Abstract:

One of the outcomes of the COVID-19 quarantine on education had undoubtedly been the setting of boundaries for students’ learning process. With limited material sources during the quarantine, students looked for alternative digital resources to fulfill theoretical assignments. Teachers’ concern, however, had been the studio-oriented processes, such as artmaking. What could be the effect of limited art tools and materials on creative processes? The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a descriptive qualitative study that examined the effects of setting boundaries on artmaking. When face-to-face courses at private university turned online at around the middle of the Spring 2020 semester, the final assignment of an art education undergraduate course of the Department of Education remained the same.

More specifically, the 13 enrolled undergraduate student-teachers restricted in their homes during the quarantine were asked to construct a case of any form, utilizing any available materials from their household and present it as a portfolio for the artwork they had created during the semester. Students’ final assignment also required a written reflection on their creative process explaining their aesthetic choices and how those choices would differ under different circumstances. Students’ creations were analyzed based on specific visual and conceptual characteristics, such as theme, color, material, use of negative and positive space etc. Analysis provided evidence that setting boundaries during processes of art production can lead to personally meaningful, symbolic and expressive artwork, expanding instead of limiting the creative possibilities. The participating students in this project recognized the importance of setting boundaries during art production and as stated in the majority of their written reflections of the process, the only limitation they would like to change if they were given the opportunity, would be time. This conclusion accords with existing literature stating that boundaries set necessary limits that enable artists to work productively (Walker, 2001). It is especially important for future teachers who consider instructional design as a form of creative production to realize that unlimited options fail to offer the resistance needed for creation.

References:
[1] Walker, S. (2001). Teaching Meaning in Artmaking. Worcester, MA: Davis.

Keywords:

Boundaries, meaningful artmaking, creative production.