Teaching Art through collaborative practice

Abstract

This practice led research is intended to address the struggle of many art teachers to adequately perform their dual responsibilities of teaching demands and creative practice. The aim of this study is to explore, through practice, whether a teaching-artist approach could produce a more balanced relation between both responsibilities. This dissertation adopted an Art Based Educational Research, which is a collaborative way of doing and mediating art, eliminating hierarchical distinction between the teacher and learner. A group of six participants chosen from the community organization ZAK and myself built a co-authored large relief in paper pulp with a social theme. The research recorded the interactions, discussions and any amendments in the work from the initial plan to the final work. In this way, through practice, this dissertation found and discussed some benefits of a collaborative art practice approach such as critical thinking, group problem solving and higher levels of motivation and autonomy in art education.