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BEGINNINGS
Contemporary American artist Martha Rosler (cited in Gever,
1981)states, [If you want to] bring conscious, concrete knowledge
to yourwork . . . you had better locate yourself pretty concretely
in it (p. 11).We are life history researchers with deep roots in
meaning makingsystems that honor the many and diverse ways of
knowingpersonal,narrative, embodied, artistic, aestheticthat stand
outside sanctionedintellectual frameworks. To begin this chapter we
surface these roots.
ARDRA
As the youngest of three children and an only and
much-wanteddaughter, I grew up in the coddled environment of
adults. Aroundkitchen tables, with my mother and her friends, I
learned to makesense of the world. It was there that meaning was
given to all that wasgood, bad, and indifferent in my mothers world
as she and her friendsphilosophized and analyzed their way through
bottomless teacupsand countless packs of Black Cat cigarettes.
Together for friendly vis-its, neighborly chats, weekly card games,
domestic chores, or plan-ning and preparing for community events,
theyd tell stories, share
5ARTS-INFORMED RESEARCH
Ardra L. Cole and J. Gary Knowles
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56Methodologies
opinions and confidences, gossip, give andreceive advice and
emotional support. Idlisten and watch as smoke, slowly but
con-fidently released through crimson- andcotton candycolored lips,
enwreathedtheir spoken words. I took it all in, addingthe knowledge
to my accumulating under-standings of my small but growing world. I
formed (silent) opinions of my own, feltpleasure and pain, learned
compassion,made promises to myself about how I would be in the
world and what I woulddo. As a child of the 1950s and 1960s, atthe
academy of the kitchen table(Neilsen, 1998) in the company of
women,I ground the lenses through which I seeand understand the
world.
After my mothers funeral, on the way tothe cemetery, the silence
of our inconsolablegrief was finally broken by my niece who,between
body-wracking sobs, pleaded withher father to tell some Nanny
stories.Telling stories of my mother, at a time whenalmost nothing
made sense or seemed fair,was the only thing that did make sense to
us.After all, The truth about stories, saysAboriginal scholar
Thomas King (2003, p. 2),is thats all we are. They are who we
are,who we have been, and who we willbecome.
I grew up in a working-class family,steeped in the Protestant
work ethic, whereactions spoke louder than words and bigfeeling
people with high falutin ideasdidnt pass muster. What mattered
mostwas the reward of a solid days work andmeaty ideas that
produced tangible resultsand made a difference in the lives of
every-day people. It was no surprise to discoverin graduate school
that William Jamessphilosophy of pragmatism made inherentsense to
me. Subsequently, the choices Imade throughout my academic life
andcareer naturally reflected the values andperspectives I grew up
with.
GARY
I lived in the southernmost province ofAotearoa, New Zealand,
for the first 22 yearsof my life. As an only child I often came
toexpress and require the quietness of solitudein explorations of
landscape and commu-nity. This fostered an ability to follow myown
intuitions and dreams rather than thoseof siblings or peers. Also,
for the first 13years of my life, I grew head and shouldersabove my
peers in physical stature and thisplayed out in some unexpected
ways. Forinstance, I never experienced degradation atthe hand of
bullies and was most often themaster of my own childhood games,
fan-tasies, and explorations.
In a windswept, small, rural town Ilearned about the power of
place and hadthe freedom to explore and express thelearnings that
resulted from being relativelyunfettered in my day-to-day
movements.Cycling throughout the community andbeyond, I learned the
powers of under-standing that, perhaps, only finely
tunedobservations can bring. I learned experien-tially and
geographically because I had thefreedom to roam, sometimes by foot
but,mostly, by bicycle.
Intergenerationally, strong women ledmy family and, to them, I
attribute muchlearning about the order of the worldaround me.
Everything that was donewithin the family had practical value
borneof working-class roots and a quest for neo-middle-class
status. Under these condi-tions and circumstances adults
impressedupon me values and stories that afforded aglimpse into who
I was and would become and where I came from. The power of
per-sonal and family stories was more thanmildly obvious to me then
as it is now. Likeme, extended family members had bothindividual
and familial scripts to followbut, unlike me, had little
opportunity to
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deviate from them. Family stories, oftenabout the context or
experiences of labor,were told and retold in the context of yetmore
laboring work. Such was the sourceof my ingrained perspectives on
the rela-tionship between the purpose of ones lifework and the
public good.
Influenced strongly by a pragmatic, hardworking mother, my
emerging values weremetered by an avocational artist father(whose
dreams of daily existence seldomexperienced joy in the mundane).
