NAEA Open Studio Conversation: Finding Research—Connecting K–12 to the Research Network

Tina M. Atkinson has taught elementary visual arts in Nashville for the past 26 years at Percy Priest Elementary. She has served as an art education adjunct at Belmont University, hosting over 20 university interns. Tina has received awards from national, state, and local organizations for her work. She holds degrees in art education, curriculum and instruction, and leadership and professional practice, and she is National Board Certified in Early/Middle Childhood Visual Art. Her research interests include authentic assessment, student voice, and research-focused instructional design in the elementary art classroom, as well as exploring aspects of how art educator professional identity is developed over the educational life cycle of the individual for the purpose of identifying barriers to the profession. Having recently taken ownership of researcher as part of her own professional identity, Tina strives to empower other early and middle childhood practitioners to embrace research as part of their own practice.  

Gino Molfino has served as an artist, teacher, advocate, and education leader for the Howard County Public School System for over 20 years. He has collaborated to develop state, national, and district fine arts policies and practices that cultivate innovation in public education programming, curriculum development, and professional learning for educators that honor the teacher as an artist and promote contemporary practices in artmaking. As the current coordinator of fine arts for the Howard County Public School System, Gino is responsible for the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of the fine arts curricula, assessment materials, professional learning, and instructional supports for over 200 preK–12 fine arts (art, dance, theatre) educators in the district. 

Amy Pfeiler-Wunder currently serves as the interim associate dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Kutztown University. She received her PhD in teaching and learning–art from the University of Iowa. Prior to joining higher education, she taught and made art alongside preK–9 students in various settings. Her work examines the impact of intersectionality on one’s professional identity and positionality with keen attention to views of the learners and curriculum creation. In addition, Amy explores how transdisciplinary studies have the ability to dissolve hierarchical boundaries between disciplines to illuminate the transformative power of integration. She is active in the National Art Education Association (NAEA) as the Chair of the Research Commission, a former Higher Education Division Director on the NAEA Board of Directors, and the cofounder of the Professional Learning Through Research working group. In 2017, she received the Outstanding Higher Education Art Educator Award from PAEA.