Academic biography

Personal Details

Assistant Professor
Andrea Cleary
Andrea.Cleary@dcu.ie

Biography

Assistant Professor in Visual Art Education, since 2010 in the school of Arts Education and Movement (AEM), on St Patrick's Campus, Drumcondra, DCU. Teaching duties include module design and development for Visual Art Education within Initial Teacher Education Primary (ITE) Programmes on Bachelor of Education (B Ed) and PostGraduate Masters of Education Primary (PMEP). Supervisory Duties include supervising research projects on Diploma, B Ed and masters programmes (PMEP, M Ed and M teach) .

Working in the field of Art and Design Education since 2001, as an educator my practice is informed by my identity as an artist -educator. Research interests include process led art and its affect on students in ITE, outdoor nature based art education, sustainability and art Education, wellbeing through process focused art and transformation in thinking through art practice. 

Current research approaches include, the use of Arts Based Research (ABR), the use of practice led research and research led practice . My current research focus is toward my PHD Studies in Art Education NCAD. Research parameters include, the pedagogy and practice in art education, process led art pedagogy and its affect on education students in ITE. Thinking through making, and reflexive practice through art, environment and how these affect and sustain human interaction, expression and wellbeing.

As part of the School of AEM I have developed a module for major specialism -Process Art and the Natural Environment which focuses on intuition in art practice and the use of natural materials and the outdoors in Art Education. My contribution to the development of new programmes are ongoing, with an aspiration to continue to develop inspiring short courses CPD for teachers to support developments in the new NCCA curriculum.

Current projects include a collaboration Art-Maths Project funded through Maths 4 all. The collaboration includes working on development and reflection on a series of CPD workshops for Primary teachers through art with a focus on the creation of pattern using printing techniques. Research taking a collaborative auto ethnographic arts-based approach, led to a presentation paper for SMEC 2024 conference entitled ‘Space in Between’ Exploring the entanglements of shape and space in art and maths with colleague Siun Nic Mhuiri. This paper is an interim research paper, leaning on feminist and post humanist theory , where the space in-between offers an important place for layering of art and maths to occur through reflection on display, reusing art explorations for mathematical analysis, to become entangled in potential new possibilities for both areas .