Influencedby him, I gravitated toward the visual arts,eventually
becoming involved in architec-ture. Not surprisingly, it was the
technical,the pragmaticthe vernacularthat guidedthe emerging
principles of design and aes-thetics that I came to hold. A job
needed tobe accomplished, a building built, and therewas always a
bottom-line, functional ele-ment involved. Years later, having
honed mydrafting and painterly skills, I regularly exhib-ited work
and came to see myself as a visualartist. This coincided somewhat
with theprocess of becoming an academic, seeingmyself as a scholar.
Given these circum-stances, it was natural that I sought ways
tofuse artistry and artmaking with scholarshipthat evidenced a
practical bent.
Dissatisfaction and Disillusionment
Prior to assuming roles as academics andlearning the language of
the academy, wedid not put names on how we (and others)came to know
the world. But, as professors,we quickly came to know that our
jobswere in large part defined by our abilities toattach words of
explanation to phenomena,experiences, processes, contexts, and
systems.We soon discovered, however, that the pre-dominant
languageor discourseof the
academy did not ring true to us or how weperceived our task.
We quickly became disillusioned by themoat of science and
mysticism built to keepresearchers in and communities out of
theivory tower. Bolstered and challenged byour personal histories
to build a bridgeacross the moat, we began to question thepragmatic
value of our conventional-lookingscholarship and imagine new
possibilities.The language of the academy and all that itsymbolized
fell short in its ability to captureand communicate the complexity
of humanexperience in all its diversity. Even challeng-ing
conventions of positivism and followingqualitative research
methodologies resultedin research representations wrung dry
oflifeof emotion, of sensuality, of physical-ity. Individuals and
their lives were flattenedinto a form mostly unrecognizable to
thosedirectly and indirectly involved or repre-sented. The result,
with just the right acade-mic ring, satisfied the academy but, with
theextraction of life juices, those words becametoo light to take
hold in the lives of thepeople and communities we researched.
We sought what we considered to bemore appropriately inclusive
approaches toinquiry processes and representationmethodologies that
honored the diverseforms of knowing that were part of
everydayexperience and that paid appropriate respectto both
research participants and those whoread or might be interested in
readingresearch texts. Our goals related to integrity,relevance,
accessibility, and engagement. Wewanted research to reach audiences
beyondthe academy and to make a difference.
Enter the Arts
Within the broad paradigmatic frameworkcontaining qualitative
methodologies, we
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began to experiment with process and form.We started in small
ways, beginning, forexample, by writing journal articles in
alter-native formats and in a personal narrativestyle with
autobiographical elements. Ourchallenges to methodological
convention gotbolder as our experimentations with formbrought
color, texture, and life into workthat had begun to seem grey,
flat, and life-less. These explorations, and the promises
andpossibilities they inspired, reawakened in usan excitement for
our work. They reconnectedus with our long-held epistemological
rootsand brought together elements of our per-sonal and
professional lives that had, tothat point, been forced apart by
academicorthodoxy. We continued to push bound-aries of what was
then possible in inquiryand representation (i.e., marginally
accept-able as scholarship), trying to get closer andcloser to
human experience and to com-municate it in a way that seemed truer
to its original form and to those who may beinvolved.
Drawing on our artistic sensibilities, rela-tionship to the
arts, and respect for ways inwhich artists of all genres have,
throughouthistory, tackled societys pressing sociopolit-ical
concerns and confronted public audi-ences with their messages, we
turned ourattention to the relationship between art and research
and the possibilities inherentin infusing processes and
representationalforms of the arts into social science inquiry.We
began by dabbling with two- and three-dimensional art, performance,
and fictionmainly for purposes of representation. At thesame time
we encouraged graduate studentsto explore media of poetry, literary
prose,playwriting, visual arts, dance, and music asalternative
approaches to knowledge repre-sentation and advancement.
By the early 1990s, a wave of changebegan to swell particularly
in the educa-tional research community where, per-haps because of
its broad intellectualheritage or because of its
interdisciplinary
nature or its broader commitment topractice and practical
application ofresearch, there is a history of method-ological
innovation. In 1993, Elliot Eisnergave a distinguished Presidential
Addressto the Annual Meeting of the AmericanEducational Research
Association (AERA)in which he speculated about the future
ofeducational research witnessing anexpanding array of research
methods toacknowledge and account for the range offorms and modes
of understanding thatcomprise human development. Imagescreated by
literature, poetry, the visualarts, dance, and music, he
states,
give us insights that inform us in thespecial ways that only
artistically ren-dered forms make possible. . . . [Beyondstories
and narrative] film, video, the mul-tiple displays made possible
through com-puters, and even poetically craftednarrative are
waiting in the wings. . . . Wewont have long to wait until they
arecalled to center stage. (pp. 7, 8)
Soon after, the Arts-Based EducationalResearch Special Interest
Group of AERAwas formed and quickly grew.
