Christopher M. Schulte, Ph.D., is Professor and Endowed Chair of Art Education and Interim Director of the School of Art. He is also founding director of the Center for the Study of Childhood Art (CSCA), a center for interdisciplinary research, teaching and community engagement focused on reconceptualizing the study of art in children's lives. Grounded in childhood studies and informed by critical, poststructuralist, posthumanist, and decolonial approaches, Christopher's research explores the artistic, play-based, and aesthetic practices of young children, with particular attention given to the study of drawing and its relationship to historical and contemporary childhoods. His written scholarship has appeared in handbooks, edited anthologies, and a wide range of national and international research journals, including Studies in Art Education, Art Education, Global Studies of Childhood, Visual Arts Research, Qualitative Inquiry, and Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies. Christopher is co-editor with Dr. Laura Trafi-Prats of New Images of Thought in the Study of Childhood Drawing (2022, Springer), co-editor with Dr. Hayon Park of Visual Art With Young Children: Practices, Pedagogies and Learning (2021, Routledge), editor of Ethics and Research With Young Children: New Perspectives (2019, Bloomsbury), and co-editor with Dr. Christine Marmé Thompson of Communities of Practice: Art, Play and Aesthetics in Early Childhood (2018, Springer). Currently, Christopher serves as ABER Editor (2019-2022) of the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy. Previously, Christopher served as Senior Editor (2017-2021) of the International Journal of Education & the Arts, a journal for which he also held the roles of Visual Arts Section Editor (2017-2020), Media Review Editor (2014-2017), and Associate Editor (2011-2014). Christopher continues to participate broadly in the editorial review process, for both academic and university presses, as well as national and international research journals, including Studies in Art Education, Children's Geographies, Visual Arts Research, Qualitative Inquiry, Bank Street Occasional Papers, Canadian Review of Art Education, Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Journal of Childhood Studies, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Research Ethics, English Teaching: Practice and Critique, and the Journal of Teacher Education. In addition to this record of editorial service and leadership, Christopher is an invited member of the Childhood, Law & Policy Network (CLPN) at Queen Mary University of London, an elected member of the Council for Policy Studies in Art Education (NAEA), an elected member of the Steering Committee of the Art Education Research Institute (AERI), and an invited member of the Academic Board of the International Child Art Foundation (ICAF). Christopher earned his Ph.D. in Art Education from The Pennsylvania State University and a MA and BA in Art Education from the University of Northern Iowa.
Hayon Park, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Art Education in the School of Art at George Mason University. Dr. Park also serves as the Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Childhood Art. Dr. Park previously held faculty appointments at the University of Arkansas and the University of Dayton, where she taught undergraduate courses in art and visual culture education. Interested in the pedagogy and practices of art and art education, Dr. Park’s research explores the politics, ethics, and aesthetics of children's art through reconceptualist, post-structural, and post-developmental perspectives. Her research has appeared in national peer-reviewed journals in art education and in other edited volumes at the intersection of visual arts education and early childhood studies. She has also presented her research at international and national conferences in art education and early childhood education. Dr. Park is author of The politics of children’s art: Towards an emancipatory art pedagogy (2022, Bloomsbury) and co-editor with Dr. Christopher Schulte of Visual Arts with Young Children: Practices, Pedagogies, and Learning (2021, Routledge). Dr. Park earned her Ph.D. and MS in Art Education from The Pennsylvania State University and a BFA in Painting from Ewha Womans University.
Jeffrey M. Cornwall, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Art Education at Colorado State University. Dr. Cornwall serves as Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Childhood Art. Informed by post-structural thinking and theories of affect, his research focuses on children’s learning and making within the public elementary school by engaging critical research and artistic methodologies to think and make with and alongside children. Dr. Cornwall began his journey in art education and study of children’s art as the art teacher at Edgemont Elementary school in Utah. His research has appeared in journals such as Qualitative Inquiry, Visual Arts Research and Studies in Art Education as well as international edited volumes Visual Arts with Young Children: Practices, Pedagogies, and Learning and Postdevelopmental Approaches to Childhood Research Observation. Dr. Cornwall earned his Ph.D. in Art Education for The Pennsylvania State University and MA and BA in Art Education from Brigham Young University.
Katy Galaz is a first-year MA student in the Art Education program at the University of Arkansas. She received her BFA in Art Education from the University of Arizona and went on to teach elementary and middle school art in Tucson Public Schools. In preparation for deeper work, Katy spent two years in childcare settings with infants and children ranging from 0-7 years of age. Over the course of her time in the field of art and education, Katy has found an affinity for student-centered learning grounded in community-based art instruction, and approaches such as Teaching for Artistic Behavior and inquiry-based learning. As a graduate assistant at the Center for the Study of Childhood Art, she is thrilled at the opportunity to build reciprocal learning relationships with children, while exploring choice-based art practices that encourage children to find identity and meaning through the consumption of life and art. Katy is currently facilitating studio-based projects with children at the Jean Tyson Child Development Center at the University of Arkansas and assisting with the Childhood Art Archives, specifically preservation plans for the recently acquired Brent and Marjorie Wilson Papers.
Previous Childhood Art Interns
Olivia Dyer (2021-2023) Research Intern | Mountain Home, Arkansas | BFA in Art Education + Minors in Psychology and Social Work
Haley Tucker (2021) Design Intern | Little Rock, Arkansas | BFA in Graphic Design
Vanessa Davis (2020-2021) Design Intern | Dallas, Texas | BFA in Graphic Design + Minors in Journalism and Art History
Morgan Garner (2019-2020) Teaching and Learning Intern | Fort Worth, Texas | BFA in Art Education + Minor in Art History
Leigh Blocker (2019-2020) Teaching and Learning Intern | Huntsville, Arkansas | BFA in Art Education