Methodology of Knotting

My methodological approach is one of art education research within studio practice, craft history, and teacher action research. I plan to work with local schools and community organizations with which I have professional relationships as a new assistant professor of Art Education. This would include New York schools in Long Island and the New York City metropolitan area. I will volunteer as a teaching artist in these schools. Preliminary materials lists include recycled fiber and fabric as well as cords, wires, threads, fibers, and other materials for knotting. The content of my “Knot Curriculum” would include exploring different materials, techniques, and rituals/processes of knotting as well as some discussion of histories of knots, uses of knots, recent related fiber art through such artist groups as the International Fiber Collaborative. I also envision this curriculum as a general investigation of the educational importance of the associative, discursive, and analytical nature of such public artworks. In this way, knotting itself is a sort of methodological approach, and can serve as a conceptual and visual metaphor for connections and ties between subjects in arts research.