During the last decade, research in art and design in Finland has begun to explore new dimensions. Artists and designers have taken an active role in contextualising and interpreting the creative process in practice, as well as the products of this process, by looking at the process itself and the works produced through it. From this new point of view, the knowledge and the skills of a practising artist or designer form a central part of the research process, and this has produced a new way of doing research. In this new type of research project, part of the research is carried out as art or design practice. The central methodological question of this emerging field of research is: how can art or design practice interact with research in such a manner that they will together produce new knowledge, create a new point of view or form new, creative ways of doing research? In this article, the making and the products of making are seen as an essential part of research: they can be conceived both as answers to particular research questions and as artistic or designerly argumentation. As an object made by an artist-researcher, the artefact can also be seen as a method for collecting and preserving information and understanding. However, the artefacts seem unable to pass on their knowledge, which is relevant for the research context. Thus, the crucial task to be carried out is to give a voice to the artefact. This means interpreting the artefact. During the process of interpretation, furthermore, the artefact has to be placed into a suitable theoretical context. In this process, the final products (the artefacts) can be seen as revealing their stories, i.e. the knowledge they embody.

Abstract

The experiential knowledge of practice resides within the practitioner and is out of the immediate reach for other researchers. Only when practitioners have an intrinsic motivation to research and make their practice explicit can their embodied experiential knowledge reach an outside audience. The present case study is an attempt to access and understand such experiential knowledge in the act of throwing clay on a potter’s wheel. To enhance her tactile sensitivity and awareness, one of the researchers has thrown porcelain clay blindfolded for five days. Her experience has been documented and reflected upon through diaries, a Contextual Activity Sampling System (CASS-Query) and videos that include thinking aloud accounts. The findings reveal that the researcher was able to articulate her tactile experiences and share her experiential knowledge to a greater degree than before. Patterns in the making, such as dividing hands into categories of active and perceiving, and metaphorical language use were identified that may be of value in an educational setting. Feelings were acknowledged as major contributors to risk assessment and decision-making in the material problem-solving process. We propose the multimethod approach developed through this study for researcher-practitioners to capture and analyse their sensory experiences and experiential knowledge of a making situation when researching their practice.

Practice-led research has been under debate for three decades. One of its major issues concerns how the researcher who is also the practitioner documents and reflects on her creative process in relation to a research topic. This article reviews and discusses documentation and reflection in practice-led research through three cases of doctoral dissertations that were completed at Aalto University in Finland. Through the cases the article examines the role the documentation and reflection of creative processes and products in these studies. In conclusion, documentation in the practice-led research context functions as conscious reflection on and in action. Any means of documentation, for example diary writing, photographing, or sketching, can serve as a mode of reflection.

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This article describes an embodied way of making sense through making with the hands. We examine the potential o ftactile experience in the making process and analyse what tactile experiences mean. The study takes place in the context of an era marked by audio-visual dominance.The article presents a case study that observed and interviewed deafblind makers while they worked with clay. The findings reveal that modelling in clay resembles the visualisation process of sketching. As such, it may contribute to thinking through the hands. Language is not a self-evident communication tool for transferring tactile skills. Based on our case study, we propose the use of tactile communication in the process of transferring tactile knowledge through making with another person’s hands.

Art, craft and design activities are fundamentally creative in nature, requiring the implementation of ideas in the form of materially embodied artefacts. Within art and design education, initiation to the creative process is usually enhanced via a studio model where material experimentations are an integral part of learning processes. This case study explores materiality in learning from a relational perspective where material forces are at play in constituting learning: how learning is entangled with or an effect of the engagement with the materiality of places, environments and (organic) matter. We base our enquiry on an MA course called Design Exploration and Experimentation organized at Aalto University, Finland. The experiences of three students discussed in the article form the key data of the case study. By describing the relations between the experiences, environments and creative outcomes, the case study sheds light on the relevance of materiality in learning, especially in higher education.

Art and craft practitioners have personal experience of the benefits of making: the handling of material can help to regulate our mental states through providing a means to reach flow states. The mirror neuron system helps in skill learning, and the plasticity of the brain ensures that skills may be learned at all stages of life. Arts and crafts play a role in controlling stress and enhancing relaxation. They also enable us to fail safely and handle our emotions. Furthermore, they facilitate social activity for many individuals who are at risk of social isolation. This article aims to integrate knowledge from both the field of neuroscience and the arts by focusing on the implications that flow experience and the mirror neuron system integral to making processes have on our psychophysical well-being.