ABSTRACT
Lowe, Kristen A. STORIES OF EXCAVATION: COLLAGING THE SELF AS EMERGING ARTIST-TEACHER
​
This is a qualitative, auto-ethnographic, arts-based study using collage as a method of inquiry and a pedagogical practice. I used the process of collage as a lens and a method to peel away and explore my own layered-identity as an emerging artist-teacher, and my perspective on art pedagogy. Collage serves as a way of learning, knowing, and generating ideas.
This study involved creating a semi-structured curriculum for myself to follow over a period of eight months. I explored and excavated three layers of meaning in my life: my ancestral past, personal past, and future self. From those discoveries, I created and analyzed three works of collage art. My method of data collection, generation, and analysis was flexible as I responded to both a situation of uprootedness from my childhood home and the data I gathered. Through dialogue and analysis of artifacts from my childhood home, the investigation and analysis became a participatory engagement with my immediate family members as, together, we shared a mutual and challenging experience. A narrative aspect also emerged in this study as dialogue with myself and others.
The purpose of this study was to deeply explore the foundation of myself as a person and to learn about myself and understand my emerging perspectives on art pedagogy. Several themes emerged throughout my process such as my home transitioning and transforming, a time of rebirth, a time of growth, and a time of harvest. Through this process, I found insight about where my family and I come from, and why I am who I am today. This process was a self-reflective and personally meaningful experience for me. I discuss implications for teacher identity and the adaptation of this method with my future students, as this process of how learning about one’s self can be empowering and thus helpful for being a successful teacher in an increasingly diverse educational system.