About Matthew Capezzuto

I was born and raised in southwestern Pennsylvania. At Ohio University in Athens, OH, I studied Painting and Art History. I then earned my Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting at Yale School of Art. For over a decade, I have taught as a studio art instructor, lecturer, and museum educator to learners of all ages.

In 2021, I graduated from the EdD program in Art and Art Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. My dissertation is a meditation on a single work of Folk Art: an illuminated notebook of arithmetic problems created by Johannes (John) Whisler, a young Pennsylvania German man, in the Cumberland Valley in 1814-1815. Through Whisler’s notebook, I explored continuities among private, social, and historical aspects of creative activity. Specifically, I focused on the ways in which imported European handwriting styles and print media served as matrices for personal, affective symbol making in rural Pennsylvania. I see this dissertation as part of a larger exploration of the role of geographic place and sociocultural context in the creation and interpretation of artful objects. I believe educators should lead students to explore and address local concerns, and to become creative agents in their communities, in ways that may become relevant to other communities around the globe.

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