The following is a list of my finding from ARP project broken down into the intervention categories, experimental drawings and NVC communication
Experimental drawing project findings:
The experimental drawings have enabled students to feel more comfortable with their work being less representationally accurate. This exercise is based in the physical process of drawing but contains within it the shift in thinking that I am hoping to offer students. This is a shift away from their work being made to a standard that is judged by external factors such as accuracy and instead towards their own self connection and observational feelings towards their work.
My selection of the objects themselves is important, the objects must have some ambiguity to them when held blindly e.g. not be a pinecone.
Of the 4 experimental drawings that students make in the warm up tasks, they have always preferred the 3 experimental drawings where they have had the limitations in place over the traditional observational drawing they do in the warm up.
Students have often used the techniques such as drawing with their eyes shut or without looking down in their other work as a way to obtain a difference in line or to move through a section of working they were stuck in. This has shown me that they value these learnings and are open to and confident enough in them to incorporate them in their work that is not the warm up drawings.
NVC communication project findings:
The implications of the NVC intervention are more tangential. I feel that from the conversations that I have with students and the feedback that there has been a clear shift in how we communicate. These shifts have allowed students their own feelings when observing their work. This has also helped them to be more in control of their learning and making.
In addition to this, I have found reconnecting with the framework of NVC has really helped me to navigate difficult and demanding relationships in my personal life. NVC has enabled me to create more space for others but also to have less self-judgement and more self empathy. It is a model of thinking that I will continue to use.
Overall project findings
The combination of the technical and cognitive shifts from the experimental drawings has worked alongside the NVC communication to help students to work with more self-awareness and to make work with more engagement and confidence.