This research entitled Images of the urban experience in contemporary painting began as an investigation into the consequences of urbanism such as human alienation and personal detachment. As a studio based research, this practice was based on five individual exhibitions of contemporary paintings accompanied by four underlying theoretical exegeses. These components together with the involvement in various group exhibitions, awards and professional practice documented in a research portfolio were developed over a three-year period. As each series of paintings was exhibited, new priorities and directions were established. These developments ranged from documentation of the decline in the conscious organisation of urban life images to the utilisation of media and techniques to promote greater fluidity and painting spontaneity. The theme of human alienation in this investigation developed into a focus on the existential predicament of place-bereft individuals. As the nature of location was brought into focus, an exploration of the influence and question of place emerged. This concept gave rise to an investigation into place-panic or human anxiety at the prospect of an unknown place. / Doctor of Creative Art

Thesis (Ph.D)--Mudoch University, 2004. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-268).

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-114). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Building cultural understanding through cultural exchange. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-111).

This research study focusses on how and why Carol Hofmeyr began the Keiskamma Art Project in Hamburg, Eastern Cape, as well as the development of the project’s infrastructure, history and detailed business practices and how it has evolved. A chronological detailed pictorial record has been drawn up of the major/monumental works it has produced, its achievements, awards and the accolades it has won. The recurrent narrative themes of HIV/AIDS, Nguni cattle, the Nongquawuse story, local birds, plants and fish which are also discussed. A comparable study, comparing the business practices of the Keiskamma Art Project with the research of Professor Ingrid Stevens on Morris & Co and five other successful, sustained South African Art Projects. Data has been tabulated in an effort to recognise the variances, similarities and differences in an effort to identify a “best practise” business model. Such a model may assist in the development of further art projects, so as to uplift other poverty stricken communities in South Africa. This research study focusses on how and why Carol Hofmeyr began the Keiskamma Art Project in Hamburg, Eastern Cape, as well as the development of the project’s infrastructure, history and detailed business practices and how it has evolved. A chronological detailed pictorial record has been drawn up of the major/monumental works it has produced, its achievements, awards and the accolades it has won. The recurrent narrative themes of HIV/AIDS, Nguni cattle, the Nongquawuse story, local birds, plants and fish which are also discussed. A comparable study, comparing the business practices of the Keiskamma Art Project with the research of Professor Ingrid Stevens on Morris & Co and five other successful, sustained South African Art Projects. Data has been tabulated in an effort to recognise the variances, similarities and differences in an effort to identify a “best practise” business model. Such a model may assist in the development of further art projects, so as to uplift other poverty-stricken communities in South Africa.This research study focusses on how and why Carol Hofmeyr began the Keiskamma Art Project in Hamburg, Eastern Cape, as well as the development of the project’s infrastructure, history and detailed business practices and how it has evolved. A chronological detailed pictorial record has been drawn up of the major/monumental works it has produced, its achievements, awards and the accolades it has won. The recurrent narrative themes of HIV/AIDS, Nguni cattle, the Nongquawuse story, local birds, plants and fish which are also discussed. A comparable study, comparing the business practices of the Keiskamma Art Project with the research of Professor Ingrid Stevens on Morris & Co and five other successful, sustained South African Art Projects. Data has been tabulated in an effort to recognise the variances, similarities and differences in an effort to identify a “best practise” business model. Such a model may assist in the development of further art projects, so as to uplift other poverty stricken communities in South Africa.This research study focusses on how and why Carol Hofmeyr began the Keiskamma Art Project in Hamburg, Eastern Cape, as well as the development of the project’s infrastructure, history and detailed business practices and how it has evolved. A chronological detailed pictorial record has been drawn up of the major/monumental works it has produced, its achievements, awards and the accolades it has won. The recurrent narrative themes of HIV/AIDS, Nguni cattle, the Nongquawuse story, local birds, plants and fish which are also discussed. A comparable study, comparing the business practices of the Keiskamma Art Project with the research of Professor Ingrid Stevens on Morris & Co and five other successful, sustained South African Art Projects. Data has been tabulated in an effort to recognise the variances, similarities and differences in an effort to identify a “best practise” business model. Such a model may assist in the development of further art projects, so as to uplift other poverty stricken communities in South Africa.

