The Female Artist in Academia

Book excerpt: This book delves into the conflicts, contradictions and paradoxes inherent in the lives of women who, as artists and academics, seek to connect their personal and professional lives in their work. It explores how creativity and the pursuit of self-knowledge relate to their lives and arises from the author's own experience as a woman, writer, and academic. Inquiries into creativity and feminist critical and cultural theory provide the framework for examining how the identity of the female artist is shaped within the patriarchal institution of academia. These inquiries allow a deeper understanding of the impact of this institution on the life and work of the female artist both within and beyond academia. As an auto-ethnographic study, Kamanos' distinctive voice is developed through narratives, journals, letters and a development of personal metaphors, as well as with a dialogue with others. As performative text, the narratives map a process of transformation that traces the artist's path from silence to voice. This book has important implications for women in higher education as self-study is revealed to be an essential methodological instrument for the articulation of alternative, authentic perspectives of marginalized and under-represented women. Moreover, the acknowledgement of the academic/ artist paradigm in teacher education opens the path for a re-viewing of the metaphors of self-denial, impersonation and masks that are part of the landscape of teacher knowledge.