The Polyptych Methodology and New Histories in Art Education: Charting a Legacy of Stories From Central Technical School, 1896-2014

The art education program at Central Technical School (CTS) in Toronto, Canada, is so vast in terms of longevity and curriculum that it will never be documented in its totality. My research on this institution of applied and fine art does not provide a definitive story of the past, but a reflexive history self-consciously produced: selected, ordered, and interpreted to make sense of the oral histories, archival sources, and material culture of students and teachers viewed through a postmodern lens. In the following invited article, I have not attempted to summarize my qualitative dissertation; instead, I peel back the layers of stories that form my program of research to focus in on the theoretical and methodological foundations supporting my new history of art education.