This art-based research study will examine creativity and the creative process during the production of a cohesive body of work. The author’s auto-ethnographic reflections of her creative process were recorded, and analyzed. The artist/teacher/researcher will provide conclusions based on her art production and self-reflection.

During a ten week period at the University of Oregon I created a sociopolitically based dance work, The Big Red Button. I researched theories about creativity. I researched a selection of master choreographers in order to integrate their methods of creation with my own. Finally, I created a dance piece with students from the University of Oregon which was shared with the public in a live performance. In this document I discuss this exploration into my creative process in dance with the intention of understanding more about it, expending upon what I already posses as a choreographer, and attempting to find out if the creative process can be enriched, resulting in new methods, new products, and new perspectives on creating a dance work.

ABSTRACT What is visual art making, the artistic creative process, and how does it work? These questions fuelled an investigation at first theoretical, then incorporating an empirical study centered on attaining understanding relating to the elements and dynamics involved in making visual art. The resultant study aims to offer an approach to gaining comprehensive understanding of the artistic creative process, an understanding that may inform art teaching practice, so that art teachers may better understand the related dynamics of their pedagogical processes. Historically the artistic creative process has been accepted as one consisting of different sequential stages of development. This view however, is evolving due to the growing understanding of interrelated dynamics of life processes offered by, for example, neurological studies of the brain. New thinking links earlier philosophical and psychological ideas presented by such thinkers as James (1894) and Dewey (1934), to the work of Baars (1999), Brown (2000), Ellis (1999), Zeki (2000), in offering a deeper understanding of the natural human creative process. The reflective aspect of the artistic creative process is thus related to the way that we process information every minute of our lives; essentially it is the way we progress through life, minute by minute, learning and evolving, affirming self through finding meaning. Study of current theory relating to the processes of the brain inevitably incorporates modern thinking that revolves around dynamic processes. Originating in thermodynamics, Chaos Theory has travelled far from physics to become incorporated into a broad spectrum of disciplines. It offers a common language that relates to the dynamics of human nature, and as such is totally applicable to areas of learning and human interaction. Here used metaphorically, Chaos Theory serves to elucidate interactive aspects of the discipline of art making, with much to offer an understanding of the artistic creative process as it describes exactly the same process of change and growth through experience. A metaphorical use of the language of Chaos Theory provides visual art making with a means of sharing ideas with other academic disciplines that also constantly deal with the dynamics of the human condition, found for example in the close connections between the methods of exploration of both artists and scientists. In studying the phenomenon of ‘scale’ the physicist Feigenbaum commented on the connections between perceptions of artists and those of scientists, pointing to the way in which their perceptions and analysis of things coincide (Gleick, 1987). The visual analysis evident in the work of Turner or Ruskin reflects the same process of detailed conceptual exploration of material collected by the senses as that of a student of any field of scientific exploration. Chaos Theory is important also in that it provides a language accessible by varying levels of expertise, whether at a simple metaphorical or a more sophisticated level. This work charts these dimensions because “The challenge is to reverse the disconnectedness of the present world and to develop a curriculum that is not based on separateness of knowledge from life and being, but upon their inherent unity and integration” (Lovat and Smith, 1995, p.248). / PhD Doctorate

This art-based research study will examine creativity and the creative process during the production of a cohesive body of work. The author’s auto-ethnographic reflections of her creative process were recorded, and analyzed. The artist/teacher/researcher will provide conclusions based on her art production and self-reflection.

This thesis is an attempt to document my creative process as an actor throughout the production process of An Evening of Greek Theater as accurately as possible. In a narrative structure, I will record the development of the production starting with the pre-production process, the rehearsal process, and evaluate my performance. Chapters include character analyses, pre-production, rehearsal and performance, self-evaluation and a scored script. A video is included with excerpts of my work from the production.

Thesis in Musicology and Artistic Practice by Anders Soldh. Part of the work for the master’s degree. Studies from School of Music, Theatre and Art, University of Örebro, 2007. Available from School of Music, Theatre and Art, Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden. Original in Swedish. This essay in musicology describes the work concerning the composition of an orchestral piece and the different strategies and approaches which are essential in order to be in control of your work and to make a piece of music sound the way you want it to. It consists of two different parts: 1) The theory part: This first part describes the importance of planning. This planning consists of how to determinate duration, number of themes, form and orchestration in a piece of music. It also brings up the importance of time management.Further, it deals with problems you might find in the collaboration with a soloist and orchestra. In the orchestral section of this part of the essay, the different instruments and their families are brought up. Finally, the theory section talks about the role and importance of the audience. 2) The practical part: This second part (from chapter 7), which includes the score of the piece ”Medvind”, consists of a complete analysis of the music. This analysis shows how the subjects spoken of the theory part are dealt with in practice when writing a piece of music. Included in this part is also a recording of the piece played by ”Svenska Kammarorkestern” with Mats Norrefalk as soloist.

