Cultivating the artist-teacher: Early coursework practices that support preservice identity development

The artist-teacher has been a mainstay in art education discourse and continues to attract scholarly attention. Most of this scholarship focuses on professionally practising artist-teachers. Therefore, more research is needed on supporting continued artistic development and the early formation of sustainable artist-teacher identities in preservice art teachers. This article describes the findings from a grounded theory study that explores the question: In what ways do preservice art teachers negotiate their emerging dual roles as artist-teachers in an introductory art education course? Findings revealed that as preservice art teachers engaged with art education theory, contemporary art, studio work, reflection and teaching experiences, their perceptions and awareness of their own practices developed and shaped a new understanding of their art-making and teaching. This understanding significantly impacted their emerging identities as artist-teachers. The results of this study carry several implications for how art teacher educators design and implement early coursework for preservice art teachers.