Artists and Scholarship

What does it mean to be a scholar in the visual arts? Artists are creative, important, needed, and critical voices in society — but are they scholars? In the following text I not only present a broad case for scholarship in the arts but also re-examine how we look at the arts in the academic context. Rather than understanding art as a cultural phenomenon and aesthetic product, I invite you to see art production as a type of inquiry, reflection, interpretation, commentary, and thinking process that has transformed the way we understand the world and ourselves. While this text was written for Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) students and faculty in the United States, it will also provoke the interest of anyone concerned with what the arts actually do. My overarching goal is to build upon the context of arts research by offering avenues of inquiry for artist scholars and provide examples that are meant to teach, inspire, and provoke thought about the many decisions that contribute toward a single work of art or series. Whether you are an artist, researcher, or art appreciator, I believe you will have a new understanding for how art is meaningful and transformative across a range of disciplines.

The status of visual art education in the United States is at an uneasy place in history. The adoption of art training and education by the nineteenth-century research universities is still a major point of contention (albeit a misunderstood one). Universities were not the original home of art education but these institutions have taken on this responsibility and are now the dominant source of art education opportunities for the aspiring artist. There are several lingering symptoms of this uncomfortable relationship between artists and the university. A major point of contention is the current terminal degree in visual art being a master's degree (M.F.A.) and not a Ph.D. (like other subject areas). In addition to the question of degree is the added expectation of artists to become researchers or to validate their studio work as a form of research. This is a frustrating endeavor that pushes art programs to become more like their neighbors (scientific disciplines) in the university. Artists worked for quite some time without ever using the term "research" but it has become commonplace in Ph.D. programs and one has to wonder if this is a positive evolution of art education. As the Ph.D. in visual art looms closer and more desirable to administrators and organizational/credentialing institutions, these issues will become more important.

Artistic creation is a process that utilizes a variety of thinking processes, and the results of these practices are typically valued in our society but not consistently documented as a form of research outside small circles. In the twenty-first century, art is being compared to other types of research and is gaining ground as a prominent theory in the visual arts. Studio and practice-based Ph.D. programs promote art products as research, and there are several blended Ph.D. programs that promote writing and art production as research. In an ideal world many art professionals would like their art to stand for research. However, this is not the current reality. Instead a written paper is expected to accompany the work of art to justify, explain, or document aspects of research or thought. This is a paradigm that is not likely to change but how we write and for what purpose is open to debate.

The writing component is a valuable aspect of art education and in many ways the only form of research recognized by contemporary universities. This is evident in conference presentations in the United Kingdom where papers are distributed and honored but the artwork only makes a brief appearance to remind everyone that the presenter is an artist or that the subject is artistic. Even this publication is primarily words, a frustrating endeavor for the artist scholar who desires to improve his or her art and not necessarily their writing skills. However, the argument presented is that reflective writing works as self-critique and that thinking through words, however difficult it may be, will ultimately reward the artistic process and the art product.

The artist studio is a great example that represents the potential for research in the visual arts. There are many opportunities for inquiry and discovery in these spaces but we need the artist to make the connections. The artist is the catalyst that brings together the media and it is through the writing process that the artist scholar is able to connect the dots and reflect upon the artistic process.

The current language used to facilitate arts research is mature and is delivered quite convincingly, but one must wonder how much this research is aiding their goal to become a better artist? There is no need to reinvent the wheel, as there is much progress in this area outside the United States. A similar dilemma faced visual arts education at the beginning of the twentieth century as art educators within universities debated the significance and importance of manual/technical training/crafts-based training in relation to historical and theoretical studies in art history. While adding studio classes to the university curriculum seems passé, adding research expectation upon the artist's agenda is sometimes a big stretch. This may seem like old hat to our UK colleagues but some US institutions are frightened to adopt many of the commonalities in visual art Ph.D. programs overseas.

There are many similarities between art making and research to consider. Study, experimentation, and exploration are fundamental both to research and art making. Also, art products are vital to understanding and representing our collective history. Much of our understanding of ancient civilizations comes through art products of past societies because these creations reveal valuable information about technologies, cultures, and societies. In the modern and contemporary eras, artists have altered the way we think about issues that range from pornography to symbolism. In addition, artists also study and document methods in order to further their craft. A great deal of writing was collected and preserved by artists during the Renaissance to build a conceptual foundation and theory of art making. These activities certainly draw similarities to research and display a significant knowledge base in the visual arts. In fact many would call this research or go so far as to say that everything an artist does prior to making the work is research or that the act of making is itself research. This is a very broad application of the term but not necessarily an inaccurate one in describing the artistic process.

Much has changed since the nineteenth century and the arts appear to be quite comfortable in the university as more and more institutions offer art degrees (and...