Abstract

This study speaks to the female identity and life-long education that occurs through traditions of nurturing, mentoring, and art. In my particular case, among these educational experiences passed down through generations of women in my family, are creative practices and independent thinking that I attribute to the notion of what I call MatriART, which is my interpretation of personal feminist genealogy and life teaching in relation to Art Education. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how my lived experiences and life stories not only shape who I am, but how my experiences transcend into the lives that I touch, including generations of students I now teach. This study also exemplifies how MatriART, as art and creative thinking, can be facilitated outside the classroom, including community settings, where art practice can be a product of mentorship from a very young age, suggesting the integration of a feminist genealogical pattern from both a holistic and a critical theory approach to art practice and art research.