Arts-based and Contemplative Practices in Research and Teaching: Honoring Presence

This volume presents a scholarly investigation of the ways educators engage in artistic and contemplative practices – and why this matters in education. Arts-based learning and inquiry can function as a powerful catalyst for change by allowing spiritual practices to be present within educational settings, but too often the relationship between art, education and spirituality is ignored. Exploring artistic disciplines such as dance, drama, visual art, music, and writing, and forms such as writing-witnessing, freestyle rap, queer performative autoethnograph, and poetic imagination, this book develops a transformational educational paradigm. Its unique integration of spirituality in and through the arts addresses the contemplative needs of learners and educators in diverse educational and community settings.

Susan Walsh is a writer/poet and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada. Her research involves contemplation, innovative forms of writing, and various artistic practices. Her publications appear in venues such as Qualitative Inquiry, Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), and Teaching and teacher Education.

Barbara Bickel is an artist and Associate Professor of art education and Director of women, gender & sexuality studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA. Her arts-based research appears in venues such as Journal of Arts and Community, Visual Arts Research, and Journal of Motherhood Initiatives, and her art has been exhibited across North America.

Carl Leggo is a poet and Professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His books include: Growing Up Perpendicular on the Side of a Hill; View from My Mother’s House; Come-By-Chance; Teaching to Wonder: Responding to Poetry in the Secondary Classroom; and Sailing in a Concrete Boat: A Teacher’s Journey.