For this initial reading task, I read Orr & Shreeve (2017) “Signature Pedagogies in Art & Design”. Before unpacking the text, I want to explore the feelings of anxiety and self-consciousness that arose when reading the unit brief and before starting the task. I feel this discomfort is useful to sit with, as it mirrors how many of my students might feel.
It’s been a long time since I was a student in formal education. After graduating from my BA in Performance: Design and Practice in 2016, I have not pursued further formal education. A huge barrier to accessing more education was financial, as I navigated freelancing as an artist. I developed my knowledge through practice, learning from peers, mentors, and trial and error. Throughout my career, I’ve worked with diverse communities across the UK and Europe, developing a robust practice that I feel confident in, now as a Lecturer at Central Saint Martins. However, my confidence has been challenged since returning to study. I felt daunted by engaging with academic texts outside my specialism in film and community practice. Going back to being a student again with a brief, a timetable, tutorials, learning outcomes, assessments, academic writing, new language (including acronyms!) and technology to master, feels overwhelming. How will I perform as a student compared to 2016? Many of my mature students have expressed similar anxieties, and I empathise with them more deeply through my own experience.
I take courage in their adaptability, and I know my learning as a student will also enhance their learning. I find resonance in the phrase, “all flourishing is mutual,” which I use often in my practice. This idea, rooted in Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid (1902), also appears in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s work (2013). The importance of reciprocity when working with others, especially in the classroom, benefits us all.
With all this in mind, I read Signature Pedagogies in Art & Design, initially with trepidation, which quickly transformed into interest and recognition that my professional practice as an artist is a valuable starting point for what Shulman (2005) calls ‘signature pedagogies‘. Many of the pedagogies that Sims and Shreeve (2012) unpack resonated with my own practice. For example, the way in which space can transform a learners experience. Within the performance programme at Central Saint Martins we use a wide range of spaces, from theatres, to studios to lab spaces. It is important to note that we don’t have a ‘studio’ in the same way that is described in the text, however the idea that we see students work in progress and engage critically with one another by watching our peers work does resonate. When my students are working in groups I often cite Robert Dilts 1994 Disney Method, which refers to the ‘Dreamer, Realist, Critic’ space that Walt Disney utilised when creating a new project.
Disney used to split the studio into three spaces to think about a project, a space for dreaming, a space for realisation and a space for critical engagement. An idea that can get through each of those spaces is then developed. The ability to change space to invite different stages of creative thinking is hugely beneficial. However, when physical space is limited, how can students have the headspace to engage with this approach? Professor Fiona Peterson suggests that the studio has become a metaphor for the mind, which is how I often discuss the Disney Method with students, however the practical demands of creative making do require physical space, and fostering an equitable learning environment can be challenging, particularly with students who come from different backgrounds. They may have very different access to space, tools and equipment outside of the university walls. Does this ‘studio as a state of mind’ therefore only benefit those who have the resources to then transform them into reality?
I was also particularly interested in the ‘live’ brief as many of the projects I run for students are in collaboration with professional partners that are external to the university. One of the reasons I have been keen to do this as a lecturer is because these types of experiences really informed my own professional development as a student, and this also opens up other physical spaces for learning. Students I work with now are really receptive and excited by professional partnerships, and there is great benefit to them. However, as Orr & Shreeve note, that does not mean that this type of pedagogy is free from ‘stickiness’, in fact, I think of the delicate ecosystem of balancing the ‘clients’ needs to the universities aims and the students ambition as being like a coral reef – a relational system where each party impacts one another, and is sensitive to change.
I was particularly interested in how interactions in space can model unwanted structures of hierarchy, power and exclusion (Gray and Smith 2016). There is a lot of power held by the lecturer/professional and I am often keen to create group discussions and sharing to avoid the single “authoritative voice”. Dialogic exchange and materiality also resonates with my desire for reciprocity in a learning space. Creating an environment where students can debate and engage with one another’s work feels closely tied to my own practice in community work. As I reflect on my pedagogic methods, it is reassuring to see that many of these approaches are shared by other artists when teaching, such as taking learning out of the classroom, bring your own work/using the self as a learning resource, learning whilst teaching, paralleling, citing professional norms (Orr & Shreeve).
After completing this reading, most of my initial anxiety has melted away, I am left feeling inspired and excited by the possibilities of mutual flourishing within pedagogic practices.
References
Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions.
Kropotkin, P. (2022). Mutual Aid. Random House.
Miro.com. (n.d.). Disney Creative Strategy Template | Free Disney Templates Online. [online] Available at: https://miro.com/templates/disney-creative-strategy/.
Orr, S., & Shreeve, A. (2017). Art and Design Pedagogy in Higher Education. Routledge.
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