2020 Featured Speakers

THOM KNAB
Friday, 1 PM Super Session Keynote Speaker
NAEA President Thom Knab has been an Elementary Art Educator (K-4) at Dodge Elementary, East Amherst, NY since 1990. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Art Education from Buffalo State College in 1987 and 1992 respectively. Thom began a 1000 sq. ft. art gallery, called BRAG (Brick Room Art Gallery), at Dodge Elementary which has displayed over 200 student artworks at times. Previously he served as the NAEA Elementary Division Director from 2015-2017. He received both the National Elementary Art Educator and the Eastern Region Elementary Art Educator honors at the 2018 NAEA convention. He has been the keynote speaker at the Tennessee Art Education Association conference in 2018, the Michigan Art Education Association conference, South Carolina Art Education Association conference, and the Eastern Region Summer Leadership conference in 2019. He was also the invited keynote speaker for the Online Art Teachers K12 (OATK12) Facebook group online conference in 2020. He has served in the NAEA Delegates Assembly from 2011-2016.

Thom has been published several times including: “Remote Teaching,” NYSATA News, 2020; “BRAG: The Brick Room Art Gallery,” School Arts Magazine, 2015; “The Roadrunner Art Walk,” School Arts Magazine, 2015; “Review of Every Leader is an Artist, O’Malley & Baker,” NYSATA News, 2014; “Assessment,” School Arts Magazine, 2013; “Copper Family Crests,” School Arts Magazine, 2012; and “Review of Reaching and Teaching Students with Special Needs through Art, edited by Gerber and Guay,” NYSATA News, 2010. Thom was also a member of the NAEA Design Standards for School Art Facility Review Committee, 2010–2013. Thom is an exhibiting artist and has exhibited his work in three solo shows in 2018 and 2019.

Thom is one of our own, having served as NYSATA President-elect, President and Past President from 2012-2016 and also as Vice President from 2011-2012. He was honored as NYS Art Educator of the Year in 2018 and NYSATA Region One Art Educator in 2008. Thom is very excited to be a part of the NYSATA 2020 Conference to share, learn about, and celebrate visual arts & design education.

ERIC M. SCOTT
Friday, 9 AM General Session Featured Speaker
Friday 2 PM Extended Hands-On Studio Workshop Featured Presenter
Eric M. Scott is a mixed media artist, an educator, and a writer born and raised in Washington, Pennsylvania.

He is dedicated to sharing his art and helping people tap into their artistic potential and cultivate their creativity. As a former public school art educator, he frequently travels and provides workshops and presentations on the power of art and the visual journal.

Scott might be better known as one half of the Journal Fodder Junkies. In 2005 he officially teamed up with friend and artistic accomplice David R. Modler, and this dynamic duo has been presenting ever since on the visual journal and the importance of authentic artmaking in art education at a variety of venues, conferences, and retreats. They have coauthored two bestselling books, The Journal Junkies Workshop and Journal Fodder 365, both published by North Light Books.

Eric lives in Purcellville, Virginia with his wife and their menagerie of animals.

WANDA KNIGHT, Ph.D.
Saturday, 1 PM Super Session Keynote Speaker
Wanda B. Knight, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Art Education, African American Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and is professor-in-charge of the art education program at Penn State University. Besides university-level teaching, she has served as a licensed K-12 art teacher, museum educator, principal of both elementary and secondary public schools, and a consultant to various school districts, professional associations, institutions, and organizations throughout the United States.  

A National Art Education Association Distinguished Fellow, her scholarly work concerning equity, diversity, and inclusion; antiracist white identity development and culturally competent teacher education preparation; curricular transformation across disciplines; Critical Race Theory and social justice is published broadly, and her presentations span national and international locations including Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Korea, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Taiwan, and other areas.  

Dr. Knight’s professional achievements have been acknowledged through international, national, state, and university awards and recognitions, including the Pennsylvania State University Faculty Way Paver Award, the Pennsylvania Art Education Association Outstanding Higher Education Art Educator Award, the National Art Education Association Women’s Caucus June King McFee and Maryl Fletcher Dejong Awards; the National Art Education Association’s Eugene Grigsby Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Art Education, and the Kenneth Marantz Distinguished Alumni Award from The Ohio State University, where she earned her Ph.D.

MARILYN STEWART, Ph.D.
Saturday 10 AM Extended Interactive Workshop Featured Presenter
Dr. Marilyn Stewart retired in May 2017 as Professor of Art Education and Co-coordinator of Graduate Programs in Art Education at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, where she taught courses in art education theory and practice and others such as “Visual Culture: Critical Practice,” “Women in the Arts,” and “Art Criticism,” and was the 2016 recipient of the Arthur and Isabel Wiesenberger Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Stewart is senior author of Explorations in Art grades 1-6, and co-author, with Eldon Katter, of the Explorations in Art middle school series, co-author of Rethinking Curriculum in Art, author of Thinking Through Aesthetics, and Editor of the Art Education in Practice series, all published by Davis Publications. She is a frequent keynote speaker at meetings and conferences throughout the nation and abroad. In decades of service to the field of art education, Marilyn has initiated or has been consultant to numerous national and local curriculum projects, most recently serving for eleven years as Director of The Dinner Party Curriculum Project, as Coordinator of the Educator Guides Project for the PBS series, Craft in America, now in its thirteenth year, and as a member of the 12-person Writing Team for the National Visual Arts Standards and the Model Cornerstone Assessments. She has conducted over 200 extended professional development institutes, seminars, or in-service days in over 35 states.  A Distinguished Fellow of the National Art Education Association, Dr. Stewart has received recognition and numerous awards for her contributions and was named by the National Art Education Association as the 2011 National Art Educator of the Year.

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