Sustainability, and transitions away from currently prevailing unsustainability, is a project with political (economic) and cultural dimensions. Yet, the potential of a cultural political lens to investigate sustainability prefigurations is neglected by the academy. Moreover, existing cultural political conceptualizations are ontologically incoherent with green political perspectives. In this thesis, I articulate a revised notion of cultural politics consistent with normative visions of sustainability transitions, and validate the new approach through an exploratory investigation of Scottish community woodland organizations (CWOs). CWOs are alternative organizations troubling hegemonic land tenurial and forest management practices. However, these organizations are under- researched by sustainability scholars. The study shows how one CWO prefigures sustainability transitions, not least through distinctive woodland artistic activities. The thesis narrates threefold theoretical originality, and also extends empirical knowledge. Originality lies (first) in the practice-theoretical recasting of cultural politics theory, (second) in the synthesis concept describing practices of everyday artistic activism, and (third) in the green republican interpretive framework of sustainability subjectivities, against which cultural political performances may be evaluated. Empirical originality lies in the exploration of community woodlands. I argue that through practices of everyday artistic activism and more general woodland practices, woodland activists perform alternative conceptions of human-nature relations, intrahuman relations, and organization. Through these performances, woodland artistic activists enact a cultural politics of sustainability transitions, and make visible alternative modes of humans being in the world. The study contributes to theoretical debates concerned with cultural politics and artistic activism, with researching community organizing for sustainability transitions, and with interpretive approaches to sustainability knowledge production. Empirically, it extends alternative organizational knowledge, showing how sustainability subjectivities can be communicated through woodland practices.

In this interdisciplinary study, narrative portraiture is used as a methodology to depict three visual artists who draw on their lived experience, traditions and values to engage viewers, through their artwork, about issues of landscape and identity. I argue for an educative paradigm applied to art practice that seeks individual and social/cultural transformation within and across communities through pedagogical processes that recognize diverse audiences. Questions guiding this study are: How do the artists' ideas and practices relate to living in British Columbia and the representation of the land? What are their motivations and strategies for expressing those ideas? How are the roles of these artists and the roles of teachers linked? The study considers the ways in which Jin-me Yoon, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun and Marian Penner Bancroft foreground landscape in British Columbia as a complex phenomenon and as a powerful icon in Canadian culture. Through interviews and analysis of artwork, this study examines how these artist/pedagogues challenge artistic conventions, myths and historical narratives that have framed Western culture and influenced their experience. By employing and disrupting conventions of representations of the land, they construct new narratives concerned with issues of identity, the environment, Native land claims, and urban history. This research portrait of artists who attempt to inscribe a place for themselves and their communities within the life of the province, is also a portrait of 'place', or the complex interrelationship of people and the environment. As role models and spokespersons who link knowledge and culture, the artists share a desire'to foster understanding through postmodern art practices and dialogic pedagogical processes. This study acknowledges their dual role as artist and teacher, involving models of practice that aim to effect social change and environmental care. It examines how their work integrating art and education, reflects and attempts to shape the social, cultural and political landscape within shifting conditions of society today. This study aims to provide a greater understanding of artist/pedagogues and calls for an increased focus on a pedagogical role for artists in museums, schools and other community-based sites, particularly with respect to multicultural and environmental art education.

