J E N N I TRAINING ARTISTIC REFLEXIVITY IN VISUAL ARTISTS F E How is the reflexive impulse recognized, valued and taught to the R visual artist? Reflexivity is the artistic response to the idea or impulse from the brain. Training reflexivity as a tool is not about training W the impulse, but about training the reflexive response to impulse. I Acting pedagogy, through improvisation and repetition improves the G reflexive response. Using actor-training methods that I have adapted M into gestural drawing exercises, visual artists can practice responding O reflexively in collaboration with others. Learning and artistry are social processes; they require embodied engagement with others to R teach reflexivity and artistic individuality. This research contributes E new interdisciplinary language and innovative techniques to visual artist training and identifies artistic reflexivity as a trainable part of a developing artistic process. M F A TRAINING ARTISTIC 2 0 1 REFLEXIVITY IN VISUAL 6 ARTISTS J E N N IF ER WIGMORE TRAINING ARTISTIC REFLEXIVITY IN VISUAL ARTISTS BY JENNIFER WIGMORE A thesis exhibition presented to OCAD University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Art in Interdisciplinary Masters of Art and Design APRIL 9 – 16TH, 2016 STUDENT GALLERY, 52 MCCAUL STREET TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA. JENNIFER WIGMORE 2016 cc Copyright Notice This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format Adapt— remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. Under the following conditions: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. TRAINING ARTISTIC REFLEXIVITY IN VISUAL ARTISTS. Copyright by Jennifer Wigmore. MFA Thesis Paper, INTERDISCIPLINARY MASTERS OF ART AND DESIGN, OCAD University, 100 McCaul St. W. Toronto, Ontario. M5T 1W1 www.jenniferwigmore.com ii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION: I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize OCAD University to lend this thesis to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. I further authorize OCAD University to reproduce this thesis by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. iii ABSTRACT Training Artistic Reflexivity in Visual Artists Jennifer Wigmore MFA, IAMD OCAD University, 2016 TRAINING ARTISTIC REFLEXIVITY IN VISUAL ARTISTS How is the reflexive impulse recognized, valued and taught to the visual artist? Reflexivity is the artistic response to the idea or impulse from the brain. Training reflexivity as a tool is not about training the impulse, but about training the reflexive response to impulse. Acting pedagogy, through improvisation and repetition improves the reflexive response. Using actor-training methods that I have adapted into gestural drawing exercises, visual artists can practice responding reflexively in collaboration with others. Learning and artistry are social processes; they require embodied engagement with others to teach reflexivity and artistic individuality. This research contributes new interdisciplinary language and innovative techniques to visual artist training and identifies artistic reflexivity as a trainable part of a developing artistic process. KEY WORDS: Reflexivity, collaboration, visual art education, creativity, impulse, intuition, interdisciplinary, a/r/tography, play, pedagogy. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research project focuses on the importance of collaboration and I certainly couldn’t have done this without my many collaborators. Thank you to all of you and my humble apology to those that I forgot. • My Principal advisor, Professor Nicole Collins for your stewardship and gentle guidance through it all. • Dean Vladimir Spicanovic, my secondary advisor, for your unwavering support and the many passion filled conversations in your office over the years. • Saskia van Kampen, my internal advisor, for your infectious passion for teaching. • John Armstrong, my external advisor for your sage, kind and insightful comments. • The Social Science and Humanities Research Council for their generous funding of this research. • The OCAD U Student Gallery for hosting my exhibition. • OCAD U faculty for their support; Martha Ladly, David Clarkson, J.J. Lee, John Scott & Laura Millard. • OCAD U staff; Carol Roderick, James Morrow, Darryl Bank, Brian Desrosiers-Tam and Alice Brummel for always being available and having an answer. • The interim Graduate Program Director; Paulette Phillips, for your leadership and support in my final year. • To Samson Kong the designer of this document and the exercise guide. • To all the faculty at OCAD U who let me come into their classes and experiment; James Olley, Amy Swartz, Pam Patterson, David Griffin, Luke Siemens, Natalie Waldburger, Nicole Collins and Echo Railton. • The incredible students at OCAD U who bravely tried my exercises, who laughed and were so honest. You made this project possible. • To the artists who allowed me into their lives and practice; John Kissick, Erin Loree, Andzej Tarasiuk, Diane Pugen and Rebecca Northan. v • Jessica Wyman for her support throughout my OCAD U journey, but specifically for helping me craft this thesis document. • Spencer Harrison for your belief in me and your guidance in building my circus tent. • Master acting teacher Perry Schneiderman for your support and inspiration. • Dr. Janet Storch and Dr. Julia Creet for their incredible help with my REB application. • To my IAMD cohort for their friendship, support and insight. This research was refined through working with you all. I’ll miss you. • My friends and family for all their encouragement and love throughout this adventure. • My friend and colleague, Ada Slaight Contemporary Painting and Print Media Chair, Natalie Waldburger, whose idea it was for me to go back to school, I could never have done this without your support and guidance through the last four years. • My beautiful patient children, Lucas and Daisy, thank you for your love and understanding about my time away from you. • Finally, to my incredible husband, David Storch, who always pushed me to focus on school and gave me such freedom to do so. Thank you for your late night editing and your unwavering enthusiasm for every crazy thing I brought home. I love you. vi Lucas and Daisy Ron & Jo Wigmore and David, my one true one vii viii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures & Images ix INTRODUCTION 1 Experiment One 5 INTUITION 6 1.1: The Artist’s Creative Process: Breaking Myths 6 1.2 : Cognitive Creativity 10 Experiment Two 12 1.3 : Defining Artistic Reflexivity 13 1.4 : Play: It’s a Serious Business 17 Experiment Three 21 SKILLS 22 2.1: Acting Pedagogy Trains Artistic Reflexivity 22 2.2: How Collaboration Builds Artistic Reflexivity 25 Experiment Four 29 2.3: It’s not all in the Head! - Connecting Visual Artists to their Bodies 30 2.4: Learning to Fail Forward 33 Experiment Five 38 THE CIRCLE OF ENGAGEMENT 39 3.1: My Interdisciplinary Life as an A/r/tographer 39 Experiment Six 45 3.2: The Exercises 47 3.3: Entanglements: An Embodied Reflexive Dialogue with Material 57 CONCLUSION 66 Glossary of Terms 72 Bibliography 76 APPENDICES Training Artistic Reflexivity: Collaborative Drawing Exercises for Visual Artists 82 ix