Publication Date
2024
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Freedman, Kerry J.
Second Advisor
Douglas Boughton
Degree Name
Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)
Legacy Department
School of Art and Design
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate how Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism can expand understandings of cognition and creativity in the digital art high school classroom. Increasing advancements in digital technologies are presenting ontological and epistemological questions regarding the nature of cognition and creativity which current dominant approaches to art education are ill-equipped to address. Furthermore, over the past decade, the field of art education has called for an increased need in research addressing digital artmaking technologies. Since art education pedagogy in the United States has an established history of being inflected by popular theories of the time, Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism presents an ontological and epistemological framework to study digital art making which has had limited engagement. Part of this issue in limited engagement with the theory of agential realism within the social sciences is a lack of established methodology for conducting diffractive analysis. This study was designed to progress diffractive analysis methods in the field by incorporating the visual analysis methods of image and theorizing and image as assembly to further focus on the tacit knowledge that emerges when engaging with materials within an agential realism framework.
This study produced two key findings. The first key finding was that visual analysis methods enabled the development of entanglement cartographies and the diffractive analysis of data, revealing the dynamic qualities of material entanglements and agential cuts through visuals. The visual analysis method of image as theorizing guided the development of entanglement cartography visual metaphors which this study calls surface tensions. The surface tensions in the study provide insights through visual methods, without relying on fixed and semiotic meanings which has been a critique of published agential realism cartographies. The visual method of image assemblage were used in this study to visually investigate the depth of agency that occurs between students and digital materials when making digital art. The use of assemblage techniques allowed insights to emerge regarding the complex and at times contradictory nature of entanglements. This study is significant because it demonstrates how visual analysis methods align with, and further progress the emerging research methodologies within an agential realism framework.
The second key finding from this study is that the depth of agency taking place between humans and digital materials significantly influences how learning and creative expression emerge through digital art making. The data presented in this research indicates that there is a lot more occurring during digital art making that current dominant art education pedagogical approaches are ill-equipped to address. This study suggests that new approaches to curriculum development and instructional strategies should be developed to provide more emphasis and support on student relations to digital materiality. Furthermore, this key finding indicates that assessment practices in digital art education are constrained by artificially simplistic understandings of digital materiality which does not account for the depth of agential cuts taking place. This blind spot in digital art teacher assessment practices which fail to address the agential cuts made with digital materials is addressed in this study through an agential realism framework, suggesting how a focus on digital materiality when making judgments on learning could increase the quality of the judgment being made. In conclusion, this research demonstrates that visual analysis methods in conjunction with an agential realism framework may be key for developing new pedagogical understandings and approaches that support cognition and creativity during digital art making.
Recommended Citation
Leonard, Nicholas Garrison, "Digital Art in a High School Art Classroom: Entanglements and Becomings" (2024). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 7969.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/7969
Extent
453 pages
Language
en
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
