Conference Proceedings 2010 [pdf] - Art & Design Symposium ...

students researched, designed, and taught lessons using clay to approximately 25 clients enrolled in
rehabilitation and self-help programs at an outreach center. In addition, students were required to create a
work of art that represented their experiences at the center. Student artwork hung alongside the clay works of
the clients in a culminating art exhibition held in April, titled Faces of Change.
Participants in the study include Elaine and Dora, two alternative certification students who had completed
BFA’s prior to returning to school to seek certification in art education, and Karin, Samantha, and Jackie who
were seeking a B.A.in art education all of which were enrolled in the class.
Data includes interview transcripts resulting from one interview with each participant, participants’ artists’
statements and reflective journal entries, and participant artworks. Concepts inherent in Sullivan’s dimensions
of visualization (Sullivan, 2005) such as representation or narrative, design and conceptualization, modeling,
and systematizing served as guides for the development of interview questions centered around the artwork
and its creation. I interviewed each participant once. The interview was conducted much like “a conversation,
giving the interviewee a good deal more leeway to talk on their own terms than is the case in standardized
interviews” (Hammersly and Atkinson, 1993, p. 143). The interview process also included photo elicitation
strategies (Collier & Collier, 1986; Harper, 1998) whereby the artwork served as a visual touchstone for the
interviewee to reconstruct processes and recall experiences. Interviews focused on students’ interpretations of
and intent behind the creation of the art work. Interviews lasted approximately 45 minutes to an hour.
In this research, data analysis can best be described as an ongoing recursive process that began with a
general reading of all written data while jotting major ideas and concepts in the margins (Creswell, J. 1998;
Huberman & Miles, 1994; Wolcott, 1994). Initial observations were noted. A list of concepts was constructed.
Data was revisited and concepts were coded and relationships evolved in the form of themes and patterns.
These themes and patterns revealed findings.
As expected, preliminary findings suggest that artmaking processes and the art works themselves were unique
to each participant. This is evident by visually examining the distinctly individual nature of each artwork and as
revealed in the particular creative trajectories described by each student. Creative trajectories differed in: 1)
relation to creative sequence such as how they began, use of sketches or other preliminary strategies, and
how and when their concept evolved; 2) influence of outside imagery to inform work such as artists or elements
of visual culture such as television programs; and 3) the extent to which students would negotiate the
relationship between themselves and the clients as a part of the artmaking. For example, inspired by
photographs she took of the client’s tight living spaces and the limited contents of their lives, Erica, immediately
embarked on an introspective journey that challenged her experiences and beliefs about the contents and
experiences of her life. Kelly found connections between herself, the students, and the clients by having each
anonymously describing goals and aspirations. She noted that goals are common to all human experience.
The relational aspect of the experience proved to be most interesting and seemed to evolve alongside the
creation of the work. It is this aspect that also holds special significance for the development of a socially just
disposition as we as teachers are constantly engaged in the willingness and necessity to consider the lives of
others.
Similarities existed in students’ understandings of the project assignment, their use of symbolism or metaphor
to represent growth or transformation in their final work, the role of accessibility to and availability of media and
equipment as determinants for media choice, and a willingness to relate their works to the lives of the clients.
Conclusions and Implications
This work further validates the important role that art making plays in helping art education students construct
understandings of often-complex experiences, especially those associated with service learning engagements
in diverse communities. Sullivan (2005) suggests that critical and creative investigations that occur in studios,
galleries, on the Internet, in community spaces, and in other places where artists work” (xi) are forms of
research or inquiry whereby artmaking can be one of many forms of investigation for critically examining
experiences in real life settings. While art making alone can provide a deeply personal process, without
communal engagements that link one’s experience to another’s, the relational aspects of generative
understanding may not emerge. Subsequently, it can be argued that the development of a socially just
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