Meaning Making/Making Meaning by Dr Michele Whiting
Personal reflections and observations after listening to Michele’s lecture:
I found Michele’s lecture most inspiring. Although some of the academic language she used was difficult to absorb at first, I took the time to listen to it a few times and got so much out of it.
I got a general sense of freedom and possibilities. As I listened to her it was as if pressure that I wasn’t even aware was there was lifted. I suspect that I have been putting a lot of pressure on myself recently to produce ’good work’ seeing that I was now busy with an MA in fine art. Michele took that pressure if of me as she opened up to me a new way of thinking towards the beginnings of a ‘new investigation’. I enjoyed the idea of an interdisciplinary approach where feeling, speaking, writing, and drawing can all have a part to play in my art practice. I enjoy how she brings into her work, her life experiences such as emotions experienced from her walks in nature. She seems mindful and extremely present with her materials in the studio without any other distractions. I was inspired by that.
I love this extract from Verbeke J. that was mentioned during the lecture:
“Artistic research explores the borders of human experience and extends into unique positions. Artistic research does not look at general laws. Instead they embrace the specific and the personal, the numan and the experiential. They open perspectives.”
As I search to find my own artistic voice, it grabbed my attention when Michele spoke of: ”a state of unknowing”. And: ”being at the edge of un-thought, building a new language through which to speak.”
I am sure there is so much more to get out of the lecture and I aim to listen to it again before our next zoom meeting.