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Portrait of Kevin Tavin

Dr. Kevin Tavin

 

Biography:

Kevin Tavin holds a BFA, M.Ed., and a Ph.D. in art education, and has taught K-12 and post-secondary courses since 1990. After receiving his BFA in Art Education from The Maryland Institute College of Art, Tavin taught art to grades 1-5 at Waverly Elementary School in Howard County, Maryland. In 1994, the Maryland Art Education Association awarded Tavin the Outstanding Art Educator of the Year.

After finishing his Master’s Degree in Art Education from Towson University in 1996, Tavin attended Penn State University for a Ph.D. While there he taught Art Education 303: Visual Arts in the Elementary School and Art Education 489: Art Experiences with Children. In 1999, Tavin was awarded the Graduate Assistant Award for Outstanding Teaching, sponsored jointly by the Graduate School, the Office of the Vice-Provost, and Dean for Undergraduate Education. The committee for Tavin’s dissertation, A Critical Pedagogy of Visual Culture as Art Education: Toward a Performative Inter/Hypertextual Practice, included Brent Wilson (chair), Charles Garoian, and Henry Giroux.

In 1999, Tavin began his work as an Assistant Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). As Director of Certification at SAIC from fall 1999 to fall 2002, Tavin developed, administered, assessed, and revised all of the art education certification programs. As Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program from fall 2002 to spring 2005, Tavin managed and assessed all curricular needs relating to MAT.

At SAIC, Tavin developed and taught Art Education 3007: Studio Direction; Art Education 4000: Apprentice Teaching-Clinical; Art Education 5011: Understanding Curriculum: The Politics and Pedagogy of Curricula; Art Education 5020: Cultural Studies, Critical Pedagogy and the Making of the Cultural Worker; Art Education 5119: Interpreting, Understanding, and Teaching Visual Culture: Postmodern Approaches to Art Education for the 21st Century (OXBOW); Art Education 5125: Doing Democracy: Pedagogies of Critical Multiculturalism; Art Education 5290: Graduate Art Education Thesis: Research as Social Inquiry and Art Education 6110: Graduate Art Education Thesis II.

From December 2004 to fall 2005, Tavin held a Post-Doctorate Fellowship at The Ohio State University (OSU). After receiving tenure and teaching another year at SAIC, he returned to OSU. Tavin is currently teaching Art Education 595a: Engaging Visual Culture: The power of seeing and being seen; Art Education 795a: The history, politics, and practices of visual culture in art education; and Art Education 601: Conceptual Processes for Understanding Visual Culture as Curricula.

Tavin's own research focuses on visual culture, critical pedagogy, cultural studies, and art education. His work is published in numerous journals including Art Education; InSEA News, The Journal of Multicultural and Cross-Cultural Research in Art Education; The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education; NAEA News, Studies in Art Education; and Visual Arts Research. In 2004 Tavin won the Manuel Barkan Memorial Award for his essay “Wrestling with angels, searching for ghosts: Towards a critical pedagogy of visual culture."

Tavin has presented papers at numerous international, national, and regional art education conferences and symposia including over 30 papers at the National Art Education Association’s (NAEA) annual conventions since 1994. In addition to NAEA, Tavin has presented papers at the American Art Therapy Association’s conference, the Wisconsin Art Education Association’s conference, the Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts, Objects in/and Visual Culture conference, the Visual Culture of Childhood conference, the Curriculum and Pedagogy conference, and the International Society for Education through Art’s European Regional Congress. Tavin has also given public lectures at Cincinnati State University, Bowling Green State University, Northern Illinois University, and University of Illinois. He has presented at numerous professional development meetings and K-12 public and private schools.

 

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Tavin, K. (in press) Eyes wide shut: The use and uselessness of the discourse of aesthetics in art education. Art Education.

Tavin, K. (in press). If you see something, say something: Visual events at the visual culture gathering. Visual Arts Research.

Tavin, K. & Robbins, C. (2006). If you see something, say something: Visual culture, public pedagogy, and the war of terror. In J. Milam, K. Sloan, S. Springgay , & B.S. Carpenter (Eds.), Curriculum for a progressive, provocative, poetic, and public pedagogy. Troy, NY: Educator's International Press.

Tavin, K. & Toczydlowska, B. (2006). Constructing a (virtual) president: An uneasy case study. In P. Duncum (Ed.), Visual culture in the art classroom: Case studies (pp. 56-64). Reston , VA : National Art Education Association.

Tavin, K. (2005). An unbecoming child: A (per)verse growth chart. The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, 25, 14-15.

Tavin, K. (2005). Opening re-marks: Critical antecedents of visual culture in art education. Studies in Art Education, 47(1), 5-22.

Tavin, K. (2005). Hauntological shifts: Fear and loathing of popular (visual) culture. Studies in Art Education , 46(2), 101-117.

Tavin, K. & Hausman, J. (2004). Art education and visual culture in the age of globalization. Art Education, 57(5), 47-52.

Tavin, K. (2003). SEE/SAW: Movements across the sea at InSEA. InSEA News, 9(1), 17.

Tavin, K. (2003). Wrestling with angels, searching for ghosts: Toward a critical pedagogy of visual culture. Studies in Art Education, 44(3), 197-213.

Tavin, K., & Anderson, D. (2003). Teaching (popular) visual culture: Deconstructing Disney in the elementary art classroom. Art Education, 56(3), 21-23 & 32-35.

Tavin, K., Lovelace, L., Stabler, A., & Maxam, J. (2003). From Bucktown to Niketown: Doing visual cultural studies, Chicago style. The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, 23, 60-88.

Tavin, K. (2002). Engaging advertisements: Looking for meaning in and through art education. Visual Arts Research, 28(2), 38-47.

Boughton, D., Freedman, K., Hausman, J., Hicks, L., Madeja, S., Metcalf, S., Rayala, M., Smith-Shank, D., Stankiewicz, M., Stuhr, P., Tavin, K., & Vallance, E. (2002). Art Education and Visual Culture. NAEA Advisory. Reston : NAEA.

Tavin, K. (2001). Swimming up-stream in the jean pool: Developing a pedagogy towards critical citizenship in visual culture. The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, 21, 129-158.

Tavin, K. (2000). Just doing it: Towards a critical thinking of visual culture. In D. Weil and H. Anderson (Eds.), Perspectives in critical thinking: Essays by teachers in theory and practice (pp.187-211). New York : Peter Lang. (Book Chapter)

Tavin, K. (2000). The impact of visual culture on art education: The Journal of Multicultural and Cross-Cultural Research in Art Education, 18(1), 20-23.

Tavin, K. (2000). Teaching in and through visual culture. The Journal of Multicultural and Cross-Cultural Research in Art Education, 18(1) , 37-40.