Becoming a Visually Reflective Practitioner

Book excerpt: A consideration of how self-study using arts-based methods can enable purposeful reflection toward understanding and envisioning professional practice. Professional practice is increasingly becoming more complex, demanding, dynamic, and diverse, and the fluctuating nature of professional practice necessitates the pursuit of discernment and clarity through ongoing reflective practice. Ideal for visual arts practitioners of all levels, this book presents a self-study model grounded in compelling research that highlights arts-based methods for examining four areas of professional practice: professional identities, work cultures, change and transitions, and new pathways. Each chapter focuses on a component of the self-study model and an area of professional practice. Additional chapters are devoted to artistic materials and research methods for interpreting self-study artifacts with the aim of goal setting. Throughout the text, charts and end-of-chapter prompts summarize key points, and images by visual arts practitioners represent a wide range of artistic media, methods, and approaches appropriate for self-study. The appendices provide additional resources for enhanced understanding of chapter concepts and key terms, guidelines, and rubrics for writing reflections, creating visual responses, and using a visual journal in the self-study process.