Burcak Altay

1.3 Framing Perspectives: A Mindful Experiential Learning Practice in Interior Design (Paper)

Burcak Altay – Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

Abstract:

Mindful experiential learning in art and design education can cultivate a positive, creative, enriched learning with the inclusion of four distinct qualities: Grounding experience in the present moment, adopting a beginner’s mind to be able to see the unexpected in the everyday, a non-judgmental attitude towards one’s own thoughts, feelings, capabilities, and enhancing an empathetic inter-subjective learning through shared perspectives. In this paper, after proposing the theoretical grounds for mindful experiential learning, I share an overview of the diverse range of educational practices that I have adopted in an interior design curriculum. I then focus on one practice, ‘Shifting Perspectives’, which emerged from students’ ‘sketch inhibition’, a reluctance to sketch their environments due to the fear of the outcome. In order to cut through their hesitations, we placed transparent sheets within cardboard frames whereby we could sketch onto the transparent paper exactly what we momentarily observed by ‘framing’ it. This helped capture our perception at our eye level at the chosen location, discovering what we observed as we sketched for the first time; valuing the unexpected interior space qualities offered in that present moment. This also encouraged us to trust and embrace our own unique perspective as we sketched. Carrying out the activity in two different locations, we placed the sketches on the walls and windows on the spot at the locations where they were sketched, leaving them as ‘artworks’ for others to explore. Through our layer of colourful design intervention to the existing spaces, we invited other people to pause and witness their everyday surroundings, often unnoticed, from one-another’s perspective with appreciation. To conclude, with over two decades of exploring territories of inclusivity and mindfulness in design pedagogy, I offer practical suggestions to cultivate an attitude that reveals the fresh, unexpected potentials of moment-to-moment experience in education and everyday life.