Table Of Content‘I am delighted to see the publication of Artist-Teacher-Practice and the Expectation
of an Aesthetic Life. This book, with its excellent combination of sophisticated
theory and frontline ethnographic research, makes a vitally important contri-
bution to research into the concept and practices of the artist-teacher move-
ment. The author has a strong personal grounding in the classroom as an artist
teacher herself that has enabled her to make this powerful analysis of the
movement in context.’
Jeff Adams, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Chester;
Fellow of the National Society for Education in Art and Design
Artist-Teacher Practice and the
Expectation of an Aesthetic Life
This book explores why and how the personal creative practice of arts teachers in
school matters. It responds to ethnographic research that considers specific works-
of- art created by teachers within the context of their classrooms.
Through a classroom-b ased ethnographic investigation, the book proposes that
the potential impact of artist-t eacher practice in the classroom can only be under-
stood in relation to the flows of power and policy that concurrently shape the
classroom. It shows how artist- teacher practice functions as a creative practice of
freedom tending to the present and future aesthetic life of the classroom, countering
the effects of neoliberal schooling and austerity politics. The book questions what
the artist- teacher can produce within that context.
Through the unique focus on artist- teacher practice, the book explores the
changing nature of the classroom and the social and political dimensions of the
school. It will be key reading for researchers and postgraduate students of arts edu-
cation, critical pedagogy, teacher identity and aesthetics. It will also be of interest to
art and design educators.
Carol Wild is Senior Lecturer in Art and Design Education and Subject Leader
for the PGCE Art and Design at the Institute of Education, University College
London. She was previously Programme Leader for the Artist Teacher Scheme and
MA Arts and Education Practices at Birmingham City University.
Routledge Research in Arts Education
Books in the series include:
Making and Relational Creativity
An Exploration of Relationships that Arise through Creative Practices in Informal
Making Spaces
Lindsey Helen Bennett
Engaging Youth in Critical Arts Pedagogies and Creative Research for
Social Justice
Opportunities and Challenges of Arts-based Work and Research with Young
People
Edited by Kristen P. Goessling, Dana E. Wright, Amanda C. Wager and Marit Dewhurst
The Value of Drawing Instruction in the Visual Arts and Across Curricula
Historical and Philosophical Arguments for Drawing in the Digital Age
Seymour Simmons III
Perspectives on Learning Assessment in the Arts in Higher Education
Supporting Transparent Assessment across Artistic Disciplines
Edited by Diane Leduc and Sébastien Béland
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies in Music Education
Expanding Culturally Responsive Teaching to Sustain Diverse Musical Cultures
and Identities
Emily Good-Perkins
Addressing Issues of Mental Health in Schools through the Arts
Teachers and Music Therapists Working Together
Edited by Jane Tarr and Nick Clough
Educating for Peace through Theatrical Arts
International Perspectives on Peacebuilding Instruction
Edited by Candice C. Carter and Rodrigo Benza Guerra
Artist-Teacher Practice and the Expectation of an Aesthetic Life
Creative Being in the Neoliberal Classroom
Carol Wild
Artist-Teacher Practice
and the Expectation of an
Aesthetic Life
Creative Being in the Neoliberal Classroom
Carol Wild
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Carol Wild
The right of Carol Wild to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-25940-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-25941-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-28575-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003285755
Typeset in Bembo
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
Contents
List of figures ix
Acknowledgements x
Introduction: Imagining new orientations for
researching artist- teacher practice in neoliberal spaces
through the inspiration of new materialisms and new
pragmatisms 1
PART 1
Classroom ways- of- being 21
Turn 1: Artist- teacher practice, site- responsiveness and the
classroom as aesthetic movement 23
Turn 2: Artist- teacher practice and creative, transformative,
therapeutic objects in the classroom 36
Turn 3: Artist- teacher practice, becoming the ideal teacher
and the disorientation of classroom subjects 56
PART 2
Being less- than 81
Turn 4: Reading about knowledge with Bourdieu and
Bernstein: Artist- teacher practice, School Art and
powerful knowing 83
Turn 5: Reading about creativity with Deleuze and Foucault:
Artist- teacher practice, neoliberalism and the
impossible ideal 115
viii Contents
PART 3
Becoming more than… 147
Turn 6: Reading Rancière and Dewey with Jane Bennet:
Reconfiguring the politics of the classroom through
artist- teacher practice as a third- thing 149
Turn 7: The gendering of artist- teacher practice: Nurturing
the expectation of an aesthetic life through third- site
encounters 171
Conclusion: Sharing responsibility for a life lived
aesthetically with art and design education 203
Index 208
Figures
2.1 Mermaid Purses 50
4.1 Safari Photos – Julie 84
5.1 ‘Doodling’ – Molly 116
5.2 ‘Painting for classroom projection’ – Julie with John 134
6.1 Hand 151
6.2 Hand held 152
6.3 Hand broken 153
6.4 Hand repaired 154
