Get to know Dr Kate Coleman, visual artist, researcher and Faculty of Education Senior Lecturer in Arts Education - a specialisation that can be taken within the Master of Education.
Q: Do you mind giving a short introduction to your background?
I am a visual artist and an arts-based educational researcher. I have been involved in the visual arts community since a very young age and worked in education across a range of sectors in Australia and America. When I finished high school I went straight to art school at University of New South Wales and graduated with a B. Art Education in 1994. Since then I have worked in a range of digital spaces for many years promoting the uptake of digital pedagogies and practices through ePortfolios and Open badges.
Q: Do you have a particular area of research/specialisation?
My research is interested in community, creativity and identity and particularly the ways in which we understand our relationships in the arts, particularly as visual artists. Artists have different ways of understanding knowing and we explore our ideas as researchers, chasing ideas and running with concepts until we make something that opens a new space for us. This is what I love about digital research methods, data and artefacts of knowing help to see new way through looking at concepts of practice.
Q: Do you have a defining moment or influential person who encouraged you to get into education?
I have a number of people who have mentored my career in education and I come from a family of teachers. My mum was an amazing artist and art educator and grew up in a house of art and education through art. I know that education changes lives, and I have felt through the stories of education in my family. My mum and her artist teacher colleagues connected me to a community of people across the world with deep knowledge of education through art. This has supported my career and continues to do so.
Q: What advice would you give to those students thinking about taking the Arts Education specialisation?
This specialisation is unique because it is practice based and led. Practitioners from a range of sectors have opportunities to make, respond, create, curate and develop new ways of knowing through the arts, working alongside leaders in their fields in our purpose-built (award winning) studios. The specialisation has been designed for arts educators and those interested in integrating and developing ways of teaching, learning and assessing through, as and in art to explore how the arts can support their sites of research and practice. The Arts Education specialization at the Faculty of Education, UoM is also the only place where you can graduate with a Postgraduate Arts Education degree in the country.
Q: What are your passions outside of education?
I am passionate about teaching truth, equity and care. I am passionate about creating opportunities for young people to know, be known and be ready for their futures. An as artist my passion lies in drawing. I am an avid drawer, drawing to think and to explore ways of knowing differently. I am also a proud digital geek, keen to know data, and how living data can help us understand the futures ahead of us.
Read Dr Kate Coleman's biography here.