Field of Study: Art practice, theories of teaching and learning

Title: The role and status of the artist-educator in institutional
contexts

Director of Studies: Stephen Scrivener

Additional Supervisor: Linda Drew

The research is driven by a desire to understand my own practice and how my professional identity as an artist-educator is formed. The themes of my work, inside and outside of institutional contexts, are those of authority and the construction of knowledge: in the studio, I re-work images and text to reveal agendas that were hidden in their original context; as an artist-educator, my work questions hierarchies and power relationships within institutions. By comparing my understanding with others', I hope to discover themes that characterise the perception of the artist-educator as a mode of practice as critique.

From the institutional perspective, the artist-educator is a relatively new position which is undergoing a process of professionalisation, attracting the attention of researchers and government. It is important at this early stage to ensure that the artist's point of view has a direct influence on the way the role is theorised and practiced. The research will examine how the role of the artist-educator is understood within museum and gallery contexts and by artist-educators themselves and will explore how relationships are negotiated in practice, comparing different practitioner and institutional understandings.

The professional identity of the artist-educator emerges through the demands of each project as one's role is re-negotiated in response to the expectations of institutions and audiences. By re-thinking the role as a form of arts practice, with specific art-historical precedents and contemporary relevance, the research will contribute to current debates about the nature and value of socially-engaged practice.