The first article I chose to influence my research is titled Cultivating Researchful Dispositions: a Review of A/R/Tographic Scholarship, written by Anita Sinner (2017). In this article, Sinner analyses the path that a/r/tography has taken and will move towards. Additionally, Sinner proclaims that she aims “not to continue in circular contestations, nor to mediate these perspectives, but to consider more fully where a/r/tographic practice is now moving in relation to where it began, and to situate a/r/tography as a form of inquiry” (p.39). Sinner describes this process as “tracking discourse” (p.41). To achieve this, she uses “Altheide’s Qualitative Media Analysis approach to document and content analysis” (p.42) to analyze the content of three special issues of separate academic journals specializing in Arts Research. Conjointly, Sinner utilized 49 articles and interludes to form a comprehensive investigation. In her study, Sinner found that 29 articles are “traditional text-based articles, most with at least one visual image, and 20 of the articles are visual interludes accompanied by an artist’s statement” (p.45).  Further, Sinner summarizes that she determined that a/r/tography has resulted in the emergence of new “streams” of inquiry. Sinner defines these new streams of inquiry as materiality, spatiality, and relationality (p.56-58). Furthermore, she finishes her analysis with a passionate plea that we, as a/r/tographers, “embrace our tensionality” (p.57-58) regarding our discourses. Overall, Sinner formed a solid argument that a/r/tography is a diverse form of inquiry based on her description of the methodology’s path, including a call for action for the continued pursuit of knowledge through artistic exploration.

This paper is valuable to my arts-based research project because it caused me to let go of the constant defence and critique of the validity of arts-based research that has dominated the material I have read. Instead, I now aim to focus on what arts-based research has and can do for me. Furthermore, Sinner’s analysis of different types of arts-based research helped me to see the diversity of approaches as liberating rather than contradictory and confusing. Previously, as a researcher, I considered data and analysis as separate entities from myself, and that it was vital and that I remain a neutral observer. However, after reading this article, I see myself as situated within my research as an artist, researcher, and teacher. Furthermore, my determination to explore myself from a new perspective has influenced me to begin a visual journal that I plan to use as data to analyze to determine where the intersections of my experiences holistically affect my role as a researcher, teacher, and artist. The article influenced me to start a visual journal because I think a visual journal will allow me the freedom to express things about myself that I have neglected to write about very often because they are in my past. I have neglected consideration of my history for the past five years because I have been intensely focused on my present and future to ensure success in my academic and career aspirations. However, the Sinner paper and the analyzed articles exposed me to the idea that my history may be just as important as my present and future and an essential factor in my current position. Conjointly, I am warming to the idea Sinner expressed that arts-based research is inherently personal, and that is okay (p.45-46). In this vein, I hope my arts-based research project leads to self-improvement. Furthermore, if this is the outcome, I feel that self-improvement may lead to me doing research in the future that has further-reaching consequences. 

The second article I chose is Outsider perspective: looking and being looked at in the wartime journal and sketches of Keith Vaughan (Belsey, 2016). Initially, I found this article by researching the phrase “outsider perspective” because I consider myself an outsider in my roles as a researcher, teacher, and artist. Additionally, I found this article relevant to my plans because the author used Keith Vaughan’s sketches and journal as data to analyze. Belsey’s method relates to my project because I plan to create a visual journal and analyze it in relation to my art practice to better inform my position as an artist, teacher, and researcher. However, I will summarize the article before digging deeper into its influence on my research plans.

Belsey used the World War II journal of British artist Keith Vaughan, which contains written passages and sketches, to build the argument that his experiences early in his adult life influenced the outsider perspective of the art created later in his life. Belsey’s aims are summarized in his quote, “The close textual study of Vaughan’s journal must underpin the necessary critical re-appraisal of this singular figure in modern British art. That he died with the final volume of the journal in his hands, his writing trailing into an illegible scrawl, speaks of the centrality of Vaughan’s journal to his artistic and emotional life and its intended importance as the authoritative document of his innermost thoughts” (p.4). Belsey focuses on Vaughan’s wartime journal and sketches to gain insights into the influences and perspectives to “give voice to Vaughan’s experiences of being a homosexual man, at a time when such a way of life was still illegal, and document his observations, interactions and desires” (p.4). Further, Belsey presents various sketches made by Vaughan that depict males naked and from behind, in combination with his journal entries that express his sexual desires and inability to act upon them successfully, to theorize that this is where the perspective used in his art, later on, came from. Belsey uses Vaughan’s first journal entry, “‘I find myself alone in spite of the fact that my dearest wish is to be on intimate terms with my fellow men” (p.4) at the beginning of the article as strong evidence to support his claim that Vaughan’s military years shaped his artistic practice. Beyond this obvious connection, Belsey discusses the themes of “the power of vision and looking and being looked at” (p.6-12) as emergent in the comparison between Vaughan’s journal and his artistic creations later on in his life. Overall, Belsey shaped a compelling case that insights into the influences and formation of Vaughan’s artistic identity could be found through analysis of his journals. 

