Arts-Based Research with Joe Norris

Rapporteurs: Tamara Levine, Phyllis Steeves, Caroline Vaughan

Participants in this course were invited to explore arts-based research: what it is, how it is applied, examples of various forms of arts based inquiry, and how its use can inform practice. Both participants and presenter asked, does this type of work give us a body of knowledge and/or credible data?

Arts-based research means using various forms of the arts as the lens through which one can re-search (re-look at, or re-view) ideas. The data which emerges from such an inquiry is often rich in acculturated text, offering a depth which isn't possible through more static, academic research. Data collected from such an inquiry has ongoing value to both the learner and the practitioner researcher.

Joe opened the session by introducing a few key concepts. First on the list was liminal, defined as the space between reality and fantasy, or the period between wakefulness and sleep, or a place where each individual can go to collect new meanings. Magi, magic and imagination followed, along with conspire ("to breathe with") and soulfulness. 

These terms set the stage for an exploration of the "plausible versus the actual" in relation to research.

In each of the four days, participants explored various activities as forms of meaning-making: concrete poetry, colour interpretation, body sculpting, collage and musical storytelling.
Participants were encouraged to either

• start with a concrete idea or question and apply the activity, or
• start with the pure activity and develop the idea from the data which emerges.

We all recognized the ways in which art can be used in community inquiry and as a means to reveal depths in static text, but ultimately only some of the participants were willing to identify arts-based inquiry as a recognized form of research.

Here are a few comments and questions drawn from the group discussions from this course.

• Different approaches to data collection result in the collection of different data.
• Have we lost ways of communicating?
• Find the art form most evocative to the culture.