Abstract
This article explores the impact of COVID-19 on the physical learning spaces of art and design students to consider how this has informed and influenced the creative process, emotional resilience and engagement with learning during this difficult year of restrictions. More specifically, it draws on the experiences of students in a Foundation Art and Design programme in a Further Education college in the North of England as a case study. As a transitional year between Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE), this programme is designed to be transformative in terms of theoretical knowledge, practical skills and shaping student identities through ‘becoming’ creative practitioners. Concepts of liminality and liminal spaces provide a lens through which to offer an account of the nature and scope of these transformative experiences over the past year. As an accidental ethnography (Levitan et al. 2017), aspects discussed suggest that whilst COVID-19 had a significant negative impact on the experiences and progression of this cohort of students, there have also been many positive outcomes suggesting that this particular programme has maintained its transformative ambitions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 268-282 |
| Journal | The International Journal of Art and Design |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 8 May 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Elaine Robertson is an Art and Design Lecturer at an FE/HE College in the north of England. She leads the Visual Communication pathway on the Art and Design Foundation programme and also leads the full cohort on the multi-disciplinary MA Creative and Professional Practice. Her teaching pedagogy is underpinned by 30 years of creative industry practice including photography, advertising and creative media, graphic design and visual communication. Currently studying for a PhD at Northumbria University, her research explores the experiences of Foundation level art and design students as they make the transition between Further Education and Higher Education, with a particular focus on how they understand creativity and the creative process. E-mail: [email protected]Dr Judy Thomas is an Early Career Researcher at Northumbria University; working with creative practitioners, teachers, professionals from the cultural sector and students from schools and universities, her research explores collaborative practice within the context of artist-led learning programmes. Current activities focus on the Create Aspire Transform programme with Berwick Visual Arts. As Senior Lecturer and Director of Education, Judy teaches across the Foundation and BA Fine Art undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Her previous roles include Learning Manager at Creativity, Culture and Education and Programme Manager (Learning and Inclusion) for Liverpool Biennial. She has also worked at Tyneside Cinema, Waygood and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead. E-mail: [email protected]
Dr Mark Bailey is Associate Professor of Design-led Innovation and Director of Transnational Education in Design at Northumbria University, UK. He leads design-led innovation research and practice activities with external businesses as well as research programmes in the North East of England and in Armenia exploring the role of design-led innovation in small to medium sized enterprises working in creative, cultural and IT sectors. Bailey considers design to be the art of creative compromise, a temporal, synthetic act of knowledge-creation which creatively balances the multiple disciplinary and stakeholder perspectives vested in a given situation. His personal research is exploring the liminality associated with such knowledge-creation and the educational frameworks that may be conceived to support it. He has worked in higher education for the past 24 years having previously worked in the aerospace industry on advanced passenger and business jet aircraft designs. E-mail: [email protected]