Ring: Sept. 19, 2002: Dr. Robert Dalton

It was the crayons that decided it for Dr. Robert Dalton. Since he was old enough to hold them, he knew he loved art. He took art in high school, then studied it in university, but it wasn’t until a professor suggested he become an art teacher that he discovered he could help others enjoy it.

The rest is history, and now Dalton is the recipient of the 2002 Excellence in Teaching Award for the faculty of education. “I’ve found my niche,” says Dalton, who came to UVic 10 years ago. “If people don’t love art when they begin one of my classes, they’ll love it when they leave or I’ve let them down.”

Dalton teaches photography, painting, drawing, and summer graduate courses. He approaches all topics with the same objective: to teach students not only how to make art, but about its role in everyday life.

“Art is for everybody,” he says. “It’s all around us, in popular art and applied art, picture books, cartoons, even advertising. Art isn’t restricted to museums and gold frames.”

Dalton’s research interests support this philosophy. He co-edited a book on student art exhibitions with his colleague Dr. Bill Zuk, which shows how such exhibitions are more than purely aesthetic. They’re texts, reflecting values and issues of importance to teachers and students.

He also collaborated on a project with graduate students to visit elderly people in retirement centres and illustrate their stories as a way of understanding their history. And he recently worked on a research project comparing ancient and modern art work from a selection of indigenous groups living in the Arctic circle.

Dalton looks forward to many more years at UVic, combining his research efforts with a love for teaching. “I’ll never tire of the diversity of approaches and ideas that students bring to a task,” he says. “I learn a great deal from my students and I value what they teach me. I’m really a student at heart.”