Thursday 22 December 2011

The role of the teacher

In order to best facilitate creativity, there must a balance struck by the teacher that is similar to that which I discussed in my last post about the nature of creativity and learning: “No creation without tradition! or No transformation without the continuous internalisation of conventions!” (Abbs, 1989, p. 22). Therefore, the teacher’s role is very fluid and should be in response to the pupil’s needs: "Sometimes, for example, it is necessary not to interfere, to allow the crazy dream modality its freedom and inventiveness. A kind of anarchy! Allowing, permitting; and no judgements, no censorship” but at other times, "it is necessary for the teacher to actually teach, to positively introduce the nature of a form, its historical development and diverse usage, or to prescriptively draw attention to a particular technique or critical concept. Here it is a matter of ‘Let us learn to labour': to use materials, to test techniques, to raid the wealth of the past, to consciously make the work of art.” (Abbs, 1989, p. 23). Often the curriculum and pressures imposed by the exam structure do not allow this balance to be established and therefore perhaps creativity can often be stifled in schools.


Linked to this, some further conditions for creativity that I have been considering are the necessity for a relaxed atmosphere where individuals are free to focus, learn and engage with the creative process. As Csikszentmihalyi (1996, p. 8) explains, “if we want to learn anything, we must pay attention to the information to be learned. And attention is a limited resource: there is only so much information we can process at a given time… the point is, a great deal of our limited supply of attention is committed to the tasks of surviving from one day to the next”. This links to Maslow's hierarchy of needs whereby the more basic needs must be satisfied before any attention can be given to fulfilling the higher order, self actualising needs such as creativity (Maslow, 1954). This has implications for schools in that we must strive to create classrooms where pupils are not at conflict or feel threatened by their peers, expectations or the social environment before we can expect creativity to take place.


In addition to this, we must positively cultivate classrooms that provide the best opportunities for creativity to develop. One way to do this is to engage pupils with a wide range and style of art practises including contemporary art and art from other cultures. Csikszentmihalyi (1996, pp. 8-9) explains: “it also seems true that centres of creativity tend to be at the intersection of different cultures, where beliefs, lifestyles, and knowledge mingle and allow individuals to see new combinations of ideas with greater ease”. This type of exposure to other art forms is vital to encouraging creativity.



Abbs, P. 1989. A is for Aesthetic. Sussex: The Falmer Press

Atkinson, D. 2011. Art, Equality and learning: Pedagogies against the State. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996) Creativity. New York: Harper Collins

Maslow, A., 1954. Motivation and Personality. NY: Harper.


Further abstract explorations

I have really been enjoying experimenting with abstract imagery, focusing on colour, line, texture and shape. Here are some further images I have created by painting and editing some of my original abstraction images which I took from my colour / line videos:





Wednesday 21 December 2011

The nature of Creativity & Learning

Abbs (1989, p. 27), with reference to the Gulbenkian report, states that "art represents human rationality, is a mode of intelligence, is an act of enquiry or investigation, a form of thinking, a way of understanding”. The process of enquiry and investigation could be called the creative process and the creative product as the culmination of the thinking and understanding developed. Csikszentmihalyi (1996, p.28) goes on to define the nature and function of creativity further as "any act, idea, or product that changes an existing domain, or that transforms an existing domain into a new one. And the definition of a creative person is: someone whose thoughts or actions change a domain, or establish a new domain". This links with Atkinson's (2011) view that real learning presupposes an ontological movement, an individual change in the state of being of the creator but extends it so that, in addition to this, Creativity with a capital C also changes the wider domain in which it is located.


With reference to the balance between critical theory, knowledge and understanding, and practice, experimentation and visual investigation, it is imperative that both must inform the other in order for creativity to be successful: “No creation without tradition! or No transformation without the continuous internalisation of conventions!” (Abbs, 1989, p. 22). Creativity and arts practice require "a mixture of experimenting, uncertainty, perseverance, curiosity and contingencies that constitute unpredictable lines of flight and their local organisation in the struggles and enjoyment of learning” (Atkinson, 2011, p. 19). Equally, they also requires the underpinning critical understanding for both the creation and appreciation of works: “Both for the maker and the receiver, art presupposes other works of art; it assumes tacit understandings, implicit conventions, shared reference points within the symbolic field” (Abbs, 1989, p. 37).



Csikszentmihalyi, M., 1996. Creativity. New York: Harper Collins

Abbs, P., 1989. A is for Aesthetic. Sussex: The Falmer Press

Atkinson, D., 2011. Art, Equality and learning: Pedagogies against the State. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.