In 1997, Stefinee Pinnegar organized a groundbreaking session at
the AERAAnnual Meeting in which she invited sev-eral researchers to
represent a set of con-ventionally gathered data each using
adifferent art form such as painting, dance,creative nonfiction,
readers theatre, andpoetry. At about this time a small butgrowing
number of scholarly outlets (bookand journal publications and
professionaland academic conferences) started to sup-port
alternative qualitative research. In1998, at the Ontario Institute
for Studies inEducation of the University of Toronto, westarted an
informal working group of fac-ulty and graduate students with a
sharedcommitment to exploring, articulating, andsupporting each
other in bringing together
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art and social science research. As word gotout and interest
grew, the working groupbecame formalized.
The Centre for Arts-Informed Researchwas established in 2000. It
provides a con-text for promoting innovative research thatinfuses
processes and forms of the arts intoscholarly work for purposes of
advancingknowledge and bridging the connectionbetween academy and
community. Thoseassociated with the Centre continue toexplore,
encourage, and foster arts-informedresearch in a variety of ways
through semi-nars, workshops, and works-in-progress
series;exhibits, performances, and conference pre-sentations; an
active research and publishingprogram; and ongoing supervision and
sup-port of graduate students engaged in arts-informed
research.
The time was right to forge ahead withformalizing and
articulating the theoreticalunderpinnings, practices, and issues
associ-ated with the methodology that was emerg-ing from our
research and that of graduatestudents with whom we worked. It was
also important to distinguish it from othercompanion methodologies
established andevolving at the same time, such as arts-based
research, art-based inquiry, image-based research, and visual
sociology. Thiswas important so as to, in Eisners (1993)words,
achieve complementarity rather thanmethodological hegemony (p.
9).
Arts-Informed Research
Arts-informed research is a mode and form ofqualitative research
in the social sciences thatis influenced by, but not based in, the
artsbroadly conceived. The central purposes ofarts-informed
research are to enhance under-standing of the human condition
throughalternative (to conventional) processes andrepresentational
forms of inquiry, and to reachmultiple audiences by making
scholarship
more accessible. The methodology infuses thelanguages,
processes, and forms of literary,visual, and performing arts with
the expan-sive possibilities of scholarly inquiry for purposes of
advancing knowledge (Cole,2001, 2004; Cole & Knowles,
2001;Knowles & Cole, 2002). Researchers work-ing in this way
might explicitly ground theprocesses and representational forms in
oneor several of the arts (see, e.g., Cole, Neilsen,Knowles, &
Luciani, 2004; Knowles, Luciani,Cole, & Neilsen, 2007; Neilsen,
Cole, &Knowles, 2001).
Arts-informed research is a way ofredefining research form and
representationand creating new understandings of process,spirit,
purpose, subjectivities, emotion,responsiveness, and the ethical
dimensions ofinquiry. This redefinition reflects an
explicitchallenge to logical positivism and technicalrationality as
the only acceptable guides toexplaining human behavior and
understand-ing. Bringing together the systematic andrigorous
qualities of conventional qualita-tive methodologies with the
artistic, disci-plined, and imaginative qualities of the
artsacknowledges the power of art forms toreach diverse audiences
and the importanceof diverse languages for gaining insights intothe
complexities of the human condition.
The dominant paradigm of positivismhistorically has governed the
way researchis defined, conducted, and communicatedand consciously
and unconsciously definedwhat society accepts as Knowledge;
how-ever, it is not a paradigm that reflects howindividuals in
society actually experienceand process the world. Life is lived
andknowledge made through kitchen tableconversations and yarnin at
the wharf ortransit station or coffee shop or tavern, inthe
imaginative spaces created between thelines of a good book or an
encounter withan evocative photograph, in an embodiedresponse to a
musical composition or inter-pretive dance. These moments of
meaningmaking, however, are not typically thought
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of as Knowledge. Knowledge, as societyhas learned to define it,
dwells beyond therealm of the everyday. It is discovered
byintellectualsresearchers and theoristsand held by them until its
implications aredetermined and passed on for consumption.Knowledge
is propositional and generaliz-able and Research is the process by
which itis generated.
According to this paradigmatic view,Knowledge remains the
purview of the acad-emy where it can be carefully defined
andcontrolled. But, as Eisner (1993, p. 6) states:
Humans are sentient creatures who livein a qualitative world.
The sensorysystem that humans possess provides themeans through
which the qualities ofthe world are experienced . . . [and] outof
experience, concepts are formed. . . .Our conceptual life, shaped
by imagina-tion and the qualities of the world expe-rienced, gives
rise to the intentions thatdirect our activities.
Arts-informed research, with one of itsmain goals of
accessibility (and breadth ofaudience), is an attempt to
acknowledgeindividuals in societies as knowledgemakers engaged in
the act of knowledgeadvancement. Tied to moral purpose, it isalso
an explicit attempt to make a differ-ence through research, not
only in the livesof ordinary citizens but also in the thinkingand
decisions of policymakers, politicians,legislators, and other key
decision makers.
