Constructivist Co-Curation: A Method of Interweaving Museum and School-Based Art Education tells a unique story through a retrospective case study of the curatorial convergence of museum educators, utilizing their theory and programs, with art educators, utilizing their theory and pedagogy. The book describes a method that advances museum and school-based practice by asking art teachers to develop projects and curate exhibitions with museum educators. Inherent is the diminishment of unintentional barriers between school and museum systems as school and museum educators strive for mutual conceptualization and purpose. The method nurtures usage of museums and increased meaning-making within them by the school system audience (teachers, students, and families). School programs expand and deepen through increased and more easily accessed museum-based resources (original artworks, artist interactions, exhibitions, and museum materials and activities). This book presents Constructivist Co-Curation as a “cutting edge” model and includes a “how-to-do-it” guide.
Viki D. Thompson Wylder, MFA, PhD, served for twenty-eight years as the Curator of Education, among other positions, at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts (FSU MoFA). During her tenure she and colleagues developed the museum/school “Constructivist Co-Curation” method. Thompson Wylder, also a Judy Chicago scholar, curated the traveling Judy Chicago retrospective titled Trials and Tributes and negotiated the acquisition of Birth Project textiles, studies, and prints by Judy Chicago for FSU MoFA’s collection. Thompson Wylder taught courses in the Art Education Department as well as Women’s Studies. Thompson Wylder now holds the title Curator of Education Emerita.
Marcia S. Meale, NBCT, PhD, spent much of her thirty-three-year career teaching elementary art. Meale earned National Board Certification for Professional Teaching Standards in 2001 and a PhD from Florida State University in 2005. Meale presented at numerous state and national conferences, taught classes at Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College, and held a Visiting Professorship at the University of South Carolina in 2004/05. She worked collaboratively with the Museum of Fine Arts at Florida State University to develop the “Constructivist Co-Curation” method and with local artists to create unique projects for her students including life-sized bronze sculptures.
