Faculty Research Connections Profile
“…some of your best teaching flows spontaneously from your deepest intuition. At its core, teaching is the artistry of creating experiences that lead people into greater awareness. It’s an artistry of knowing the moods, needs, and expectations of your student while staying fully aware of your own.” - The Compassionate Classroom
Jane Dalton is a Professor of Art Education at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. She earned her Ph.D. in Expressive Arts in Education and an M.F.A in Textile Design and Weaving. Her research interests include mindfulness, contemplative pedagogy and practice, and transformative learning using the arts. Her teaching includes studio art, arts-based professional development workshops for K-12 teachers, and preparing pre-service art education teachers. She teaches with the arts at the center of learning, believing the arts are a powerful tool for transforming classrooms by motivating students to make connections across content areas, to work cooperatively, and to think critically and creatively. Through the arts, her aim is to support individuals to become richer, more whole, perhaps more compassionate because of greater self-awareness and a deeper understanding of their place in the world.
Her teaching includes professional development workshops for K-12 teachers, preparing pre-service K-12 Art Education teachers, as well as studio art classes. She is the co-editor of The Whole Person: Embodying Teaching and Learning through Lectio and Visio Divina (2019, Rowan & Littlefield), and the 3-volume book series on Contemplative Practices, Research, and Pedagogy (2018/2019, Rowan & Littlefield). She is also co-author of The Compassionate Classroom: Lessons that Nurture Empathy and Wisdom (2004, Chicago Review Press). She has published numerous articles and book chapters including: Artfully Aware: Contemplative Practices in the Classroom; The Expressive Teacher: Renewing Vitality through Arts-Based Professional Development; Drawing out the Soul: Contemporary Arts Integration; Researching Contemporary Handwork: Stitching as Renewal, Remembrance, and Revolution, and, Caring as a Transformative Model for Arts Integration. She has also presented at regional, national, and international conferences on the value of arts, contemplative practice, and mindfulness in education.
Jane has practiced meditation, yoga, and contemplative practices for 30 years. As a textile artist, her work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and can be found in private and corporate collections. Visit Website.