Examining Passionate Pursuits

The study of collections, collectors, and collecting practices provide many critical and creative learning opportunities for students and teachers in field of art education. This book examines the collecting practices of a middle school art teacher and her students. Data gathered from interviews with twelve middle school students along with photographs taken by the students of their collections in their own personal space, revealed how the activity of collecting serves many different purposes. Some of which include narrative and social performance, identity formation, and artistic expression. This area of study offers cross-disciplinary curriculum for learning about art practice, the mass arts, and material culture in a postmodern context.