11.30am on a Sunday Morning: Making Meanings with Mary

Abstract

Marginalisation of the visual arts resulting from the marketisation of education impacts young people's access to and interaction with culture on a global stage. In England this educational disruption is characterised by inconsistent access to arts‐based curricula and democratic pedagogies, where those from lower socio‐economic backgrounds are at risk of neglect. Influenced by this political malaise, I conducted microethnographic research examining how artist workshops shape the cultural interactions of children aged 11 and 12. The research aimed to provide new opportunities for participants living and studying in an area of deprivation in a South of England city with uneven access to broad cultural experiences. Situated in a contemporary art gallery over a two‐week period, the study interrogates how environmental factors affect children's development from a sociocultural perspective. By analysing conversations and art production, children's meaning‐making formations are revealed. Findings indicate that values underpinning the research partnership and performed by the artist are paramount in shaping development. In turn participants perceive themselves as becoming artists where the reproduction of social practices generates new knowledge and identities. Environmental factors disrupt participants’ experiences of pedagogy exposing power and control at the heart of the English education system. However, with new‐found agency emerges a redistribution of power performed through dialogue between participants and the cultural environment, findings which indicate values and practices salient beyond Britain.

The Shock of the New

“…At the centre of the taught content is recognition of the unique way in which artist teachers engage in teaching and learning, and the belief that making art generates new knowledge, meanings and understandings (Payne 2018). The curriculum is delivered through on‐campus live sessions in either an art studio or at the museum, but as a result of COVID‐19 teaching is now delivered asynchronously and through live virtual taught sessions.…”

“…It is troublesome and liminal (Land et al 2008). This intertextual dialogue focuses on creation through reflection and formulating imaginative and inventive responses (Payne 2018). In this sense, I use art to construct an image of my community (Marshall Payne 2020).…”

Drawing social worlds: a methodological examination of children’s artworks

“…Cross comparison of unsolicited conversation and visual datasets enabled me to ascertain how participants made sense of the event (see Payne, 2018 for cross-examination of the two audio datasets). From a sociocultural perspective speech is perceived as a fundamental human behaviour where its development and symbolic activity transform tool use (Vygotsky, 1999).…”

“…When using art in research it is important for the artwork to have a culturally meaningful focus for participants (Kearney and Hyle, 2004), which is why Mary encouraged participants to utilise their social worlds including experiences, memories and desires. Stimuli also emerged from themes communicated through gallery exhibits, and in dialogue between Mary and the pupils while they made art (see Payne, 2018).…”

“…Motivated by increasing inequality in the English education system and ensuing marginalisation of art and design in the curriculum (for example, see Payne, 2018; Payne & Hall, 2018), I facilitated a collaborative art education project and scrutinised it using a sociocultural micro-ethnographic lens. The study explored how 99 Year seven pupils (aged 11–12 years) learn in a contemporary gallery by participating in artist workshops, where art production was positioned as a dominant data collection method.…”