Jason Swift, Ed.D., M.F.A.

Associate Professor of Art: Art Education & Foundations
School of Visual and Performing Arts College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

678-839-6521
jswift@westga.edCKqFBO3RZzVwHDKaZLmdfYEdJteCoMFJMKzR5mb2rAAgPpw0UoyppdQAwXd6u

Humanities Building - Room 232A

Jason Swift, Ed.D., M.F.A.
Biography

Jason Swift earned his BFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1994, his MFA from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1997 and his EdM in 2003 and EdD in 2009 from Teachers College, Columbia University.  He is currently Associate Professor at the University of West Georgia where he is the Art Education Director coordinating the undergraduate and initial certification programmes in art education.  In his studio and research practice, he investigates the influence of experiences upon the artist’s visual vocabulary, skateboarding, punk rock, transgressive teaching and learning and his experiences with his Grandfather.

Education / Degrees
  • B.F.A., Sculpture and Art Education, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1994
  • M.F.A., Sculpture, Rinehart School of Sculpture at Maryland Institute, College of Art, 1997
  • M.Ed., Art and Art Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2003
  • Ed.D., Art and Art Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2009
Courses Taught
Course Sections and Syllabi

Fall 2025 Sections

Spring 2025 Sections

Fall 2024 Sections

Spring 2024 Sections

Fall 2023 Sections

Spring 2023 Sections

Fall 2022 Sections

Spring 2022 Sections

Fall 2021 Sections

Summer 2021 Sections

Spring 2021 Sections

Fall 2020 Sections

Other Information

REFEREED (JURIED) PUBLICATIONS

  • Swift, J. (Ed.). (2020). Un-defining institutionalized definitions of identity, teaching and studio practice [Special issue]. Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art, 8(3).
  • Swift, J. (2020). Un-defining institutionalized definitions of identity, teaching and studio practice [Editorial]. Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art, 8(3).
  • Swift, J. (2019). Locating visual arts education in a post-liberal arts landscape. Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art, 8(2), 149-159.
  • Altman, S., Farmer, C. M., Swift, J. & Wright, A. (2019). Thinking with our hands: Teaching craft and technique in contemporary art and design. Future Forward, 6(1), 44-56.  
  • Swift, J., Hammond, H., Lee, J., et al (2017). Agents of change: Facilitating collegial investment and support.  Future Forward, 5(1), 54-67.
  • Daichendt, G. J., Funk, C. & Swift, J. (2014). Mentoring the contemporary arts student in the university. Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art, 3(3), 281-289.

