Uncertain spaces: speculating in and on the Fine Art studio

<p>We are a group of artists and UK university educators investigating contemporary approaches to Fine Art pedagogy, with a focus on the studio as a space of creative uncertainty and speculation. Through an open call, we invited students and tutors to share films depicting their studio experiences. This compilation initiated a ‘working lunch’ workshop discussion at the 2023 Glasgow School of Art conference ‘On Not Knowing: How Artists Teach’ and contributed to a 2023 CHEAD seminar on ‘Studio Culture and Pedagogic Change’, which brought Fine Art studio practices into a dialogue about the challenges of space provision and declining attendance with academics from other creative disciplines. </p>\n<p>A subsequent open call gathered films which pooled the acts, tools, communities and spaces necessary for learning in creative practice. Screened as part of the ‘Gentle Gestures’ strand at the 2024 ‘Midlands Conference in Critical Thought’, Nottingham Trent University, the compilation revealed diverse approaches of concentration and play, directed attention and creative drift, collective activity and solo effort. These investigations went on to be further explored with art, dance, and drama professionals at the 2024 ‘Essential not Optional’ conference, University of Lincoln where we reflected on where and how confidence in practice is developed and how educators can enable students to embrace speculative approaches. During these events we have used various approaches to record participants’ observations, thoughts and questions, developing a collective documentation process of the strategies, tactics and pedagogy at work to support speculative practices and embodied learning in contemporary creative education. </p>\n<p>Our proposal for the NAFAE conference is intended to contribute to the ‘Practice exchange’ strand by sharing our findings to date and using the specific Fine Art context to prompt further reflection and discussion. We consider this work as a collective endeavour: with participants' consent, the material generated will further develop the repository of knowledge about studio making, teaching and learning in contemporary art education. As we understand the likely time limitations of the conference, we would like to propose that the session, if selected, might be scheduled to run adjacent to the lunch break. Our working lunch model particularly values the opportunities for dialogue and idea generation that emerge as conversation spills into more informal spaces. </p>\n<p>The gathering of multiple voices and perspectives from Fine Art (and the creative disciplines more broadly), is intended to make visible the strategies and tactics currently at work, to reinforce our community and to strengthen our collective resilience in challenging times. We take up the current Creative Education Manifesto’s call for ‘Putting the creativity back into creative arts/cultural arts education’ and align with NAFAE’s conference goal of highlighting stories of resilience, resistance, and positive action within the arts.</p>