Representing creativeness : practice-based approaches to research in creative arts

The investigation of creativeness in the creative arts requires some theoreti- cal originality to enable the development of an effective research method capable of subtly reporting upon original artistic activity. The research endeavour requires something of the tactfulness of the work it seeks to understand. Considered introspection, in the form of practice-based research, into creative arts practice offers the opportunity to try to under- stand the way an artist engages in an original way with their physical, cultural and psychic raw materials. Art is, in a sense by definition, like philosophy, difficult to pin down, defini- tionally and conceptually. If it was not, it would no longer be art, or philoso- phy, respectively. However deconstructive or reconstructive the artist's intent, the recognizable face of a contemporary artistic work still functions, much as Martin Heidegger suggested - like a 'shimmering veil', a 'reveal- ing' which 'conceals in a way that opens to light' (1977, p. 25). As cultural theorist Henri Lefebvre puts it, art is based upon 'an appearance inca- pable of appearing' (1991, p395). It is about producing something new (unknown) within culture (what is established). One way art can usefully be thought of is as an indeterminate condition, a threshold between conscious thought and unconscious feeling, an opening onto a liminal space where rationality (theory) and irrationality (experi- ence, emotion, art) mix in the individual creative act (practice). It appears to offer a doorway beyond mere perception, an opening onto the imper- ceptible. The difficulty is, as Heidegger suggested, that in trying to reveal something of the qualities of 'the veil' which we apprehend as the recog- nizable face of an art work, we only reveal this 'veil' as that which 'veils'. That is, we cannot find an isolatable essential quality behind it. To investigate and report upon creativeness in the creative arts requires us to think about artistic originality with some theoretical originality. Art, as Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education 2 (1&2) pp. 49-66. © Intellect Ltd. ISSN 1474-273X