The aim of this study is to bring forward four teachers of Arts-education, their statements and reasoning concerning the condition and meaning of the subject of Arts-education along with their statements in relation to theory and earlier research, give voice and insight in their intentions according to what teaching of Arts-education should contribute to. The basis for the study is brought out of the dilemma that there, in the subject of Artseducation is “crowding of matter” in the nine-year compulsory school, difficulties in selecting the importance of various subjects and different opinions between teachers, due to curriculum being modified in accordance with the development in society. The earlier research that this study relates to shows how teacher’s opinion of different subjects varies. My questions concerning the subject are the following; How do four teachers of Arts-education reason concerning the condition and meaning of the subject of Arts-education? What are the teachers intentions according to what teaching of Arts-education should contribute to? What are the similarities and differences between the statements of the teachers in this study versus the teachers' statements according to previous research? To find answers on my issues and questions I have made interviews with four teachers of Arts-education and have then put their reasoning and statements against theories , which  all concerns the creative process. This study shows that these four teachers all have different opinions in how to educate, but not different opinions about what the results of  the subject should be and contribute to. Common to all four teachers is, out of their statements, more or less, it is possible to interpret discussion around the importance of the role of creativity for Arts-education. Three of the teachers also have a discussion in how they relate to modern society, similarities and differences, but also how they expand on a problematic issue. There are among the four teachers of Arts-education, in their reasoning, many similarities in what teachers according to earlier research, have said they value in the subject of Arts-education along with their intentions of education. There are also differences from earlier studies, and that is the fact that there are subtle distinctions in the discussion within the actual problem area. This could contribute with hypothetical knowledge to future research within the actual problem area. In statements from two of the teachers a new aspect arose, an aspect that has not been seen in earlier research, “way of thinking creative” and its meaning.

This practice-led research project takes the form of a written thesis, a body of new work and a public exhibition, which are designed to be reciprocally illuminating. Collectively they articulate a response to the central question; „How do contemporary jewellery makers transfer the sensory experience of place into a tangible object?‟ Fundamental to this enquiry is „The Topophilia Project‟ - a creative participatory research method where the resulting artefacts serve both as data and represent data. This project involved a group of 16 contemporary makers creating new work to brief for an exhibition entitled „A Sense of Place; New Jewellery from Northern Lands‟. The exhibition was held in the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh from May to September 2012 and formed the primary vehicle with which to both present and explore research into the contemporary jewellery of Northern Europe. The new artifacts and first person accounts produced as a result of this research method enabled an investigation into the maker‟s approach to material and process. These highly valuable resources allowed for a reading and deciphering of the methods used by the artists when gathering information from their surrounding environments. Multifaceted methods of practice are distilled within the project outcomes allowing for a broadened terminology to unfold in reference to these practices. This Northern study, rooted in phenomenological understanding and investigated through the creative process, contributes knowledge to the field from an alternative perspective to the dominant position of Central European jewellery output. As a geographically focused inquiry it also adds a necessary alternative outlook to studies focusing on multi-cultural migration. The resulting body of research outlines an arena of practice and theory in which the work of these makers can be debated, analysed, and criticised within the broader field, contributing to the cross-disciplinary discourse on contemporary theories of place of benefit to those interested in the significance of environmental influence on the creative process.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-106).

abstract: The intention for the dance production Story was to develop and explore a collaborative creative process to communicate a specific narrative to an audience. The production took place in the Margaret Gisolo Dance Studio at Arizona State University on November 18, 19, and 20, 2011. The purpose of my thesis work was to investigate how my personal inspiration from classical ballet, balletic movement vocabulary, fantasy narrative (an imaginative fictional story), supportive lighting, set, costumes and expressive sound might merge within a collaborative dance-making process. The final choreography includes creative input from the participating dancers and designers, as well as constructive feedback from my thesis committee. My reflection on the creative process for Story describes the challenges and personal growth I experienced as a result of the project. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.F.A. Dance 2012