Arts-informed research is part of abroader commitment to shift
the dominantparadigmatic view that keeps the academyand community
separated: to acknowledgethe multiple dimensions that constitute
andform the human conditionphysical, emo-tional, spiritual, social,
culturaland themyriad ways of engaging in the worldoral,literal,
visual, embodied. That is, to connectthe work of the academy with
the life andlives of communities through research that is
accessible, evocative, embodied, empathic, andprovocative.
Following Suzi Gablik (1991), arts-informed research is part of
a larger agendato reenchant research. According to
Gablik,reenchantment
means stepping beyond the modern traditions of mechanism,
positivism,empiricism, rationalism, materialism,secularism and
scientismthe wholeobjectifying consciousness of theEnlightenmentin
a way that allows fora return of soul. . . . It also refers to
thatchange in the general social moodtoward a new paradigmatic
idealism anda more integrated value system that bringshead and
heart together. (p. 11)
Defining Elements and Form
How can the arts (broadly conceived)inform the research
process?
How can the arts inform the represen-tational form of
research?
As a framework for inquiry, arts-informedresearch is
sufficiently fluid and flexible toserve either as a methodological
enhance-ment to other research approaches or as astand-alone
qualitative methodology. Forexample, as a methodological
enhancement,one might conduct an arts-informed life his-tory study
(see, e.g., McIntyre, 2000; Miller,2001; Promislow, 2005), an
arts-informedphenomenological inquiry (see, e.g., Halifax,2002;
Rykov, 2006; Thomas, 2004), an arts-informed narrative inquiry
(see, e.g., Kunkel,2000), or an arts-informed ethnography
(see,e.g., McIntyre, 2005). As a stand-alonemethodology, situated
within a qualitativeframework, arts-informed research perspec-tives
enhance the possibilities of information
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gathering and representation (see, e.g.,brown, 2000; Cole &
McIntyre, 2001, 2004,2006; de Freitas, 2003; Gosse, 2005;
Grant,2003; Knowles & Thomas, 2002; Luciani,2006; Mantas, 2004;
Sbrocchi, 2005).
DEFINING ELEMENTS
Broadly grounded in assumptions thatdefine a qualitative
paradigm, arts-informedresearch has several defining elements:
First and foremost, arts-informedresearch involves a commitment
to a partic-ular art form (or forms in the case of mixedor
multimedia) that is reflected in elementsof the creative research
process and in therepresentation of the research text. Theselected
art form or forms serve to frameand define the inquiry process and
text.
The methodological integrity of theresearch, a second defining
element, is deter-mined in large part by the relationship
betweenthe form and substance of the research textand the inquiry
process reflected in the text.In other words, the rationale for the
use ofphotography, for example, as the defining artform guiding the
inquiry or representationmust be readily apparent by how and
howwell it works to illuminate and achieve theresearch
purposes.
Following the emergent nature ofqualitative research in general,
the creativeinquiry process of arts-informed research isdefined by
an openness to the expansivepossibilities of the human imagination.
Ratherthan adhering to a set of rigid guidelines forgathering and
working with research mate-rial, a researcher using
arts-informedmethodology follows a more natural processof
engagement relying on commonsensedecision making, intuition, and a
generalresponsiveness to the natural flow of eventsand experiences.
Serendipity plays a keyrole in the inquiry process much as it
does
in life. Moreover, we infer that researcherscan learn from
artists about matters ofprocess. That is, the processes of art
makinginform the inquiry in ways congruent withthe artistic
sensitivities and technical (artistic)strengths of the researcher
in concert with theoverall spirit and purpose of the inquiry.
Also, as in most qualitative research,the subjective and
reflexive presence of theresearcher is evident in the research text
invarying ways depending on the focus andpurpose of the inquiry. In
arts-informedresearch, however, the researchers artistryis also
predominant. By artistry, we includeconceptual artistry and
creative and aes-thetic sensibilities, not only technical skillsor
an externally sanctioned title of artist.Extending the idea from
qualitative inquiryof researcher as instrument, in
arts-informedresearch the instrument of research is alsothe
researcher-as-artist.
Although we operate on the assumptionthat all research is
inherently autobio-graphicala reflection of who we arearts-informed
research is not exclusively aboutthe researcher. In other words,
although thefocus of an arts-informed inquiry may be theresearcher
herself or himself, it is not neces-sarily so. Arts-informed
research differs, forexample, from autoethnography (see Scott-Hoy
& Ellis, this volume) or autobiography,both of which focus on
the researcher as thesubject of inquiry. Arts-informed researchhas
strong reflexive elements that evidencethe presence and signature
of the researcher,but the researcher is not necessarily the focusor
subject of study.
