IVLA 2026 Charleston: Full Schedule

11:00am EDT

Re-Seeing Together: Pláticas as Collaborative Visual Literacy Across Time

Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am EDT

This presentation positions pláticas, a culturally grounded dialogic practice rooted in feminist and Chicana/o scholarship, as a form of collaborative visual literacy and a structured way of seeing one's own experience through the eyes of others across time. Drawing on a collaborative autoethnographic study of three Puerto Rican bilingual educators in rural North Carolina, the presenter examines how a three-session plática approach created conditions for shared memory-making. The study draws on a personal archive of over 1,800 handwritten diary pages and 63 blog posts produced during the researcher's own migration, which served as the analytical foundation for the collaborative sessions. Each plática session opened with voluntary artifact sharing that helped participants ground abstract memories in concrete images. By modeling vulnerability and sharing first, the researcher established confianza (trust) as an epistemological condition rather than a relational courtesy. What emerged was a collaborative act of re-seeing. Participants helped each other identify colonial structures that had remained invisible or normalized in individual memory. The paper argues that pláticas constitute a visual literacy practice that makes legible the images people carry internally of themselves, their profession, and their place in institutions. This presentation offers visual literacy scholars a model for participatory, culturally sustaining approaches to memory research that center positionality and shared experience as conditions of collective sight.

Speakers

María Heysha Carrillo Carrasquillo

Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Hawai`i - West O'ahu

Dr. María Heysha Carrillo Carrasquillo is a scholar, educator, and storyteller whose work sits at the intersection of language, place, and social identity in multilingual education. María Heysha is an assistant professor of early childhood education at the University of Hawai`i... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am EDT
Circular Church

Panel

3:30pm EDT

Artifacts of Becoming: Autoethnographic Inquiry into the Higher Education Experience Across Identity, Place, and Time

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT

Lecture Hall

Doctoral scholars and graduates document their own becoming constantly, in objects carried, images made, and texts written across the margins of academic life. This panel brings together three scholars (present and alumni) from the NC State College of Education to present autoethnographic inquiries anchored in personal visual and material artifacts, each one a record of a journey that institutional measures of progress cannot fully capture.
The first presenter examines a charm necklace built incrementally across a doctoral journey, each charm marking a milestone, from conference presentations to completed semesters, analyzing it as an alternative literacy artifact and a wearable autoethnographic document of what counts as growth. The second presenter draws on his critical autoethnographic study of his experiences as a Black Ghanaian student-athlete navigating NCAA Division I athletics, centering visual and multimodal artifacts including photographs, Adinkra symbols, and scholarship appeal letters as primary data that honor African diasporic ways of knowing (Akogyeram, 2025). The third presenter reflects on personal journals kept across a migration from Puerto Rico to rural North Carolina, analyzing them as artifacts of linguistic, cultural, and geographic negotiation within doctoral education and her teaching profession that serves as the anchor of her dissertation.
Together, these presentations argue that graduate scholars are already documenting their experiences in ways that exceed institutional recognition, and that autoethnographic methods (Ellis et al., 2011; Chang, 2008) offer a framework for taking those documents seriously as knowledge. The panel connects directly to the conference theme by treating each artifact as an image that has traveled through time, accumulating meaning, memory, and identity across the shifting landscapes of higher education.

Speakers

Amber Moore

Doctoral student, North Carolina State University

Amber L. Moore is a doctoral candidate in Teacher Education and Learning Sciences, with a concentration in Literacy and English Language Arts, at North Carolina State University. Her research sits at the intersection of visual methodologies, embodied literacies, and alternative literacy... Read More →

Emmanuel Anyetei Kojo Akogyeram

Doctoral Student, North Carolina State University

Emmanuel Anyetei Kojo Akogyeram is a doctoral student in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development, with a concentration in higher education opportunity, equity, and justice, and a student affairs professional in higher education. Originally from Ghana, Emmanuel brings... Read More →

Dr. María Heysha Carrillo Carrasquillo

Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Hawai`i, West O'ahu

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Lecture Hall

Panel

3:30pm EDT

Collage as Thought, Form, and Technology

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT

Circular Church

This panel convenes artist-educators across graphic design, illustration, painting, and sculpture to explore a shared premise: all visual art operates as a form of collage. Across disciplines, artists construct meaning by assembling visual elements drawn from observation, memory, imagination, and reference. Framing image-making through collage offers a powerful multimodal lens for understanding how ideas move across materials, media, and contexts.

Extending this framework into contemporary practice, the panel examines generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) imagery as a complex and evolving form of collage. While generative systems synthesize images from vast datasets, technologically mediated processes often obscure source material, raising critical questions around transparency, authorship, and ethics. Unlike traditional practices, where influences may be visible or intentionally integrated, generative AI complicates how images are constructed and understood.

As artist-educators, panelists will also address the pedagogical implications of this shift. How do we prepare students for professional creative practice in a landscape increasingly shaped by AI/GenAI tools? How can educators foster critical, responsible engagement with these technologies while preserving student agency and authorship? By connecting multimodal art practices, visual literacy, and emerging technologies, this panel invites participants to reconsider what it means to make, interpret, and teach images today.

