COME TO YOUR SENSES, REMEMBER BELONGINGS: A PEDAGOGY OF MAKING, MEMORY and the HAPTICS OF HOME ELLEN WRIGHT A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO JANUARY 2019 © ELLEN WRIGHT, 2019 ABSTRACT The relationships of memory to place, and of place to body, assert haptic memory and sensory knowing in this art practice research. Beginning with evocative objects — a wardrobe, a pair of shoes, a dress — this dissertation traces a circuitous material journey to a sensual biography of place. It culminates in two exhibitions, Her Place and What was Learned There, and Her Place-Scraps, distinct drawing installations of graphite rubbings on tracing paper, assembling a feminist response to familial vulnerabilities. The subject is the floors, walls, windows, ceilings, doors, stairs, furniture, clothing and surrounding landscape of an inherited home, forming a partial and fragmented archive reminiscent of memory’s inconsistency, clarity, unreliability and fragility. The physically demanding process of art making asserted my body in that inheritance, while the architectural structures, the many objects and substances used throughout the studio research, reflect Mezei’s ‘domestic effects.’ What evolves is the notion of haptics of home, sensuous memory and the residue of emotion rooted in tactile experience, supported by theorists Krasner and Fisher. I bring Kuhn’s memory work methodology into conversation with Kadar and Perreault’s interrelated concept of auto/ biography, reflecting personal and social memory as specific to time and place. Incorporating memory work, I use creative writing to open a range of experiences that confront gender politics of the domestic in material, familial and narrative inheritances, and a requisite disinheritance, referring to Bailey and Goodall. I discuss contemporary women artists critically addressing materials, auto/ biography, place, and the domestic sphere, as well as the historical and contemporary uses of rubbings in the West and East, encompassing geographical, biographical and educational purpose. I document the studio work in Process Journals, which elucidate a pedagogy of making, exemplifying the entwined processes of art making, thinking and theorizing; more significantly, this studio-making pedagogy reveals working with uncertainty, following curiosity and, ultimately, recognizing not knowing as intrinsic to art practice and to education. As artist and visual art teacher, I consider the generative potential of art practice in relation to natality, Hannah Arendt’s call for the necessity of education to continually re-invent itself. ii Acknowledgements Despite the many hours of solitude required for the endeavours represented by this dissertation, I was, very fortunately, never alone. I would like to express my gratitude to all of the people who waited, cooked, called, entertained, listened, consoled, cheered, rallied, humoured, shared (books and music, food and recipes), considered endless ideas, read, edited and discussed this document and, mostly, offered their love and tremendous support. To Paul, most beloved champion. He, Sam and Nathan, all enormous in their bodies and souls, but most impressive in the power expressed by the muscles of their hearts. You have created my most meaningful moments, teased me relentlessly, and polished my rough edges. My sister, Marsha, for her courage to change everything, despite everything else; and her family, Caaryn and Don. The Edwards clan, the family who embraced me and knew what was good for me long before I did: for the on-going outpouring of generosity, the parties, the food, the earthy humour, the models of independence, and such very fine minds. Gary and Hande, for brightening room C659. Martha and John, C and T, for the meals, the knitting, the joviality, the weekly visits and constant enthusiasm. Love and more love to lifelong neighbours and friends at the Lake House: Jannie, Mrs. J. and family; Jane M. and her mother; Betsy, A, A, and A. To the strongest friends of many years: JK, through thick and thin, great jazz, and many hours by my side. Nancy, for holding up more than half the sky, while sharing pies and ice cream, power outfits, and for laughing even when we thought the sky was falling. Linda, source of joy and jubilation. And Madeleine for catching me at the top of the stairs. Those friends and allies in a busy school, who watered the ground and steered me where they navigated the skies: Barb B., Barb M., Brendan, and Celeste, and my many astute and impressive colleagues. The Great Dr. Darlene and her remarkable team. Lucy E. Bailey for inspirational writing and for the bravery of it: without whose example, I could not foresee the possibility. My extraordinary Committee, “The Dream Team”: Yvonne Singer for stalwart support when the road was tough, and for her model of artistic determination. Naomi Norquay, dedicated activist and educator, gatherer of thinkers, who encouraged, cajoled, freely shared a plethora of invitations, articles and books, brought succinct perspective and hilarity, kindness and brilliant insight. And Belarie Zatzman, leader and mentor, instigator and appreciator of marvels, for her patience, creative discernment, and extra-ordinary generosity; and for understanding and exemplifying that the heart is always the realm where the true teacher waits. