Colors of the West Indies: Transformative Studio Practices through Place-Based Collage

This presentation explores how place-based education (PBE) and the design process can transform studio practice, pedagogy, and research through creative meaning-making. Colors of the West Indies, a sabbatical project conducted in Curaçao and Barbados, engages with the vivid architectural, ecological, and cultural vocabularies of the Caribbean to create 2D, 3D, and time-based collages. These works serve as counter-narratives to colonial legacies while modeling inclusive and participatory pedagogies that foreground creativity, interconnectivity, and responsibility. By situating design education in place—whether local environments in Savannah or Caribbean sites of cultural memory—the project demonstrates how students and educators alike can engage in transformative practices that amplify community, foster ingenuity, and strengthen resilience. Outcomes include new curricular models, collaborative studio projects, and frameworks for short-term study abroad that expand the possibilities of art and design education while affirming the NAEA’s mission to cultivate meaningful connections between people, place, and creative practice.