Art Teacher & Teaching Artist Forum

Students in Kimberley D'Adamo’s art class at Berkeley High School choose a topic to investigate, then they use research and a variety of art strategies to do a thorough, multidisciplinary inquiry.

When I arrived at the event, two of the student artists gave me a tour of the art show. Take a look at the art - it is impressive. Then we went into the art room and discussed the process with the students. 

One component of the students’ research process is to interview their teachers from other subjects. This helped change the culture throughout the school as student-driven curiosity takes hold of the process.

D’Adamo went from thinking of herself as a “Teacher of Art,” to thinking of herself as a “Teacher of Thinking.” Imagine this transformation happening throughout a school.

Julia Marshall, professor at SF State University, has worked with D’Adamo through the evolution of this class and wrote all about the approach in the National Art Education Association Studies in Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research in 2014.