Jan van Boeckel

Publications

• Angels talking back and new organs of perception: Art making and intentionality in nature experience

  Jan van Boeckel

  forthcoming publication. 01/2012;

  This article is about the role of artistic process in connecting to the natural environment. In my research I have explored what participants experienced and learned when they engage in different types of arts-based environmental education (AEE) practices that I have facilitated. The premise of AEE ... [more] This article is about the role of artistic process in connecting to the natural environment. In my research I have explored what participants experienced and learned when they engage in different types of arts-based environmental education (AEE) practices that I have facilitated. The premise of AEE is that efforts to learn about our (natural) environment can effectively take their starting point in an artistic activity, usually conducted in groups. I found that, on the whole, two major orientations can be distinguished. One starts from the point of aesthetic sensibility: the tuning in with the senses, or with “a new organ of perception” (Goethe), in order to perceive “the more than human” with fresh new eyes. This tradition can be traced back to (but is by no means limited) to the Romantic Movement. Art in this context may help to amplify the receptivity of the senses and strengthen a sense of connectedness to the natural world. The other major orientation in seeking bridges between nature and art builds on a view of artistic process as leading to unexpected outcomes and “emergent properties.” The fundamentally singular experience of making a work of art may evoke an aesthetic object that becomes a “self-sufficient, spiritually breathing subject” (Kadinsky). The art work can be spontaneously generative and multi-layered with meanings, some of which even ambiguous and paradoxical. But perhaps more importantly: it can catch the participant of an AEE activity by surprise; overwhelm him or her as “coming from behind one’s back.” The element of improvisation, of taking in the new and unanticipated and accommodating for it, is the core quality here. These two orientations, when practiced as part of AEE, have implications to how we relate to nature through art. In the closing of this article I address the question whether it is possible to bridge the dualism between the two orientations.

• Researching Art and Science in Teaching

  Jan van Boeckel, Aksel Hugo, Linda Jolly, Solveig Slåttli, Ceciel Verheij, Edvin Østergaard. Editors: Edvin Østergaard, Linda Jolly

  IMT-Rapport Nr. 44/2011, ISSN nr. 1503-9196. 01/2011;

  Report of a one week seminar with six participants held in Greece in December 2010. All participants are engaged in the fields of art, science and teaching. The participants did exercises together, reflected on the processes and held presentations for the group on topics relevant for the field. How ... [more] Report of a one week seminar with six participants held in Greece in December 2010. All participants are engaged in the fields of art, science and teaching. The participants did exercises together, reflected on the processes and held presentations for the group on topics relevant for the field. How can a coalescence of art and science become teaching tools which can widen our experience in both disciplines? Can an interdisciplinary art-science approach strengthen teaching for sustainability?

• A point of no return: Artistic transgression in the more-than-human world

  Jan van Boeckel

  01/2011;

  Download

• Biologi, bilder og bærekraft

  L. Jolly, S Slåttli, J. Van Boeckel

  Norsk Pedagogisk Tidskrift. 01/2011; 95:299-313.

  Translation of title (from Norwegian): Biology, art and sustainability How can the teaching of biology contribute to sustainable development? The authors of this article argue that direct experience in nature as part of biology education has the potential to enhance the interest in and concern for ... [more] Translation of title (from Norwegian): Biology, art and sustainability How can the teaching of biology contribute to sustainable development? The authors of this article argue that direct experience in nature as part of biology education has the potential to enhance the interest in and concern for the natural environment among the students. By expanding the scope of biology classes to also include arts-based experiences, the authors argue that the understanding of biological phenomena can be deepened and expanded in a way that encourages an alert and responsible attitude to the environment.

• Hidden agendas and utopian wanderings: Trying to be conscious of epistemological challenges and errors in doing research in art education

  Jan van Boeckel

  SYNNYT/ORIGINS (Finnish Studies in Art. 01/2010; 4:65-78.

  Through my doctoral research at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki I aim to get a better insight in the epistemological foundations of arts-based environmental education. I have termed my research an “ethnographically informed inquiry,” as I want to both make use of my academic background ... [more] Through my doctoral research at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki I aim to get a better insight in the epistemological foundations of arts-based environmental education. I have termed my research an “ethnographically informed inquiry,” as I want to both make use of my academic background as cultural anthropologist and to employ typical ethnographic methods such as action research and participant observation. In the context of this bundle – provocatively entitled “Let’s get confused” – authors discuss the prevailing paradigm (or lack of a paradigm) of research in art education at our university. In my contribution I want to analyze and discuss some features of my study which I view as being challenging and possibly point at paradigmatic tensions. Perhaps the issues raised in this paper, which pertain to my own particular research, have – mutatis mutandis – also something to say for the field as a whole

  Download

• Arts-based environmental education and the ecological crisis: Between opening the senses and coping with psychic numbing

  Jan van Boeckel

  Metamorphoses in children’s literature and culture, Jyväskylä; 01/2009

  When educators try to encourage children to establish a bond between them and nature, they are faced with a major challenge. In general, many children seem to have lost interest in nature because it is less exciting than the world of electronic illusions. Educators seem badly in need of innovative w... [more] When educators try to encourage children to establish a bond between them and nature, they are faced with a major challenge. In general, many children seem to have lost interest in nature because it is less exciting than the world of electronic illusions. Educators seem badly in need of innovative ways to awaken and nourish the sensibility of children to the natural world. Art, through engaging the senses, can be a unique catalyst in developing a “sense of wonder” about nature. Art practice encourages us to see the world again afresh, as if we see it for the first time. This state of mind and sensitivity enhances the ability to tune in with the slower rhythms of the “more-than-human-world.” Children are often rather aware of the ecological crisis that is taking place and that manifests itself most dramatically right now through global warming. A common response to this is psychic numbing, a mild form of cognitive dissociation. Art as a therapeutic practice – without being labeled as such – can help children cope with the “idea of crisis”, e.g. through the expression of (often suppressed) inner images and the subsequent discussion of these. In my paper I discuss how arts-based environmental education can both facilitate children in the opening of their senses to nature, and provide them space for coming to terms with their fears about the ecological crisis.

  Download

• Forget your botany: Developing children's sensibility to nature through arts-based environmental education

  Jan van Boeckel

  The International Journal of the Arts in Society. 01/2007; 1:71-82.

  This paper explores how environmental education of children can be enriched by drawing on contributions from the arts. When educators try to establish a bond between children and nature, they are faced with major challenges. Conventional environmental education, which is often very science- and data... [more] This paper explores how environmental education of children can be enriched by drawing on contributions from the arts. When educators try to establish a bond between children and nature, they are faced with major challenges. Conventional environmental education, which is often very science- and data-centred, is not automatically appealing to young children. And too much focus on alarming news about the state of the world’s ecosystems can lead to despair and indifference. In general, many children seem to have lost interest in nature because it is less exciting than the world of electronic illusions. Educators seem badly in need of innovative ways to awaken and nourish the sensibility of children to the natural world. Early in the 1990’s a group of art educators in Finland, aware of the worsening ecological crisis in the society around them, began to ask how art could come to help in the development of a more profound form of environmental education. Aesthetic or arts-based environmental education is grounded in the belief that sensitivity to the environment can be developed by artistic activities. The paper presents three inspiring cases of this form of environmental education, taken from Norway, Sweden and Finland.