"I Am Not a Printer": To Work as Cartoonist

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Contested, Professional, and Liminal Spaces With Arts-Based Educational Research Methodologies

Abstract

This paper focuses on what constitutes professional work for artists. The paper reports results of a qualitative study with six artists. It was aimed to understand, in the art-based perspective, the artistic profession and the related professional learning. The study, articulated in three different phases, investigated the following dimensions:
Being an artist;
Becoming an artist;
Acting as an artist;
The paper reports how participants have developed their professional identity both in formal and informal educational paths and how they perceive themselves as artists. This inquiry process sheds light on their identity, on the epistemological process of artists, and on the value of experience in artists’ professional work. Moreover, emerged categories might be used in further professional and workplace studies.

Authors

• Vincenzo Beccia, University of Bari

• Serafina Pastore, University of Bari, Italy