A sixth defining element of arts-informed research relates to
audience. Consis-tent with one of the overarching purposes of
arts-informed research, there must be anexplicit intention for the
research to reachcommunities and audiences including butbeyond the
academy. The choice and articu-lation of form will reflect this
intention.
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Related to research relevance andaccessibility to audience is
the centrality ofaudience engagement. The use of the arts
inresearch is not for arts sake. It is explicitlytied to moral
purposes of social responsibil-ity and epistemological equity.
Thus, theresearch text is intended to involve thereader/audience in
an active process ofmeaning making that is likely to have
trans-formative potential. Relying on the powerof art to both
inform and engage, theresearch text is explicitly intended to
evokeand provoke emotion, thought, and action.
FORM
To embrace the potential of the arts toinform scholarship is to
be open to theways in which the literary, visual, or per-forming
artsand the inherent methodsand processes of those various art
formscan inform processes and representationsof scholarly inquiry.
The relationshipbetween and among research purposesrelated to
knowledge advancement andresearch communication, art form, and
theartist-researchers grounding in and devel-oping
expertise/competence with the cho-sen art form is key. Indeed, form
is themain defining element of arts-informedresearch. Choice of art
form that will guideinquiry processes and/or representationinvolves
a consideration of form in itsmany manifestations.
Form as genre and/or medium meansthe way or mode of presenting
the text orconcepts including text-based means such asfiction,
creative nonfiction, and poetry; performative and time-sensitive
approachessuch as dance, performance, theatre, andmusic; and
image-based approaches includ-ing painting, photography, collage,
multi-media, sculpture, film/video, folk arts, andinstallation art.
Important in decisions about
form as genre are prior experiences andfamiliarity with the
particular genre ormedium and how the use of that mediumwill
contribute to knowledge productioninother words, how representation
and inquiryprocess are unified.
Form as method speaks to the rela-tionship between the art form
and the cre-ative inquiry processes. Carl Leggo (2004)describes
himself as living in the world as apoet, eager to rethink poetry
into humanlife by engaging in a poetics of research. Hedescribes
poetry as a way of making theworld in words . . . a site for
dwelling, forholding up, for stopping (Leggo, 1998,p. 182). Carls
poetic research texts and thecreative process they represent echo
hisway of being in the world as a poet. Hiswork is a vivid example
of how form andmethod can dwell in communion.
Form as structural element refers tothe literal or metaphorical
arrangements oftheoretical constructs, narratives, experi-ences,
and their various representations, sothat there is a coherent
articulation of a par-ticular perspective that illustrates
knowledgeproduction and purposeful communication.For example, Lois
Kunkels (2000) researchabout children of missionaries from theirnow
adult perspectives is set in West Africa,where the author herself
grew up as a childof missionary parents. West Africa is also the
home of the mythological character,Anansi the Spider. Because,
coincidentally,an epiphanal event in Loiss early life alsoinvolved
a spider, she chose to work with aspider metaphor to define the
structure ofher research text. The result is an evocativeand
compelling arts-informed narrative,Spiders Spin Silk, with the
Anansi storiesproviding the metaphorical structure for theresearch
text.
Form as technical element refers tothe place of templates for
designing the
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physical appearance of the documenthow the text and media are
presented onthe page. In her book Of Earth and Fleshand Bones and
Breath: Landscapes ofEmbodiment and Moments of Re-enactment,Suzanne
Thomas (2004) uses languagesof poetry and photography to create
anintertextual space for phenomenologicalengagement with the
natural world. Herintent is for the reader to dwell in the
inti-macy of knowledge and experience aes-thetic representations as
a continuousunfolding of meanings (p. 12). To createthis kind of
engagement, Suzanne devel-oped a template for the aesthetic
arrange-ment of visual and textual fragmentsaskeletal frame to hold
image and text inrhythmic patterns. The beauty, sensuality,and
overall power of this work are in largepart due to the authors
attention to com-positional arrangement and her use of
anorganizational template to develop a sym-biotic synergy between
the elements ofimages/space/words (p. 7).
Form as communication elementinvolves a consideration of both
audienceand research purpose to determine whetherthe form is
optimal for full and rich commu-nication of ideas and constructs.
In otherwords, to paraphrase Elliot Eisner (1993),decisions about
form as communicationinvolve consideration of the question, Howand
whom will the form inform?
Form as aesthetic element relates tohow the work should look
based on theaesthetic principles and conventions of thegenre. By
aesthetic we mean considerationof the enduring principles of form
and com-position, of weight and light, of color andline, of texture
and tone, as when workingin the painterly arts, for example. The
aesthetic element reflects how central prin-ciples upheld in a
variety of art formsinternal consistency and coherence, clarityand
quality, authenticity and sincerity,
evocation and resonancecombine to con-tribute to the beauty of
the work. Attendingto aesthetics of form does not necessarilymean
that researchers identify themselvesas artists or have extensive
background orexperience in arts production. It does mean,though,
that the researcher-as-artist mustmake a commitment to learning how
theaesthetic elements of an art form caninform a research
project.
