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Aesthetic Ways Of Knowing A Personal Narrative Vicki Kelly A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario lnstitute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto @ Copyright by Vicki Kelly 2001 National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Weiiington Street 395, rue Wellington OnawaON K1AOW OttawaON KIA ON4 canada canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé me licence non exclusive licence ailowing the exclusive permettant à la National Libraxy of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/fh, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Aesthetic Ways Of Knowing A Personal Narrative Master of Arts 2001 Vicki Kelly Department of Curriculum. Teaching and Leaming Ontario lnstitute for Studies in Education University of Toronto Abstract: This thesis examines the sense modalities and how the human being lives in these modalities in order to learn about the world. It further considers how the life of sou1 incorporates: thinking, feeling, and willing or doing, in order to create or establish the knowing of the world that leads to meaning making and understanding. It examines sensory literacy in a broad context and its role in aesthetic ways of knowing, including examples from the role of play in human development to aesthetic ways of knowing as developed in the arts. The author examines how literacy in the sensory rnodalities leads to the development of the various language forms or syntaxes in the arts, and concludes with a personal narrative account, which serves as an example of how aesthetic ways of knowing were cultivated and developed through personal experiences in the arts of sculpture. eurythmy, drawing and music. Who hudthe courage to enter the mci6lë of lfe andsendme on my way witli OIt!ssings. iii loJackLusseyran wh&mu, anda mentor andgude kgone 6efore loEïîa6etti my dëar andgraciousfnedwlio 6ears wit ness to my process and accompanies me abng the way and whose Gwe of music Lc an inspirut ion loLeedandLesléy wfio wu~edwitlime tlien andnuw luJiKand~htair for hepme findmy vmie loSyCiiO who as afnend he&ed me through myfnst everiences of drawing and accompanies me in myjoumey tlimugh the arts loJoseph for Lis lieCpfiiCexpenise in photography Topnne, (DÙ1nu. andJean who 6elïèved6efore iit wu6om in rea fity To Kenneth, and~tirictawho sfiare a Cove of the mysteries of lieafing To YiMm everpresent wfio Lr &e a toucli Stone in my fife To Jan andSMikefor tfieircontinuedinterest adsupport IoCarnifi my dearfeh st dent ahng this pat h Tu my dearparents who were there in the 6eginning adare stilTthere loKaren and Lori my mer supportive &ers Io t L chiUren adalTtliose who have graced my lfe with the gzji of thmefves To cDavidBootfi andSuzanne Stiegahuer whofacifitatedin mat& tfiic worcof 6ecoming a realîty Table Of Contents Abstract Introduction: In The Beginning Prologue C hapter 1 Coming To Our Senses Coming To Ourselves Chapter 2 A Theme With Variations: The Development of the Aesthetic Instrument Chapter 3 In Search of the Rainbow Bridge: 65 Aesthetic Ways of Knowing and the Role of the Arts Chapter 4 Drawing: The Zen of Seeing Chapter 5 Music: Let the Soul Sing Epilogue Conclusion: Are There Archetypes in the Process? References Appendix: Art Work ?ne hour is <iri@ng so close a6me me, So chrandsharp, iniat alhy senses ring witli it. I feelit nuw, the'sa power in me To grasp andgive iape to the worH I know nothing fias mer 6een red Witliout my 6efiol;iingit. pfl6ecomiw lUls needed me. MY Iooeng npens things andtliey corne towards me to meet und6e met. Wo thiq ir too smaUfor me tu cfiekfi 3 ndpaint in go& as fit were an icon Bat coulii6hss us lliough Mnot know wfioarnong us Willfeee(th3 6lessing. Introduction In The Beginning What began as a mere track or spoor, when followed, became a path I set down on my joumey of understanding. I have endeavoured to articulate the process by laying each step like a cobblestone set down with intention to join the others along the way. In the beginning I only sensed the binding and magicafly bridging nature of the ads between experience and cognition. The following is an attempt at travelling over, or traversing it so that upon reflection and in the telling of the story I discover another fundamental pnnciple to join the other cobblestones I have already collected and placed in the process. It is most definitely a work in progress and should be read as such. Each us gathers experiences, shaping and reshaping our thoughts of the world and ourselves to create an ever-expanding imagination of Our lives and this world in which we find ourselves. We carry unanswered, often unspoken, questions like riddles turning them over eternally deep with us. Then events that were brooding like a storm are resolved and in the cfearing after a thunderstom, we witness the rays of the Sun piercing through the clouds to illumine the entire landscape with sparkling clarity. Our vision is refreshed, and we are quickened with new energy and direction. In order to situate my personal hemeneutic, I must spend some time addressing the issues that were brooding within me and led to this inquiry and the ensuing narrative. I had being working in education and in art therapy for a number of years. A simple outline of my background may help the reader to locate the perspective from which I speak in the following chapters. Beginning with my most recent history, I worked for eight years as a eurythmy teacher and as a member of a special education team as a therapeutic eurythmist at the Toronto Waldorf School. Prior to that I had a private practice as a therapeutic eurythmist along with doctors, nurses, massage therapists, art therapists, speech therapist, and music therapists in a private chic in Bem, Switzerland. 1 have worked in hospitals specializing in a more holistic approach to general medicine and in psychiatry in Gerrnany and Switzerland. I completed my two-year therapeutic eurythmy training after I had trained as an eurythmist and worked for eight years in the Camphill Schools, Training Centres, and Villages for individuals with physical and mental challenges in Britain and Norway. As a member of the Ringwood-Botton Euqdhmy Performing Group, I toured extensively in Great Britain and Europe for five years. I have rny diplornas in each of the following: the performing art of eurythmy, pedagogical eurythmy and therapeutic eurythmy. I studied sculpture for one-year at Emerson College in England after receiving my B.A. in Literature from Dalhousie University. My early life and education began in Northwestern Ontario, where I was born and raised. For those who have not encountered eurythmy, let me include a brief description. Eurythrny is an art form of movernent that combines aspects similar to drama and dance with the skill and agility of physical education. The art of eurythmy reveals the creative movements out of which language and music are born. The speech eurythmy gestures and movements are not arbitrary: just as only certain rnovernents of the larynx produce certain sounds in the air, so too only certain movements in eurythrny can rnake the sounds visible. The eurythmist follows these laws of gesture but is absolutely free in how he or she does so. In a similar way, tone eurythrny reveals the music itself rather than a subjective reaction to it. Apart from artistic work on the stage there are two further branches of eurythmy: therapeutic eurythrny. which developed as a therapy in its own rightin Europe. complementing physiotherapy in hospitals, and educational or pedagogical eurythmy. Eurythrny cornes into being when man leams to use the noblest part of al1 artistic media, the human organisrn itself-this microcosm-as an instrument. ...If the human being reveals through eurythrny gestures that which his being inherently possesses as a language which enables the entire experience of the sou1 to rnanifest through the instrument of the physical body, then he should be able to artistically express the mysteries of the world. Rudolf Steiner In my work with grades two through eight, I had the joy of watching children working with enthusiasm on mastering their own instrument, their bodies, and marveled at their ability to create choreography and express their response to pieces of music at a very early age. Movernent was obviously their element, so leaming through it and transfemng what they heard into fom and gesture took place generally like playing, with an unselfconscious ease. I knew personally that one could understand through movement on a very deep level; one simply knew very profound things. Often I would watch children internalize sorne aspect; for example, the courage to let a copper rod free-fall behind their backs and to grow in the process of accomplishrnent. They were radiant and seemed to walk away taler. They were touchingly accurate at creating an image to express what they heard or to give colours, gestures.