Kurt Rowland's Visual Education: A Bridge Between Levels of Human Experience

• In Event: 15.060 - MTCC Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: 15.060-10 - Elliot Eisner SIG Roundtable

Abstract

This paper has several purposes. First, it introduces the work of Austrian born British art educator and designer Kurt Rowland (1920-1980) who we argue has been overlooked in the literature on art and visual literacy education. Second, we explore Rowland’s notion of a visual education, an idea ahead of the times, explicating its features, appraising its import, and detailing influences as well as the similarity of Rowland’s ideas to those of Elliot Eisner. Finally, this paper articulates the relevance of Rowland’s theories of a visual language which he claims could be common to all so as to have the ability to link thought and feelings across human experience, something needed especially in the current educational and political climate.

Authors

• Donna Goodwin, University of Northern Colorado

• Bruce Uhrmacher, University of Denver