Form as procedural element andemergent phenomenon means that
elementsof form may change over time as theinquiry matures or
develops and as ideasevolve. Inspiration for form may come atthe
outset and drive an inquiry. Inspirationmay also present itself in
various ways atany point in the research process; often it
isbecause of implicit or metaphorical connec-tions that become
evident while immersedin the inquiry process. Inspiration may
haverational, reasoned sources or it may be hap-penstance,
serendipitous. It is at these timesthat the researchers full depth
of profes-sional experience and perspective come intoplay. The
researcher is, after all, the instru-ment of form.
Form as reflection of the qualities ofgoodness of inquiry
requires that, while the research must exhibit qualities of
soundscholarship (focus, intensity, authority, rel-evance,
substance, and so on), it must do so in a way that is congruent
with the artform used. This speaks to the form beingintegral to
research purposes and proce-dural approaches in conjunction with
thepotential of the work to influence the pub-lic good. The
qualities of goodness (elabo-rated later in the chapter) are a set
of broadprinciples that guide and define the quali-ties of
arts-informed research. Underscrutiny it ought to be evident that
the pur-poses, processes, orientations, literatures,and outcomes of
the study work together inharmony.
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Ways and Means of Finding Form
FINDING FORM THROUGH DATA
During research conversations with pro-fessors of teacher
education in a life historystudy, Ardra became vividly aware that
someof the experiences being recounted were soimbued with emotion
and such poignantillustrations of the often dysfunctional
rela-tionship between academic institutions andindividual faculty
members goals and valuesthat conventional forms of
representingthese experiences seemed inadequate.Frequently, the
participants used graphic lan-guage to create images or metaphors
todescribe elements of their experience. Theyoften struggled to
find words to adequatelyconvey the passion and emotion felt
aboutcertain issues and experiences. In an attemptto find a
representational form that wouldmore closely render the aesthetic
of livedexperience, however partial, and afford read-ers better
opportunities for their own reso-nant interpretations, Ardra turned
to thetableau art form, inspired by American con-temporary artists
Edward Kienholz andNancy Reddin Kienholz.
The experiences recounted by the teachereducators, and the
themes and issues embed-ded in those experiences and in the telling
ofthem, inspired the conceptualization andcreation of a series of
three-dimensional rep-resentations entitled Living in Paradox(Cole,
Knowles, brown, & Buttignol, 1999).In Academic Altarcations a
conveyor beltcarries symbols of personal sacrifice to thealtar of
the academy. A Perfect Imbalance isan unevenly weighted balance
scale thatdepicts the dual mandate of teacher educa-tors work and
the associated elusive pur-suit of a balanced life. In
WrestlingDifferences, action figures set up in a toywrestling ring
depict the gender inequitiesthat continue to define much of
academic
life for women. Together, the images rely onshock value and
exaggeration to draw view-ers in to connect with the truths
expressed,the ultimate goal being to precipitate thecreation of a
more humane and generousreality for teacher educators in the
academy.
FINDING FORM BASED ONRESEARCHERS ARTISTIC IDENTITY
During a visit to an art gallery, Garycame across the
photographic and instal-lation work of Canadian artist
MarleneCreates. He was both intrigued and moti-vated by the
resonance he felt with her art.The exhibit was a one-person,
multi-instal-lation, retrospective work entitled MarleneCreates:
Land Works 19791991 (Creates,1992). The work portrays notions of
spaceand place and humans impressions andresponses.
Two installations within the largerexhibit clearly expressed
Createss methodof artistic inquiry. The Distance BetweenTwo Points
Is Measured in Memories(Creates, 1990) explored the
relationshipbetween human experience and the land-scape and, in
particular, the ways in whichlandscape is richly and profoundly
differen-tiated into places (Creates, quoted inGarvey, 1993, p.
20). The artist was pri-marily interested in how people
rememberplace, and she used black and white pho-tography, personal
narratives, and graphitemap drawings on paper with artifacts/found
objects to articulate her artistic find-ings about individuals
memories of thelandscape. Places of Presence: NewfoundlandKin and
Ancestral Land, Newfoundland,19891991 (Creates, 1991) consisted
ofphotographs, handwritten narratives, andhand-drawn memory maps,
along withfound objects as artifacts.
The complexities, yet also the simplicities,of Createss life
history-based, visual stories
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Arts-Informed Research65
were obvious. She showed the personalstrengths and attachments
of her relatives to place and community and her ownresponses to
them and their contexts. Herwork reinforced Garys intuitive
feelingsabout the limitations of conventional, oral,and text-based
life history work. Createsswork also offered insights into the
creativeart-making inquiry process. This happen-stance encounter by
one artist with the workof another gave rise to a program of
researchon sense of place that evolved over severalyears (see,
e.g., Knowles & Thomas, 2000,2002; Thomas & Knowles,
2002).
