News

Content:

Editorial

Authors: Rita L. Irwin And Nadine M. Kalin And Anita Sinner 
Page Start: 271

Process and experience: Theory and practice considered from an art-researcher/educator’s perspective

Authors: Michael Croft 
Page Start: 275

The article discusses three projects of artwork. The first two projects are the author’s own and that of a 2015–16 fourth-year BFA advisee student concerning the question of relationship between visual/material process and one’s sentient experience. From a researcher/educator’s point of view, the process philosophy of A. N. Whitehead is considered in relation to the student’s work and aspects of the metapsychological theory of Lacan form the basis of consideration of the author’s work. Whitehead’s theory has a generative role in the article. Such theory provides articulation of the process of feeling and is cited in relation to an art-educational methodology for conducting projects. The artwork of a 2017 advisee student is then discussed in illustration of a point concerning time in the Lacanian context, as well as providing another example of the methodology in practice. The author explains his own artwork in support of an idea that links it with each of the students’ concerns, where the process preferences the developmental ambiguity of practice-based research. The article may be of relevance to art and design educators and their students working at the intersection of theory and practice.

Curating as a dialogue-based strategy in art education

Authors: Raphael Vella 
Page Start: 293

Contemporary artists are increasingly engaging in curatorial work and strategies while curators interpret the exhibition as an artistic medium in its own right. The teaching of art in schools and art education programmes in universities, however, does not often integrate curating as an activity or field of study within more conventional studio classes or methodologies for teaching and learning art. After briefly outlining a history of key artist-curators, this article suggests that curating – particularly its collaborative, social qualities – can enrich art pedagogies and curricula, and proposes four curatorial processes that could positively expand the remit of art education. These processes are understood as integral aspects of art-making and focus on the development of a pedagogy of dialogue, creating dialogues between different artworks and objects, dialogues between curatorial positions, dialogues between works of art and various publics, and finally, facilitating the etymological notion of ‘care’ within the art class.

The Title I narrative: Connecting cultural and critical awareness through the arts

Authors: Aimee Herring And Tracey Hunter-Doniger 
Page Start: 305

This article discusses a case study that investigated preservice generalist teachers in a visual and performing arts methods class. It was revealed that three themes reoccurred throughout this course that centred on children of low socio-economic status. These themes included reaching the Title I students, connecting through cultural awareness and critical awareness through the arts. The significance and implications of these themes demonstrate there is a need for art education methods courses to explicitly address these issues and provide avenues for preservice generalists to enhance the learning of their future students.

Reflective sketchbook journals for art education students in Thailand

Authors: Khanobbhorn Sangvanich And Sumalee Chinokul 
Page Start: 319

This study examines the use of a reflective sketchbook journal (RSJ). The research focuses on developing self-learning habits by using journals for academic observation and applying theory to practice. Data were collected in mixed-methods from 12 third-year undergraduate art education students in Thailand. Results found that students were effective in observation, comparison and analysis of philosophies of different schools – from art activities, to the physical layout and scheduling of those places visited. The sketchbook aided reflective thinking and utilized many art techniques, highlighting the relationships between content, application of theories, diagramming and mind mapping. Approximately 75 per cent of the experimental group described the content and applied theories in text format and sketches. In addition, students reflected that jotting down content with personal words enhanced their ability for remembering, understanding and applying knowledge. However, some students believed that the RSJ is an important and useful tool that they intended to use again in other disciplines.

Reconsidering the purposes of art education: Insights from a 2014 questionnaire in Chile

Authors: Luis Hernán Errázuriz And Guillermo Marini And Isidora Urrutia 
Page Start: 339

The main objective of this article is to describe and analyse the importance that elementary teachers attribute to diverse purposes of art education based on an investigation carried out during 2014, in the Los Lagos Region, located in southern Chile. First, the article illustrates some considerations of the aims of art education. Then, it presents the methodology used in the investigation. Next, two tables are discussed: one on the importance that teachers assign to purposes according to the school’s administrative dependence (public, subsidized and private) and the other related to the importance that teachers attribute to purposes by zone, province and type of art teacher. Finally, the article concludes by identifying some findings that may be significant for teachers, school authorities and teacher education institutions.

A new tool for developmental assessment based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Visual Literacy – an international usability study

Authors: Talita Groenendijk And Folkert Haanstra And Andrea Kárpáti  
Page Start: 353

What competences in visual literacy should students and European citizens in general master to be able to participate in contemporary society? This central question was addressed by the European Network of Visual Literacy (ENViL). This international community of experts developed a structure of sixteen subcompetences: the Common European Framework of Reference for Visual Literacy. Based on this framework, we developed a tool for self-assessment in secondary education: the visual rubrics. This tool was tested in several countries. The current article describes the evaluation of the criteria included in the tool and students’ comprehension of the tool as a self-assessment system. The consequences for improved rubrics are discussed.

Studio conversations

Authors: Alison Shields 
Page Start: 379

In 2014, I embarked on a cross-Canada journey, visiting artists in their studios. Through interviews with artists and photograph documentation of the studios, I sought to understand the creative processes that occur within these spaces through art making. This visual essay draws from metaphors used by artists to describe a studio alongside photographs that I took to reveal my visual exploration of the space and my visual analysis and interpretation of the metaphors. Through the use of these metaphors alongside the photographs, I propose that a studio is more than a room, but rather a way of thinking. Furthermore, I reflect on how we might embrace these metaphors to imagine ways of fostering a creative educational space.

The alfombras: Creative acts of cultural memory in art education

Authors: Heidi C. Powell 
Page Start: 385

Book Reviews

Authors: Herminia Din And Mary Stokrocki And Dean Kenning 
Page Start: 393

• Relate North: Culture, Community and Communication, Timo Jokela and Glen Coutts (eds) (2017)
• Life at the End of Life: Finding Words Beyond Words, Marcia Brennan (2017)
• Who Runs the Artworld: Money, Power and Ethics, Brad Buckley and John Conomos (eds) (2017)