Department of Art History Faculty Highlight and Congratulations: Professor Kelly Donahue-Wallace
January 2023 — Kelly Donahue-Wallace has authored the newest edition of "Living with Art," an art appreciation textbook with co-author Mark Getlein and published this month by McGraw Hill, an educational publishing company.
The textbook for higher education, first published in 1988 and now in its 13th edition, has its roots in the UNT College of Visual Arts and Design. The first author was UNT Regents Professor of Art R. William "Bill" McCarter, an art educator at UNT from 1968 to 2005.
Donahue-Wallace's involvement with CVAD's Art Appreciation course began in 2003 when she wrote the college's first online course, Art Appreciation for Non-Majors, ART 1300. Since then, she has authored and managed this award-winning online course, which enrolls more than 1,000 students annually. Her experience developing CVAD's online art appreciation course was invaluable as she joined Getlein as co-author for “Living with Art.” Written for today's students, the book combines traditional fine arts and broader contemporary visual arts, from data visualizations to selfies and memes. The textbook aims to help students develop visual literacy skills and become critical consumers of visual information as they learn to see how they live with art every day.
About the book: Art is part of our lives, from the monuments in our communities to the fashions we wear and the media images we see to the exhibits on display in museums and galleries. It permeates our daily life. But why do we study art? How do we talk about art? "Living with Art" helps students see art in everyday life by fostering a greater understanding and appreciation. Taking a step further, the authors equip students with the tools necessary to analyze, digest, and maintain a life-long enthusiasm for art.
Donahue-Wallace teaches Latin American art, early modern European art, and the history of prints. Her research addresses Spanish and Latin American 18th-century prints. Her expertise includes Spanish and Mexican 18th-century prints, Spanish colonial art, and art history pedagogy.
