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Dear Brian I see a bit of what I'm trying to find out in the last few sentences, where you ask about the interaction with materials and the process of expressing... I wonder what my students are expressing. Are they expressing something or are they practising how to express... feeling their way and becoming themselves? I think it is similar to the notion that one finds out what one wants to say by writing it down and 'making it up' (fabricating?!) as you go... I find the act of creating artworks to be very similar... Chris From: Practitioner-Researcher [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brian wakeman Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:02 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Design as Research I've been lurking in the background on this thread.... designing poems and painting! Some folks see the design process very mechanistically, a kind of engineering model. http://www.technologystudent.com/pdfs/PROJ1a.pdf See this link for how students are encouraged to design in UK schools. This process is very helpful if I have an idea or am asked to design a product. It involves clear stages of initial ideas, research and analysis, modelling, and making, evaluating , then manufacturing. It has parallels to 'technical problem-solving' action research, doesn't it? Can this be applied to jewellery? Yes I'm sure it can, particularly if its a company making for a mass market.. But if the artefact, the creation, is more artistic, ....... expressive, then does the same process with its steps of researching designs, the market., customers desires, then designing to suit...... still apply? As a writer of verse and water colourist I can use this engineering design model, but often I don't. Words come tumbling out. I wake in the night with phrases that capture, express an experience. I don't sit down and design it mechanically. I use traditions and forms I've previously researched, yes. I draw on visual memories. Sometimes I research the subject in reference books. Sometimes I write a thick description and take photos ethnographically. I maybe choose designs from alternatives unconsciously or intuitively. Sometimes I summarise all I've learned about a topic in a few lines. Certainly I evaluate and worry about the worth of what I've created! ..... but there's something about the creative process, the imagination, the interaction between me and my material which we have not explained. What is this creative, expressive process your jewellers use, that I use in my creative work? What is this "Design as Research" which is not technicist but artistic? Brian ________________________________ From: Dianne Allen <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Mon, 26 April, 2010 20:19:17 Subject: Re: Design as Research Chris, Another resource worth exploring ... I am a member of CRIAN (http://transformingresearch.ning.com/) [CRIAN = Christian Research in Action Network]. One of the key participants there is a poet, and a 'resource-man' .. a bit like Jack is here ... always pointing to where there are good resources for particular aspects of practice. There is a subgroup in CRIAN for Art Practice, and Bernard has recently posted some abstracts and links to current writing about art research there. It may be useful for you. (http://transformingresearch.ning.com/group/artpractice) Dianne Allen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris de Beer" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> To: <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 11:38 PM Subject: Design as Research Dear All In the area of Jewellery Design and Manufacture there seems to be a strong correlation between the steps that the design and manufacture process follows and that of the action research process (plan/act/observe/reflect). However, in the design process, as my students are executing it at the moment, the participatory element (from an AR point of view) is missing. Is there a more appropriate methodology/process that I can investigate that would lead to more 'depth' and will guide my students towards being more immersed in their design work without it becoming an exercise in narcissism? Regards Chris ________________________________ "This e-mail is subject to our Disclaimer, to view click http://www.dut.ac.za"