Trish Osler

Professional art+design skills combined with a doctorate in art education and global research on transdiciplinarity and the neuroscience of creativity position me uniquely as a creative thinker and change agent in higher education and beyond. Artist, Educator, Researcher and Concordia Public Scholar, I see the link between creative processes, collaboration & leadership. Immersive training in artistic pedagogies and museum education puts theory in action, using the latest research findings into creativity in a shifting learning landscape. I am the co-editor of two new books on museum education. I am also President of the Convergence Initiative, a Canadian not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing (neuro)science education and knowledge through art, promoting cross-domain exchange between the disciplines of science and art.  From arts-based research to art-science collaborations, my portfolio reflects the hybridity and transdisciplinarity that is the future of thinking and learning in higher education.

As a practicing artist, researcher and art educator, I work across fine arts, science and museum culture  on projects informed by theory, practice and the neuroscience of creativity. My artistic and scholarly work in arts-based research explores creative thinking processes, inspiration and aesthetic perception, seeking transdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning. Extensive teaching in the studio and a career in visual culture frame the interdisciplinarity of my work in art education, bringing together undergraduate and graduate students, fine artists and neuroscientists, through activities, research, public engagement and outreach. 

Ph.D (Art Education, 2023) Faculty of Fine Art, Concordia University, Montreal, QC        

• CPGA: 4.3/4.3
• Dissertation: Diffracting artistic intervention: A transdisciplinary approach to understanding creative process in art education.
• Summary: Reaching across art-science boundaries to examine the influences that shape metacognition and inspiration, combining artistic processes with emergent neuroscientific understandings of creativity.