EDCP faculty

Research Interests

Biography

Rita L. Irwin is a Professor of Curriculum Studies and Art Education, and Associate Dean of Teacher Education. Rita has been an educational leader for a number of provincial, national and international organizations including being President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies and the Canadian Society for Education through Art, and is the current President of the International Society for Education through Art. Her research interests have spanned in-service art education, teacher education, socio-cultural issues, and curriculum practices across K-12 and informal learning settings. Rita publishes widely, exhibits her artworks, and has secured a range of research grants, including a number of Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada grants to support her work in Canada, Australia, Taiwan, and beyond.  Her most recent co-edited books include Revisions:  Readings in Canadian Art Teacher Education (co-edited with Kit Grauer and Mike Emme) and Being with A/r/tography (co-edited with Stephanie Springgay, Carl Leggo, and Peter Gouzouasis). Rita is an artist, researcher, and teacher deeply committed to the arts and education. In recognition of her many accomplishments and commitments, she has received a number of awards for her scholarship, servic,e and teaching including the distinction of Distinguished Fellow of the National Art Education Association in the USA, the Ted T. Aoki Award for Distinguished Service in Canadian Curriculum Studies (CACS), the Canadian Art Teacher of the Year Award (CSEA) and the Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring (UBC).

Selected Publications

Springgay, Stephanie, Irwin, Rita L., Leggo, Carl & Gouzouasis, P.  (Eds.) (2008). Being with A/r/tography. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

This edited book describes the conceptual framework for a/r/tography while providing a/r/tographic examples from across the arts.

Sinner, Anita, Leggo, Carl, Irwin, Rita L., Gouzouasis, Peter, & Grauer, Kit. (2006).  Arts-based Educational Research Dissertations:  Reviewing the practices of new scholars.  Canadian Journal of Education, 29(4), 1223-1270. Available at: http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE29-4/CJE-4-Sinneretal.pdf

This article describes the last 10-15 years of arts based research taking place in the Faculty of Education, UBC.

Irwin, Rita L., Beer, Ruth, Springgay, Stephanie, Grauer, Kit, Gu, Xiong, & Bickel, Barbara. (2006). The Rhizomatic relations of a/r/tography.  Studies in Art Education. 48(1), 70-88.

Graduate Students Supervised

Dan Barney        Assistant Professor of Art Education, Brigham Young University, Utah

Barbara Bickel    Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Allan Fletcher        Sessional Lecturer, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Monique Fouquet    Associate Vice President, Academic, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver

Patti Pente        Assistant Professor, Art Education, Department of Elementary Ed., University of Alberta

Annie Smith        Drama Lecturer, Grande Prairie Regional College, Grande Prairie, Alberta

Sylvia Wilson Kind    Lecturer, Early Childhood Education, Kwantlan University, Vancouver