Dr. Graeme Sullivan
Inquiry in the Visual Arts 2-21-2008
9:30 - 11:00 in the Auditorium
The Visiting Artist program welcomes Dr. Graeme Sullivan to the RMCAD campus. He will speak about his site-specific art projects, their relation to
visual arts research, and his book, Art Practice as Research: Inquiry
in the Visual Arts.
The RMCAD lecture and visit is sponsored by Visiting Artist Program, our Art Education department, and IES.
More information on Dr. Sullivan
Graeme Sullivan is an associate professor of Art Education, and Chair of the Department of Arts and Humanities, at Teachers College, Columbia University. He earned both his Ph.D. and his M.A. in Art Education from Ohio State University. Sullivan is a former senior lecturer in Art Education, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Australia.
Since the early 1990s his research has involved an ongoing investigation of critical-reflective thinking processes and research practices in visual arts. In 1998, he produced a CD-ROM, Critical Influence, that documented the influences and contexts surrounding the art practice of two contemporary artists as they prepared for an exhibition.
He is the author of Seeing Australia: Views of Artists and Artwriters, the opening chapter of Contemporary Issues in Art Education, edited by Gaudelius and Speirs, as well as numerous articles that focus on the visual research practices in art and education.
In 2007 he was awarded the Viktor Lowenfeld award for his mentoring and teaching practices, and in 1990 he was awarded the Manual Barkan Memorial Award for his scholarly writing by the National Art Education Association (NAEA). Sullivan was also the Senior Editor for Studies in Art Education, the research journal of the NAEA. He is listed in Who's Who in America (2004).
Sullivan’s book, published in 2004, Art Practice as Research: Inquiry in the Visual Arts, presents a compelling argument that the creative and cultural inquiry undertaken by artists is a form of research.
The text explores themes, practices, and contexts of artistic inquiry and positions them within the discourse of research. Author Graeme Sullivan argues that legitimate research goals can be achieved by choosing different methods than those offered by the social sciences. The common denominator in both approaches is the attention given to rigor and systematic inquiry.
Artists emphasize the role of the imaginative intellect in creating, criticizing, and constructing knowledge that is not only new but also has the capacity to transform human understanding.
"Sullivan challenges our assumptions about what constitutes research practices and in doing so presents a ground-breaking analysis for visual arts practice as research. This compelling image-text book opens the possibilities for the construction of new forms of knowledge in our increasingly visual world."
—Dipti Desai, New York University
“In this rich and layered reflection on visual arts practice as research, Graeme Sullivan launches a passionate and convincing case that rewrites the definitions of ‘art’ and ‘research’ as it unapologetically claims for the visual arts the respect and admiration of the academy.”
—Jessica Hoffman Davis, Harvard University
Dr. Sullivan is also an internationally exhibiting artist. He has created site-specific installations in New York, Venice, Bahamas, Tokyo, Sydney, Boston, and Beijing. He describes his art:
"I prefer to create things and let them find their own way to others. Since the early 1990s I have been making Streetworks that are conceived, constructed and confined to specific sites. These works are made from materials found in the street and begin as a reaction to things and places.
Then they are re-made into something new, but this emerges from something old, which is what was there in the first place. And the re-making continues to unfold in unknown ways as other processes take over. The task of retrieval and renewal of found objects has a long tradition and returning works made from these materials to the street maintains a process of change that is pleasantly obscure."
For more information on his artwork visit:
http://www.streetworksart.com