B Stephen Carpenter, II, wedging clay during a water filter production performance (2013)
Thursday, February 11, 2016 , 5:30 PM | Center for Creative Photography 108
Lecture: Artistic Interventions, Public Pedagogies, and Collaborative Curricula
Artists have long created objects, images, and experiences as positive interventions that encourage others to engage meaningfully with the world. In response to the global water crisis, some artists have recently taken the lead in a world-wide effort to produce affordable ceramic water filters created from local materials to provide a means for rendering disease-contaminated water potable. In this talk, I will address the global water crisis as a human-rights call to action and offer arts-informed responses grounded in local materials, artistic interventions, public pedagogy performances, participatory inquiry, and curricular possibilities. The presentation will cover efforts in Texas and Pennsylvania, and will highlight current efforts with The African Diaspora Water Crisis Curriculum Project. This project is based on the premise of working collaboratively with teachers as participatory action research collaborators. The project serves as a site for the academic community, schools teachers, students and international partners to work together on the development of curriculum, instructional activities, and instructional resources pertaining to the African diaspora water crisis.
Bio: B. Stephen Carpenter II is Professor of Art Education and Professor in Charge of the Art Education Program at Penn State. Carpenter is chief executive artist for Reservoir Studio, and is co-director of the Summer Institute on Contemporary Art at Penn State.
He is interested in the uses of social media and participatory inquiry, professional development for PK-12 art teachers and museum educators, and the global water crisis as curriculum. He is co-author of Interdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching Art in High School; a co-editor of Curriculum for a Progressive, Provocative, Poetic, and Public Pedagogy; a past editor of Art Education; and a past co-editor of the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy. His assemblages, installations, and performance artworks confront social, historical, cultural, and political constructs.
Carpenter serves on the editorial review board of Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society and is an NAEA Distinguished Fellow. He earned a B.F.A. in Visual Art from Slippery Rock University (’87) and M.Ed. (’89) and Ph.D. (’96) degrees in Art Education from The Pennsylvania State University.
