2009 - Volume 28: Number 1
Community Participatory Ecological Art and Education
YOUNG IMM KANG SONG
Volume 28.1
This paper presents a phenomenological case study on ecological artist Lynne Hull by investigating the connections between ecological art, nature, and education. The research examines Hull's 'positive gesture towards the Earth' as conceptualized in her work of creating habitats for wildlife (Hull, 2004, para 1). It illustrates how she seeks to inspire changes in human behaviour through her artwork in addition to developing action steps based on her works.
Through an examination of Hull's work, the researcher explores how ecological art can inspire environmental education by presenting innovative ways of thinking about existing concepts. The paper discusses how educators can incorporate inquiries about ecological art into the school curriculum. Furthermore, it considers ways in which educators can adopt Hull's art-making processes and integrate these into the curriculum. It argues that educators can help students to interact with these artworks and develop their own creative processes in a meaningful way that involves art, aesthetics, and nature – all of which may raise students' consciousness about the environment in themselves and others. Ultimately, appreciating the elements of nature and their connection to the aesthetic can become a vehicle for raising awareness about broader
The Importance of Conceptual and Concrete Modelling in Architectural Design Education
AYSU AKALIN & IHSAN SEZAL
Volume 28.1
The design studio is the heart of architectural education. It is where future architects are moulded and the main forum for creative exploration, interaction and assimilation. This article argues for a 'studio-based learning' approach in terms of the impact of design tools, especially sketching and concrete modelling, on the creativity or problem-solving capabilities of a student. The implementation of a 'vertical design studio' model at Gazi University Department of Architecture is reported with examples of students' works.
Boys' Lack of Interest in Fine Arts in a Coeducational Setting: A Review of Sex-Related Cognitive Traits Studies
ALAIN SAVOIE
Volume 28.1
Fine arts teachers' concerns about male underachievement in a Quebec coeducational high school, and a related survey showing boys' negative perceptions of fine arts motivated this interdisciplinary literature review. Referring to biology and cognitive science, the article explores concepts of sex-related cognitive traits to help in designing sex-adapted approaches to individual learning in art education. The nature-nurture controversy still surrounds sex-based cognitive differences studies, though science agrees that natural and socio-cultural factors are somehow closely interwoven in the complex gender identity construction process. Sex-related biological predispositions influencing cognition are proposed notably in 'instrumentality-expressiveness' and 'empathising-systemising (E-S)' theories. The article suggests that in the context of art education, these sex-related cognitive models deserve study, because they could initiate sex-adapted teaching strategies with the necessary flexibility and wider scope to overcome gender-stereotyped biases and stimulate boys' interest in the arts. This suggested approach should not be confused with stereotype-based pedagogy, which merely strengthens learned gender characteristics, producing or maintaining academic underachievement.
Assessment Focus in Studio: What is Most Prominent in Architecture, Art and Design?
BARBARA DE LA HARPE, J. FIONA PETERSON, NOEL FRANKHAM, ROBERT ZEHNER, DOUGLAS NEALE, ELIZABETH MUSGRAVE & RUTH MCDERMOTT
Volume 28.1
What can be learned about assessment from what educators in the creative practices focus their studio publications on? What should form the focus of assessment in architecture, art and design studios? In this article we draw on 118 journal articles on studio published over the last decade in three disciplines; architecture, art and design to inform the focus of studio assessment. We believe that what is published by educators themselves in these disciplines reveals what matters most to them. In addition, we argue that regardless of the primary emphasis placed in each discipline, assessment in studio should encompass a broad set of indicators. Within the wider literature including in architecture, art and design, a view of assessment is emerging that recognises the process and the person, beyond a view that positions the product or art/design arte-fact above all else. Therefore, drawing on what educators in architecture, art and design mentioned most in the journal publications analysed, as well as the literature on good assessment, we offer a holistic model to guide and take studio assessment in the creative disciplines further.
