- hardyda@uwm.edu
- Art Building 159A
- She / Her
Debra A. Hardy
- Assistant Professor, Art Education
Education
- PhD, Art Education, The Ohio State University, 2022
- MA, Art Education, University of Texas at Austin, 2015
- BA, Art History, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2013
Minor, Community-Based Art Education
Biography
Debra A. Hardy (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in Art Education at the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She received her PhD in Art Education from The Ohio State University. She previously served as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Art Education at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Dr. Deb has taught in community organizations and museums in Ohio, Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire and has worked with students of all ages.
For over a decade, Dr. Deb’s research has focused on the historic Black Chicago neighborhood of Bronzeville. Her current research explores the social networks created by artists and educators in Chicago and beyond. She is currently using social network analysis to map how communities helped one another sustain careers in the arts. She received a short-term fellowship from the Black Metropolis Research Consortium (BMRC) for her work in 2024. She has presented her research at conferences such as the National Art Education Association (NAEA), the American Education Research Association (AERA), the Art Education Research Institute (AERI), and the Mapping International Art Education Histories conference. Since 2023, she has served as secretary for NAEA’s Histories and Historiographies of Art Education interest group.
Dr. Deb’s teaching involves encouraging failure and growth; using contemporary art and ideas; and culturally relevant pedagogies for all students. She is a strong advocate for public schools and served as a committee member on the Milwaukee Public Schools Long-Range Facilities Planning Commission.
Links
Recent & Selected Works
Articles & Selected Papers
- Hardy, D. A. (2025). Possibilities for an anti-authoritarian syllabus. Visual Arts Research 51(2), 117-128. https://doi.org/10.5406/21518009.51.2.12
- Hardy, D. A. (2024). Utilizing fugitive pedagogies to promote civic education in de facto segregated schools. In D. Blandy & F. Bastos (Eds.) Promoting Civic Engagement Through Art and Education. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003402015
- Hardy, D. A. (2021). Using positionality and theory in historical research: A personal journey. Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education, 38, 78-94. https://doi.org/10.2458/jcrae.4797
- Hardy, D. A. (2021). Archival silence as a learning opportunity. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 23(1+2), 241-244. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-64802-625-620251021
- Hardy, D. A. (2018). And thus we shall survive: The perseverance of the South Side Community Art Center as counter-narrative, 1938-1959. In A. Kraehe, Gaztambide-Fernández, R., & Carpenter, B. S. (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education. Palgrave-Macmillian. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65256-6_7
- Hardy, D. A. (2017). The detrimental effects of McCarthyism on African American art institutions. In & P. E. Bolin & A. Kantawala, (Eds.), Revitalizing History: Recognizing the Struggles, Lives, and Achievements of African American and Women Art Educators. Vernon Press.
Awards
- Black Metropolis Research Consortium Short-Term Fellow (Summer 2024)
- Graduate Research Award, Art Education Research Institute (October 2021)
Theses & Dissertations
- Hardy, D. A. “More Beautiful and Better”: Dr. Margaret Burroughs and the Pedagogy of Bronzeville. 2022. The Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation, https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/more-beautiful-better-dr-margaret-burroughs/docview/2713936188/se-2?accountid=15078