REFEREED (JURIED) PRESENTATIONS AND CHAIRED SESSIONS

  • 2024 “Straight and Alert: Being a Straight Edge Punk in a Small Southern Town”, Punk Culture I: Diverse Identities: Queer Punks, Straight Edge, and "Sell Outs", panelist, Popular Culture Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL (forthcoming)
  • 2024 “Collaborative Leadership: Mending a Broken Art Department”, Yes, and... Agendas: from little to big!, panelist, College Art Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL
  • 2023 Punk Rock, Hip Hop, Heavy Metal and Indie Rock Education: What Art School Couldn’t Teach, session chair, SECAC Annual Conference, Richmond, VA
  • 2023  “A Round-About, A Coke Machine, Shipping Tags and D&D Dice: Emancipatory Teaching”, More Than a Letter or Number: Representations of Teaching Informed by Art and Design, panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Richmond, VA 
  • 2023 Bridging the Gap: Curricula and Pedagogy that Meet Today’s Student Needs, session chair, FATE Biennial Conference, Denver, CO
  • 2022 Skate and Destroy: Skateboarding’s Influence on Art, Design, and Culture, session chair, SECAC Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD
  • 2022 “The Art and Aesthetics of Punk Rock Flyers” Art from the Street: For the People by the People, panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD
  • 2021 Skate and Destroy: Skateboarding’s Influence on Art, Design, and Culture, session chair, SECAC Annual Conference, Lexington, KY (Session accepted, conference cancelled due to COVID)
  • 2021 “Tick Marks of Time, Explorations of Isolation and Moments of Survival: Art as a Call to be Heard”, It’s About Time..., panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Lexington, KY (Paper accepted, conference cancelled due to COVID)
  • 2021 New Age Teaching: The Person Behind the Mask, session chair, Foundations in Art: Theory and Education 17th Biennial Conference, Charlotte, NC
  • 2021 “Be Punk Rock, Make Art, Run, F* Sh* Up, and Bake Biscuits”, Our F’ing Language of Dealing: Shared Explorations in Approaching Sanity, panelist, Foundations in Art: Theory and Education 17th Biennial Conference, Charlotte, NC
  • 2020 Punk Rock Education: What Art School Couldn’t Teach You, Part II, session chair, SECAC Annual Conference, Richmond, VA
  • 2020 “The Space In Between: Where Meaning Resides”, RE(:) Thinking Space, panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Richmond, VA
  • 2019 Un-Defining Institutionalized Definitions of Identity, Teaching, and Studio Practice, session chair, SECAC Annual Conference, Chattanooga, TN
  • 2019 “Sabbatical, Travel, Research Failure, and Success”, Artists Research 101, panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Chattanooga, TN
  • 2019 The Technology Divide: Tensions Between the Hand, New Media and Studio Art Pedagogy, session chair, College Art Association Annual Conference, New York, NY
  • 2019 Re-Skilling Foundations: The Importance of Pedagogy in Today’sFoundations Curricula, session chair, Foundations in Art: Theory and Education 16th Biennial Conference, Columbus, OH
  • 2018 Transgressive Practices: Confronting Art, Scholarship and Education, session chair, SECAC Annual Conference, Birmingham, AL
  • 2018 “The Pearl Street Gallery: A Project Destined to Fail”, Public Projects, Community Collaborations, panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Birmingham, AL           
  • 2018 The Technology Divide: Tensions Between the Hand and New Media, session chair, Mid-America College Art Association Biennial Conference, Lincoln, NE
  • 2028 “Locating Visual Arts Education in a Post-Liberal Arts Landscape”, Fear of the Unknown, panelist, sponsored by the Mid-America College Art Association, College Art Association Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2017 The Education of Punk Rock: What Art School Couldn’t Teach You, session chair, SECAC Annual Conference, Columbus, OH
  • 2017 “You Cannot Win a Wrestling Match if You Have No Skill”, Disagree to Agree: A Debate–Abating Tag–Team Battle over Skill vs. Creativity, panelist,Foundations in Art: Theory and Education 16th Biennial Conference, Kansas City, MO
  • 2016 “Product Versus Process: Designing Authentic Assessment Strategies for Studio Art Curriculum and Programs”, Pain in the ASSessment, panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Roanoke, VA
  • 2015 “Art Camp: How I Came of Age One Summer at the Vermont Studio Center”, On the Move or On the Run: Artist Residencies as Exile, Nomadism, or Community?, panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2015 Art Education and Foundations Studio: New Partnerships for Program Development, Evolution and Student Success, session chair, Foundations in Art: Theory and Education 15th Biennial Conference, Indianapolis, IN
  • 2015 “You are not allowed to Make Art: Opening Potential and Possibility by Confronting Formal Studio Instruction through Material and Process Exploration”, Learning to Notice, panelist, Foundations in Art: Theory and Education 15th Biennial Conference, Indianapolis, IN
  • 2015 “Assessing Learning in Studio Practice”, presentation, New Hampshire Art Educator’s Association Annual Conference, Manchester, NH
  • 2014 The Artist’s Visual Vocabulary: Development, Formation and Use, session chair, SECAC Annual Conference, Sarasota, FL
  • 2014 “The Artist/Teacher/Researcher: (Un)defining the Space In Between”, From Gallery to Classroom: Integrating Your Studio or Commercial Art Career into Educational Practices, research paper presentation, SECAC Annual Conference, Sarasota, FL        
  • 2014 “The Role of Art Education in the Redesign of an Undergraduate Foundations Studio Program”, research paper presentation, National Art Education Association National Convention, San Diego, CA
  • 2014 “The Artist’s Visual Vocabulary: Development, Formation and Use”, research paper presentation, National Art Education Association National Convention, San Diego, CA
  • 2013 “De-Siloizing the Foundations Studio Program: The Role of a Studio Based Art Education Program on an Art Department Foundations Task Force”, Why Foundations? What is the Role of a First Year Studio Foundation Program in an Art and Design Education?, research paper presentation, SECAC Annual Conference, Greensboro, NC
  • 2013 The MFA in Visual Arts in American Higher Education: Issues and Debates, session speaker, National Art Education Association National Convention, Fort Worth, TX
  • 2012 “Reflective Visual Inquiry: Constructing Stories of Studio Process and Practice”, Drawing, Diagramming and Mapping Investigation and Inquiry in the Studio Practice, session chair and panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Durham, NC
  • 2011 “Finding Voice Through Autoethnography and Reflective Inquiry in the StudioPractice”, Current Trends in Studio-Based Practices Research, session chair and panelist, SECAC Annual Conference, Savannah, GA
  • 2010 “The Artist/(Auto)Ethnographer: Navigating, Negotiating and Balancing the Dialogue, Opposition and Conflict of Being the Researcher and Research Subject Simultaneously”, Collaborative Ethnography in Art and Design, panelist, SECAC/MACAA Annual Conference, Richmond, VA
  • 2007 “Consistencies in Artistic Practice: The Influence of Experiences on the Artist, Aesthetic Responses, Material Choice and Role Identity”, research paper presentation, National Art Education Association Annual Convention, New York, NY
  • 2006 “Collaborative Restraint in Artistic Practice”, poster session, College Art Association Annual Conference, Boston, MASS

