How does creativity take shape in an arts classroom? A Post-intentional and Arts-based study on the creation of artwork

Abstract

How does creativity take shape in an arts classroom? This study explores art creation through the lens of students participating in an active painting, drawing and clay studio class. As an artist, a teacher and a researcher I am influenced by the constructs that surround me, and I myself am an influencer on my students as they create artwork. In recognizing these constructs, this exploration of an active arts room documents the embodiment of creativity in a selection of students. Utilizing Post-intentional phenomenological methods (Vagle, 2018) to photograph, interview and explore the students’ process provides access into their world of creation. Using Arts-based research (Leavy, 2015) to respond and reflect on their creative processes allows me to produce artworks that embody my own responses to the phenomenon at play. Using ques from Deleuze and Guattari ’s (1987) lines of flight, each student artist is represented in the form of a vignette, weaving together all forms of data from their experience, matched with my artistic creations. While the phenomenon of how creativity takes shape in an arts classroom may never be fully captured, this rhizomatic rendering of a fleeting manifestation can provide preservice educators a glimpse into the world of student art creation.