Kutztown University 87th Annual Art Education Conference
Material matters: craft in contemporary art education
Friday, November 20, 2026, 8am-4pm
Material Matters: Craft in Contemporary Art Education; As the digital age expands, this theme calls attention back to the hands-on act of making, celebrating tactile knowledge in ceramics, textiles, printmaking, woodworking, fiber arts and other handcrafts as a mode of resistance, care, and innovation. Participants discuss how ceramics-and-craft-based pedagogies nurture mindfulness, critical reflection, sustainability, and culturally responsive teaching practices grounded in community knowledge and embodied ways of learning.
Our keynote will guide our day:
Roberto Lugo
This is an Act 48 opportunity and will include workshops to pre-register to in the fall of 2026.
Registration Information:
Deadline for Registration: November 13, 2026
Registration will not be accepted after November 13th.
Art Education Conference Fee: $100
Student Fee for Currently Enrolled Graduate Students: $40.00. Lunch is included.
Student Fee for Visiting Undergraduate Students: $20.00. Lunch is not included.
Kutztown University Students may attend all morning sessions for free. Workshops and lunch are not included.
Check in begins at 7:30 am.
The workshops cannot be added without the conference. No workshop will be added or changed at the time of check-in. No walk-ins will be accepted.
If anyone wants to pay with check, checks are made payable to Kutztown University.
Registration Coming Soon!
Parking Tickets Coming Soon!
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Roberto Lugo is a Philadelphia-based artist, ceramicist, social activist, poet, and educator. Lugo utilizes classical pottery forms in conjunction with portraiture and surface design reminiscent of his North Philadelphia upbringing and Hip Hop culture to highligh themes of poverty, inequality, and racial injustice. Lugo's works utilize traditional European and Asian ceramic techniques reimagined with a 21st-century street sensibility. Their hand-painted surfaces feature classic decorative patterns and motifs combined with elements of modern urban graffiti and portraits of individuals whose faces are historically absent on this type of luxury item - people like Sojourner Truth, Dr. Cornel West, and The Notorious BIG, as well as Lugo's family members and, very often, himself.
Lugo holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Penn State. His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, among others. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a 2023 Heinz Award, a Philadelphia's Cultural Treasures award.
WORKSHOPS COMING SOON