Rachel L. S. Harper, Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary artist, philosopher, curator, professor, researcher, and consultant. She is the founder of Seen + Heard, a social practice project advocating for the cultural lives and works of children, is an Associate Artist with Stockyard Institute, and she designed and led the Teacher Institute at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago from 2008 to 2019.
Harper consults nationally with museums, cultural institutions, and school districts on strategic planning, program development, and staff education, as well as with independent artists, researchers, and educators on personal and professional growth.
A recipient of the Stonewall Honor Book Award from the American Library Association and the Ann Lynn Lopez Schubert Memorial Fellowship in Curriculum Studies, Harper’s research, exhibitions, and projects have been supported by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fry Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the 3Arts Foundation, Chicago Art Department, the Ragdale Foundation, and others.
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September 9, 2021 - February 13, 2022
DePAUL UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM, Chicago, IL
STOCKYARD INSTITUTE: 25 YEARS OF RADICAL PEDAGOGY
September 9, 2021 - February 13, 2022
DePAUL UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM, Chicago, IL
with Julie Rodrigues Widholm
February 26, 2017 – June 25, 2017
HYDE PARK ART CENTER, Chicago, IL
with Jim Duignan, Stockyard Institute
February 12-28, 2016
CHICAGO ART DEPARTMENT, Chicago, IL
with Ada Grey
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SEEN + HEARD
2012 — present
Advocating for the cultural lives and works of children ages 0-12 through exhibition, publication, programming, and political action.
REIMAGINING ABANDONED SCHOOLS
2014 — 2020
with Jim Duignan
Collecting proposals from the Chicago citizenry for how to utilize abandoned buildings that were once vibrant neighborhood schools, and compiling this catalogue as a collective plea to the office of the mayor.
The DIY MFA
2012 — 2015
with Miguel Aguilar
Framework and practice of non-institutional, critical, advanced self-education for professional artists from historically marginalized backgrounds.
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DePAUL ART MUSEUM, Chicago, IL | Advisory Board Member | 2017 - present
RAGDALE FOUNDATION, Lake Forest, IL | Curatorial Board Member | 2014 - present
THE JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS, Washington DC | Curriculum and Pedagogy Consultant | 2019 – 2020
METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER, Denver, CO | Visiting Artist Scholar | 2017
STOCKYARD INSTITUTE, Chicago, IL | Artist in Residence | 2016 - 2017
BERNHARD MOOS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Chicago, IL | Artist in Residence | 2016 - present
CHICAGO ART DEPARTMENT, Chicago, IL | Artist in Residence, Learning is a Lifestyle | 2015 - 2016
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | Curriculum Consultant, Arts Incubator | 2013-2015
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, New York, NY | Qualitative Analyst, Teen Programs Impact Research Project | Principal Investigators: Danielle Linzer and Mary Ellen Munley | 2013 - 2014
WALKER ART CENTER, Minneapolis, MN | Consultant, Future Spark: the Walker Art Center’s Teen Think Tank | Direction: Christina Alderman and Meghan Leafblad | 2012 - 2013
CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Chicago, IL | Curriculum Specialist, Family Life and Sexual Health | 2012 - 2014
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | Curriculum Specialist, Developmental Evaluation of Teacher Programs, Department of Museum Education | 2011- 2013
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Harper, R. L. S. (2021). Author, education, practice, medium, life: The structural philosophy of Stockyard Institute. In Widholm, J. R. (Ed.), Stockyard Institute: 25 Years of Art and Radical Pedagogy (pp. 80-85). University of Chicago Press.
Harper, R. L. S., & Pilato, N. (2019). Reflective Exchange: Honoring the Children. Visual Arts Research, 45(1), 56-60.
Harper, R. L. S. & Ross, L. (2018). View from the gap: The Teacher Institute at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. In D. C. Ketchka, & B. S. Carptenter (Eds.), Professional development in art museums: Strategies of engagement through contemporary art. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association Press.
Cosier, K., Harper, R. L. S., Sapp, J., Sokolower, J., Temple, M. B. (2016). Rethinking sexism, gender, and sexuality. Rethinking Schools.
Harper, R. L. S. (2016). Beyond the classroom. In K. Cosier, R. L. S. Harper, J. Sapp, J. Sokolower, M. B. Temple (Eds.), Rethinking sexism, gender, and sexuality. Rethinking Schools.
Harper, R. L. S. & Lucero, J. (2015). Subject matters of the arts. In M. F. He, W. H. Schubert, & B. D. Schultz (Eds.), Guide to curriculum in education. Sage Publications.
