31.12.2014 Views

Research in Visual Arts Education - The National Society for ...

Research in Visual Arts Education - The National Society for ...

Research in Visual Arts Education - The National Society for ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

MULTICULTURALISM AND ARTS-BASED RESEARCH<br />

Salm<strong>in</strong>en’s (2005) texts about perception and artistic development and<br />

Maria Laukka’s (2003) research of child culture, especially of illustrations <strong>in</strong><br />

children’s books, have been important <strong>for</strong> the F<strong>in</strong>nish research <strong>in</strong> art education.<br />

<strong>The</strong> experimental work done <strong>in</strong> art schools <strong>for</strong> children and youth<br />

has also been <strong>in</strong>fluential. This has been go<strong>in</strong>g on s<strong>in</strong>ce the end of the 1980s,<br />

when the system was established (see Hassi et al., 1998). Very few projects<br />

of these schools and those executed <strong>in</strong> cultural centres <strong>for</strong> children have<br />

been documented (see Granö et al., 2006). It is sometimes difficult to see the<br />

boundary between <strong>in</strong>vestigative journalism, art criticism, essayist writ<strong>in</strong>g<br />

and arts-based research. I hope that the classification of F<strong>in</strong>nish research<br />

bibliography does justice to various <strong>for</strong>ms and levels of research report<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

also beyond the established, authorized system.<br />

A number of research articles are published <strong>in</strong> F<strong>in</strong>nish professional journals.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Association of Art Teachers is the oldest professional association <strong>in</strong> F<strong>in</strong>land<br />

and it has been publish<strong>in</strong>g the journal Stylus <strong>for</strong> a hundred years now.<br />

Some of the articles are written <strong>in</strong> Swedish, the second official language of<br />

F<strong>in</strong>land. Dur<strong>in</strong>g its history, the articles <strong>in</strong> the journal have <strong>in</strong>cluded discussions<br />

about the foundations and place of art education <strong>in</strong> our country. <strong>The</strong><br />

majority of articles <strong>in</strong> the Stylus discuss the field us<strong>in</strong>g practical examples.<br />

Projects executed <strong>in</strong> museums and other cultural <strong>in</strong>stitutions are <strong>in</strong>troduced<br />

too. <strong>The</strong> journal also <strong>in</strong>cludes <strong>in</strong>terviews, book reviews and reports from<br />

<strong>in</strong>ternational congresses. Only recently have more research-based articles<br />

been published; research done <strong>in</strong> art education departments <strong>in</strong> Hels<strong>in</strong>ki and<br />

Rovaniemi has been <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong> special editions by the universities. Some<br />

earlier research articles <strong>in</strong> art education have been published <strong>in</strong> the Journal<br />

of <strong>Education</strong>al <strong>Research</strong> Association Kasvatus and <strong>in</strong> the Journal of Youth<br />

<strong>Research</strong> Nuorisotutkimus.<br />

Due to their practical nature, only a few articles <strong>in</strong> the presently biannual<br />

Stylus have been <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> the F<strong>in</strong>nish bibliography. Several research<br />

articles on the list are from the research journal Synnyt/Orig<strong>in</strong>s published<br />

four times a year on the Internet by the School of Art <strong>Education</strong> at the UIAH<br />

(http://arted.uiah.fi/synnyt/<strong>in</strong>dexeng.html). <strong>The</strong> pr<strong>in</strong>cipal writers and target<br />

group of Orig<strong>in</strong>s are doctoral students <strong>in</strong> art education, but the aim of the<br />

journal is to act as a bridge between academic research and art educational<br />

practices. However, the area of discussion <strong>in</strong> the journal has broadened from<br />

visual arts to other art <strong>for</strong>ms like theatre and literature, often hav<strong>in</strong>g an<br />

art theoretical and philosophical emphasis. Doctoral research <strong>in</strong> progress is<br />

<strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong> the Orig<strong>in</strong>s (some of it written <strong>in</strong> English), which also makes<br />

it a meet<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>t of F<strong>in</strong>nish and <strong>for</strong>eign doctoral students, especially those<br />

connected to the BaltArt network.<br />

NORDIC VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION IN TRANSITION 109

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!