The article will introduce the art-based action research method and the practices and knowledge gained in the fields of art and design education, taking into account contemporary art’s situational, contextual and communal nature. The method is collaboratively created and developed by a small group of artists, educators and researchers with the participation of the students in the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland to guide the next generation of art and design education scholars. The method, as part of art education and applied visual arts Master’s and Doctoral theses, takes into account the university’s northern circumstances and special features. The article discusses the relevance of the engaging participatory art parallel to developing the art-based research method in visual art education. The article also seeks to introduce a new perspective to the discussion about research in art universities.

No abstract

This article explores ways in which art education in northern border areas and remote rural districts empowers action. The main emphasis is on an integrated art and science project called the ‘The Fire Fox’ that took place in Finnish Lapland, Utsjoki, in March 2004. The project aims were to extend art into the wider community, develop individual creativity, raise the quality of artistic achievement, strengthen self-esteem and foster shared understanding between people from different cultural backgrounds. The article reports on a series of multidisciplinary arts workshops where the majority of artworks were made of snow and ice and tied to a particular time and place. There were several organizations involved in the Fire Fox project. This article evaluates the project and takes into account the specific educational needs of the school, other local parties, participants from outside the Utsjoki municipality and the art students from the University of Lapland. The article concludes that the Fire Fox project provided support for local identities as well as facilitating the development of art-based social innovations inspired by northern culture.

Creating art-based approaches in working life development: the shift from success to significance abstraCtThe aim of this article is to analyse and identify the structure of activities occurring during a series of art workshops conducted in one particular work-based community, with a view to exploring links between modern working life and the fields of art and art education. The researchers took part in the workshops as participant observers. The research showed that art-oriented activities can make different organizational cultures more visible and open to further development. Participants can apply the experience gained in art workshops to their own work practice, using it to strengthen group coherence, to express ideas better and to become more emotionally engaged in their jobs. It can foster mental strength and faith in a personal way of working, and encourage people to try things that they have not tried before. abstraKti Keywords art-based action research working life work community art education applied visual arts asiasanat Taideperustainen toimintatutkimus työelämä työyhteisö

No abstract