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Glowing like phosphorus: Dorothea Tanning and the Sedona western
Get PDFIn the mid-1940s, Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst left the urbane, avant-garde circles of Manhattan to build a house and studio in the then remote Southwestern outpost of Sedona, Arizona. Many have written of Ernst’s fascination with indigenous artefacts but there was another pop cultural format that emerged concurrently with their time in Sedona: the genre of the Hollywood Western. Indeed, films like John Wayne’s Angel and the Badman (1947) and Johnny Guitar (1954) starring Joan Crawford were filmed in the immediate vicinity, amidst the iconic red rock landscape. Tanning’s topographical mapping of the desert, as found in paintings such as Self-Portrait (1944), Evening in Sedona (1976), and novella Chasm: A Weekend (2004), feature some of those same scenic locations used as the backdrops in the Sedona Western. Comparisons between the self-presentation of Tanning and the actor Gail Russell are striking especially when one considers Tanning’s own performance in Hans Richter’s film 8 x 8 (1957). Moreover, the feminine, “phosphorus” glow, which Tanning recurrently uses in her painting and writing to describe the appearance of her female characters, matches the typical costuming of the lead women in Westerns, for example Russell’s Penny and Crawford’s Vienna. This article explores the complex role the Sedona Western played in the surrealist art and literature made during Ernst and Tanning’s Sedona period and beyond, particularly in terms of gender politics. In order to rethink this moment of “Western surrealism,” I offer a Tanning-centric perspective through methodological use of Mieke Bal’s feminist “autotopography” (2001). Research involved site visits to Sedona, and archival research at The Dorothea Tanning Foundation in New York. Based on this research, I was invited to give a public lecture at the Sedona Arts Center (January 2020)
What can critical thinking do for Access? Can transferability speak to specificity in a Further Education arts institution?
Get PDFThis presentation on critical thinking (CT) is likely to be of interest to national and international educationalists and educational managers in further education, higher education, widening participation, Access education, continuing education and training. This action research paper discusses how CT interventions such as book club and poetry writing group may benefit some students in their individual mental health wellbeing, create a community of inquiry, social cohesion and bonding in the classroom and wider social spheres. In addition how establishing CT habits of mind may ease Access student transition to higher education and employment. The hypothesis asks what CT can do for Access? Is CT necessary to students or is it another educational imperative? What of transferability, can these developed CT skills be transferred to real world skills, university courses, and for the students themselves engagement with studentship and by extension citizenship? Or are CT skills so specialised that they are of no use in other paradigms. Is specificity in regard to teaching CT more important than generality? Should CT skills be accessible across subject areas without a silo culture? Lipman (2003), has practical philosophies and strategies that will be the starting point for research. Other authors are Brown (1998) an educational philosopher with an emphasis on the freedom and education for all and PJ Burke (2001) an Access lecturer and transformational education thinker. In addition Biesta (2010) and his educational theory, Sennett (2008) for the craft of practice and Hyland (2017) the role of vocationalism in education. Relevant policies are:- the Foresight Review into the Future of Skills and Lifelong Learning (2016) and the Department of Education (DfE) adult learners policy (2018). The research approach uses qualitative arts-based mixed methodologies, these are inclusive and illuminative (Kara 2015: 26). Theories used are hermeneutic/interpretive, postmodern decentring theory, new ethnographic and feminist autobiographical theory. Interventions used for this paper are a poetry writing group, book club, surveys and interviews. A sample of 133 self-selecting participants volunteered for CT interventions. Data is inductively, iteratively linked and analysed in a cycle of reading, labelling and coding, to discover patterns and themes. Tentative conclusions are, a community of inquiry accesses the legacy of the critical traditions. Classroom democracy is a high-risk strategy, Beck (2013) implies, risk can be both positive and negative. Democracy is unpredictable and it does not have a predetermined outcome. Participants in the research have become more confident and articulate, argumentative and discursive
The cul-de-sac in the forest: the supermodernity of Center Parcs
No full textThis co-authored text takes Center Parcs, Whinfell Forest, as a site through which to explore the multi-layered construction of ‘place.’ Marketing images, holiday photographs, maps, poetry, anecdotes and terms & conditions all impinge upon the lived experience of the holiday park. The article combines academic and creative approaches to writing to present a portrait of the site. Developed as part of Practising Place – an artist led research project by In Certain Places, at the University of Central Lancashir
Viral bodies: ‘are you repeating yourself?’
