Abstract
This chapter remembers the lived curriculum of an arts-based educational research (ABER) in-fused life. The a/r/tographic writing stitches—stones, threads of memory, gifts, times, places, artists, teachers and theorists into a cloth book. Stones and books carry place and memory through and across time. Stitching the needle and thread carefully around the tiny stones I shift into an aperspectival state of consciousness. In this state I write artists, teachers and visionaries Bracha Ettinger and Hildegard von Bingen together across centuries to introduce the reader to the author’s lived experiences of carriance within a Matrixial Divine feminine worldview. The a/r/tographic book-making process of Carriance offers a co-emergent and co-becoming borderspace to explore how I have carried and been carried within the field of ABER in the academy. It is my desire that the memory findings that surfaced through the stone-stitched a/r/tographic writing of this chapter offer emerging and established ABER scholars a shift of perspectives. To find and extend opportunities for carriance in their own ABER-infused lives that can lead toward an experience of compassionate hospitality and time freedom.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
A/r/tography is a methodology that emerged in the early 2000s at The University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Education as students and faculty began to bring their arts practices to the forefront of their educational research (e.g., Irwin and de Cosson (2004), Springgay et al. (2008)). Emerging out of this community of practice, a/r/tography centers relationality between art, research and teaching, the artist, researcher, teacher, and the art (a/r/t) with the written word (graphy). Within relationality innovative thoughts and ways of making, knowing, learning and being can emerge.
- 2.
Matrixial theory takes one into a womb-centered worldview that engages critically and care-fully with the phallic-centered worldview that has dominated Western thought for centuries. It is beyond the scope of this chapter and I highly recommend the study of it to all artist-scholars. For a brilliant guided entry into Ettinger’s teachings see Griselda Pollock’s (2020) edited volume.
- 3.
Hildegard von Bingen is referred to predominantly by scholars by her first name. Sister and Abbess Hildegard being the form of address she received during her lifetime. Bracha Ettinger is referred to predominantly by her last name by scholars. I choose to use their given names throughout this chapter to signify the closeness I recognize and feel across time between each of them as sisters, who offer an empowered and liberating voice to the repressed feminine in a still dominant patriarchal world.
- 4.
The article was written in 1996 by Alison Rowley entitled “On viewing three paintings by Jenny Saville: rethinking a feminist practice of painting” as found in historian Grisdelda Pollock’s edited volume entitled Generations and Geographies in the Visual Arts. Routledge, London, pp. 88–109. ISBN 0415141277.
- 5.
To listen to her music, see her life in film, and see her art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6rghBbvQ34 https://www.hildegard.com/resources.php?page=hvb and https://www.artbook.com/blog-hildegard.html.
- 6.
To read about the first Matrixial cloth study book see https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/atj/vol4/iss1/5/.
- 7.
To see images of this cloth book go to https://news.wsu.edu/news/2019/05/24/wsu-schnitzer-museum-presents-exhibition-louise-bourgeois-ode-forgetting/.
- 8.
Ted Aoki taught at UBC and during his short time there founded the Center for the Study of Curriculum and Instruction (now named Center for Cross Faculty Inquiry). This is where I obtained my M.A and studied with a number of professors highly influenced by Aokian thought such as Lynn Fels, Karen Meyer, Rita Irwin and Carl Leggo.
- 9.
A series initiated at AERA with then fellow ABER SIG committee members and former UBC classmates, Daniel Barney and Nadine Kalin.
- 10.
Genevieve Vaughan uses the word motherers to recognize that mothering can be carried out by all and not only women.
- 11.
I am grateful both programs have remained in place, smaller but still present.
- 12.
- 13.
To learn more about the Dream Scroll and Nap-Ins created with the Gestare Art Collective see http://www.gestareartcollective.com/nap-ins.php. The Gestare Art Collective (2009–2021) is a collective of women artists. “The source of [their] artistic collaborations comes from [a] shared engagement with the Divine Feminine and the Earth, gestated in the labyrinthine container of wombspace” (n.d., d.p). Recently they ritually transitioned from being an artist collective with set membership to artists individually supporting the Gestare Art Movement. To see more of their archived artworkings go to http://www.gestareartcollective.com/about.php.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
See the book blog https://art-ritual-trance-inquiry.tumblr.com/.
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.
- 20.
- 21.
- 22.
