Today we are highlighting the D. Jack Davis Art Education Collection, which contains the professional papers of Dr. D. Jack Davis, who specialized in art education, as well as publications related to art education that Dr. Davis collected throughout his career. Dr. Davis taught at UNT for 40 years and was the founding dean of the School of Visual Arts (now known as the College of Visual Arts & Design, or CVAD). You can view the finding aid for the collection here. 

During his tenure at UNT Dr. Davis served as the co-director and director of the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts (NTIEVA). The North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts (NTIEVA) was founded at UNT in 1990 as one of six regional institutes established by the Getty Education Institute, an operating unit of the J. Paul Getty Trust. The Institute was involved in the preparation of arts leaders, recognizing that leadership in the field of arts education takes many forms and dimensions, ranging from instructional leaders in schools, to educational leaders in arts organizations like museums, symphonies and community arts groups, to management positions in all types of educational and arts organizations. Among the main purposes for establishing the Institute were to:

• enhance the programs in art education in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas

• to provide support for graduate students and their research

• to provide resource materials for teachers, administrators and museum personnel

• to provide a mechanism for the College of Visual Arts and Design and the University of North Texas to implement outreach programs to the educational and cultural communities in the DFW Metroplex and across the state.

Significant achievements were made in each of these areas. The UNT pre-service teacher education program in the visual arts is considered to be one of the best in the state, and the graduate programs in art education have been ranked among the top fifteen in the United States and Canada. 

From 1990 through 1996, the Institute engaged in an extensive staff development and implementation effort for disciplined-based art education (DBAE), coordinating a consortium of six school districts (Dallas ISD, Denton ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, Pilot Point ISD, and Plano ISD) and five museums (the Amon Carter Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Kimbell Art Museum, Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, and the Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth) in the DFW Metroplex. Focusing on the elementary level, the Consortium provided classroom teachers, art specialist teachers, school administrators, and museum educators in-depth professional development experiences in aesthetics, art criticism, art history, and art production as well as technical assistance in the development and implementation of curriculum that would be a part of the general education of every student. Over the six year span, the Consortium worked with teachers and administrators in more than 375 elementary schools and the education staff members in all five museums. Intensive summer workshops were conducted and technical assistance was provided during the curriculum development and implementation process.

From 1996 to 2001, the Institute, as a member of the National Arts Education Consortium (NAEC), worked with the five other institutes throughout the country (California Consortium for Arts Education, Florida Institute for Art Education, Nebraska Consortium for Arts Education, Ohio Partnership for the Visual Arts, and Southeast Center for Education in the Arts) to conduct a national research project that examined the issues related to making meaningful study in the arts integral to a child’s education and the impact of education on the child’s art learning as well as his or her learning in other areas of the curriculum. 

In the fall of 2005, the Robert and Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust provided funding for a five-year project to expand the preparation of arts leaders beyond Texas and to include music students in addition to visual arts students. The Priddy Fellowships in Arts Leadership Program supported 10 students (5 visual arts and 5 music) each year for participation in a year-long program of study designed to prepare individuals for arts leadership roles in a variety of settings. During this time, a Graduate Certificate in Arts Leadership program was established in the College of Visual Arts and Design and the College of Music, and scholarships were established to support students admitted to the program. Throughout its history, the Institute engaged in the preparation of curriculum resource materials and curriculum units that are made available to teachers at no cost through its nationally recognized newsletter and on its website.

In addition to the physical materials contained in the archival collection, to date nearly 2,000 documents related to NTIEVA’s history are available in a digital format in the UNT Digital Library. Materials were scanned by the Institute and provided in a digital format to Special Collections. We are in the process of uploading and describing the rest of collection’s digital materials so please check back later to see more. 

Here are some highlights from the digital collection: 

North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts brochure, page 2 (view the entire document in the UNT Digital Library)

1994-95 Fact Sheet

The Summer Institute Evaluation Report, 1993 (view the entire report in the UNT Digital Library)