Speakers

Alaina Plowdrey Forehand

Director of Learning and Operations & Art/Philosophy Adjunct, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts & Saint Leo University

Alaina Plowdrey Forehand (b. 1986) is an American figurative painter, scholar, and educator from Michigan. Her work explores portraiture as a site of encounter, examining how identity, memory, and embodiment emerge through the relationship between subject and beholder. Through layered... Read More →

Nathaniel Underwood

Assistant Professor of Illustration, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

Nathaniel Underwood is an Assistant Professor of Illustration at UNC Charlotte. He received his BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design and MFA in Painting from UNC Greensboro. Before teaching at UNC Charlotte, he taught life drawing at the Savannah College of Art and Design... Read More →

Jimmy Rhea

Assistant Professor of Art - 3D Design and Sculpture, Pensacola State College

Jimmy Rhea received his Master of Fine Arts in 2007 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He worked as a founder for three years at the Inferno Art Foundry in Atlanta, and as a carpenter, after completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of West Georgia.
... Read More →

Samira Shiridevich

Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

Samira Shiridevich is an Iranian designer and entrepreneur who explores the complexities of freedom, equity, and agency through design. She holds an MFA in Design and Visual Communications from the University of Florida and an MA in Visual Communications from the University of Art... Read More →

Caitlin Rhea

Curator of Education and Public Programs & Sculpture Adjunct, Pensacola Museum of Art & University of West Florida

Caitlin Rhea is the Curator of Education and Public Programs at the Pensacola Museum of Art in Florida, where she offers engaging educational opportunities for visitors of all ages and is passionate about encouraging creative growth in the visual arts. She also works as an adjunct... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Circular Church

Panel

3:30pm EDT

Shaping Visual Legacies: Memory, Identity, and Institutional Responsibility in Visual Literacy Education

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT

Studio

Every time an educator chooses an image, a story, or a text, they are making a decision about memory about what is worth passing forward and to whom. Universities shape those decisions more than they often realize, and the visual legacies they create carry consequences for generations.
This panel brings together scholar-educators from National Louis University's College of Education whose work spans critical visual literacy, Latinx children's literature and religious iconography, cultural memory in picturebooks, healing-centered embodied pedagogy, and primary source inquiry. Together, we ask what it means to teach with and through images that carry cultural, spiritual, historical, and embodied memory and what responsibilities institutions hold in making that teaching visible, sustainable, and enduring.
Rather than arriving at conclusions, this panel opens a conversation. Grounded in the collective work of its presenters, the discussion turns outward. We invite attendees to explore what meaningful, sustainable infrastructure for visual literacy might look like in higher education and across countries. A proposed Visual Literacy Center at National Louis University serves as one generative example: a potential hub connecting teacher education, graduate scholarship, bilingual education, professional development, and community partnerships across borders. We ask the field: what structures and resources would most advance visual literacy research and how do we build them together?

Speakers

Dr. Xiaoning Chen

Associate Professor, ESL/Bilingual Education, National Louis University

Xiaoning Chen, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of ESL/Bilingual Education at National Louis University. Dr. Chen has two decades of experience in language teacher education in the U.S. and internationally. Her research focuses on visual literacy, multicultural children’s literature... Read More →

Ruth E. Quiroa, Ph.D.

Associate Professor; M.Ed. Reading Program and EdD. Teaching & Learning Program/Reading, Language, & Literacy Major Director, National Louis University

Ruth E. Quiroa, Ph.D. is an associate professor at National Louis University, teaching graduate youth literature and writing pedagogy, theory, and research courses. A former Spanish/English bilingual teacher (K, 2), her research focuses on the history and visual narratives of Latinx... Read More →

Dr. Geri Chesner

Professor, Strategic Educational Leadership, National Louis University

Geri has focused on the power of children's literature and visual texts as catalysts for literacy development, with particular emphasis on visual and critical literacy. She serves as a professor at National Louis University in Chicago, IL, and has been an active member of IVLA for... Read More →

Dr. Karen F. Tardrew

Professor, Chair of Learning Sciences in Education, National Louis University

Dr. Karen F. Tardrew is a tenured Professor and Chair of Learning Sciences in Education at National Louis University, where she has served for over 33 years as a scholar, leader, and innovator in educator development. Her teaching and research explore the intersections of visual... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Studio

Panel

4:30pm EDT

Journal of Visual Literacy Editorial Session

Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT

Lecture Hall

This interactive editorial session offers conference participants an opportunity to engage directly with the editorial vision, expectations, and publication processes of the Journal of Visual Literacy (JVL). Led by Editor-in-Chief Maria Avgerinou, the session will discuss current directions in visual literacy scholarship, emerging themes in the field, and the evolving role of visuals in an AI-mediated world.

Participants will gain practical insight into what makes a strong manuscript submission, common reasons manuscripts are rejected, and how authors can better position their work for successful peer review. The session will also address issues such as conceptual alignment with visual literacy scholarship, methodological rigor, theoretical framing, ethical use of AI in academic writing, and publishing expectations in interdisciplinary research.

The session will include:

* An overview of JVL’s current editorial priorities and scope
* Guidance for first-time and emerging authors
* Discussion of special issues and future publication opportunities
* Q&A with attendees regarding submissions, peer review, and scholarly publishing

Faculty, graduate students, researchers, artists, designers, and practitioners interested in publishing visual literacy research are warmly invited to attend.

Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT
Lecture Hall

Panel

IVLA 2026 Charleston

From $5.00

Tickets

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IVLA 2026 Charleston

11:00am EDT

María Heysha Carrillo Carrasquillo

3:30pm EDT

Amber Moore

Emmanuel Anyetei Kojo Akogyeram

Dr. María Heysha Carrillo Carrasquillo

3:30pm EDT

Alaina Plowdrey Forehand

Nathaniel Underwood

Jimmy Rhea

Samira Shiridevich

Caitlin Rhea

3:30pm EDT

Dr. Xiaoning Chen

Ruth E. Quiroa, Ph.D.

Dr. Geri Chesner

Dr. Karen F. Tardrew

4:30pm EDT

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