Art Teacher Education
Overview
The overall goal of the Art Teacher Education sequence in the School of Art is to prepare the next generation of art educators who promote a high level of competence and integrity in the practice of their profession. The Art Teacher Education sequence prepares students to teach art in the elementary, middle, and secondary schools.
Participants are involved in both academic and practical experiences throughout the sequence of coursework. These experiences are selected to prepare future art teachers to relate to the diverse needs and interests of children and adolescents. Contemporary philosophic issues such as visual culture, post-structuralism, and postmodernism are addressed. Also stressed are creative and critical thinking, studio techniques, technology, understanding the learner, and developing skills to become an effective teacher.
Students completing the Art Teacher Education sequence are eligible to apply for special K-12 teaching certification in art in the state of Illinois.
Point of Pride
Illinois State’s Art Teacher Education program touts a job placement rate close to 100%.
Why study Art Teacher Education?
After graduation, School of Art students take on a variety of careers as artists, curators, designers, educators, critics, scholars, conservators and writers. Our alumni continue to be a part of the School of Art after they leave campus, and we continue to harness professional relationships and networking connections between them and our current students.How to Apply
Applying to Illinois State
New freshmen will initially apply to the Art major. Students interested in this sequence will submit a five-piece admissions portfolio to the School of Art upon the university accepting the admissions application. After being admitted to Art, students interested in the Art Education sequence will then be asked for more specific information to gain admission to the sequence.
Digital Portfolio Requirements
With the exception of Art History students, all students seeking to major in Art must submit a digital portfolio for review directly to the School of Art. Once you have submitted your completed application to Illinois State University Admissions, you will receive an email from the School of Art including directions about how to submit your portfolio. For admission to the Art major, the portfolio will be considered in relation to all other admission materials, including class standing, ACT/SAT scores, and prior college-level records. Each review session lasts approximately 2-3 weeks. At the end of that time, decision letters will be mailed to the address you supplied in your portfolio. Decisions will NOT be available over the telephone. Late portfolios will be considered, but you must submit to one of the official deadlines below in order to be considered for School of Art scholarships.
When ready, attach all necessary materials to an email, and send to either Nancy Fewkes (nfewkes@ilstu.edu) or Kelly Peiffer (kdpeiff@ilstu.edu). Along with your application, your digital portfolio must include:
- Five artworks that you consider to be your best work in any medium. Digital images should approximately meet these specifications:
- File format: JPEG file format only
- Resolution: 300 dpi
- File size: Approximately 1.0 MB (1000 KB) each
- File name: identify each image with name and number (e.g., Redbird-001.jpg; Redbird-002.jpg)
- One indexed list of these five artworks
- Include the title, description, medium, and size of each artwork on the list, identify each with the same number as the JPEG filename.
- Any necessary weblinks (including YouTube and Vimeo) may be embedded into the indexed list, a PDF, or a document file.
Make sure that the artwork is squared in the viewfinder, is well-lit, and in focus. It is important to record color and exposure accurately, so be sure to set the proper camera "white balance" and exposure for the lighting conditions. (Consult your camera manual.) It is also important to eliminate distracting backgrounds by filling the viewfinder as much as possible with the artwork without cropping the artwork itself. Use a neutral cloth or wall as a backdrop. If these cannot be controlled, then you are encouraged to carefully crop out any distracting background in a photo editing program. Accurate and simple representations of your artworks are paramount.
Transfer students: work submitted should reflect college-level art classes already taken.
Portfolio Review Sessions (2018-2019)
All portfolio review sessions are open to both freshman and transfer applicants.
Applications valid for Spring and Fall 2019
- September 17: Ensures consideration for advanced registration
- October 8: Regular submission date
- October 22: Regular submission date
- November 12: Regular submission date
- December 3: Final review session for spring 2018 semester
Applications valid for only Fall 2019
- February 4: Ensures consideration for advanced registration
- February 18: Transfers are strongly encouraged to submit by this date
- March 11: Final review session for fall 2018 semester