ARTEMIS: Reinvigorating History and Theory in Art and Design Education
JEFF JANET & MELISSA MILES
Volume 28.1
ARTEMIS (Art Educational Multiplayer Interactive Space) is an online multi-user virtual environment that is designed around the objects, artefacts, philosophies, personalities and critical discourses of the histories and theories of art and design. Conceived as a means of reinvigorating art history and theory education in the digital age, ARTEMIS addresses the specific teaching and learning needs of a new generation of art and design students in higher education. This article is a case study that addresses the second phase of the testing and design development of ARTEMIS. It builds on the findings of the initial phase, which involved the development of the 'proof of concept' for an online virtual world and game designed for undergraduate students in the Faculty of Art and Design at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Drawing on a test trial and student response survey, this article assesses whether virtual environments like ARTEMIS can generate new life in art and design history, augment the teaching and learning mix in art and design higher education, and foster new modes of active engagement amongst students.
The City of Richgate: A/r/tographic Cartography as Public Pedagogy
RITA L. IRWIN, BARBARA BICKEL, VALERIE TRIGGS, STEPHANIE SPRINGGAY, RUTH BEER, KIT GRAUER, GU XIONG & PAULINE SAMESHIMA
Volume 28.1
The City of Richgate project worked with eight intergenerational immigrant families and examined immigrant experiences and narratives through a community-engaged process that employed a/r/tography as a methodology. As such, the research also investigated the extent to which a/r/tographical research could visually and narratively portray the analysis of data collected by the co-a/r/tographers. After interviewing and collecting images from each family, large artistic gates (banners) were created. This first phase of the project revealed the power of images in situ, and thus the power of a/r/tography in situ. For the community members and co-a/r/tographers meanings were constructed within ongoing a/r/tographic inquiries described as collective artistic and educational praxis. The second phase involved the identification of important places by each family within the City of Richmond. After analysing all of the data, several works of art were created with each family in mind: bus shelter images juxtaposing close-up and far away geographical images; side-by-side images portraying historical and contemporary images of family ideals and/or issues; banners illustrating families in meaningful poses; and archival collections portraying the importance of identity and memory in the transformation of culture. This phase culminated in a citywide exhibition of the artwork performing public pedagogy. The exhibition questioned the idea of a City of Richmond having a community centre, and instead exhibited many Richgates, or conceptions of Richmond. Rather than having a city centre, there are many centres, a Network of Cities of Richgates, where centres are constantly changing and shifting to reflect the narratives of individuals living in a psycho-geographical region of a city.
Design Theory and Design Practice within Sloyd Education
BARBRO SJÖBERG
Volume 28.1
This article is part of a formal research project concerning design as an integrated part of sloyd education. The concept of 'sloyd education' is used in the Nordic countries as an umbrella term for different educational crafts whose scientific basis is to be found in the university subjects Sloyd Education and Crafts Science. The aim of the whole project is to develop methods for teaching design theory and design practice within sloyd teacher education. By analysing the design processes of five design students during an MA course in Fashion and Textiles, an account of the kind of design knowledge the students are working on during the process, and how iterativeness and multi-layered procedures, which are characteristic for the design process of a single student, is built up. The results of the analysis show that during the design process the students concentrate on technological and aesthetical knowledge and that the design process can be very varied and have its starting points both in images and in concrete materials.
Predicting Performance in Art College: How Useful are the Entry Portfolio and Other Variables in Explaining Variance in First Year Marks?
DONAL O'DONOGHUE
Volume 28.1
This article examines if and to what extent a set of pre-enrolment variables and background characteristics predict first year performance in art college. The article comes from a four-year longitudinal study that followed a cohort of tertiary art entrants in Ireland from their time of entry in 2002 to their time of exit in 2006 (or before, for those who failed or dropped out). Using descriptive and inferential statistics, the article shows that portfolio score at entry and school leaving examination results predict performance in first year. The predictive validity of both measures, however, was not particularly strong. Combined, portfolio score at entry and school leaving examination only accounted for 15.5 per cent of variance in first year marks, leaving a large percentage of variance unexplained.
Open Disclosures: Learning, Creativity and the Passage of Mental (III) Health
OLIVIA SAGAN
Volume 28.1
This article describes an ongoing research project at the University of the Arts, London, which investigates the learning and creativity of a group of students with mental health difficulties. It discusses emerging findings on one theme, that of motivation. Employing a longitudinal biographic narrative methodology, this research, now entering its second year, has triggered questions regarding the resilience and fortitude of a group of practising, aspiring artists. This article sketches the theoretical background used to explore this resilience and motivation, and draws on the Kleinian concept of reparation as a way to understanding the narrativised yearning for learning