Propositions for Studio Inquiry

Alison Shields

ISBN 10: 1835952798 / ISBN 13: 9781835952795

Published by Intellect, GB, 2026

About this Item

This book examines an art studio as a way of thinking and learning through the lens of a cross-Canada journey into artists' studios. Through examining studio visits and interviews with over 100 painters, and through the theoretical lens of new materialism, the studio is presented as a unique place of learning. In the first section, 'Studio as Place,' the journey into artists' studios is discussed as a form of subjective mapping. A studio is a part of an active and interconnected ecosystem and through artmaking the studio has the capacity to transport us elsewhere. In the second section, 'Studio as Process,' studio practice is discussed as emergent, performative, generative and in an ongoing state of 'not knowing.' The third section, 'Studio as Material Thinking' examines studio practice as affective, material and messy. The final section 'Studio as Dialogue with the World,' examines studio processes as relational, imaginative and responsive to our ongoing experiences. To focus on possibilities and potentials rather than conclusions, and generativity rather than closure, the studio is presented through a series of propositions, drawn from ways the artists described their process. These propositions are speculative and highlight the endless possibilities and entanglements of making within the ever-changing ecology of the studio.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781835952795

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Propositions for Studio Inquiry
• Publisher: Intellect, GB
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1835952798
• ISBN 13: 9781835952795
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

A cross-Canada journey into the studios of contemporary artists, revealing the studio as a vital window onto the thinking, learning, and creative processes shaping art today.

Drawing on over one hundred studio visits and interviews with painters, this book offers a compelling exploration of the artist’s studio—not as a static workspace, but as a dynamic, relational, and generative site of learning, thinking, and becoming. Alison Shields shows that the studio can be understood in four interwoven ways: as place, as process, as material thinking, and as dialogue with the world.
 
As a place, it is where one dwells within subjective time and space, part of an active and interconnected ecosystem that, through artmaking, can transport us elsewhere. As a process, it is emergent, performative, generative, and always in a state of “not knowing”. As material thinking, it bridges mind and matter, thought and feeling, allowing intuition to roam within embodied and often messy environments. As dialogue with the world, it is relational, imaginative, and responsive to the ongoing texture of lived experience.
 
Rather than offering definitive conclusions, the book unfolds through a series of speculative propositions—drawn from the words and reflections of artists themselves—that illuminate the open-ended nature of creative processes. It invites not only artists but anyone curious about how we make, feel, and know to engage with the studio as a site of infinite possibility within an ever-changing ecology of practice.
 

About the Author

Alison Shields is an associate professor of art education at the University of Victoria, Canada.