FINDING FORM BASED ON INTENDED AUDIENCE
In a research project on caregiving andAlzheimers disease (Cole
& McIntyre,2004, 2006; McIntyre & Cole, 2006),
theresearchers identified public education andcaregiver support as
two of their goals.They created a seven-piece, two- and
three-dimensional mixed media installationabout caregiving and
Alzheimers diseasethat paid tribute to those with the illnessand
those in caregiving roles. One purposeof the exhibit was to make
Alzheimersdisease more familiar to a wide public audi-ence. Another
aim was to provide opportu-nities for those directly affected by
theillness to feel affirmed and supported. TheAlzheimers Project
was displayed for sev-eral days in prominent public venues
acrossCanada, and family caregivers were invitedto view the work
and share their experi-ences of Alzheimers disease and
caregivingthrough group and individual conversa-tions and by
contributing written responsesand artifacts related to their
experiences.Members of the general public respondedthrough written
comments and audiotape-recorded stories. Visitors to the
exhibitwere invited to participate in differentways. They could
view the work; sit with
others and enjoy conversation over a puzzleor game; share a
thought, impression, or story by writing in a journal or speak-ing
into a tape recorder; leave a memory (a poem, photograph, or
memento) and bepart of a collective remembering of care;and/or
participate in a group conversationabout issues of caregiving.
Creating spacesfor people to feel comfortable with thework was one
of the central principles guid-ing the researchers attention to
form.
Regardless of how or when an art formis selected as a key
methodological compo-nent, important in arts-informed research
isthe researchers commitment to it in all ofits manifestations.
Qualities of Goodness inArts-Informed Research
Arts-informed research, in process and rep-resentational form,
is neither prescriptivenor codified. It is the creative meshing
ofscholarly and artistic endeavors. Nevertheless,like all research,
studies following arts-informed research methodology must
besubjected to scrutiny to assess, and perhapshelp to explain,
their worth or value asresearch. A broad assessment is guided bythe
two general questions: How do the artsinform the research process,
and how dothe arts inform the research representa-tion? More
specifically, a study imbuedwith the following qualities is one
that islikely to both exemplify and contribute tothe broad agenda
of arts-informed research,that of enhancing understanding of
thehuman condition through alternative (toconventional) processes
and representa-tional forms of inquiry, and reaching multi-ple
audiences by making scholarship moreaccessible.
Intentionality. All research has oneor more purposes but not all
research is
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66Methodologies
driven by a moral commitment. Consistentwith the broad agenda of
social scienceresearch to improve the human condition,arts-informed
research has both a clearintellectual purpose and moral
purpose.Ultimately, the research must stand forsomething.
Arts-informed research repre-sentations, then, are not intended as
titilla-tions but as opportunities for transformation,revelation,
or some other intellectual andmoral shift. They must be more than
goodstories, images, or performances. For examplebrenda browns
(2000) Lost Bodies andWild Imaginations is a provocative tale
abouttelling and what its like to tell aboutchildhood sexual abuse
through artisticenterprise. brown describes the intentionof her
work as a testimony to lives lostand lives reclaimed, to the power
of theimagination to . . . return these histories totheir rightful
place in the world (p. ii).(www.sagepub.com/knowlessupplement)
Researcher Presence. A researcherspresence is evident in a
number of waysthroughout an arts-informed researchtext (in whatever
form it is presentedand, by implication, throughout the
entireresearching process). The researcher is pre-sent through an
explicit reflexive self-accounting; her presence is also impliedand
felt, and the research text (the repre-sentational form) clearly
bears the signa-ture or fingerprint of researcher-as-artist.Nancy
Davis Halifax is a visual artist, poet,prose writer, and researcher
in areas ofhealth, disability, and homelessness. Herwork (e.g.,
Halifax, 2002, 2007) is a vividexample of artist-researcher
confluence.(www.sagepub.com/knowlessupplement)
Aesthetic Quality. The central pur-pose of arts-informed
research is knowl-edge advancement through research, notthe
production of fine art works. Art is amedium through which research
purposesare achieved. The quality of the artistic
elements of an arts-informed research proj-ect is defined by how
well the artisticprocess and form serve research goals.Attention to
the aesthetics of a particulargenre are, therefore, important;
aestheticsof form are integrally tied to communica-tion. In On
Womens Domestic Knowledgeand Work: Growing Up in an ItalianKitchen
(2006), Teresa Luciani combinesfiction, autobiography, and
photographyin an exploration that celebrates the depthand
complexity of domestic knowledgeand makes visible womens domestic
labor.The power and beauty of her work reflectsrigorous attention
to the aesthetic qualitiesof each art form and, in turn, how the
art forms combine in an aesthetic
whole.(www.sagepub.com/knowlessupplement)
Methodological Commitment. Arts-informed research evidences
attention tothe defining elements and form of arts-informed
research. As such the workreflects a methodological
commitmentthrough evidence of a principled process,procedural
harmony, and attention to aes-thetic quality. Love Stories About
Caregivingand Alzheimers Disease (McIntyre &Cole, 2006) is a
45-minute spoken wordperformance created from data gathered ina
study of caregivers experiences of caringfor a loved one with
Alzheimers disease.Working with the data to identify substan-tive
themes related to the research pur-pose, it became clear that, to
preserve theintegrity of and honor the caregivers expe-riences, the
form of representation neededto remain true to the narrative and
emotivequality of what people contributed.
