Margaret Walker is a visual artist, art educator, and is a clinical associate professor of art education and arts integration at University of MD, College Park. She completed a doctoral degree in Art & Art Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, in 2010, and holds a BS in Art studio/Art education, and an MS in Deaf Education. Margaret coordinates and advises the MEd programs in Art Education and in Arts Integration, and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in both areas.
She has taught art education courses at universities in New York, Maryland and Ireland, and she keeps an active art education research, publishing and presenting record. Her art has been exhibited in shows around the US. Research interests focus on community based art education, contemporary arts-based pedagogies, and socially engaged arts practices.
While living in New York City for 15 years, Margaret taught art at a PreK-12 school for the Deaf as well as a community art school, worked as a museum educator, and regularly exhibited her art, before moving to the DC area in 2007. Most recently, her work has been exhibited in Baltimore, NYC, VA and Washington, DC. Margaret's studio practice is deeply based in the art process, and allowing the medium to direct the concept and final outcome. Trained as an oil painter, her recent work explores the familial connection to traditional hand work and materials, reinterpreted in a contemporary art context. She is also interested in artmaking as a collaborative act, and has recently been involved with large collaborative pieces focused on artmaking as activism. In addition to her teaching and studio work, Margaret recently co-wrote a book for Teachers College Press titled Community-based Art Education Across the Lifespan: Finding common ground, published in July 2019. The book is geared toward teachers and artists interested in Community Based Art Education. Available through Amazon or through TC Press: https://www.tcpress.com/community-based-art-education-across-the-lifespan-9780807761885
Technology Fellow, College of Education University of MD 2014-2015
Chesapeake Project Fellow, Office of Sustainability, University of Maryland 2011
GATE Fellow: Global Awareness in Teacher Education, College of Education, University of Maryland , 2010
Arts Citizenship Honoree,The Clarice's 1st Annual Arts Citizenship Celebration, Nov 2018
Authored works:
Lawton, P., Walker, M., Green, M. (2019) Community Based Art Education across the Lifespan - Finding common ground. https://www.tcpress.com/community-based-art-education-across-the-lifespan-9780807761885
Walker, Margaret A. (2018) "The Unity Mural: Bridging Communities through Artmaking," International Journal of Lifelong Learning in Art Education: Vol. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/ijllae/vol1/iss1/6
“From Theory to Practice: Concept-based Inquiry in a High School Art Classroom” (2014), Studies in Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research 55(4), 287-299. Special Topic issue on Theory and Practice
Monograph of Select Dissertations 2007-2010, Columbia University Teachers College; Title of authored chapter: "Concept-based inquiry into art making: the possibility of change through art"; 2011
Reviews/Consultant:
Invited book review: Douglas, K. M., Jaquith, D. B. (2018) Engaging learners through artmaking: Choice-based art education in the classroom. 2ndEd. New York, NY:Teachers College Press. Teachers College Record, Date Published: December 06, 2018 http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 22595
Reviewed proposal for 6thedition of “Arts Integration: Teaching subject matter through the arts in multicultural settings” by Merry Goldberg, Routledge Press April 2019
Reviewed "Building Community Using Experiential Education with Elementary Preservice Teachers in A Social Studies Methodology Course" in Journal of Global Education and Research, Sept 2019
Consulting Editor Handbook of Research on the Education of Young Children Taylor & Francis; 2011
Consulting Editor Contemporary Perspectives in Early Childhood Education Information Age; 2011
Art Exhibitions/Creative Activities
National Art Education Association Juried Member Art Exhibit Alexandria VA Mixed media sculpture/digital work Oct 2017 - April 2018
The Clarice NextNow Fest University of MD and Bowie State University Unity Mural collaborative community based art event - Sept 2017
Unity Mural, UMD and BSU NextNow Festival, Clarice UMD; MD State House, Annapolis MD. Co-planned and facilitated Community-based collaborative mural between UMD and BSU students and faculty and communities, as well as ongoing discussions, panels and workshops focused on building connections between the campuses; website and documentary film: https://vimeo.com/250873926 Sept 2017 – April 2018; Oct 2018 – May 2019 Ongoing exhibitions around the region
University of MD campus Artivist Postcard Collective Ongoing local and global Social Justice collaborative art project in collaboration with UMD's Social Justice Day 2017, 2018
The Challenge of Change: NAEA Women's Caucus 2017 Juried Art Exhibition, juror Jean Shin Mixed media sculpture/digital work NYC 2017
Area 405 XXChange - Baltimore Women Makers Collective Juried Art Exhibit Baltimore MD Mixed media sculpture/digital work - "Picking up the dropped stitch" Nov - Dec 2016
TheARC Gallery - Anacostia, Washington D.C. Student fiber work from collaborative course with Corcoran faculty: Building Community through Visual Literacy and Narrative 2015
The Clarice Mixed media sculpture/digital work in collaboration with dance performance; University of MD Fall 2014
The Clarice Subversive storyteller Festival of Subversive Artists and Minds, University of MD 2014
The Art Gallery Woodblock prints, Instructor, student, and community prints from collaborative course with Corcoran faculty: Building Community through Visual Literacy and Narrative University of MD Fall 2014
NPS Lotus and Water Lily Cultural Festival Woodblock print Instructor, student, and community prints from collaborative course with Corcoran faculty: Building Community through Visual Literacy and Narrative Kenilworth Park, Washington DC Summer 2014
THEARC exhibition Woodblock print Instructor, student, and community prints from collaborative course with Corcoran faculty: Building Community through Visual Literacy and Narrative Washington DC Summer 2014
Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition Exhibition – Juried Brooklyn, NY: May 2006 – June 2006; May 2003 - June 2003; May 2002 - June 2002
Ernest Rubenstein Gallery New York, NY Art School faculty exhibition; September 2003 - November 2003; September 2002 - November 2002
Macy Gallery Teachers College Columbia University, NY Juried Group Exhibition December 2002 – January 2003
Principal Investigator, Maryland Higher Education Commission Improving Teacher Quality Grant “Connecting to the Common Core through Arts Integration” – ITQ 15-1307, $130,900 . Dec 2014- April 2016
Principal Investigator, Maryland Higher Education Commission Improving Teacher Quality Grant “Connecting to the Common Core through Arts Integration” – ITQ-14-1208, $153,000 . Dec 2013- April 2015
Co-Principal Investigator, Maryland Higher Education Commission Improving Teacher Quality Grant “The Fine Arts, Core Curriculum in Math and Reading”- ITQ-11-912, $199,725 . June 2011 – Dec. 2012