Art as research

Questions about arts-led research and the role of thedoctorate as a qualification in the arts have become increasinglycentral to understanding where art education - and so the artsthemselves - might be heading. These questions are in turn closelyrelated to the wider issues of the role of creativity the'subjective' and interdisciplinarity in research. In turn thesequestions challenge many assumptions that underpin the traditional claimto lead the production of new knowledge central to the authorityof universities. Driven by issues of professional status debates onthese issues rarely make explicit the underlying psychosocial andprofessional tensions that inform them masked what is really atstake in the current debate. As a former Chair of the NationalAssociation for Fine Art Education the author brings a wealth ofdirect experience to an analysis of these tensions using a criticaldiscussion of the process of his own art-led research to identify theimportance of understanding educational changes in relation to thenew role of the artist/teacher/researcher within institutions nowfacing the challenge of major social and environmental changes.