INVITED PRESENTATIONS AND PANELS

  • 2017 Presentation: “Design in Arts Education” New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Conference: Teaching, Innovation and Creativity, Littleton, NH
  • 2017 Keynote Panel: “Design in Education” New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Conference: Teaching, Innovation and Creativity, Littleton, NH
  • 2011 Keynote Speaker: “Recapturing Sensory Learning” 11th Annual Arts Alive Conference, Laconia, NH
  • 2011 Workshop: “Sensory Learning and Experience: Recapturing the Childhood Learning We Lose as Adults” Sixteenth Annual Integrated Arts Conference, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH
  • 2010 Panel Presentation: “Developing Online K-12 Integrated Arts Curriculum for the Karl Drerup Art Gallery at Plymouth State University” Mysteries of the Museum Revealed Educator Workshop, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH
  • 2007 “Accidental Mentoring: Mentoring Experiences with artHarlem and the Pearl Street Gallery” Conversations Across Cultures: Community Arts Education, Exploring Possibilities, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
  • 2007 Panel Respondent: “Conversations Across Cultures: The Museum-Virtual, Actual, and Transformed”, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
  • 2002 Panel Presenter: Let the Object Speak: A Sculpture Symposium, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY

REFEREED (JURIED) EXHIBITIONS

  • 2021 SECAC Juried Members Exhibition, Bolivar Art Gallery, School of Art / Visual Studies, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
  • 2021 Art in Isolation, Virtual Exhibition sponsored by Teachers College, Columbia University and M.I.C.A. New York, NY, www.artschoolpedagogy.org, Curator: HC Huỳnh
  • 2018 SECAC Juried Members Exhibition, UAB Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, Birmingham, AL
  • 2016 A Journey Across Boundaries, Chandler Arts Center, Randolph, VT, Curators: Gowri Savoor and Angelo Arnold
  • 2014 Jason Swift (Solo Exhibition), Mouseprint Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
  • 2014 Inventory of Memory, Mouseprint Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
  • 2011 Piece of Mind, Elga Wimmer Gallery, New York, NY           
  • 2011 Pool Art Fair, Gershwin Hotel, New York, NY           
  • 2011 Of House and Home, The Whole Gallery, Baltimore, MD
  • 2010 Boundaries and Borders: 2010 Korean DMZ Art Festival, Seokjang-ri Art Gallery, South Korea
  • 2010 Producing: Films and Videos, Macy Gallery, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, Curator: Maurizio Pellegrin
  • 2009 Art Basel: Verge Art Fair by Gitana Rosa Gallery, Miami, FL            
  • 2009 Visions in New York City: Short Films and Videos, Macy Gallery, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, Curator: Maurizio Pellegrin
  • 2008 Shorts: A Small Film Festival, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY            
  • 2008 Led by Thread, Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA 
  • 2007 Faces, Zakka, Beijing, China 
  • 2006 Journey’s End, 55 Mercer Gallery, New York, NY           
  • 2006 Close-Far, Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, New York, NY           
  • 2006 artHarlem: HOAST, Hamilton Landmark Galleries, New York, NY           
  • 2006 EMC Arts, EMC Arts, New York, NY, Curator: Rueben Sinha
  • 2006 Questioning Sculpture, Macy Gallery, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, Curator: Maurizio Pellegrin
  • 2005 For the Mutual Understanding of Contemporary Arts Between Korea and America, Cheltenham Art Center, Cheltenham, PA
  • 2005 Macy 55, Macy Gallery, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, Curator: Maurizio Pellegrin
  • 2004 Resonance, Pearl Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Curator: Dan Serig 
  • 2001 One Night Stand, St. Paul’s Church, Columbia University, New York, NY
  • 1999 Farewell to the Twentieth Century, University Art Gallery, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI           
  • 1999 Subject to Change, Change is the Subject, Parts I and II, Decker Gallery, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD, Curator: George Ciscle, Curator in Residence, MICA
  • 1998 Microcosm 2 Macrocosm, The Whole Gallery, Baltimore, MD
  • 1997 43rd Annual Juried Art Show, Central Carolina Bank Gallery, Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC, Juror: Brooke Anderson, Winston Salem State University
  • 1995 Durham Art Guild, Members Group Show, Central Carolina Bank Gallery, Durham Arts Council Building, Durham, NC          
  • 1995 CCA/Boogie Juried Exhibition, Community Council for the Arts, Kinston, NC
  • 1995 40th Annual Juried Art Show, Central Carolina Bank Gallery, Durham Arts Council Building; Durham, NC, Juror: William Fagaly, Assistant Director, New Orleans Museum of Art