Michael Whittington

1.57 Unexpected Territories: The Entangled Learner, War Worlds and Empathic Knowing (Paper)

Michael Whittington – The University of Newcastle, Australia

Abstract:

Visual arts learning ecologies both traditional and digital has emerged as a contemporary bridge between the entangled learner and their ‘becomings’ in the physical and digital worlds. War and conflict are popular choices for adolescent boys studying visual arts as they gravitate towards themes of violence and danger. At the same time these ‘war world’ themes are driven out in visual culture and mass media, affecting boy’s world views. This presentation speaks to some of the emergent data from the doctoral study ‘Contemporary art making: an affordance of empathic concern for boys.’ Year 8 boys aged 13-14 years who studied mandatory visual arts (No. 13) were invited to participate in a 10-week Critical Participatory Arts Based Research (CPABR) embracing their learning which culminated in an art exhibition held for the school community. This presentation focuses on the learning of the boys who chose the theme of war and conflict in the study. It explores the students’ engagement as they navigated through unexpected territories, shifting between traditional and digital materialities. It highlights the emergent findings and incorporates Haraway’s concepts of sympoiesis and worlding, examining how these ideas manifest in the physical and digital spaces of visual arts learning. It explores the students’ own critical reflections, material engagement, their social/cultural entanglements, as well as the audience’s perceptions of the boys’ learning, including how the boys perceive, imagine, experience, and act in the world as it emerges in their study. It applies Deleuze’o’Guattarian ideas using a post-structural lens considering the Neo-liberal forces at play in education. The findings suggest that for these boys, material-based studio learning and critical engagement afforded opportunities for navigating through the unexpected territories of visual arts materialities resulting in possibilities for empathic knowing.

10.13 Art Making Workshop: Material Entanglements, Soft Skills and Co-creation (Workshop)

Michael Whittington – The University of Newcastle, Australia

Rory Davis – The University of Newcastle, Australia

Abstract:

Studio learning has emerged as a contemporary bridge between the entangled learner and their ‘becomings’ in the physical and virtual worlds. This presentation speaks to emergent finding and draws on Haraways’ ideas of sympoiesis and worlding across the materialised physical and virtual spaces in visual arts learning. Art making practice emphasises the collaborative and interwoven nature of creation. The workshop activity is part of the presentation process, driving discussion that suggests that knowledge and understanding are co-produced through interactions between the learner, the physical environment, and the art work. Our workshop discussion points explore some of the emergent data from the two researcher’s ongoing doctoral studies ‘Contemporary art making: an affordance of empathic concern for boys’ (Michael Whittington) and ‘Soft skills and visual arts curriculum in Australian secondary schools’ (Rory Davis). Both of the researchers work as full-time classroom visual arts teachers in NSW schools, whilst completing their PhD studies at the University of Newcastle. This workshop seeks to share with delegates fulfilling art making activities, through the use of upcycled materials to create soft sculptures, along with collaborative drawing activities designed to complement the researcher’s discussion points.