Since 1998 teacher for Art and English at the municipal girls' high school in Essen Borbeck • From 2015 - 2021 private lecturer for art education at the University of Duisburg-Essen • Member of the Association for Art Education NRW (BDK) • Participation in the Color Literacy Project of the AIC (International Color Association) and ISCC (Inter-Society Color Council).
Color systems & color harmony doctrines
The interest in the subject of color is primarily rooted in the fascination that the numerous historical and current color diagrams and color sample collections have exercised since the student days. The scientific processing began with the thesis on the topic "The relevance of color systems for design" (1989), followed by a historical overview in a critical examination of aspects of normative aesthetics as a dissertation on "The doctrines of color harmony" (1999). Together with Rolf G Kuehni, the volume "Color Ordered: A Survey of Color Order Systems from Antiquity to the Present" was published (2008), a cultural history of color order and color systems.
Color didactics - Color in art class
Another - and now the central - research focus is the use of color in art classes. A five-year research project (Habilitation) funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia made it possible to investigate what effects the teaching of an outdated color theory has on the behavior of students and teachers. The results were published in 2018 under the title "Color Theory in Art Classes - A qualitative empirical research on the use of color". They form the basis for the development of new didactic concepts, some of which have already found their expression in textbooks and workbooks (including "Workshop Art 1 and 2"; "Paths to Art - Terms and Methods for Handling Color" including a "Color Training").
Cultural history - color library & didactic color materials
The fundamental interest in color has always been accompanied by a passion for collecting, which has led to an extensive library with over 2000 titles from the 18th century to the present day. Some of these works are still completely unknown in today's color literature. In connection with research on the subject of color in art classes, a collection of non-book materials has also been created that includes hundreds of paintboxes, oil and pastel chalks, crayons, coloring books, etc. from the mid-19th century to the present day.
Research Focus
Qualitative empirical research
You can gain a lot of color knowledge by reading books, but what effects this knowledge - often in the form of color theories - has on the people acting in mediation situations can only be researched empirically in qualitative terms. Only the research results generated in this way provide a scientifically valid basis on which a new didactic of color can be founded.
Didactics and methodology of color in art classes
In the field of design and art education in particular, outdated concepts of color are still prevailing, which determine the content and methods in art lessons. The development of new, up to date didactic and methodological approaches is a highly topical and exciting field of activity that is now also being worked on as part of the international efforts of the Color Literacy Project by AIC (International Color Association) and ISCC (Inter-Society Color Council).
History of color in drawing and art classes
The history of drawing and art lessons has so far been seen and dealt with primarily under the primacy of drawing. The focus on color in drawing and art lessons has so far been largely neglected and offers many interesting aspects for its scientific evaluation.
Cultural history of colors
Color is a multidisciplinary phenomenon that spans numerous scientific disciplines, areas of life, areas of application and technologies, with many strange and surprising things to be discovered. The reconstruction of the respective historical context based on artefacts - mainly color tables or color sample collections - is a fascinating area of research.
History and theory of color systems
The endeavors of the last two and a half millennia to capture the entirety of colors and to relate them to one another in a certain system can be seen as a separate little cultural history. Although the color pool determined by perception is always the same, the respective striving for order is always subject to different conceptions and objectives as well as results in new, sometimes impressive forms of presentation.
History of the doctrines of color harmony
Which color goes with which is actually a matter of personal taste! Nevertheless, since ancient times, binding specifications have been made over and over again about supposedly harmonious color combinations, the normative character of which still has an effect today. The different types of color harmony doctrines and their respective justifications in the course of history were researched in "The doctrines of color harmony".