Denise Stanley left her home in the USA to research Visual Arts Education at the University of Sydney in Australia. She is an artist, writer, musician and teacher all in a day’s work. While pursuing her PhD, Denise traveled the world, snorkeled the..
Denise Stanley left her home in the USA to research Visual Arts Education at the University of Sydney in Australia. She is an artist, writer, musician and teacher all in a day’s work. While pursuing her PhD, Denise traveled the world, snorkeled the oceans, backpacked into the jungle, rafted the Nile, experienced working with glues and resins, created music, whipped up some irresistible recipes and taught many students many things.
Stanley's research approach is arts-informed inquiry. She has grounded her studies in the lived experiences of self-proclaimed artists, including herself, who have turned to careers in teaching at varying stages of their lives. The stories of their transitions and evolving identities as both artists and teachers have provided the investigative focus for her research. She is a bricoleur who integrates narrative text and visual imagery to transcend linguistic description within her postmodern, constructivist work. Moreover, her personal research aims to inform novice teachers of the transitions they may experience as they enter the teaching profession. Possible challenges, including the recognition that idealised beliefs might be traded in for more realistic representations, are acknowledged within her work, along with the notions of teaching as an art and the concept of resilience.
Less
The Learner
The Arts in Society
