A/R/Tography: Rendering Self Through Arts-Based Living Inquiry

The twelve contributors to A/r/tography explore ways in which the visual arts can be used as a means of representation for educational research. What makes this book unique is that each contributor is an artist and teacher and researcher, and each treats image as an integral component of the inquiry process. Contributing artist-authors use their own artistic practices as primary or complementary practices to other forms of inquiry. Each engages with theory and practice, art and text, self and other, artist and teacher.

Teacher educators, practicing artist-teachers, arts-based educational researchers, and anyone interested in art, teaching, and research will find this collection of arts-based texts a fascinating resource.

Rita L. Irwin is Professor and Head of the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of British Columbia. She engages in many forms of arts-based educational inquiry and has published widely regarding professional development, artist-in-the-schools programs, art education, sociocultural issues, and identity. While being actively engaged in a number of arts and education professional organizations, she also finds time to exhibit art, with her most recent interests exploring landscape and identity.

Alex de Cosson has worked as a professional sculptor exhibiting nationally and internationally for over twenty-five years. He has been on the faculty of the Ontario College of Art and Design since 1989 and is concurrently a research associate and sessional instructor at the University of British Columbia. His research interests include arts-based and autobiographical arenas.

Rita L. Irwin is professor and head of the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Her research interests include in-service arts teacher education, curriculum studies, artists-in-schools programs, and First Nations and gender issues. She engages in action research, case study, image-based research, and many forms of arts-based educational inquiry. Her artistic pursuits are autobiographical in nature and have most recently been concerned with landscape.

Alex de Cosson has worked as a professional sculptor exhibiting nationally and internationally for over twenty-five years. He holds an M.Ed. from Brock University, an M.F.A. from York University, and a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. Alex has taught at the Ontario College of Art and Design since 1989 and at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver since 1999. He has been an active member of Inner City Angels, an organization dedicated to bringing art to school children, and has worked extensively with artists-in-schools programs. His research interests include arts-based and autobiographical arenas.