(www.sagepub.com/knowlessupplement)
Holistic Quality. From purpose tomethod to interpretation and
representa-tion, arts-informed research is a holisticprocess and
rendering that runs counter tomore conventional research
endeavorsthat tend to be more linear, sequential,
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Arts-Informed Research67
compartmentalized, and distanced fromresearcher and
participants. A rigorousarts-informed text is imbued with
aninternal consistency and coherence thatrepresents a strong and
seamless relation-ship between purpose and method (processand
form). The research text also evidencesa high level of authenticity
that speaks tothe truthfulness and sincerity of theresearch
relationship, process of inquiry,interpretation, and
representational form.Gary Knowless and Suzanne Thomassresearch
with high school students explor-ing sense of place in schools
(Knowles &Thomas, 2000, 2002; Thomas & Knowles,2002) is an
example of holistic quality inresearch. The student-researchers in
theproject were at once information gatherers,portraiture artists,
and interpreters ofexperience. The students creations, madeup of
personal narratives, photographs,memory maps, and found objects,
becameat once data and representations indica-tive of the inquiry
focus. (www.sagepub.com/knowlessupplement)
Communicability. Foremost in arts-informed work are issues
related to audi-ence and the transformative potential ofthe work.
Research that maximizes itscommunicative potential addresses
concernsabout the accessibility of the researchaccount usually
through the form and lan-guage in which it is written, performed,
orotherwise presented. Accessibility is relatedto the potential for
audience engagementand response. Such representations ofresearch
have the express purpose of con-necting, in a holistic way, with
the hearts,souls, and minds of the audience. They areintended to
have an evocative quality anda high level of resonance for diverse
audi-ences. In the Alzheimers Project, describedearlier, children,
rural women, and menover 80people who do not usually attendresearch
presentationscame to see the
work and spend time at the various spacesin the exhibit created
for social interaction,information exchange, or silent
repose.(www.sagepub.com/knowlessupplement)
Knowledge Advancement. Researchis about advancing knowledge
howeverknowledge is defined. The knowledgeadvanced in arts-informed
research isgenerative rather than propositional andbased on
assumptions that reflect themultidimensional, complex,
dynamic,intersubjective, and contextual nature ofhuman experience.
In so doing, knowledgeclaims must be made with sufficient
ambi-guity and humility to allow for multipleinterpretations and
reader response. KathrynChurchs research-based installation,
Fabri-cations: Stitching Ourselves Together, isconstructed around
22 wedding dressesthat her mother sewed over 50 years. From1997 to
2001, she exhibited the work inpublic venues to audiences who could
imme-diately connect with the familiarity of thedisplay and be
challenged, perhaps forthe first time, to think about some of
thesociocultural complexities depicted.
(www.sagepub.com/knowlessupplement)
Contributions. Tied to the intellec-tual and moral purposes of
arts-informedresearch are its theoretical and
practicalcontributions. Sound and rigorous arts-informed work has
both theoretical poten-tial and transformative potential. The
formeracknowledges the centrality of the So What?question and the
power of the inquirywork to provide insights into the
humancondition, while the latter urges researchersto imagine new
possibilities for those whomthe work is about and for. Researchers
arenot passive agents of the state, university,or any other agency
of society. Researchersresponsibilities are toward fellow
humans,neighbors, and community members. RossGray and Chris Sinding
poignantly
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confront this issue in their research-baseddramas on/with people
living with cancer(see, e.g., Gray & Sinding, 2002).
(www.sagepub.com/knowlessupplement)
The transformative potential of arts-informed research speaks to
the need forresearchers to develop representations thataddress
audiences in ways that do notpacify or indulge the senses but
arouse themand the intellect to new heights of responseand action.
In essence, and ideally, theeducative possibilities of
arts-informedwork are foremost in the heart, soul, andmind of the
researcher from the onset of aninquiry. The possibilities of such
educativeendeavors, broadly defined, are near limit-less; their
power to inform and provokeaction are only constrained by the
humanspirit and its energies.
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