In Memoriam

It was with great sadness that SchoolArts magazine learned that Dr. David Weston Baker passed away on January 2, 2023. Dr. Baker served as editor for SchoolArts from 1978 to 1989, making a significant contribution to the art education profession.

As one initiative, Dr. Baker invited nationally recognized leaders in higher education to write for those teaching in K–12 classrooms. Judith Burton wrote a series on child development in art that is still used in many teacher preparation programs. Laura Chapman, Brent and Marjorie Wilson, Janet Olson, Karen Carroll, and others wrote articles that brought theory to practice in significant ways. With this effort, Dr. Baker’s editorship did a great deal to raise the regard for SchoolArts to a new level.

During his tenure in SchoolArts, Dr. Baker also began a highly successful article series, “Looking and Learning,” in the era when teachers were just beginning to incorporate the study of art objects into their teaching. This model for raising questions about artworks advised teachers on “looking carefully,” “comparing,” and identifying “key concepts.” This feature continues in SchoolArts today as “Contemporary Art in Context.”

Dr. Baker was an avid collector of rare drawing manuals and other historical art education materials. These materials, along with his extensive collection of art education books, curriculum guides, and other items, are currently housed in the Rare Books Library at Concordia University Wisconsin.

During his long career, Dr. Baker taught art in Estherville, Iowa, and Golden Valley, Minnesota, and worked in Extension Services at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and Madison. He served as the Director of Unified Arts in Brookline, Massachusetts, and headed the Art Education departments at Louisiana State University, Columbia University Teachers College, and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Later in his career, he was a visiting professor at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, where he taught classes in the Art Education Graduate Program. Dr. Baker also served as president of the National Art Education Association from 1989 to 1991.

Dr. Baker’s invaluable and numerous contributions to SchoolArts magazine and the art education community will not be forgotten and will continue to be instrumental for generations to come.

A selection of covers during Dr. Baker's editorship.