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Investigating Geometric Form in the Work of Painter Mainie Jellett through Arts-based Research and with a Lesbian Feminist Lens View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Suzanne Crowley
Geometry is a form of mathematics and thus a component of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). With this in mind, this paper has two aims: 1) to explore the use of geometric form in the work of artist Mainie Jellett as a contribution to current debates concerning the nexus between the visual arts and STEM; and 2) to apply a lesbian feminist lens to the art practice of Jellett and her colleague Evie Hone, to initiate exploration into why a substantial number of women artists practicing in the early twentieth century incorporated geometry in their art practice, whilst placed outside the art system and the established categories of art history (Müller-Westermann & Høgsberg, 2020). Jellett adopted Andre Gliezes method of rotating geometric form across the canvas to give form to subject matter. Using an arts-based research (ABR) approach that combines visual art practice and autoethnography, I applied photoshop to de-construct the geometric forms contained within one Jellett painting. I then reproduced the work. This deconstruction process provided access to the artist’s approach, while revealing connections between geometry and the visual arts. In this paper I document Gliezes process as used by Jellett, to articulate how geometry can be integrated into art practice to contribute to learning STEM. I also propose that by considering the lesbian feminist perspective, the literal relationship between geometric form and the visual arts, can be transformed into an abstract metaphor for women’s independence.
Between East and West: Auto (Art) Ethnography - Challenges and Reflections View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dragana Radanovic, Lucovnicova Olga
In the context of the new [Russian - Ukranian] military conflict in Europe, a new urge arose to reconsider the challenges of representing the complexities of collective history. How to reconcile past and contemporary perspectives on the East military conflicts and their legacy from the privileged position in the West? A comics artist from Serbia and a documentary filmmaker from Moldova debate how their geographical position affected the creation of stories about places of their past. They touch upon the limits of artists' responsibility for their art and the audience by reflecting on the tensions between the intent and impact of the artistic objects they create. Moreover, their investigations are concerned with the tensions between objectivity and subjectivity and between the personal and the collective in their work. Reflecting on the specificities of their respective mediums, comics and documentary movies, they explain different approaches to tackle the challenges arising in their projects. This research reflects on the complex relationships between the privileged position of being an artist and the vulnerability of targeted people at the intersection of collective memory, testimony and trauma of military conflicts and their implications for ethical praxis.
Cultivating Communities of Care: Navigating Access and Inclusion in Art-based Practice Research with 2SLGBTQ+ and Disabled Participants in Toronto View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lauren Morris
This paper considers my M.A. thesis work, which (re)imagines and (re)defines community care from the perspective of 2SLGBTQ+ and mad/Deaf/disabled identified communities in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Drawing on Participatory Action Research, community-based, and artistic practice research, this project invites eight participant co-researchers from 2SLGBTQIA+ and mad/Deaf/disabled communities in Toronto to participate in a series of six art workshops and focus group sessions exploring community care from January-February 2023. Multimodal art-based activities each week are used to inform participant exploration around community care, and as a facilitation tool for focus group sessions. Focus groups are audio recorded, transcribed, and undergo thematic analysis drawing on narrative inquiry methods. This paper discusses the findings and outcomes of my research in relation to Theme 4: The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life. What does it mean to use art-based practice research in service of social justice, and in centering 2SLGBTQIA+ and mad/Deaf/disabled perspectives in the academy? What are some of the challenges of facilitating 2SLGBTQIA+ and mad/Deaf/disabled community participation in action research, and what does it mean to cultivate access and inclusion in artistic research? This presentation will take up questions of inclusion, access, and community participation in artistic research through the case study of my M.A. thesis project. Centring arts-based research as community praxis, this paper considers the implications of working with and alongside 2SLGBTQIA+ and mad/Deaf/disabled participant co-researchers for increasing the accessibility of art-based practice research.
Impacts of Art Appreciation Activities on Attentional Processes of Children Aged 7-10 View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Pedro Mendonça
According to UNESCO (2006), an education that value aesthetic experience enhances life conditions of individuals, society, and humanity progress. Research shows that visual literacy and art appreciation activities not only improve student’s knowledge on art but also their critical thinking and empathic abilities. These effects are even most noticed in less advantaged students (Greene, Kisida et Bowen, 2013; Housen, 1992). Furthermore, among adults, studies show significant improvement of the visual attention after art appreciation activities are regularly held. Research shows improvement in concentration and observational abilities of participants transferable to other domains than the arts such as medicine, police work or general work performance (Herman, 2016; Naghshineh et al., 2008; Lazo et Smith, 2014). In elementary school, visual attention is essential in learning processes, not only in visual art but also in all school disciplines. It follows our interest in investigating the impact of longitudinal art appreciation activities on the attention quality of children in elementary school. When art appreciation is practiced regularly, could attentional processes of pupils (7 -10 years old) be enhanced? Our research is conducted with a group control experiment running over one full school year. We use an attention span tests designed for children (KiTAP – Kids Test for Attentional Performance, Knox et al., 2012) to collect data on attentional processes while applying VTS (Visual Thinking Strategies) protocol for art appreciation with children.
Protest or Play Ball: International Art Cinema and Political Activism in New Hollywood Sports Films View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session William Quade
By the late 1960s activism had become a major factor in sports. Mohammad Ali’s stance against the Vietnam War had resulted in his being blacklisted from boxing and John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s raising of their fists in the Black Power salute led to their expulsion from the 1968 Summer Olympics. Meanwhile, in American cinema, film’s artistic boundaries were being pushed beyond their previous scope with international art cinema movements from Europe and Japan influencing a new generation of highly literate and politically impassioned filmmakers. This study focuses on how these ascending currents of political activism in sport and international art cinema helped craft a subgenre of stylistically adventurous and politically bold New Hollywood sports films. Martin Ritt’s The Great White Hope (1970), Jack Nicholson’s Drive, He Said (1971), and Norman Jewison’s Rollerball (1975) will be analyzed to demonstrate how sophisticated art film tendencies merged with the kineticism of sport to exemplify the growing social and political role of sport among international audiences. While sport and art may appear to be radically opposed to each other, Przemysław Strożek writes in the International Journal of the History of Sport how, after the Russian Revolution, there were “various ways in which avant-garde artists were engaged in promoting worker sports.” Now, over 100 years later, as sport has become an industry worth billions of dollars, the emergence of artfully constructed countercultural sports films from the New Hollywood requires excavation to push athletes’ and fans’ consciousness towards those politically radical and revolutionary ideas.
Responsible Practice of Graffitiing Policies in Bogotá: Using Path Dependence, Policy Layering, and Decentralization to Understand Policy Resilience View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jessica DeShazo
The objective of this research is to understand how Bogotá’s policies on graffitiing shifted from a criminalized act to a decriminalized practice and how those policies were implemented across two mayoral administrations. The case study examines two policies, Decree 75 and Decree 529, that decriminalize graffitiing in Bogotá using the theoretical framework of policy path dependence and policy layering coupled with decentralization of power. The study argues that decentralization of power established the ability of Mayor Petro to pass Decree 75 , which created a policy path. Policy layering occurred with the passage of an amendment, Decree 529. Policy path dependence explains why the decrees were resistant to drastic changes under the leadership of Mayor Peñalosa; incremental changes occurred in the institutional structure and implementation of the policies.
