Richard Keating Artist

PhD Archive

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

  • Watery Landscapes

    Meeting with Adriaan Luijk about european networking of artists involved with landscape and rural development.Interesting research in the Netherlands – J.F.Coeterier – about how people both categorise and value landscape.

    Photographic journey to the River Severn at Purton with Helen Keating, Alison and Roger Arnold. Each visit reveals new layers of how much this place is about resilience and thankfully, alongside the attempts to safeguard the land, the tidal Severn continues to provide a unique habitat for a wide selection of species.

  • Countryfile filming

    Filming Walking the Land walk on Rodborough Common with director Mark Scott, presenter Ellie Harrison and crew, plus Kel Portman, Tom Keating, Chris Smith, Jilly Cobbe, Nik Taylor and Lucy Guenot. If used (we think 4th March), it will be interesting as it raises my concerns about art as entertainment and yet would be a good way of broadcasting the message. Not that there is a problem with art being entertaining – so long as it doesn’t stop there.

  • Gainsborough Journey

    meeting with Sue Porter, Alison Parfitt and Glenn Hall to plan for people’s input to the journey and to develop “the offer” to transition towns. Route confirmed, clearer idea of who is doing what and strengthened concept of us all weaving our threads and what those threads might be.

  • Website

    updating website

  • Folly Wood

    Helen and I decided that the ground was too hard to lift the trees so instead cleared an area for future planting.I’m enjoying the pace and feel of making work on the ground rather than on a computer.

    No one else came – interesting the effect of snow. Personally I love being out in it.

    Met local people; young teenage lads out taking photos – nice chat. There has been a lot of national and local coverage of ‘Big Cat’ sitings lately and they were hoping to get photos of one. This appetite for a more wild aesthetic is interesting.

  • WtL River Meeting, Folly Wood planting preparation, Sad news about Chris Bate-Williams

    Sad news about friend and colleague who died last week – Chris was the leader of a team of landscape architects in Swindon who came up with this daffodil planting scheme in 1980/81

    Snow – but the WtL meeting to develop River Project still goes ahead – see attachment one

    Attachments

    river-draft-1.2-1330019279.doc

  • Watery Landscapes, River, ‘Countryfile’

    Continued writing the Watery Landscapes paper and forwarded to Kel and Iain. Mainly a question of reformatting into our desired column structure – this was a very interesting way of interrogating our ideas. In particular it became clear that our observations were both about the WtL process and outcomes from the process as we experienced it. This seems to reflect the issues raised at the Swansea post graduate forum about research methodologies.

    Afternoon spent with Kel and BBC researchers, Mark Scott and Leila Finikarides looking at the potential for art walking as a possible article on “Countryfile”. Message to give is about experiential learning. Photographs reflect the gradual journey from in to out.

  • Weave, Folly Wood, Walking to Derby, ‘Countryfile’, Watery Landscapes, River, Drawing Symposium

    a day administrating most of the various projects, preparing and a bit of re-writing the academic paper about the Drawing Symposium.

    Particularly welcome positive response from Seb Buckton about the links between the Derby Walk and Transition Towns. Water seems to be a theme that we have in common.

    Circulated ‘River’ project proposals from Ffin, Suze, Lucy and me.

    Attachments

    rk-river-severn-project-proposals-1329133511.doc

  • Post Graduate Forum and Tutorial

    Tutorial with Dr. Rob Newell and Prof. Andrea Liggins. Agreed temporary change of supervision; while Rob is on sabbatical for the summer term, Catrin Webster will take his place.

    Also post graduate forum with presentations by Amanda Roberts and Paul Woodland about the proposed Swansea Met. Conference in September with a provisional theme of: Methodologies in Visual Research – Practice Based and Practice led Research Models

    Photo in the context of the paper Dr, Sue Porter and I are presenting at the Derby Conference.

  • Watery Landscape

    Weekend at Center Parcs, Longleat. Interesting illusions of inside and outside created by “sub-tropical paradise”, with “inside” places opening onto another layer of inside space. Similarly, the design and location of chalets makes the outside very apparent from within and landscape dominant over built form, increased by traffic free cycling for much of the time… and the snow