See an example of the trance-based inquiry art and writing https://galleries.lakeheadu.ca/barbara-bickel.html.
References
Aoki, T. T. (2005). Narrative and narration in curricular spaces. In W. F. Pinar & R. L. Irwin (Eds.), Curriculum in a new key: The collected works of Ted T. Aoki (pp. 403–412). Lawrence Erlbaum
Barrett, E. (2000). Mutant enunciations: Feminist practices and the anaoedipal. Social Semiotics, 10(3), 253–263
Beittel, K. R. (2003). Art for a new age. Visual Arts Research, 29(57), 39–53. [Reprinted from the original in Visual Arts Research, 11(1), 90–104, 1985]
Bickel, B. (2020a). Art, ritual and trance inquiry: Arational learning in an irrational world. Palgrave Macmillan
Bickel, B. (2020b). Expanding perspectives through flight: Transformation of fear through arational ways of knowing. International Journal of Fear Studies, 2(2), 20–44. https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/112448
Bickel, B. & Fisher, R. M. (2023). Art-Care Practices for Restoring the Communal: Education, Co-Inquiry, and Healing. Routledge
Bickel, B. & Sims, M. (2015). Making Eye Contact: Mary Beth Edelson’s performance art as public pedagogy. Journal of Arts and Community, 5(1), 41–53
Bickel, B. (2008). Living the divine spiritually and politically: Art, ritual, and performative pedagogy in women’s multifaith leadership. Unpublished dissertation. The University of British Columbia. https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0054657
Bickel, B. (1992). Birthing the masculine. Lodgepole Pine, 13(1), 9
Bickel, B. & Fisher, R. M. (2020). Heart of the mountain: A Nature, arts and trance-based intervention into a medical crisis. Art Research International, 5(2), 425–451. https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/ari/index.php/ari/article/view/29471
Bickel, B. & Walsh, S. (2019). An art-based contemplative pause: Introduction to part 2: Creating restorative caring and learning spaces, Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal, 4(1), 6–16. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/atj/vol4/iss1/2/
Bickel, B., Walsh, S., & Conrad, D. (2018). An art-based contemplative pause: Introduction to part 1: Sharing radical creative possibilities. Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal, 3(1), 6–11. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/siteview.cgi/atj/vol3/iss1/3
Bickel, B. & Fisher, R. M. (1993). Opening doors; A guide to spontaneous creation-making. In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute
Bickel, B., & Jordan, N. A. (2009). Labyrinths as ritual art: A pedagogy of inquiry/witnessing/listening to the sacred. Educational Insights Online Journal, 13(2). http://www.educationalinsights.ca/
Biesta, G. (2017). Letting art teach: Art education “after” Joseph Beuys. ArtEZ Press
Butterwick, S. (2017). The contributions of political fashion shows and fabric to visual arts-based practice. Participatory Visual Approaches to Adult and Continuing Education: Practical Insights, Summer(154), 71–81. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20232
Clément, C., & Kristeva, J. (2001). The feminine and the sacred. Palgrave MacMillan
Conrad, D., & Sinner, A. (2015). Creating together: Participatory, community-based, and collaborative arts practices and scholarship across Canada. Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Eisenstein, C. (2011). Sacred economics: Money, gift and society in an age of transition. Evolver Editions
Ettinger, B. L. (2005). Copoiesis. Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization, 5(X), 703–713
Ettinger, B. L. (2006). The Matrixial borderspace. University of Minnesota Press
Ettinger, B. L. (2014). Demeter-Persephone Complex, Entangled Aerials of the Psyche, and Sylvia Plath. ESC, 40(1) (March), 1–32
Ettinger, B. L. (1999). Transgressing with-in-to the feminine. In Van C. Damme & F. Vandepitte, (Eds.), Leonardo’s Glimlach (133–154). Academia Press
Evans, B., & Ettinger, B. L. (2016). Art in a time of atrocity: Evans & Ettinger interview. New York Times. The Opinion Pages. Dec. 16. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/opinion/art-in-a-time-of-atrocity.html?_r=0
Fisher, R. M. (2018). Fearless engagement of Four Arrows: The true story of an Indigenous- based social transformer. Palgrave
Fox, M. (2012). Hildegard of Bingen: A saint for our times. Namaste
Fuller, R. B. (1971). Utopia or oblivion: The prospects for humanity. Bantam Books
Gebser, J. (1949/1984). The ever-present origin (N. Barstad, & A. Mickunas, Trans.). Ohio University Press