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii FRONT YARD Introduction 1 GROUND FLOOR COME TO YOUR SENSES Spring 2013: The Shoes, The Joy, The Bacon 5 Chronology 6 Front Porch: Forget 8 Front Door: Remember 9 The Process Journal 9 Working Process, Summer 2013 Where Is Memory? 12 A Pedagogy Of Making 14 Making: Memory Objects 16 Seeking Artistic Connections 17 Meret Oppenheim 17 Making: The Wardrobe 20 Making: The Joy 23 Martha Rossler 24 Making: The Bacon 25 Making: This Is Forever 26 Janine Antoni 28 Making: The Dresses 31 Evocative Objects And Dress Stories 33 Evocative Objects 33 Bacon Fat 36 Sigalit Landau 40 Dress Stories 43 Educator Practice: Everyday Objects In An Art Education Class 46 Making: Completion of Wardrobe, 2013 and Fur, 2015 48 Making: Mother/S/Kin 2013-15 53 Summer 2014: The Haptics Of Home 54 Making: Rubbings 57 Making: Bacon Fat 57 Making: Drowning The Buds and Drowning A Geranium 58 iv Educator Practice: The Free Draw 59 The Haptics of Home 61 Haptics, Aesthetics, Phenomenology and Art 64 Winter 2014 and Spring 2015 68 Educator Practice: What could the senses and haptics mean for art education? 69 Making: Petroleum Jelly, Eggs, Jello and Gelatin 69 Eggs And Petroleum Jelly: Unlearning 69 Gelatin and Jello 70 Art Practice Research: Research Context 75 Documentation: The Process Journal 76 Art Practice Research: Theoretical Issues 80 Art Practice, Writing And Language 87 Arts-Based Research: The Social Sciences Connection 90 Creative Geographies: “Remaking Geographies” 93 Assessment In Arts-Based Practices 94 Assessment In Art Practice Research 95 Spring 2015 97 SECOND STOREY REMEMBER BELONGINGS 98 RUBBINGS OF INHERITANCE, NARRATIVES OF DISINHERITANCE Her Place And What Was Learned There and Her Place-Scraps Introduction 99 Place, Domestic Space And The Haptics Of Home 103 A Sensual Biography Of Place: Ann Hamilton, Sigalit Landau 109 Domestic Effects As Auto/Biographical In Five Women Artists’ Artworks 113 Rubbings And The Exhibitions Of Her Place 120 Her Place And What Was Learned There 123 Her Place And What Was Learned There: Artist Statement 125 Her Place-Scraps 129 Her Place-Scraps: Artist Statement 131 Fear Of Exhibition: Too Close To Home 135 Secrets 136 The Rubbings And What Was Learned There: Writing 138 Her Place: I Am Theirs 139 Hair Tub 141 Father’s Dresser 143 Stairs 144 Incest Ceiling 145 Inheritance - Disinheritance 148 v RUBBINGS: IN HISTORY, ART and HOME MONUMENTS, PLACE and AUTO/BIOGRAPHIES 151 Max Ernst: Frottage And Juxtaposition 151 Sari Dienes: Urban Frottages 153 Anna Barriball - Architectural Elements 154 Gerald Ferguson: ‘Distancing Device.’ 154 Ian Howard: Places Of Military Significance 156 Brasses: Sepulchres, Biographies And Geographies 160 Chinese Ink Imprints: The Wet Method 161 Xu Bing: The ‘Countermonument’ 163 Do Ho Suh: Home And Memory 166 Her Place And What Was Learned There: Scraps And Dust 176 BACK YARD: CONCLUSION A Pedagogy Of Making: On Thinking, Knowing, and Not Knowing 179 Educator Practice 187 A Pedagogy of Making and Building Community in Teacher Education 191 What is Writing in Relation to Thinking in Art Practice Research? 195 Not Knowing 202 The Art Event/Encounter with Difference 205 Natality, The Repertoire and The Event of Curriculum 207 Hannah Arendt: Natality 208 Diana Taylor: The Archive And The Repertoire 211 Madeleine Grumet: A Theory Of Curriculum 215 BIBLIOGRAPHY 218 vi COME TO YOUR SENSES, REMEMBER BELONGINGS: A PEDAGOGY OF MAKING, MEMORY and the HAPTICS OF HOME FRONT YARD Introduction A yard is where the inhabitants or things of the world dwell in a house between heaven and hell.1 Between Heaven and Hell: An idyllic setting for a second home on a great lake. Even though it is a simply constructed plywood and aluminum sided two-season dwelling, it is an expense and speaks of available income to maintain and travel there, and exists among rows of similar dwellings Making the Rubbing of Hammock. 2014. owned by white people, representing a range of political and socio-economic groups. Even in Heaven, there can be pockets of Hell. This excursion in doctoral research was an audacious pursuit of a long held desire since completing my Bachelor or Fine Arts Degree, to work seriously in a studio making artwork for an extended period of time. As researcher and artist, art practice enters a Faculty of Education with trepidation. 1 Yard in Old English means Dwelling or house: middenerd, n. Obs. The world; the earth as a middle region between heaven and hell; (also) the inhabitants or things of the world, esp.