ART EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR

Arnold recognized by National Art Education Association

ECU art education professor Alice Arnold was honored by the National Art Education Association. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)

Alice Arnold, professor of art education at East Carolina University, has been named the 2012 Southeastern Region Higher Education Art Educator of the Year by the National Art Education Association.

The award recognizes exemplary contributions, services and achievements of an NAEA member. Arnold’s award was presented during the NAEA national convention in New York, March 1-4. The Southeastern Region is comprised of 10 U.S. states and two territories.

“This award is being given to recognize excellence in professional accomplishment and service by a dedicated art educator,” said F. Robert Sabol, NAEA president. “She exemplifies the highly qualified individuals active in the field of art education today: leaders, teachers, students, scholars, and advocates who give their best to the profession.”

Arnold was traveling in China with the Pitt County Chamber of Commerce group and unable to attend the convention.

Even though the trip was more personal than professional, Arnold said seeing the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and some of the country’s treasured artifacts would aid her teaching.

“I have been trained in Western art and thinking. I’m trying to expand my understanding of Asian thinking, philosophy and art,” she said.

An avid traveler, Arnold has “been all around the world,” she said. Japan, Taiwan, Canada, throughout the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Finland, Estonia and Iceland are included on her list of places visited.

Before joining the ECU faculty in 1992, Arnold taught art in public schools and art education at Appalachian State University and UNC-Pembroke.

“The development of people in the visual arts – to see them grow emotionally, socially or spiritually – is an important for me and a vital piece in my writing,” she said.

In 2009, Arnold published “Globalization, Art, and Education” along with two co-authors. The work is an anthology of ways that our globalized world is impacting the arts from many perspectives, she said.

NAEA is the professional association for art educators. Members include elementary, secondary, middle level and high school art teachers; university and college professors; education directors who oversee education in our nation’s fine art museums, administrators and supervisors who oversee art education in school districts, state departments of education, arts councils; and artists throughout the United States and other countries.