Gradle, S. (2004). Everyday encounters with the sacred: Artist, action, and image. Unpublished dissertation. University of Illinois
Gradle, S., & Bickel. B. (2010). The unfolding inner teacher: Applying holistic ideas from Beittel & Schaefer-Simmern. Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies, 11(1), 1–18. http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/jaaacs/vol6/Gradle_Bickel.htm
Hildegard of Bingen. (1990). Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias. Paulist Press
Hooks, B. (1994). Outlaw culture: Resisting representations. Routledge
Hyde, L. (2007). The gift: Creativity and the artist in the modern world. Vintage Books
Irigaray, L. (2002). The way of love. Continuum
Irwin, R. L. (2013). Becoming a/r/tography. Studies in Art Education. 54(3), 198–215
Irwin, R. L., & de Cosson, A. (Eds.) (2004). A/r/tography: Rendering self through arts-based living inquiry. Pacific Educational Press
Jordan, N. (Ed.). (2017). Placental wit: Mother stories, rituals and research. Demetre Press
Jordan, N., & Bickel, B. (2021). Gifting a healing education through writing life and art: A Paris studio residency. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 19(1), 34–61
Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teaching of plants. Milkweed
Kind, S. (2004). Fragments: Life writing in image and text. In R. L. Irwin & A. de Cosson (Eds.), A/r/tography: Rendering self through arts-based living inquiry (pp. 41–59). Pacific Educational Press
Lasczik Cutcher, A., & Irwin, R. (Eds.). (2018). The Flaneur and education research: A metaphor for knowing. Being ethical and new data production. Palgrave
Leggo, C. (2018). Holding Fast to H: Ruminations on the ARTS preconference. Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal, 3(1). https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/atj/vol3/iss1/5
Meyer, K. (2006) Living inquiry: A gateless gate and a beach. In W. Ashton & D. Denton (Eds). Spirituality, ethnography, and teaching: Stories from within (pp. 155–166). Peter Lang
Newman, B. (1987). Sister of wisdom: St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine. University of California Press
Norris, J. (2010). Playbuilding as qualitative research. Left Coast Press
Noyce, J. (2019). Visions of the Divine Feminine in medieval Europe. History Enlighted. Volume 22. Academia.edu. https://www.academia.edu/38116574/Visions_of_the_Divine_Feminine_in_medieval_Europe
Pinar, W. F., Reynolds, W. M., Slattery, P., & Taubman, P. M. (Eds.). (1995/2004). Understanding curriculum. Peter Lang
Pollock, G. (Ed.). (2020). Bracha L. Ettinger: Matrixial subjectivity, aesthetics, ethics, Volume 1, 1990–2000. Palgrave Macmillan
Snowber, C. (2016). Embodied inquiry: Writing, living and being through the body. Sense
Springgay, S., Irwin, R., Leggo, C., Gouzouasis, R., (Eds.). (2008). Being with a/r/tography. Sense
Springgay, S., Irwin, R. L., & Kind, S. (2008). A/r/tographers and living inquiry. In J. G. Knowles & A. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues (pp. 83–91). SAGE
Vaughan, G. (2006). Homo Donans. http://gifteconomy.com/homo-donans/
Vaughan, G. (1997). For-giving: A feminist criticism of exchange. Plain View and Anomaly Press
Walsh, S. C. (2018). Contemplative and artful openings: Researching women and teaching. Routledge
Walsh, S., Bickel, B., & Leggo, C. (Eds.). (2015). Arts-based and contemplative practices in research and teaching: Honoring presence. Routledge
Dissertation Award Information
Outstanding ABER Dissertation Award Year: 2009
Dissertation Title: Living the Divine Spiritually and Politically: Art, Ritual and Performative/Pedagogy in Women’s Multi-faith Leadership
Supervisor: Rita L. Irwin
Committee Members: William Pinar, Daniel Vokey
Degree Granting University: The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Dissertation Link: https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0054657
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bickel, B. (2023). Carriance: Stitching an Artist-Scholar Through Cyclical Time. In: Bickel, B., Irwin, R.L., Siegesmund, R. (eds) Arts-Based Educational Research Trajectories. Studies in Arts-Based Educational Research, vol 6. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8547-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8547-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-8546-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-8547-8
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)