Get PDFAre you counting yourself?* We tend to think of a virus as something airborne: a disease that visits us.Yet, the structural qualities of the virus are about digging in, catching on, and spreading outwards. The virus replicates and, as a result, produces parasitical forms beyond its host body. The viral extends to the condition of the photocopier machine, in its ability to replicate images as well as expelling reproductions with a difference. Taking the photocopy works of artists Barbara T. Smith and Helen Chadwick as focal studies, this text explores the historical lineage of the female and the copier; with a specific interest in the subversive materials produced at the point where they meet. In Adjusted Margin (2016) Kate Eichhorn explores the mimeographic qualities of the photocopier and offers examples of how the photocopier helped to expand industrial workplace capitalism, while also galvanise artistic subcultures. Within Western frameworks, women have long been inscribed within narratives of repetition in both professional and domestic frameworks. The workplace copier—its commercial use dated to the late 1940s entangles gender norms, perhaps most literally, as a proxy for the office work undertaken by women. As a result, the act of repetition in place of the female and/or reproductive machine allows for a shared empathy. This essay proposes that the political traces of the copier and the female may be understood as a type of material entanglement, and questions how – despite in the face of the photocopier’s demise – reproduction can be a useful tool for contemporary feminist ontological thought. *This phrase is indebted to Jenny Hval, ‘Mephisto is in the Water,’ from the 2013 album Innocence is Kinky
Expanding communities of sustainable practice symposium proceedings 2018
Get PDFWe are excited to present the proceedings from our second one-day symposium at Leeds Arts University focusing on how to expand communities of sustainable practice within and beyond art and design schools. Given the need for art and design education to transform its mode of operating in times of massive ecological crises, the symposium was an opportunity to learn from cases of good practice, to get feedback on one’s initiatives and to network with others eager to make art and design education an effective advocate of sustainable practice. Communities of sustainable practice are groups or networks of educators, designers, artists, craftspeople, researchers and students who aim to place sustainability concerns at the heart of their practice. Through the symposium we wanted to provide a space for people involved in such initiatives to effectively network and strategise together in order to enhance the positive impact and reach of what they do. During this one-day symposium, we focused on the importance of collaboration and networks in creating art and design practices that contribute to eco-social sustainability. We were especially interested in complicating as well as expanding the notions of sustainability within art and design education and how they contribute to engaging the public in sustainable and progressively transformative eco-social practices. We are convinced that sustainability is also about meshing up and intersecting practice and theory, thus the day encompassed theoretical and practical engagements with sustainability – always with a focus on making this day productive in terms of building alliances, projects and shared commitments between the people attending. People who are active within art and design schools who foster sustainability initiatives contributed to the debates: tutors, students, technicians, researchers and more. We especially valued contributions by students as this is where many of the most innovative initiatives come from. This one-day event included a presentation by keynote speaker Dr. Joanna Boehnert, parallel discussion sessions where participants presented their initiatives and networking lunch enabling discussions allowing knowledge transfer around pressing issues that art and design education faces in terms of engaging with ecological crises
The sublime landscapes of Frankenstein: an investigation through abstraction, distant reading and data collection.
Get PDFThe output is a creative project comprising a risograph printed object and
conference paper. Research Process: In order to examine the representations of the sublime through the landscapes of Frankenstein and Shelley’s use of pathetic fallacy, the practical research seeks to investigate representations of the sublime through an investigation of reduction, abstraction and Euclidean geometry. Reduction was used to explore functionality in the narrative. Abstraction sought to investigate theories about perception to analyse the sublime in Frankenstein through a review of the abstract sublime in the work of Rothko who uses form and shape to emote a sense of the sublime. This paper posits the question: is there a congruence between Shelley’s elemental pathetic fallacy and Rothko’s spatial infinity? Research Insights: The axioms of Euclidean geometry have been explored as a method to reduce and abstract landscapes into congruent shapes and form. The 3rd postulate discusses the circle while the 5th postulate or the parallel postulate uses two straight lines to construct triangles. The circle and triangle are used to infer what Burke identifies as the relationship between the beautiful and the sublime. The landscapes seek to find what Derrida calls a ‘satisfaction’ between the negativity of the sublime and the positivity of the beautiful. These shapes are used to construct space and depth through a manipulation of scale and line, using Kantian ideas about boundlessness and limitlessness. This practical investigation seeks to answer the question: can landscapes be reduced and abstracted to convey a sense of the sublime in Frankenstein? Dissemination: This research was disseminated in the form of a risograph printed book object and paper presentation discussed at the ‘Gothic Realities’ Symposium 24-25 October 2019 at Stirling University
Accessing postgraduate art and design, transitions and intersectionality
Get PDFInherent within this chapter is a criticism of the notion of higher education participation as a form of transformation, in particular class transformation (Reay, 2002; Hudson, 2009; Byrom,2010). It can be seen that socio-cultural factors still impact on students’ experiences within postgraduate study and beyond. The intersections of class with age or life stage are explored through the students’ experiences which are the focus of this chapter. By reading the stories from students from ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds who have successfully undertaken postgraduate study within the arts it can be seen that firstly identities are not ‘overwritten’ by new experiences within higher education and secondly, the intersectional nature of identity would make such a transformation problematic. The idea of transformation also implies that students’ previous experiences and identities are deficient and need to be improved or cleansed. Experiences in education can therefore be seen as adding to an individual’s wider life experience through a process of reflection
Reconnecting practice: pedagogies of fashion thinking
No full textBroadly speaking, the issue of sustainability in the fashion industry is nothing new (Fletcher, 2016; Gwilt,2014; Siegle, 2008), and it continues to gain momentum; unsurprising, given that, despite the warnings, there are more garments in circulation than ever. However, although the inherent problem with ‘Fast Fashion’ lay in the over-production and over-consumption of clothing, to, ultimately, satisfy the consumer’s desire, we cannot blame the consumer. We must return to the first stage of the cycle; the designer, and contemplate how we, the educator, can awaken the student’s relationship to their practice, with a sustainable and conscious mind-set.
