Vol. 16 No. 3 (2020): International Journal of Education Through Art

IJETA 16.3 Table of Contents

 

Editorial

The (quaran)timeliness of art educational inquiry

Nadine M. Kalin, University of North Texas

Mira Kallio-Tavin, Aalto University

Sheri Klein, Kent State University

Alexandra Lasczik, Southern Cross University

 

Articles

Creative practice for sustainability: A new materialist perspective on artivist production of eco-sensitive knowledges

Dorota Golańska, University of Lodz

Anna Katarzyna Kronenberg, Independent Researcher

Situated within a new materialist paradigm, this article looks at instances of educational nature-creative artivism for sustainability. Connecting art and activism, artivism mobilizes creative means to embrace political or social intervention. Underlining the importance of practices, and employing the concept of creative practice, we point out that a detailed inspection of the processes involved in artistic production sheds a different light on the nature of all knowledge-generating practices, letting us engage more thoroughly with the ‘how-question’ of producing knowledge. Focusing on two geoartistic/geopoetic educational initiatives, we argue that the eco-sensitive creation of artivists may serve as an example of what forms the entanglements of art and activism could take in the context of educational projects aimed at mobilizing thorough reflections of audiences. This may encourage the development of a more resilient environment based on horizontal relations of different forms of matter.

 

 

Creativity through mindfulness: The Arts and Wellbeing in Education (AWE) professional learning programme

Alex Southern, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

This article uses findings from a case study of an arts/education professional learning programme in Wales to construct a definition of creativity that reflects on and contributes to debates around the concept, and its value within education. The programme Arts and Wellbeing in Education (AWE) focused on supporting school teachers’ well-being through creative practice. The research comprised a participatory methodology that sought to explore the circulating discourse around the key concepts of creativity and well-being in order to identify how the team leading the programme conceptualized the value of creativity, and how this was enacted. The findings point to a notion of creativity that is an inclusive, carnival experience that may improve well-being through mindful approaches to creative practice.

 

Experiencing research early: Undergraduate students’ art practice research

Gabriela Durán-Barraza, Universidad autónoma de Ciudad Juárez and Node Center for

Curatorial Studies Berlin

The purpose of the present study is to show how undergraduate art students developed a three-semester research project using art practice research as methodology during the years 2011‐12. They answered individual research questions through their artistic practices, presenting their results within an art exhibition and academic document. The research data shared in this article comprise observations of their research development, artistic diaries, art exhibitions, written research documents and post-project interviews. Findings indicate that such research experience allowed students to generate new knowledge through artistic practice, which often cannot be foreseen as it involves incontrollable material and people that cannot be accessed through other disciplines. It also gave them trans-cognitive research skills helping them to better understand themselves as artists and to develop complex works difficult to create otherwise.

 

Building school community through cross-grade collaborations in art

Kristin Vanderlip Taylor, California State University

This qualitative study examines multiple collaborative art experiences across ages and classrooms during two years at a suburban public school in one of the largest school districts in the United States. Students in two middle-school elective art courses engaged in contemporary art education projects to strengthen visual and verbal communication skills as they partnered with younger peers in primary grades, including the following activities: collaborative earthworks, toy designs and mixed-up animal sculptures. These multi-age socially-constructive art experiences provided students with opportunities to build community across campus while interacting with each other and the artwork co-created. Observations and noted responses via reflection from students indicated positive impact on both communication and collaboration through bidirectional teaching and learning, with students in each age group requesting more opportunities for cross-grade collaborative experiences.

 

Visual Essay

‘Beanz Meanz Professional Learning’: Beginning a Pedagogical Reflective Sketchbook

Emese Hall, University of Exeter

I was attempting to write a traditional text-based article defining what I have come to term a ‘Pedagogical Reflective Sketchbook’. The aim was to consider what insights might be gained from existing research on teachers’ use of reflective sketchbooks ‐ and similarly named books ‐ for their professional learning, leading to my definition of a Pedagogical Reflective Sketchbook. However, I told myself (aloud) ‘I can’t say what I want to say in words’. Although not a totally surprising revelation, it was a call to action. I, therefore, began to develop my own visual musings centred on the analogy of being like a Michelin-starred chef serving baked beans on toast ‐ a pedagogical frustration in my current academic role. In order to better understand a Pedagogical Reflective Sketchbook, it made perfect sense to begin one, in keeping with the spirit of my research intentions. This visual essay explains more…

