This research presents the personal journey of one art educator who sets out to define creative leadership through community collaboration to create and execute a Kids' Guernica Peace Mural. Auto-ethnography, theory, research, methodology, practice and reflection combine to uncover a working definition for creative leadership in art education. The experience demonstrates how to implement creative leadership into pedagogical practice and furthermore provides a living example for art educators.
The processes of creating leadership and creative art making overlap to make meaning and forms a bond that helps art educators understand a dynamic relationship between the two. Creative leadership becomes the overarching topic for leadership in art education, and bridges the gap that makes connections between creativity, art making and leadership. A definition for creative leadership is necessary for art educators to survive under the current implications placed on art education in k-12 schools and society.