In the article Art Practice as Research in the Classroom, by Julia Marshall and Kimberley D’Adamo, it focuses on the new subject ‘art-based research’.  What they believe is that art-based research provides models for art practice-as-research in art education.  This type of art is made up of a research process which new knowledge is created or discovered.  They also believe that art-based research is “less linear, rule-bound, and ordered” compared to normal artmaking which is “rigorous and systematic”.  Although there are times where artmaking can be what they described from time to time, I would still have to disagree with what Marshall and D’Adamo says.  I personally believe that artmaking is just as free and unsystematic as art-based research in both a classroom or outside of one.

Marshall and D’Adamo states that art-based research has a way of teaching quite different than normal classes.  It stresses the artist’s thinking and the student’s work is seen as more of an evidence of learning.  Art practice is self-guided and motivated mostly by the student themselves.  It is a way for exploring a wide range of concepts and promotes higher awareness and thinking.  It is also mentioned that art research puts together creation and critique and changes how the students see themselves.  Art research allows students to go down their own path to discover new meanings and ideas.  An essential tool for this field is a “research workbook” which is a mixture of notebook, sketchbook, laboratory, and repository of findings from research and data collected.  It serves as a tool to help ideas start and grow.  Students have, according to research and studies, realized that research and thinking skills acquired in the art-based research classroom can also be applied to other academic studies, along with obtaining new research skills and the motivation to work autonomously governing their own decisions.

Although art-based research seems to be a field that pushes the limits of students and has their own unique way of doing so, I cannot help but to relate it directly to normal artmaking.  Being an artist myself, I can relate to all of these details describing art-based research.  Art alone can motivate a student to follow a range of ideas and discover or acquire new skills to forge their own path.  “Creation and critique” is a huge key in creating art pieces since there is a process along with opinions from themselves as well as others on how to make the piece even better.  The “research workbook” tool that was mentioned is incredibly like a normal sketchbook.  Ideas are created in it and the artist can practice techniques they never used before without going straight to the actual creation.  Artwork does not follow rules or a certain “agenda”, but rather goes according to the mood swings of the artist or what is presented at the moment.

Art-based research is an interesting field that should be looked into more, but it is not exactly the most unique field there is out there.  After an explanation, I personally cannot help but think of this as art itself.  The only difference I can think of is that art-based research goes more into the “data” or scientific detail  of certain objects or things.