Maite Vanhellemont
The Intimate Classroom
In art education, there are often moments when personal stories surface unexpectedly. Sometimes these stories are your own, sometimes someone else’s. As teachers, we’re rarely taught how to navigate the moments in which vulnerability arises within our teaching practice. In this research I’m searching for ways and vocabularies to give space to these moments of intimacy. I attempt to turn feminist theories into practice and translate them to the classrooms in which I teach, by seeking examples from feminist scholars, artists and educators working at the intersection of art, education and feminism.
Starting from previous and recent experiences in my own life as well as stories of women around me, I explore broader issues within (art) education: How do we give space to the vulnerable within our classrooms? To the discomfort? How do we do this without becoming too fragile? Through patch-working (both literally and symbolically), storytelling, mapping and creating with others, I explore themes of intimacy, vulnerability, embodied knowledge, knowledge by experience, trust, loss and rituals.
The layout of this thesis — five different booklets, in five different colors and three different sizes — refers both to the tablecloth I worked on during my research and to the writing style that emerged from it. I would like to invite you, the reader, to view the various paragraphs as patches of fabric. Sometimes it will be clear which ones are connected, as different colours and patterns overlap. Sometimes new arrangements may emerge, while separate elements and loose threads remain.
Thesis: