Thoughts on Image Selection.” Art Education. Volume 56, No.1, 2003.
Visual Thinking Strategies, co-created with Abigail Housen. Visual Understanding in Education. 2000-02.
John Kelly. Monograph with introduction by Philip Yenawine. 2wice Arts Foundation, Volume 1, in association with Aperture, 2001.
“Trying to Find Words for Things Unspeakable.” A chapter in Loss within Loss. Edited by Edmund White. The University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.
Art Matters: How the Culture Wars Changed America. Edited by Brian Wallis, Marianne Weems and Philip Yenawine. Foreword by Philip Yenawine. New York University Press, 1999.
Key Art Terms for Beginners. Harry N. Abrams, 1995.
People and Places. Books for children about modern art. The Museum of Modern Art and Delacorte, 1993.
Colors; Lines; Shapes; and Stories. Books for children about modern art. The Museum of Modern Art and Delacorte, 1991. Reissued by MoMA and Barnes and Noble, 1999.
How to Look at Modern Art. An adult guide to looking at modern art. Harry N. Abrams, 1991.
How to Show Grown-Ups the Museum. A young person's guide to The Museum of Modern Art. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1986.
LECTURING/CONSULTING (partial list)
Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Ball State University, Muncie, IN; Bank of America; Bank Street College of Education, NY; Big Thought, Dallas; Bush Foundation, St. Paul, MN; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME; Children's Museum, San Diego; College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati; Corcoran College of Art + Design; Cornell University; Dahesh Museum, NYC; Division of the Performing Arts, Smithsonian Institution; Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA; Guggenheim Museum, NY; Hallmark Inc.; Harvard Graduate School of Education; Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle; High Tech High, San Diego; Indianapolis Museum of Art; Institute for Museum Services; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; Joslyn Museum, NE; Kalamazoo Art Museum; Kansas City Art Institute; LA Unified School District, Los Angeles; Lawrenceville School, NJ; Marwen, Chicago, IL; Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester; Mito Arts Foundation, Japan; Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum, NY: Museo Hidraulico los Molinos del Rio, Murcia, Spain; Museo Picasso, Malaga, Spain, and Barcelona, Spain; Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts, NY; National Endowment for the Arts; New York City Board of Education; New York State Council on the Arts; North Carolina Arts Council; North Carolina Museum of Art; Pace Roberts Foundation (later ArtPace), San Antonio; Parrish Art Museum, NY; Penland School, NC; Pew Charitable Trusts and Fellowship Program, Philadelphia; Prairie Visions, State of Nebraska Department of Education; Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum, MA; Reynolda House, NC; Ringling Museum, Sarasota, FL; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, NY; Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM; South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA; Tampa Museum of Art; The Dia Art Foundation; The Learning Cooperative, NY; The Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City; The Rouse Company, MD; The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NB; The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; University of Illinois, Chicago; University of North Texas; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Western Michigan State University.
FILMS AND VIDEOTAPES
Visual Thinking Strategies, a videotape introduction produced by Lynda.com, now LinkedIn Learning
Visual Thinking Strategies: Building Critical Thinking Through Visual Art Video produced by The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1999.
Contrasting Practices III. Video filmed at Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1999.
Contrasting Practices II. Video filmed in Grade 5 classroom in Urbana IL, 1999.
Instant Genius: Modern Art. An audiotape introduction to modern art, 1998. Good Thinking, Inc.
Looking, Thinking, and Communicating with Art. Video filmed in Marin County with Linda Duke, 1997.
Contrasting Practices I. Video filmed in a 6th grade classroom in Urbana IL, 1997.
Introduction to Visual Thinking Practices. Video with Linda Duke, Director of Education at Krannert Art Museum, Urbana IL, 1996.
What Do You See? Produced by the Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Education. Videotape on teaching in art galleries, 1993.
Damned in the USA. A film by Paul Yule, Channel Four, Great Britain. Interviewed extensively on issues dealing with art and freedom of expression, 1992.
You Call That Art!!!? Co-author. A documentary on contemporary art produced by WTTW Public Television, Chicago IL, 1978.
Arts Awareness: Line; Color; Shape; Sound. Production coordinator, supervisor of direction and editing for film series, The Metropolitan Museum of Art under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1973.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Advisory Panelist: Museum Programs, National Endowment for the Arts, 1991; Museum Program, New York State Council on the Arts, 1991; Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, 1986-88; Museum Program, New York State Council on the Arts, 1991; Visual Arts Services, New York State Council on the Arts, 1975-1976; New Mexico Council on the Arts and Humanities, 1982. Former Board Chairman: Artists Teaching, NY. Former Board Member: Anderson Ranch Arts Foundation; Aspen Visual Artists; Pitkin Country Youth Board, Aspen, CO; Santa Fe Festival of the Arts; Creative Time, NY. President: Elizabeth Streb Dance Company; President John Kelly Performance Group. Founder and Chairperson, Museum Education Consortium, 1986 -1989; Co-chair, 1991-93. (A collaborative research effort among major U.S. museums in the use of multi-media for teaching about art.) Founding Board Member, Chairman, President, Vice-President: Art Matters, Inc., a foundation addressing needs of individual artists and organizations that support their work. 1985-present. Steering Committee: Visual AIDS, organizer of Day Without Art, a national action in response to the AIDS crisis, 1988-92. Chair pro tem: Ad Hoc Committee on AIDS and Museums, American Association of Museums; American Association of Museums Program Committee, 1990-91. Advisory Board member: Checkerboard Foundation; Studio in a School; The Estate Project for Artists with AIDS; The Fear of Disclosure Project.