Harper, R. L. S. (2014). Untitled (Love songs, for Professor Ward Weldon). Visual Arts Research, 40(1), 66-67.
Harper, R. L. S. (2013). Shape of the wound: Restorative justice in potential spaces. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 29(2).
Harper, R. L. S. (2013). Within the simultaneous genealogies of curriculum history. The Sophist’s Bane: Journal of the Society of Professors of Education, 7(1).
Harper, R. L. S. (2012) Queering education: The collective picture. AREA Chicago 12. AREA Chicago.
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Being and Becoming: The Curricular Objects of Music | Conceptual Art and Teaching Zoomposium | UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, Urbana, IL | 2020
Creating an Inclusive Curriculum: Teaching LGBTQ Curriculum in Elementary Schools | DePaul University College of Education Winter Forum | DePAUL UNIVERSITY, Chicago, IL | 2020
The Mission and Practice of Visual Arts at The Latin School | THE LATIN SCHOOL, Chicago, IL | 2020
Learning in Public | Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events | CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER, Chicago, IL | 2019
Art for a More Democratic Society | Stockyard Institute | DePAUL ART MUSEUM, Chicago, IL | 2019
An Evocation on Beneficent Classrooms | The Teacher Institute | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2019
Seen + Heard in Year 6 | Second Autumn Research Symposium | DePAUL UNIVERSITY, Chicago, IL | 2018
Tell them that this is what the elementary school looks like in Chicago. | The Teacher Exchange | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2018
Student-centered, Civically-engaged Approaches to the K-8 Art Classroom | OAK PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 97, Oak Park, IL | 2017
On Beneficence | Teaching Artists Summit, Keynote Address | CHICAGO ARTIST COALITION, Chicago, IL | 2017
Playful Arts-based Education for Serious 21st Century Skills | HILLSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT 93, Hillside, IL | 2017
The Chicago School of Thought in Art Education | The Teacher Exchange | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2016
Socially-engaged Arts Curriculum to Deepen Any Content | HILLSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT 93, Hillside, IL | 2016
Making Experiences Meaningful: Supporting the Arts through Audience Engagement | Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy Graduate Symposium | SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2016
What is Curriculum? | Teaching Artists Summit | CHICAGO ARTIST COALITION, Chicago, IL | 2016
Cut the Ceiling: The Struggle for a Natural Art Education | The Teacher Exchange | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2015
Social Imagination and Contemporary Arts of Curriculum | EVANSTON ART CENTER, Evanston, IL | 2015
Public Art and Social Engagement in Chicago | PUBLIC ART SAINT PAUL, Chicago, IL | 2015
Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality Now: Teachers’ and Students’ Own Approaches for K-12 Classrooms | TEACHERS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE CURRICULUM FAIR, Chicago, IL | 2015
The Practice Panel | The Teacher Exchange | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2015
Beyond Bullying: New Approaches to Queering Art + Design Education | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION NATIONAL MEETING, New Orleans, LA | 2015
William H. Watkins, Black Protest Thought, and the Call to a New American Curriculum | CHICAGO CURRICULUM STUDIES STUDENT SYMPOSIUM, Chicago, IL | 2015
Open Microphone: Curriculum Micro-Theorizing | CONFERENCE ON CURRICULUM THEORY AND CLASSROOM PRACTICE (Bergamo), Dayton, OH | 2014
Using the Art Critique Process to Strengthen Teaching and Learning | THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2014
Curriculum in Context with Ilene Harris | CHICAGO CURRICULUM STUDIES STUDENT SYMPOSIUM, Chicago, IL | 2014
Discussant, with Jorge Lucero, Chicago Student Art Educator Intermurals | SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2014
Open Microphone: Curriculum Theorizing from the Uncommon Periphery | CONFERENCE ON CURRICULUM THEORY AND CLASSROOM PRACTICE (Bergamo), Dayton, OH | 2013
Across Generations: Integrity, Industry and Generativity amongst Curriculum Workers | CONFERENCE ON CURRICULUM THEORY AND CLASSROOM PRACTICE (Bergamo), Dayton, OH | 2013
Perspectives on Contemporary Intersections of Love, Justice, and Education | AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR TEACHING AND CURRICULUM, Chicago, IL | 2013
Love Songs (for Professor Ward Weldon) | Chicago Student Art Educator Intermurals | SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2013
It’s the Thought that Counts: Using Contemporary Art for the Pursuit of Inquiry | ILLINOIS ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING, Lisle, IL | 2013
Common Core Learning in Museums: A New Toolkit | ILLINOIS ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING, Lisle, IL | 2013
Beyond Tolerance: Integrating LGBTQ Content into Our Curriculum | FREE MINDS, FREE PEOPLE CONFERENCE, Chicago, IL | 2013
Just Yell: The Failure of Social Practice | MONIQUE MELOCHE GALLERY, Chicago, IL | 2013
