Open Collections

Abstract

As educators and researchers, how can we challenge the conventions of pedagogical practices and traditional art production expectations in the studio ? Art educational research has invited into play a revamping of traditional research 'inquiries' that suggests we, as researchers and art educators, re-think issues deemed important in improving instruction as we move into the next century. This study uses feminist and postmodern critical theories to re-frame the inquiry and in turn questions its own inquiry. By juxtaposing narratives of past art students' studio experiences with those occurring in this re-search space, an analogy is drawn between 'where we produce', that is, within the parameters of preconceived constructs -studio, academia, classrooms - to understand the meanings of 'spaces of production'. Central to this project is the concept of spaces in which the process of production occurs; that is, the spaces between 'the idea and the object' of students' experiences of learning in post secondary art studios along with those in which educational re-search occurs. It is vital that we challenge notions held taut about the production practices of re-searching, so that research issues and methods do not simply replicate past production sites but enter to invent varied points of view. The evolving 'fragmented' text includes: narratives of past art production and studio experiences shared by two female participants and myself as post fine arts students; the experiences I, as researcher, entered in the spaces of production of this so called 're-search'; feminist and postmodern critiques; and examples of contemporary artistic practices. As a result, a space to challenge conventionalities about re-searching and art studio practices is opened. A re-working/re-sculpting of the conventional 're-search' text is performed.