Charting the territory : how female artist/teachers balance their artistic practice with their institutional responsibilities as teachers /

Abstract

This r.~et.lrch examined ho\' ~ight \'omen artists \'ho t~ach at the uni versity and college level, balance thcir artistic practic~ and their institu tional responsibilities as tcachers. This thesis reprt.~ents the culmination of \'ork for my second graduate degree. For my first degrCt! on th~ grad uat~ level, I concentratoo on d~veloping my artistic practice. This ~Iaster's Degree in Education is no k~ important to m~. In pursuing studies in the field of education I \'anted to understand my rol~ as both an educator and an artist and in the process I uncovered the interplay of race, class, and gender at \'ork in th~ classroom. Coming from a \'orking-class, immigrant background \'here higher education \vas vie\'cd as a stepping stone that "ould enable my siblings and me a greater spectrum of opportunities, I \'as at last able to understand my o\'n educational experiences, more clearly. I discovered ho\' d.~ply I internalized the racism, sexism and class discrimination, I submitted to in my history as a student. Becoming a\'are about the social forc.~ at "'ork \'ithin my day to day life has provided me \'ith instruments \'hich I can usc to examine and respond to these inequities as I confront them in th~ future. This ,'ork exists as a serk'S of responses and further av~nues for investigation on some themes I first began to explor~, albeit very tentati'~ly, during my first incarnation as a graduate student and so though the h'o bound volum~s rna-' one da.v sit si.d~ b' s id~ on the bookshelf, th~-' exist in the context of my life as a set of brackets surrounding a series of qUl'Stions about being a \'Onlan, a teachcr and an artist.