About Dr. Travis
Biography
Dr. Sarah Travis is Assistant Professor and Program Chair of Art Education in the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a former K-12 art teacher from New Orleans. Dr. Travis uses narrative, phenomenological, and arts-based inquiry methods to critically examine issues around identity and experience and to explore how art education can be an active process of resistance to oppression that is also a pathway for joyful, creative, and collaborative agency. She has published journal articles in Art Education, Studies in Art Education, The Urban Review, International Journal of Education & the Arts, Journal for Cultural Research in Art Education, and Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy. Dr. Travis is Co-Editor of the journal Visual Arts Research, published by University of Illinois Press. In addition, she is co-editor of the books Pedagogies in the Flesh: Case Studies on the Embodiment of Sociocultural Differences in Education (Palgrave, 2018) and Experiments in Art Research: How Do We Live Questions Through Art? (Routledge, 2024).
Education
University of North Texas, PhD in Art Education, 2018
The University of Texas at Austin, MA in Art Education, 2008
Tulane University, BA in Art Studio & African and African Diaspora Studies, 2001
Research and publications
Selected publications
Travis, S., Smith, A. G., Hernández-Cabal, C., & Lucero, J. (Eds.). (2024). Experiments in art research: How do we live questions through art? Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003430971
Travis, S. T., & Lewis, T. E. (2023). A phenomenology of joyful experimentation in art education. Studies in Art Education, 64(3), 344-358. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393541.2023.2220099
Travis, S. (2023). BE-ing here with transformative artist Brandan “Bmike” Odums. Art Education, 76(4), 64-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2023.2213116
Travis, S., & Hood, E. J. (2023). Writing letters by hand: Critical inquiry through inner and outer worlds. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/15505170.2023.2175080
Hood, E. J., & Travis, S. (2023). Critical reflective practice for art educators. Art Education, 76(1), 28-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2022.2131201
Travis, S. (2021). “Artists, we need you”: Artist identity, creative agency, and the urgency of action. Studies in Art Education, 62(2), 142-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393541.2021.1896250
Travis, S. (2020). Flashpoints of artist identity formation. Art Education, 73(5), 16-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2020.1781438
Travis, S., Kraehe, A. M., Hood, E. J., & Lewis, T. E. (Eds.). (2018). Pedagogies in the flesh: Case studies on the embodiment of sociocultural differences in education. Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59599-3
Travis, S., & Hood, E. J. (2016). Troubling sociocultural narrative pedagogy: Implications for art educators. Studies in Art Education, 57(4), 318-328. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393541.2016.1204523
Kraehe, A. M., Acuff, J. B., & Travis, S. (2016). Equity, the arts, and urban education: A review. The Urban Review, 48(2), 220-244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-016-0352-2
Kraehe, A. M., Hood, E. J., & Travis, S. (2015). "I'm so offended!": Curriculum flashpoints and critical arts education. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 16(18), 1-28. http://www.ijea.org/v16n18/
Teaching and advising
Classes taught
ART 140: Introduction to Art
ARTE 301: Curriculum, Assessment, and Art Education
ARTE 501: Issues in Art Education
ARTE 502: Curriculum Development in Art
ARTE 505: Foundations of Art Education