Saturday 17 December 2011

Further colour abstractions

I have also created some additional colour abstractions from my photos / video:





Further development

I have been working on my colour and line abstraction images to develop them further. I have experimented with a variety of colouring and smudging techniques to create the following images. I have put the original photo / abstraction at the start with the subsequent images related to it underneath to illustrate the progression:























Thursday 15 December 2011

Focus on colour

I decided to look at colour using traditional materials and experiment with ways of applying the paint in order to extend my style and technique. I investigated different styles, then used a palette knife and acrylics to create some landscapes. I really enjoyed the process and introduced it to some pupils the next day with great success. In particular, one pupil really enjoyed the freedom of this technique and has made super progress in her work in terms of confidence and creativity.

These are my sketchbook pages:


I then developed this further by experimenting with a 'digital' palette knife and ways of working with the paint:



Pedagogies against the state

I have been reading chapters 1 & 7 from Dennis Atkinson’s book ‘Art, Equality and Learning: Pedagogies Against the State’ (2011) and reflecting on the extent to which my intellectual and professional frameworks have expanded in recent times and especially since I began the Artist Teacher programme.


Similar to Danny Murphy (Atkinson, 2011, p. 126), I feel I have begun a process of continual ‘unfolding’ of my understanding and identity as both an artist and a teacher through participation in the artist teacher scheme. I have gained the confidence and freedom to pick up and develop my own art practice again, the requirement for this necessitating that neither excuses nor obligations get in the way. The focus on contemporary art practice has opened up my thoughts about the nature and function of art and loosened my grip on the traditional view of art that is so often perpetuated through the school system. It has given me the confidence, knowledge base, enthusiasm and incentive to explore different pedagogies and approaches through my practice in the classroom.


“Teaching (learning), art practice and their respective objects are never fully known, they are always incomplete and open to change and renewal” (p. 119) and “pedagogy itself must pass beyond assimilated knowledge and practice in order to open up new pedagogies and new learning communities” (p. 15). In particular, I feel my understanding of learning within the arts has been expanded to encompass thinking or artwork which is outwith my current framework of knowledge and cultural norms. Rather then dismiss or be afraid of these I am beginning to use them as opportunities to widen my horizons and make way for new learning that develops my understanding and practice, and allows me to “appreciate a variety of ways of interpreting and responding” (pp. 2-3). Also, my understanding of the actual nature of learning has changed in that I appreciate more fully the fact that real learning requires a move forward or “changed ontological state” (pp. 5-6) in some way.


The result of these expansions in my understanding has directly impacted my practice in that I am looking for ways to foster and support these processes and types of learning in the classroom. As such I am encouraging a “space of potential” (p. 14) by placing increased importance on exploration and allowing pupils more freedom to try things out with the understanding that there is no one right answer. Rather, I am actively seeking to anticipate unpredictability and build on points of discovery in the learning process which will lead the next steps of that process.



Atkinson, D., 2011. Art, Equality and Learning: Pedagogies against the State. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Sunday 11 December 2011

Here are some further colour abstractions i have developed from my photographs / video:





Friday 9 December 2011

Light & contrast

I was experimenting with colour contrasts and ways to capture light. I painted this on my iPad using Flowpaper:




Thursday 8 December 2011

Colour abstractions

I have been experimenting further with my colour photos and video and have used then to create these abstractions, similar to my line ones last month. Again, I love the random 'unplanned' feel to the images. They are created as the image is being shattered into different colour layers before it transforms into the next image. The first image - "Sailing" - is my favourite - I really like the colours and the composition. The final image is of clouds from a plane and I have further worked on the image with digital painting tools to soften it and add texture.




Landscapes - Colour

I have been continuing my experiments into landscape and have used the photos I took to create this 'Colour' video tour of the area. Here is a small version of the video as the large one wouldn't upload!


Wednesday 7 December 2011

Colourful landscapes

I have been continuing my exploration of landscapes, this time focusing on colour. I have taken a wide range of photographs of the local area and spent some time cropping and editing them in different ways. I have tried to create interesting colour contrasts and compositions.



Below are some examples of the original photos followed by their edited counterparts:















The following images are from my sketchbook - they include all the images I took, each one adjacent to it's edited counterpart and organised onto sketchbook pages. Some of the photos are taken outside and some are of different aspects of a range of indoor environments: