The Pedagogy of Waiting: A Reorientation to Time with Artists with Disabilities and Creative Growth Art Center

Abstract

This paper is rooted in my investigation of the artistic processes and practices of artists with disabilities through field observations at Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California. Through this investigation, I develop the concept of a pedagogy of waiting, which allows for a consideration of embodied differences. This pedagogy of waiting is conceptualized by and with 1) the everyday artistic processes and practices of artists at Creative Growth; 2) my positionality of being a Chinese art educator and researcher in an art studio, Creative Growth, in the United States; and 3) my conceptual and theoretical exploration with philosophers and disability studies scholars. Among the artists who informed the pedagogy of waiting is Latefa Noorzai, a native Farsi speaker and immigrant to the United States. The temporalities demonstrated through Latefa’s art practice and the pedagogical practice at Creative Growth challenge the normative temporalities in art learning and art making. The pedagogy of waiting is both informed by people with disabilities and as an alternative to able-bodied and able-minded pedagogies.