Artist in Residence & Sessional Instructor

Biography

Alex F. de Cosson, Ph.D. (UBC) is an a/r/tographer who has worked as a professional sculptor exhibiting nationally and internationally for over twenty-five years. He recently walked/ran the Victoria International Marathon in 4 hours and 47 minutes; a pedagogy of walking plays a central roll in his understanding of being a teacher. Alex has an MFA from York University and has been on the faculty of the Ontario College of Art and Design since 1989. He concurrently teaches at the University of British Columbia where he is Artist in Residence with the newly created Margaret Grauer Teaching From The Heart Cohort and a sessional instructor. He has taught in the Curriculum Studies Department since 1999. Alex has been an active member of Inner City Angels in Toronto, dedicated to bringing art to inner city school kids through artist centered programs. He has been awarded numerous grants from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the BC Arts Council. Alex was awarded the Gordon and Marion Smith Award for Excellence in Art Education from the Curriculum Studies Department, in 2003.
Alex passionately believes that art and art making, in the broadest possible terms, are central to a curriculum of well-being in the classroom. His research interests are centered within arts-based and autobiographical ways of knowing and being. He has published in numerous educational journals and contributed chapters to books furthering arts-based forms of teaching and learning. In 2004 he was co-editor with Rita L. Irwin of A/r/tography: Rendering Self through Arts-Based Living Inquiry, published by Pacific Educational Press.

Background photo: Philippe Raphanel