Art educator: Joseph Uduehi
 Dr. Joseph Uduehi works with a student during a Saturday Art Workshop. |
Since joining USI in 1999, Dr. Joseph Uduehi, associate professor of art education, has brought art and art lessons to hundreds of children in the community through the Saturday Art Workshop he founded eight years ago as well as classes at the USI Children’s Center and in the community.
He has led classes at the Children’s Museum, Patchwork Central, and elementary and middle schools. In 2004, he worked with children in the Saturday Art Workshop and USI art education students to create a 4 by 16 foot mural at Tekoppel Elementary School. He also has lectured area art teachers about multicultural art history.
The Saturday Art Workshop for children 6 to 14 gives USI elementary education and art education students hands-on experience working with children in a classroom setting. “It benefits the students and the children,” Uduehi said.
He started the Saturday Art Workshop in 2000 with funding from the USI Foundation. Since then, the program - held in fall, spring, and summer - has sustained itself on fees.
He said most of the children are still within the developmental stages of growth, especially in the visual area. As they age, children progress through stages in their art work from scribbling to symbolism to realism. “We don’t teach art,” he said. “We create an environment for children to explore their creativity.”
Art is as natural to children as kicking, crying, and scribbling, he said, describing each as “an act of art.”
In 2006, Uduehi was awarded the Sydney L. and Sadelle Berger Faculty Community Service Award, recognizing a USI faculty member for distinguished community service to groups, agencies, and institutions.
The next Saturday Art Workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on November 8 and 15 in the USI Technology Center. The registration fee of $30 includes supplies and lunch. To register, call Extended Services at 812/464-1989 or 800/467-8600.
Uduehi holds a Doctor of Education in art education and a Master of Art degree in art education and cinematography from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and a Bachelor of Art degree in painting and drawing and certificate of education from Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, where he grew up.
Uduehi has used his cinematography experience in his research, most recently to produce a video, “The Impact of Instruction and the Instructor in Art Education,” a case study of art education in Tri-state elementary schools shown at the 2008 National Association of Art Educators conference.
Before coming to USI, he taught at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.
He met his wife Joy in a Christian fellowship group he led while teaching art education at the University of Benin in Nigeria.
Education is of paramount importance in Nigeria, where Uduehi said students are expected to attain the highest possible level of education. “Education is number one in Nigeria. Parents make you understand as a child that it’s very, very important.”
That expectation is evident in the accomplishments of the Uduehi children: daughters Esther, 19, and Elizabeth, 18, and son Joshua, 12. Both of the girls were outstanding students at Reitz High School and received a number of scholarships and academic honors. They attend Indiana University in Bloomington. All three of the Uduehi children display musical talent.
An American citizen, Uduehi returns to Nigeria from time to time, most recently in March for a memorial celebration for his father, who lived to be 106.
Wendy Knipe Bredhold
News & Information Services
812/461-5259 or wkbredhold@usi.edu
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