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Kathrine Schlageck began her teaching career when she was six, helping her mother teach an art class at her younger brother’s nursery school.
That early experience sparked a lifelong love for art education that was recognized in June when Schlageck, senior educator at the Beach Museum of Art, received the 2009 Kansas Governor’s Arts Award for Education.
The Governor’s Arts Awards, which began in 1974, are designed to honor overall excellence in the arts by Kansas residents, said Margaret Morris, Arts in Education program manager for the Kansas Arts Commission.
“It’s the highest arts honor in the state,” she said.
After an open nomination period, recipients are selected by a panel that typically has seven to eight people and includes representatives from the Kansas Arts Commission, the governor’s office and experts in the field, Morris said.
When Schlageck first learned that she had won the award, her first thought was that it was just a thrill to be nominated, she said.
“It’s a great honor, but it’s not mine alone,” Schlageck said. “It’s really recognition for a lot of us [at the Beach Museum].”
Schlageck, who develops curriculum and programming for “toddlers to senior citizens,” said she tends to focus less on formal teaching when planning an event to help participants develop a greater love of art.
“A lot of our tours are discussions, instead of actual lectures. … I love to share art with people and help them connect with it,” she said.
This approach has earned Schlageck praise that keeps coming back to one word — innovation. In a press release, Beach Museum director Lorne Render said, “Kathrine is an educational innovator,” and Morris also said Schlageck has “pioneered amazing collaborative events that are so innovative … with [Sunset Zoological Park], K-State and local school districts.”
Such diverse programming has drawn rave reviews from her colleagues, but Schlageck said she designs each one with one goal in mind.
“I really work on helping people integrate art into various aspects of life,” she said. “When we do a program, we really concentrate on ‘meaning-making.’”
Though Schlageck said she is proudest of her work with school districts in arts curriculum development and finds her time with Art Smart, an early childhood program, to be “definitely the most fun,” her next project will focus on a different demographic.
“I want to really develop our adult programming for retirees and senior citizens,” Schlageck said. She has already contacted other museums and universities to learn more about arts programs designed to help fight negative aspects of aging, including Alzheimer’s disease.
With previous recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kansas Department of Education and the Kansas Arts Commission, as well as being named the Museum Education Art Educator of the Year, Schlageck said she hopes her latest honor will help the museum secure more grants to develop new programs, a goal Morris said will be enhanced by Schlageck’s growing reputation in the field.
“She has done such exceptional work,” Morris said. “She’s really quite accomplished.”
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