Our Grandmother's Daughters: The Work of Cynthia Hellyer Heinz

Cynthia Hellyer Heinz earned a B.F.A. from Pratt Institute in Drawing and Art Education and an M.F.A. in Drawing from Northern Illinois University. Upon completion of this degree she was awarded a Teaching Fellowship and has been an instructor at N.I.U. since 1998. Cynthia has worked as the Foundations Drawing Administrator and the Graduate Teaching Assistant Mentor in Drawing for the last three years. Beginning in the fall of 2006, Cynthia became the acting Foundations Coordinator at Northern Illinois University. She has been active in Foundations in Art Theory and Education, chairing and presenting on panels at national conferences, as well as participating in the inauguration of the national “Think Tank†on foundations in art which is being developed into the Institute for Innovative Teaching. “My mission as an educator and artist is to inspire thoughtful communication and empower with skills, techniques, and creative vision.â€

Deborah Smith-Shank received her Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1992 and since that time has taught undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students at Northern Illinois University as well as served as Associate Chair of the School of Art and Head of the Art Education Division. She has served the art education profession as president of both the National Art Education Association’s Women’s Caucus and the Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual Transgender Queer Caucus. She is currently serving as elected North American World Counselor of the International Society for Education Through Art. Smith-Shank’s research has consistently been involved with artifacts of visual culture examined through semiotic lenses and is published in over 100 journal articles and book chapters, as well as in her 2004 book, Semiotics and Visual Culture: Sights, Signs, and Significance. Smith-Shank has been an invited scholar/speaker in multiple national and international venues and is she currently a visiting professor at the Ohio State University.