Supporting the Development of Practitioners in an Art Workshop:

Workshop Practice Embracing the Concept of Arts-Based Research

Abstract

In this paper I consider the concept of Arts-Based Research (ABR) in order to research a new way of supporting practitionersʼ development in art workshops. The aim of this paper is to compare the characteristics of ABR and a workshop as methodologies, and to discuss the possibilities while implementing the concept of ABR in an art workshop, based on my own practice. I studied how the concept and methodology of ABR influences the process and outcome of an art workshop by analysising the field-notes I took through my own practice. In the workshop I present, under the concept of ABR, comparisons with workshops that do not focus on the concepts of ʻinquiryʼ or ʻresearchʼ that I experienced, and I confirmed that there is a greater awareness of ʻinquiry.ʼ The result of analysising my field-notes suggests that a inquiry-based workshop can lead to a more open-ended process and outcome.