Melanie Davenport

An Atlanta native, Dr. Davenport earned her BFA from University of Georgia in 1986, her MAE in Art Education at Georgia State in 1993, and her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Indiana University in 2001. She was on faculty at the University of Florida from 2001-2005, then did a two-year stint at Florida State University before joining the art education faculty at Georgia State in 2007. She currently serves on the World Council of the International Society for Education through Art and on the Executive Board of the United States Society for Education through Art, as well as on the Delegate’s Assembly for the National Art Education Association.

Dr. Davenport previously taught art in Fulton County Public Schools as an elementary art teacher and as an adaptive art specialist, and loves teaching elementary methods courses, in addition to graduate courses on research, history, and culture in art education. Her research interests focus upon international-comparative and intercultural approaches to art education, media literacy and visual culture, and indigenous education. Since 2007, she has been teaching visual communication strategies to Huichol youth in Mexico, toward the production of stop-motion animated shorts that present their traditional stories in their own languages. She has also studied middle school art education in Japan and post-colonial curriculum reform in settings around the world. Dr. Davenport has an extensive record of presentations and publications in the field, at the regional, national and international level.