Beth Thomas

Faculty – Master of Arts in Teaching & Summer MA in Art Education

Beth Thomas works as a member of the research faculty in the Summer MA in Art Education program at MICA, and as a member of the teaching faulty in the Master of Arts in Teaching program. Prior to coming to MICA, she taught art in public schools for thirteen years, and worked with student teachers in the Art Education program at The Ohio State University.

Beth's research interests are primarily philosophical, and include the role of metaphor in cognition, the nature of the relationship between language and imagery, the nature of the teaching act, and the role of psychoanalytic theory in teaching and learning. Her work investigates the role of psychology in our current understanding of imagery, art and education, as well as the tensions inherent in competing theories of the mind, the self and the visual.

Education

B.A., Art Education, University of Cincinnati
M.A., Integrated Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University
Ph.D. (ABD), The Ohio State University.

Selected Publications

2009

Thomas, B. Surpassing knowing: Metaphor and category reconceptualization in the artwork of Mark Dion. In L. Della Pietra (Ed.), Perspectives on Creativity. London: Cambridge Scholars. (in press)