Toward Interrupting Heteronormativity in the Elementary School Classroom | JEAN PIAGET SOCIETY CONFERENCE, Chicago, IL | 2013
Moderator, Museum Education Division: Family Programs State of Practice Issues Forum | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CONVENTION, Fort Worth, TX | 2013
Opening Collaborative Dialogue about Queer Issues in Art and the Lives of Students | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CONVENTION, Fort Worth, TX | 2013
The D.I.Y. MFA | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CONVENTION, Fort Worth, TX | 2013
Virtual Touch and Material Thinking: The Interactive Tools of 21st Century Museum Education with Adults | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CONVENTION, Fort Worth, TX | 2013
Building a Better Institute: Community, Collaboration and Contemporary Art in Practice | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CONVENTION, Fort Worth, TX | 2013
Questions from the Intersection of Love, Justice, and Education | CHICAGO CURRICULUM STUDIES STUDENT SYMPOSIUM, Chicago, IL | 2013
Curriculum as Creative Practice | MUSUEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2012
Beyond Tolerance: Integrating LGBTQ Curriculum into our Curriculum | TEACHERS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE CURRICULUM FAIR, Chicago, IL | 2012
Drawing and Erasing: Visualizing the Simultaneous Genealogies of Curriculum History | CONFERENCE ON CURRICULUM THEORY AND CLASSROOM PRACTICE (Bergamo), Dayton, OH | 2012
Between Teachers’ Theories and Teachers Theorized: An Experimental Read-aloud Play | CONFERENCE ON CURRICULUM THEORY AND CLASSROOM PRACTICE (Bergamo), Dayton, OH | 2012
Making Meaning: A Studio Approach to Teaching and Learning | ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2012
The Inner Architecture of Creative Curriculum | Teacher Institute, Keynote Address | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2012
Loved into Being: Mister Rogers and Art Education | Chicago Student Art Educator Intermurals | SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2012
Call and Response: Interpreting the Written Teaching Philosophy through Experimental Theatre | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION CONVENTION, New York, NY | 2012
The Pedagogy of Talk: Understanding Family Dialogue in the Galleries | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION CONVENTION, New York, NY | 2012
Emergent Curriculum in Art Education | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION CONVENTION, New York, NY | 2012
Bonding Art Educators Across Institutions | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION CONVENTION, New York, NY | 2012
Rethinking Sexual Identities and Educational Safe Spaces | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE, Chicago, IL | 2011
Off-Limits? Investigating the Role of Sexuality in the Classroom | TEACHERS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE CURRICULUM FAIR, Chicago, IL | 2011
I See You, I See Me, Very Young Children Learning at the Encyclopedic Art Museum | Department of Art Education George Roeder Masters Symposium | SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2011
Anyone Who Has Begun to Think | Department of Art Education George Roeder Masters Symposium | SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2011
Walking Papers | THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2011
I Really Want to Know: Structuring Open Questions for Classroom Dialogue | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2011
Contemporary Art, Contemporary Educators: Teaching as a Creative Practice | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION CONVENTION, Seattle, WA | 2011
I See You, I See Me: Babies, Toddlers, and Little Children Learning at the Encyclopedic Art Museum | NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION CONVENTION, Seattle, WA | 2011
49 Points of Connection to Olafur Eliasson for Early Childhood and Beyond | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2011
Observational Portraiture: Alex Katz and Kehinde Wiley | THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2010
Teaching in the Museum: Skill Share in Object-based Learning | National Art Education Association Student Chapter | SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2010
Painting, Place, and Tuymans: Memory and the Interpretation of Experience | Teacher Institute | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2010
Art in Early Childhood Education | THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2010
The ABC’s of Art: A Program for Early Childhood Educators | Chicago Public Schools | THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2010
The Little Studio | Child’s Play, Children’s Pleasures: Interdisciplinary Explorations | HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY, Hempsted, NY | 2010
It Looked Like Spilt Milk: Abstraction to Support Emergent Literacy | MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Chicago, IL | 2010
Small Wonders: Tips for Touring with ages 3-6 | Docent University | THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, Chicago, IL | 2008
