The John A. and Betty J. Michael Autobiographical Lecture Series in Art Education was in initiated by Dr. John Michael with a generous gift from he and his wife, Betty, in 1972 when Edwin Ziegfeld lectured at Miami University. Outstanding educators who have retired or are near retirement are invited to present autobiographical lectures in the series noting the influences which have shaped their philosophy about art education and the arts. In 1991, John Michael was the featured lecturer himself, adding to the ongoing lineup of influential and honored speakers.
As part of an effort to make this important series more widely accessible, this site offers the documents and archives that were part of each speaker’s visit. Although this digital opportunity wasn’t imaginable at the series inception, we believe that it honors the mission of the series in sharing and honoring the important contributions of so many prominent art educators.
The series continues each year at Miami University through the Art Education program. This digital collection will continue to grow as we uncover more documents within our archives and as more of our students interact with and contribute to its development. If you have any questions regarding the archives, please feel free to contact us.
Each lecturer in our series has a page dedicated to their visit. You can access the lecturers by the listing on the Lectures page in the main navigation menu. The main events for each lecturer visit is highlighted on their page. These are: the autobiographical lecture, the student panel, and the workshop if one was given during their visit. Audio and visual recordings are available for many of the lectures and student panels and can be accessed right on the page itself. Additional documentation of the visit (i.e. images, etc.) are available for some lecturers as well. This is an evolving project and thus some pieces may still be missing. We continue to mine the lecture archives to share as much as we can with you.
We hope you enjoy this collection and find inspiration in the work of so many important art educators.