Antecedentes del caso

In this section, I turn to discuss existing research on artist pedagogy. This discus- sion includes my M.Phil. study that examines three East Anglian artists’ descrip- tions of their pedagogies (Denmead, 2008). I present this research thematically and consider key concepts such as the relationships between artists and students, the nature of their collaborative enquiry, and artists’ approaches to space, time and material.

Most of the few studies on artist pedagogy have focused on relationships be- tween artists and students and how these relationships are different from those often found between teachers and students in traditional classrooms. Some re- search on artists’ engagement in schools has focused on the ways in which artists establish collaborative relationships with students. In particular, this research has described the ways artists establish more dialogic and equal relationships with stu- dents through participating alongside students in collaborative enquiry (Pringle, 2008; Galton, 2008). Pringle (2008, p. 44), who focuses exclusively on visual artists (though she does not publish who, how many or why they were selected) describes these artists’ approaches as constructivist.

Similarly, Burnard & Swann (2010) describe how nearly 30 students in an 18- month long artist-school partnership in the southeast of England value a collab- orative community approach that provided the opportunity to compose and per- form alongside musicians as peers and guiding experts. Griffiths & Woolf (2004)

similarly used the apprenticeship model to describe relationships between artists, teachers, and students working in a project across six schools in Nottingham. My M.Phil. research also notes how three artists attempted to establish less authorita- tive relationships with others whereby they did not prescribe what others might do or how it might be judged (Denmead, 2008). Therefore, much of the early research on artist pedagogy has described artists’ tendencies to work alongside participants and engage collaboratively in creative enquiry.

Some research has also focused on the emotional dimension to these collabora- tive relationships. A particular emphasis has been placed on how artists maintain emotional risk without lowering ambiguity.1 Burnard & Swann (2010) note how

young people described musicians and composers as allowing for the emotional “troughs and peaks” that are features of composing and performing music. In a study featuring 11 artists selected for their excellence working in schools across disciplines (e.g. visual arts, documentary filmmaking, music, dance, etc.), Galton (2008) describes artists lowering the risk of failure by expressing their feelings and conveying empathy.

Artists’ structuring situations in classrooms to maintain ambiguity and to allow for unpredictable and contingent student-led enquiry has also emerged as a theme (Maddock et al., 2007; Cremin, 2006). Whilst acknowledging the emotional diffi- culty of doing so, Galton (2008) argues this process of allowing for unpredictability juxtaposes traditional classroom didactics such as guided discovery (Brown & Cam- pione, 1994) and cued elicitation (Edwards & Mercer, 1987). Rather than direct instruction, these scaffolds involve teachers leading students towards the discovery of knowledge by providing questions and activities (Greenfield, 1984). Cued elici-

tation prefigures the answers in heavily hinted questions, sometimes only through intonation. Galton (2008) suggests these “teacher-framed” scaffolds lower risk and ambiguity by providing clues as to what types of answers and ways of working teachers expect. Based on this emerging body of research, it is known that artists maintain ambiguity but lower risk through not providing clues and conveying un- derstanding of the emotional risk of creative enquiry.

Other research emphasises the experiential dimension of artists’ pedagogies. Burnard & Swann (2010) describe how students valued the ways in which composers and musicians selected and explored so-called real world sites for composing. Selecting these sites, the authors argued, contributed to their sense of purpose. Composing and performing in sites that are different from the classroom perhaps contributed to this sense of students’ purpose. Findings from my M.Phil. research are consis- tent with this interpretation. I noted how artists described meeting participants where they were and extending from there (Denmead, 2011b). Much like Dewey (1938/1998) suggests, the artists described themselves as acknowledging their par- ticipants’ interests and then trying to connect activities to them. I also interpreted these artists as describing how they facilitated participants in attempting to sus- pend customary ways of being in the world and extending themselves in new, unfamiliar directions (Denmead, 2011a).

Research points to the physical and material dimension of artists’ pedagogies. Burnard & Swann (2010) note the importance of these so-called real world sites or physical spaces that contribute to a sense of purpose when composing and per- forming. My M.Phil. research describes the introduction of simple materials that might extend participants’ ways of using them (Denmead, 2008). Some research has particularly focused on how situations might be physically structured to sup-

port creative learning. The reconsideration of school design had led to orienting spaces around different types of personal and social enquiry. Nair & Fielding (2005) propose designing “caves” in schools for self-directed, independent study; “watercooler spaces” for informal, social interaction; and “campfire spaces” for performing and sharing. To promote creative learning, Loi & Dillon (2006) sim- ilarly envision adaptive spatial environments that allow for jolting interventions such as introducing eccentric objects and unfamiliar experiences.

I reviewed research that examines the ways in which teachers, not artists, have been described as supporting creative learning. Jeffrey (2006) observes how teachers al- ter traditional school boundaries of time and space to allow for unpredictable, rig- orous, reflective, and sustained enquiry. Cremin (2006) describes teachers’ creative writing practice altering relationships to students and the classroom by drawing attention to their need for more empathetic support through the creative process. Cremin (2006) describes these teachers’ increased capacity to tolerate ambigu- ity when teaching. Research identifies teachers positioning themselves “off-centre stage” (Cremin et al., 2006) and allowing learner-directed enquiry to unfold (Craft et al., 2007).

These four studies examining teacher pedagogies resonate with the artist pedago- gies described previously. Although the research on teachers does not necessarily contribute to an understanding of artist pedagogy, it presents a different perspec- tive to the view that artists bring a new and different approach in comparison to teachers. This finding draws attention to what conditions contribute to how those traditionally described as artists and teachers exhibit similar pedagogies. Exam- ining and comparing these conditions is not the focus of this research, but it has informed it. I have tried to avoid casting a pedagogic divide between artists and

teachers as Hall (2010) points out that the boundaries between them are ambigu- ous and complex. In this sense, findings from my research could be relevant for those traditionally described as teachers and artists, and perhaps others, depend- ing on what is discovered.

In summary, my review of artist pedagogy illustrates that this field of research is emerging. The number, scale and scope of studies thus far have been relatively small. Primary themes emerging from the research include artists working along- side others as they lower risk and maintain ambiguity. In addition, artists address emotional and experiential aspects of the engagement. Much of this research, how- ever, has been supported by and perhaps shaped to some extent by the interests of CP (e.g. Galton, 2008; Pringle, 2008; Griffiths & Woolf, 2004). CP-sponsored research suggested the need for independent research to begin with a broad and flexible starting point to focus on what was meaningful to artists.

I used this literature review to identify theoretical perspectives that could be use- ful potentially in later stages of this principally ethnographic study. In theorising artist and teacher pedagogy, I concluded that researchers have drawn on theo- retical assumptions associated with sociocultural learning theory, progressivism, and phenomenology. For example, experiential learning is a tenet of the so-called progressivist pedagogic tradition associated with American pragmatism (Dewey, 1938/1998), as well as sociocultural theories that describe structuring situations for learning (Rogoff, 1986). Therefore I decided to focus on extending my theoret- ical understanding of pedagogy through examining these perspectives. I turn to examine these models and their definitions next.