Belsey’s article connects to my Arts-based research project in the previously mentioned ways of journal analysis and outsider perspective. However, something else contained inside this article was a consideration of a holistic perspective on what may influence an artist’s work. Belsey uses quotes from Vaughan’s journal that talk about the artist’s thoughts, words, physical sensations, movements, location, and ways of knowing. Holism connects very deeply with my plans for self-exploration through journal analysis that I plan to conduct over the coming months. So, I plan to build on what I have learned through reading this paper. I will end with a quote from a separate source that seems appropriate as a connection to my work: “knowing, doing, and being cannot be parsed out as separate phenomena but must be conceived radically as cognition itself”  (Thom,2018). 

The contemporary artist that I have discovered as an influence on my EDCI 526 Arts-Based Research Assignment is Liu Wei. The specific article reviewed in detail herein is three decades distilled into 180 portraits by Barbara Pollack, published on hyperallergenic.com.  

Liu Wei is an artist from Beijing, China, born in 1965 (Liu Wei, 2017). Wei’s art has been featured at world-famous galleries such as Sydney, Australia’s Museum of Contemporary Art and the Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China, and dozens of other locations worldwide (Pollack, 2018). Liu Wei is most widely known for his portraiture work done chiefly with paint and has drawn comparisons to Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon from mainstream art critics (Pollack, 2018). However, Wei does not work exclusively with portraiture; he has produced many other works containing subject matter, such as still life and architecture, as seen in his masterful Watermelon, which he finished in 2004. Furthermore, Wei does not restrict himself to using paint as a medium like in his masterful series, as much of his work is multimedia, including his most recently showcased work, 180 faces (Pollack, 2018). In 180 Faces, Wei deviates from his previous painting style of “bright [colours] and expressionistic brushstrokes” (Pollack, 2018), as seen in Revolutionary Family, and instead “presents 180 diminutive portraits, each delivered in a different style and technique” (Pollack, 2018). Furthermore, Wei requests that his audience not view the subjects in 180 faces as real people but as what he describes as “expressions of his own subconscious” (Pollack, 2018). Wei has not gone on record to describe the exact meaning of these portraits. However, some historians have theorized that the meanings may range from a commentary on official portraiture, a representation of his subconscious, or even “just good old-fashioned sexism” (Pollack, 2018). 

In his varied approach, I find Wei’s most significant influence on my work. I, too, focus on portraiture in my art practice. Furthermore, I love experimenting with different mediums and techniques, much like Wei does. Also, I seek to move away from focusing so much on my skill acquisition and further into doing more with my art and having my images tell a story. I feel that in 180 faces, Wei is telling a story. I am not entirely sure what the story is, but I find the series of portraits seem to flow back and forth from start to finish. Further, they form an almost alphabet of expression; each portrait has its voice but forms different meanings in combination with the others depending on the placement and sequence, much like all the letters in the alphabet. Furthermore, I enjoyed the use of abstraction in Wei’s portraits and the contrast from subtle abstraction, like a splash of water running off the side of a face, to aggressive abstraction, such as breaking the glass on his frames. I have never done any abstract work, but I am compelled to try after witnessing Wei’s courageous use. When viewing 180 Faces, I felt intrigued, happy, curious, and in admiration (of both the artist and the portraits). Further, I felt like each portrait was a material being for reasons beyond what I can describe in words, a sensation that I find very motivating. Overall, Wei’s work challenges me to do more with my art, be more of an artist, and try to evoke emotion and tell a story; instead of focusing on a realistic representation of my subject or my skill as an illustrator.