 

Articles

Arts in working with youth on sensitive topics: A qualitative systematic review

Marian Tumanyan, University of Oulu

Tuija Huuki, University of Oulu

This study examines existing research on the use of arts-based methods in approaching issues sensitive for youth and children. We conducted a qualitative, systematic review of twenty academic publications on this topic from 1997 to 2017. Our results show the use of arts-based methods to (1) recognize and make visible previously invisible experiences, acts, voices and histories; (2) nurture change and transformation in the lives of the youth; and (3) allow exploring the more-than-human, more-than-present and less-than-conscious aspects in the lives of youth and children ‐aspects that traditional study methods might not readily access. Our findings offer teachers, researchers, practitioners, psychologists and social workers greater awareness of the use of arts-based methods in matters young people find sensitive. This review allows education professionals to achieve a broader view of methods emerging from the arts in addressing the social and psychological issues that young human beings might face.

 

 

Of the Akan people: Colour and design education in Ghana

Patrique deGraft-Yankson, University of Education, Winneba

This article digests some of the general ideas that constitute the concept of colour among the Akan people of Ghana and how their proper understanding and desirable consideration will enhance effective visual communication in the Ghanaian visual arts curriculum. The investigation, which involved a number of conversations with knowledgeable personalities in the teaching and speaking of the Akan language, sought to bring out the perceptions, beliefs and functions of colour among the people. The outcome of the study pointed to how colour resides deeply within the traditional lives of the Akan people, not only as aesthetical experience but also as an ‘object’ of cultural and spiritual signification. The study therefore recommends a proper understanding of and conscious respect to the perceptions and meanings of colour among contemporary Akan designers and design educators to improve the design experience of teachers, learners and practitioners.

 

 

Transforming images: A collaborative art exercise to debunk biases

Hanna Salonen, Amsterdam University of the Arts

Olav van den Brekel, Amsterdam University of the Arts

In the Netherlands, art academies offering teacher training courses in visual arts and design pay little attention to diverse learners, such as pupils with learning disabilities, in their curricula. To form a picture of the existing perceptions of students concerning persons with intellectual and/or psychological disabilities, this study was set up to map the views of a group of first-year teacher training students of visual arts and design at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. The focus of the study was to see whether student perceptions changed after an active encounter with persons with intellectual and/or psychological disabilities ‐ in this case, a group of visiting artists with learning disabilities. The motivation for this study was influenced by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As this mandate was adopted in the Netherlands in 2017, we have been intrigued by the consequences it would have for current educational settings and teacher training courses focusing on the subjects of art and design.

 

 

Exploring the relationship between making and teaching art

Elizabeth Garber, University of Arizona

Khaffi Beckles, University of Arizona

Sangmin Lee, University of Arizona

Anjana Madan, University of Arizona

Gustav Meuschke, University of Arizona

Harrison Orr, University of Arizona

The central questions of this study, ‘how does making influence art teaching?’ and ‘how does teaching art influence making?’, were explored through interviews and maker journals. Findings indicate that making inspires teaching in providing inspiration, interest and confidence to teach as well as increased self-acceptance and happiness. Participants who indicated affects of teaching on making cited learning new skills, materials and styles, and that teaching stimulated reflection and encouraged them to make art that is relatable to others. Our conclusions suggest that the roles of maker and teacher are porous, intertwined and complex. Implications for teacher education suggest the importance of exploring and nurturing the interconnections between making and teaching in a reflective, supportive environment.

 

Book Reviews

Letting Art Teach: Art Education ‘After’ Joseph Beuys, Gert Biesta (2017)

Rebecca Heaton, Nanyang Technological University

 

Leap into Action: Critical Performative Pedagogies in Art and Design Education, Lee Campbell (2020) (ed.)

Richard Hudson-Miles, Loughborough University

 

Teaching and Learning in Art Education: Cultivating Students’ Potential from Pre-K through High School, D. Sickler-Voigth (2020)

Victoria Pavlou, Frederick University