ART PRACTICE AS RESEARCH

The imaginative and intellectual work undertaken by artists is a form of research, argues Sullivan (art education, Columbia U.), but existing misconceptions about the intellectual status of learning in visual arts means that the scholarly, cultural, and social significance of art is grossly undervalued. To address the problem, he presents a theory of visual arts practice as research, offering a detailed analysis that explores the theoretical basis of artistic practice to position it within the discourse of research. These research practices do not adopt methods from the social sciences, he says, but subscribe to the view that similar research goals can be achieved by following different yet complementary paths that are just as rigorous and systematic.