Response:
I am most interested in “practice-based research”. I’m interested in this because I am a visual artist and I think making art is the best way to understand it. I could use this in my own research to copy techniques of artists I am studying to learn more about them. It’s a common practice for artists to copy or study master works, and I’ve done this to learn technical skill but I think this practice-based research can also be used to figure out why an artist made certain decisions and it can be a good way to discover what the artist was trying to say in their piece.
I have experienced the strength “evoke and explore meta-cognitive experience” in my art making before. Last semester I was in a figure drawing class that went online like all other classes after spring break. For our final project, we had to make a composition with at least 3 figures but that was the only requirement. For my piece (included), I wanted to show how I (and a lot of other people) were feeling from being quarantined. This embodies meta-cognitive experience because I was trying to convey a certain feeling and experience. What I did was overlap 3 of the same figure in slightly different poses. The poses all included the figure sitting on the couch, browsing her phone. I was trying to convey a feeling of time blending together as a result of a repetitive and often boring routine. Everyone has different experiences but covid has impacted almost every single person in the world and I wanted to explore that shared feeling and experience in my art.
The genre that I’m most interested in is “mixed media and multiple art forms” in the visual genres. I think this genre relates the most to how I want to combine what I’ve learned from art with what I’ve learned from my second field. Graphic design in and of itself often combines multiple art forms and media. With my second field however, I’ve learned even more technical skills and theory that can help me expand my designs to even more media. For my final project, I could design a campaign that utilizes multiple forms of media, or I could make a single artwork that is a collage of many different media and techniques.
Questions:
Can art-based research be a way to learn about artwork that is already made and a way to research topics that you want to make art about?
How does art-based research dissolve the barrier between the modernist idea that art and science are separate?
The author states, “At their best, ABR practices are employed as part of a holistic or integrated approach to research”. In what ways can ABR be combined with other research methods, and in what situation would this be the most beneficial?