The Nineteenth‐Century Artist‐Teacher: A Case Study of George Wallis and the Creation of a New Identity

‘Artist‐teacher’ is a conceptually rich term in the field of art and design education used to describe the professionally distinct roles of artist and teacher. George Wallis (1811–91), a nineteenth‐century artist and teacher, the subject of this article, first used the term ‘artist‐teacher’ to describe himself and his theories of art education. To better understand this new term, the researcher organised the diverse aspects of Wallis's life from 1811 to 1845 as a network of enterprises to track the streams of thinking that contributed to this professional statement. Through comparison, ordering and sequencing the various enterprises, a deeper and reflective understanding of Wallis's teaching developed. In fact, the network of enterprises displays the growth of Wallis's thought as a slow and evolving process, eventually highlighting the turbulent situation that provoked Wallis to defend his theories and practices when he conjured the new term.