In her 2015 Anti_Fashion Manifesto for the next decade, Li Edelkoort (2015) stated that we are witnessing “the end of fashion as we know it”, making reference to the impact of ‘Fast Fashion’ on the future drivers of the fashion eco-system; today’s ‘Generation Y’ fashion design students. Edelkoort declares that the expectation to create accessories, brochures, to arrange shows, photography, and communications, only serves to dilute the essence, and purpose, of 21st century, sustainable, fashion design thinking.
Within a year of the publication of Edelkoort's manifesto, Kate Fletcher's 'Craft of Use' (2016) project paid homage to the 'tending and wearing' of garments as much as their creation, revealing the expression of fashion 'in a world not dependent on continuous consumption', where garments, whilst 'sold as a product, are lived as a process'.
This paper considers these two globally renowned fashion educators’ predictions and practices, and demonstrates ways in which their influence has served as a bedrock in the advancement a BA (Hons) Fashion curriculum, in the context of sustainability, and a conducive re-alignment of fashion design thinking and practice, pedagogically.
A case study will demonstrate the methodologies applied by a final year BA (Hons) Fashion student through a graduate collection that articulates a holistic approach to sustainable design practice. From mindful practice at the initial stages of exploration, to a collection that takes a non-binary approach, not only in its aesthetic, adaptable sizing and fit offer, but in offering solutions to wider social, economic, and consumptive issues
Quant & advertising: Collett Dickenson Pearce
No full textThis essay traces a series of contextual influences upon British Advertising in the post-war period and by doing so locates the Quant Brand within the ‘creative revolution’. Developments in British Art Education, high-definition printing techniques and the creative practices of the agencies such as Collett Dickenson Pearce (CDP) all contributed to the advertising platform from which new visions of life and style were imagined. CDP and Mary Quant Limited were both companies that placed creativity at the apex of their business and by doing so became the game-changers that influenced the next generation of innovators including the Saatchi brothers. Many examples of Quant adverts are discussed, revealing how the concept of Quant ‘radical fashion design for all’ was communicated to the public in a creative manner. This study contends that the particular type of art education experienced by Mary Quant and the (CDP) advertising creatives Colin Millward and Ron Collins received, influenced the creative direction of the Quant brand. All the adverts selected in the essay celebrated Quant’s experimental approach to design; and encouraged women to be ‘bold’ by using cosmetic and fashion colour palettes to create radical new looks. This creative strategy appealed to women ready for social change and together Quant and CDP transformed the world of fashion and cosmetics
The Art of surviving and thriving’ why do mature learners matter?: presenting a progression framework for mature learners in the arts
Get PDFThis paper ‘The Art of surviving and thriving’ is set in the context of higher education in a specialist arts university. With the challenge of mature students’ ‘unconventional educational histories’ (Broadhead 2012, 2018) a multi-layered progression framework is presented. This offers support for mature learners from Access to HE to Postgraduate education. It draws upon findings of Broadhead’s earlier doctoral research of Access to HE Arts students, one to one interviews to gain the students’ voices and examines current WP practice interventions in access, outreach and the student experience that facilitates a pathway into undergraduate and postgraduate study. Mature Learners make a valuable contribution to the art and design community in higher education. However many have been dissuaded from studying this subject area and at this level when younger. They have come to study the arts later in their lives. Mature learners come to higher education from diverse backgrounds and capacities. There are many social, cultural and economic reasons for their delayed entry into higher education. Although many mature students will have actively sought informal art and design education opportunities in short courses, gallery museum engagement and community settings before coming to Higher Education. They arrive with alternative qualifications, a wealth of prior experience and skills that they may not at first recognise as valuable to contribute to their success. The learner brings with them ‘phronesis’, their practical wisdom and earlier acquired experiences. They have succeeded to navigate a myriad of barriers and difficulties, such as careers, caring responsibilities, mental health, finance and confidence to enter into their course of study. Once on undergraduate study, the mature learner is in danger of feeling marginalised in the predominantly younger student cohort. This results in lower satisfaction responses in the National Student Survey, they are less likely to be happy with the Student Union, much more critical of the organisation and management of their course. Alternative pedagogies and student support mechanisms have been put in place across the whole student lifecycle. These interventions have had to be designed to be appropriate for mature learners, to accommodate their needs throughout their whole educational journey. Our approach is underpinned by the recognition and celebration of their particular strengths and aptitudes and addresses academic, socialisation and participatory aspects of their student experience. The resulting progression framework that is presented, of student focused interventions, that addresses the whole student lifecycle. Support and opportunities have been put in place for them in pre-access, further education, undergraduate and postgraduate stages so they can become successful creatives. The key to the success of these practical interventions is that they are cross institutional strategies; timely, accessible and flexible, but importantly also focuses on the individual needs of the student. In turn the student as alumni of the university then contributes to the cycle of education for others they encounter in their sphere as influencers, as their contribution back to their community and in the public realm by their advocacy for the Arts