Research

Our faculty group reconvened and discussed the course readings (referenced below). We were given a range of materials – wool, paper, pens; to visually communicate with the wider group what we perceive research to mean.

We created an ‘immersive sculpture’ that combined play with discovery. From our understanding, the concept of research is that you have your starting point and you follow the threads to piece it all together. But it’s not as you always expect. Things unravel and take you to dead ends, you’ll uncover new information in unexpected places, eventually you knit it all together and it might not be the outcome you were originally expecting.

“It is when research activity is carried out through the medium of  practitioner activity that the case becomes interesting. There are circumstances where the best or only way to shed light on a proposition, a principle, a material, a process or a function is to attempt to construct something, or to enact something, calculated to explore, embody or test it.” (Archer, 1995). 

I really enjoyed this exercise. What we produced, like research, wasn’t at all what I had in mind when we collected the crochet and markers from the desk and embarked on this deconstruction. 

Arguably, our deconstruction of research created a piece of Action Research for our peers to participate in, as Archer (1995)  positions it “Action Research is pursued through action in and on the real world, in all its complexity, its findings only reliably apply to the place, time, persons and circumstances in which that action took place.“ (Archer, 1995).

Readings :

The Nature of Research – Bruce Archer, 1995

Practice Research Knowledge – Nelson, 2006

From Practice to Practice-Led Research : Challenges and Rewards – Neal Haslem, 2017

Textile, Cloth and Culture (p4)(9 November 2022) Will There Be Womanly Times? Reflections on the Work of Ellen Lesperance. https://hollybushgardens.co.uk/files/ellen-lesperance-textile-cloth-culture-nov-2022.pdf