Welcome to the Phd Blog
Keeping the blog was an important thread in weaving the research, the drawing practice and community facilitation. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was awarded by the University of Wales Trinity St. David in 2018.
Abstract
The research considers why aesthetics, the subjective ways in which we
experience and value places, and nature’s agency are not readily included in
decision-making processes. This action research adopts a hopeful, participatory
and auto-ethnographic inquiry into the potential for developing and applying a
relational and environmental walking-art practice to overcome this disconnect; an
approach which attempts to reconnect art and life, cultural and natural systems.
Metaphor is used as a method to reflect upon an emergent art practice. The
research considers Felix Guattari’s ideas of transversality, developing an ethicoaesthetic paradigm as a critical framework, taking into account the work of relevant
practitioners and specifically Grant Kester’s arguments concerning reciprocal
creative labour. The framework is developed through a weaving metaphor and
applied to three community-led land-use change case studies; a canal restoration
project, caring for a community woodland and Landscape Character Assessment.
The weaving metaphor becomes both a process and an art work capable of
revealing and helping to incorporate subjectivity into traditionally objective
decision-making processes. As well as facilitating community-wide dialogue, the
research has, in some cases, lead to action being taken alongside nature’s
agency.
The research evaluates the transformation of the art practice and its impact, which
suggests the positive agency of art as a practical aesthetic in a social and
environmental context.
The thesis can be read here:
https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/1311/13/Keating%20R%20Landscape%20final.pdf#:~:text=As%20a%20part%20of%20post,with%20people%20in%20the%20Stroud
Kel Portman led walk around Edge and the Pitchcombe valley with Ffin, Lucy, Bobbie + Bobn + and son, Kate, Martin Large, Sally Lester, Claire Nayegon, and Debbie Locke. Noticed that the conversations with others had an affect on my work – not so much an influence as motivation. After a few warm-up drawings I became interested in drawing on the move, ‘capturing’ glimpses of what I was walking through, towards or around.
25th and 26th May: ‘Affective Landscapes’ conference. Presentation with Sue Porter. Also there with Alison Parfitt and Glenn Hall.
Making Museum Box piece for the ‘Space, Place and Practice’ show in Corsham Court. Also writing description of the process for inclusion.
Folly Wood core group meeting.
Shurstoke to Middleton Hall Farm with Alison Parfitt, Glenn Hall and Sue Porter.
Evening meeting with Eco Sutton.
