Emily Jean Hood, Ph.D.

Emily Jean Hood is an artist, teacher, and researcher currently serving as Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Art Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  She is an award-winning art educator with over twenty years of experience in both K-12 and higher education.  She is a member of the Arkansas Art Educators, the National Art Education Association, and the International Society for Education through Art.  Her scholarship has been published in Studies in Art Education, the Art Education Journal, and the International Journal of Education through Art, among others.

Ph.D. in Art Education, University of North Texas, August 2012-December 2018

M.A. in Art Education, University of North Texas, August 2004-August 2006

B.A. in Humanities, Lubbock Christian University, August 1999-August 2003

My scholarship is organized around two interconnected lines of inquiry, both centered on relationality: (1) the role of materials as active participants in art and craft making, and (2) critical reflective practice in art education.

The first line of research challenges traditional art education narratives that center the individual artist—particularly the Western ideal of the white male “genius”—by examining materials as active agents in creative processes. This work emphasizes the relational nature of artmaking, in which humans, non-human materials, cultural practices, and environments interact to produce artistic knowledge and objects. My scholarship includes research on new materialism in art education, as well as more recent work examining everyday material assemblages and collaborative artmaking with disabled students. In partnership with a local school for children with disabilities, my current research investigates how students autonomously engage with art materials and how those materials shape and influence their creative processes. This project has been presented at national and international conferences and is developing toward future publications.

The second line of inquiry, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Travis, examines how art educators can engage in critical reflection on their teaching practices to support anti-oppressive pedagogy. Through this ongoing collaboration, we have developed Flashpoint Methodology, a research approach that can be used both in formal qualitative research and as a form of informal self-inquiry within classroom contexts. This work has resulted in multiple publications and a forthcoming book with Routledge.

Together, these research agendas explore relationality at different but interconnected levels: relationships among human and non-human material beings in creative practice and relationships among people within educational spaces. My current article, “Tornado Diary: Material Vulnerability in Art Education,” brings these perspectives together through an artistic reflection on experiencing a tornado. The work considers human material vulnerability while demonstrating how creative practice and critical reflection can work together to deepen learning, inquiry, and critical thinking.

Edited Books

Travis, S., Kraehe, A., Hood, E. J. & Lewis, T. (2018). Pedagogies in the Flesh: Case Studies on the Embodiment of Sociocultural Differences in Education. Palgrave Macmillan.

Articles

Hood, E. J. (2025). Tornado Diary: Material Vulnerability in Art Education. International Journal of Education through Art, 21(1), 103-112. DOI: 10.1386/eta_00189_3

Hood, E. J., Travis. S., Brown, K., Herman, D.  & Yoon-Ramirez, I. (2025). Dialogic Praxis and Racialized Embodiment in Art Education. Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, 44(1), 45-60.

Travis, S. & Hood, E. J. (2023). Writing Letters by Hand: Inquiry through Inner and Outer Worlds. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy. DOI: 10.1080/15505170.2023.2175080

Hood, E. J. & Travis, S. (2023). Critical Reflective Practice in Art Education. Art Education, 76(1), 28-31. DOI: 10.1080/00043125.2022.2131201

Hood, E. J. (2022). Co-creating with a Messy Kitchen Floor. Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education, 39(1), 60-75.

Hood, E. J. & Lewis, T.E. (2021). Ohhing and Ahhing: The Power of Thin(g)king in Art Education Research. International Journal of Education Through the Arts, 17(2), 223-233.

Hood, E. J. & Kraehe, A. (2017). Creative Matter: New Materialism in Art Education Research, Teaching, and Learning. Art Education, 70(2), 32-38.

Travis, S. & Hood, E. J. (2016). Troubling Sociocultural Narrative Pedagogy: Implications for Art Educators. Studies in Art Education, 57(4), 318-328.

Kraehe, A. M., Hood, E. J., & Travis, S. (2015). “I’m So Offended!”: Curriculum Flash Points and Critical Arts Education. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 16(18), 1-28.

Book Chapters

Hood, E. J. (2024). Traces of Friendship as Inquiry. In S. Travis, A. Guttenburg Smith, C. Hernández-Cabal, & Jorge Lucero (Eds.). Experiments in Art Research: How Do We Live Questions Through Art? Routledge.

Hood, E. J. (2018). Hair Pulling in the Art Room: A Phenomenology of Un/marked Bodies. In S. Travis, A. Kraehe, E. Hood, & T. Lewis (Eds.) Pedagogies in the flesh: Case studies on the embodiment of sociocultural differences in education, pp. 169-174. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave McMillan.

Higher Education Art Educator of the Year, Arkansas Art Educators, 2025

Rising Faculty Excellence Award, College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2025

Rising Faculty Excellence Award (Nominee), College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2022

Outstanding Teaching Award (Nominee), College of Fine and Applied Arts, Appalachian State University, Spring 2021

ARED 42901 Practicum in Art Education

ARED 42503 Foundations in Art Education

ARED 42803 Differentiation and Inclusion

ARED 42603 Art, Children, & Youth

ARED 42703 Art Theory & Criticism

ARED 40036 Internship in Art Education

ARTS 10132 First Year Experience, Visual Arts

ARTS 49403 Art Theory & Criticism

State of Texas, All-Level Art (EC-12) Teaching Certification

Arkansas Art Education Association

National Art Education Association

International Society for Education Through Art

Professional Service

Faculty Sponsor, UA Little Rock National Art Education Association Student Chapter, 2026

Past Coordinator, Caucus of Social Theory in Art Education, 2024-2026

Coordinator, Caucus of Social Theory in Art Education, 2022-2024

Art Advisory Committee Member, Lost Province Center for Cultural Arts, Lansing, NC, 2020-2021

Coordinator-Elect, Caucus of Social Theory in Art Education, 2020-2022

Faculty Sponsor, Teaching Artist Network, Department of Visual Arts, Texas Woman’s University, 2019

Service to the College

Chair, Recruiting and Retention Committee, School of Art & Design, 2025-Present

Chair, Curriculum and Assessment Committee, School of Art & Design, 2024-2025

Member, Scholarship Committee, School of Art & Design, 2024-2026

Member, Faculty Governance Committee, 2024-Present

Chair, Ad Hoc Governance Document Committee, School of Art & Design, 2024

Chair, Metals Search Committee, School of Art & Design, 2024

Chair, Illustration Search Committee, School of Art & Design, 2023

Coordinator, Art Education Program, School of Art & Design, 2021-Present

Member, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, College of Humanities, Art, Social Sciences, and Education, 2021-2026

Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Education, Department of Art, Appalachian State University, August 2020 to May 2021

Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Education, Department of Visual Arts, Texas Woman’s University, August 2019 to June 2020

Teaching Fellow, College of Visual Arts and Design, University of North Texas, August 2012-August 2016