Hello
George's suggestion to create a forum for discussion is incredibly valuable,
as I have come to experience through a joint South West initiative between
Winchester, Cheltenham, Bristol and Cardiff Universities. On an annual
basis, for the last 3 years or so, a research colloquium has been organised
for Fine Art Students and Staff. It has not been discipline specific, and
each institution has taken turns to host the event. Eight 1/2 hour PhD
presentations (two per college) are given throughout the day. Numbers can
vary as on some occasions other postgraduates not giving presentations and
staff have been encouraged to attend.
Last year the general consensus held was that this event should be happening
twice a year, in order that the full benefits of such an event can be felt
by more researchers who would take turns to present their work. Though a
15-20 min presentation is never sufficient the remaining 10 minutes can be
extremely helpful for constructive feedback from other participants.
I am a PhD drawing researcher with a history in mixed media, photography and
installation and am based at the University of Gloucestershire. I would
certainly welcome an opportunity to engage with other Fine Art practitioners
in the field of drawing. Though a national event like the one in Kingston is
extremely useful, the draw backs of cost, travel and accommodation make it
difficult. However a regional event like the one I attend can be stimulating
and cost effective; students and staff of the participating institutions
also get to know each other better over time.
With best wishes
Katayoun Pasban Dowlatshahi
University of Gloucestershire
[log in to unmask]
>-----Original Message-----
>From: George Whale [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: 27 February 2003 11:22
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: discussion
>
>
>Dear All
>
>The point I was trying to make was that we need to think
>seriously about
>providing appropriate forums (fora?) for drawing researchers
>(especially
>those doing MPhils and PhDs) to talk about their work in depth
>and obtain
>feedback from peers. At present, there appears to be precious few
>opportunities for us to do so. As a Drawing **Research**
>Network, perhaps
>we could discuss how the situation might be improved.
>
>My suggestion would be to restructure the meetings of the
>Network. For me,
>the most interesting and relevant bits of previous meetings
>have been where
>individual (MPhil, PhD) researchers have presented their work, but it's
>been obvious that 10 minutes apiece is nowhere near enough
>time and, with
>all the other items on the agenda, there has been little time for
>meaningful discussions.
>
>Is it possible that the bulk of the business of the Network (notifying
>members of drawing related activities, publications,
>exhibitions and so on)
>could be conducted electronically (on this list), so that
>future meetings
>could be devoted to presentation and discussion of individual research
>projects?
>
>One respondent to my previous message spoke about his own, very
>interesting, research topic and said that he "would be
>delighted to make a
>presentation and/or take part in a dialogue about this and
>related areas
>of...research in drawing". I daresay there are other
>researchers who feel
>the same way.
>
>1. Depending on the length of each meeting, we could invite
>maybe two or
>three PhD/MPhil researchers to make in-depth presentations to
>the group of,
>say, 30 minutes each. Ideally, each presenter would circulate a summary
>beforehand, allowing group members to think about the issues before the
>meeting takes place.
>
>2. Each presentation would be followed by up to 30 minutes of
>(hopefully)
>informed, focussed discussion about the specific content and
>context of the
>research and related methodological issues.
>
>3. We could ask presenters to provide text and images of their
>presentations for publication on the website that Steve Garner
>put together
><www.drawing.org.uk>. In time, these contributions could build into a
>valuable repository of current and recent drawing research.
>
>I do feel very strongly that those of us who are studying for research
>degrees or conducting post-doctoral research need to be more
>assertive in
>setting the agenda and ensuring that our work gets a proper hearing.
>
>Yours
>
>George Whale.
>
>
>
>At 04:43 PM 2/26/03 +0000, you wrote:
>>...or could it be that such divisive dogma is a self fulfilling
>>prophesy?
>>Martin Salisbury
>>Course Leader, MA Children's Book Illustration APU Cambridge
>>(Practitioner/Researcher)
>>On Wed, 26 Feb 2003 15:52:18 +0000 George Whale <[log in to unmask]>
>>wrote:
>>
>
>
>http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ac/ad/htmlpages/staff/gwhale.html
>
>George Whale
>Research Associate
>Loughborough University School of Art & Design (LUSAD)
>Loughborough
>Leicestershire
>LE11 3TU
>UK
>
>Tel: +44 (0)1509 228967
>Mobile: 07944 751088
>Fax: +44 (0)1509 228902
>
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