Kim Cosier, Professor Emerita of Art Education, recently received the great honor of Wisconsin Art Education Association (WAEA) acknowledging her with the award for Higher Ed Art Educator of the Year. She was among only 11 educators, ranging from elementary to college level, to be recognized.
Professor Cosier credits the support from her colleagues and students as a driving force behind receiving the award, which represents the important concept of community in the art world.
“The art ed community across Wisconsin is there to lift each other up and I really love that about the WAEA and art teachers in general,” Cosier noted. She also took a moment to add specific praise to the art world of Milwaukee: “I lived in other places before I came here, and I’ve always found Milwaukee to be a place that is really open to collaboration and lifting one another up.”
Cosier has been teaching and doing amazing work at the Peck School of the Arts since 2001. With her wife, Josie Osborne, Cosier founded ArtsECO, a program that recruits and develops social justice-oriented pre-service teachers, offering support and resources to help integrate the arts into their classrooms. She is also the founder of the Milwaukee Visionaries Project, an award-winning program for urban youth that specializes in helping kids tell their own stories through art, video and animation.
Cosier is an active member of the Art Build Workers, a traveling group based in Milwaukee that helps unions, organizations and movements gain momentum by spreading their messages through art and media.
The fight for social justice is important to Cosier, represented in her increased activity in community groups. Some of her battles have dealt with “fighting against racist structures, unfair school policies, immigration policies,” among other barriers that marginalized communities face. Speaking on the importance of her involvement, Professor Cosier noted that “it’s a way to build community and make connections that build a better world,” before expressing her graciousness and gratitude for being involved in this work.
Story by Jason McCullum