In this interdisciplinary study, narrative portraiture is used as a methodology to depict three visual artists who draw on their lived experience, traditions and values to engage viewers, through their artwork, about issues of landscape and identity. I argue for an educative paradigm applied to art practice that seeks individual and social/cultural transformation within and across communities through pedagogical processes that recognize diverse audiences. Questions guiding this study are: How do the artists' ideas and practices relate to living in British Columbia and the representation of the land? What are their motivations and strategies for expressing those ideas? How are the roles of these artists and the roles of teachers linked? The study considers the ways in which Jin-me Yoon, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun and Marian Penner Bancroft foreground landscape in British Columbia as a complex phenomenon and as a powerful icon in Canadian culture. Through interviews and analysis of artwork, this study examines how these artist/pedagogues challenge artistic conventions, myths and historical narratives that have framed Western culture and influenced their experience. By employing and disrupting conventions of representations of the land, they construct new narratives concerned with issues of identity, the environment, Native land claims, and urban history. This research portrait of artists who attempt to inscribe a place for themselves and their communities within the life of the province, is also a portrait of 'place', or the complex interrelationship of people and the environment. As role models and spokespersons who link knowledge and culture, the artists share a desire'to foster understanding through postmodern art practices and dialogic pedagogical processes. This study acknowledges their dual role as artist and teacher, involving models of practice that aim to effect social change and environmental care. It examines how their work integrating art and education, reflects and attempts to shape the social, cultural and political landscape within shifting conditions of society today. This study aims to provide a greater understanding of artist/pedagogues and calls for an increased focus on a pedagogical role for artists in museums, schools and other community-based sites, particularly with respect to multicultural and environmental art education. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The research is based on the belief that the Earth's survival is reliant on an understanding of the interconnectedness between people and the planet. The premise that creative expression is an inherent need in human beings and a powerful agent for social change is at the core of this study. The arts permeate all aspects of life and can play a positive pro-active role in economic and social upliftment. The study therefore explored a contemporary public context in which artists intervene in society to provide practical and functional social spaces but also, with the ecological crisis of the planet, to create an awareness of the interconnectedness of life. Place-making was of specific concern and one of the aims was to examine ways of re-shaping the appearance and meaning of public spaces. An equally important issue was the role and responsibility of both the artist and the commissioning process in a social context and the relevance of individual expression as modes of addressing social concerns and as a tool of public empowerment within a new democratic South Africa that can have a genuine impact on community well-being and social inclusion. The research therefore exists in between the arts, social sciences and the ecology of place: that is, the understanding of the role of creative intervention within social spaces. The study provides a historical context and development of new trends in public and collaborative community arts, contextualises the notion of public and argues for a repositioning of assessment criteria for the arts within a social public domain and in the interest of the people. It is based on a critical survey of international collaborative arts and its potential as a guide to alternative solutions and implementation within a South African context for creative interventions and regeneration of public spaces and empowerment and capacity building of its citizens. The research discusses the relevance and the position of the arts and craft industry as a means of poverty alleviation, job creation and empowerment in South Africa. Rebuilding community demands both the rejuvenation of social spaces and the restoration of community esteem together with mutual and self-respect. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D. Litt. et Phil (Art History)

The research is based on the belief that the Earth's survival is reliant on an understanding of the interconnectedness between people and the planet. The premise that creative expression is an inherent need in human beings and a powerful agent for social change is at the core of this study. The arts permeate all aspects of life and can play a positive pro-active role in economic and social upliftment. The study therefore explored a contemporary public context in which artists intervene in society to provide practical and functional social spaces but also, with the ecological crisis of the planet, to create an awareness of the interconnectedness of life. Place-making was of specific concern and one of the aims was to examine ways of re-shaping the appearance and meaning of public spaces. An equally important issue was the role and responsibility of both the artist and the commissioning process in a social context and the relevance of individual expression as modes of addressing social concerns and as a tool of public empowerment within a new democratic South Africa that can have a genuine impact on community well-being and social inclusion. The research therefore exists in between the arts, social sciences and the ecology of place: that is, the understanding of the role of creative intervention within social spaces. The study provides a historical context and development of new trends in public and collaborative community arts, contextualises the notion of public and argues for a repositioning of assessment criteria for the arts within a social public domain and in the interest of the people. It is based on a critical survey of international collaborative arts and its potential as a guide to alternative solutions and implementation within a South African context for creative interventions and regeneration of public spaces and empowerment and capacity building of its citizens. The research discusses the relevance and the position of the arts and craft industry as a means of poverty alleviation, job creation and empowerment in South Africa. Rebuilding community demands both the rejuvenation of social spaces and the restoration of community esteem together with mutual and self-respect. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D. Litt. et Phil (Art History)