Graduate Overview

The Department of Art Education offers two graduate degree options:

1. Master of Arts in Art Education (MAAE)
The MAAE leads to art education careers in museums, community settings, art organizations, and socially engaged arts practices.

2. Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)
The MAT leads to art education careers, including licensure to teach Visual Arts PK-12 in Illinois (and many other) public schools.

Graduate students pursuing master of fine arts or master of arts degrees in other areas take Art Education courses to support their practices as emerging artists and teachers who are interested in community arts practices, socially engaged art projects, working as a teaching artist, or college-level teaching. Courses include:

• Teaching Art at the College Level
• Cyberpedagogy 
• Social Theory for Artists
• Museum as Critical Curriculum
• Interpretations
• Art in the Community (community and topic based course)
• Practices of Art and Design in Schools and Communities

Both programs emphasize:

• Educational and community arts practices grounded in contemporary art, social justice, design, and cultural production
• Developing critically engaged creators who connect their practices to contemporary issues
• Significant experiences in communities using Chicago as our classroom
• Balancing action, theory, and practice
• Believing in the role of the arts and art education to bring into being a more just and joyous society

Each year the MAAE program celebrates the culmination of students’ graduate work with a symposium, exhibition or other group event at which students publicly present their art education projects and research. Past topics have included:

• Grassroots Leadership in Community Arts Organizing: A Self-Development and Social Change Strategy
• Some See a Glitch: Implementing Digital Games as Artistic Medium
• Inhabited Landscape: Site Specific Collaboration
• Politicizing the Public Space: Public Art as an Alternative Pedagogical Practice
• Integrating Environmental Awareness and Art Education
• Raising Awareness for LGBTQ Seniors: A Pedagogical Video Project
• Open Doors for International Students: Life after the F1 Visa
• Mindful Making: Confidence and Skill Building with Women through Woodshop Education
• The Juggle Is Real: Investigating the Hybrid Role of Artist/Teacher/Mother
• Unspoken Rules Against Didacticism in the Arts and Higher Education
• Indigeneity and Diversity: How Museums Conceptualize Indigeneity and Practice Diversity
• You Are What You Share: Art Museums, Social Media, and Teen Engagement

SAIC Art Education Thesis in the Flaxman Catalog

Graduate Admissions Events

Learn how to prepare a competitive application, meet with faculty and staff, and explore our programs and facilities. LEARN MORE

MA in Art Education Admissions Information
Curriculum & Courses

MA in Teaching Admissions Information
Curriculum & Courses

Visit the graduate admissions website or contact the graduate admissions office at 800.232.7242 or gradmiss@saic.edu.