Yes, I Do: An Artists’ Community of Practice

Abstract

After living in Cali, Colombia, and getting to know the culture and social life that takes shape around artistic practice, I started to wonder about the kinds of educational experiences that were developing outside of the formal curricula in visual arts educational institutions. I decided to address the artistic practice of a community of artists who share an educational space, an art scene and, ultimately, the same challenges regarding the learning spaces that emerged from the emotional bonds of collectivity. As I delved into their teaching spaces, I wanted to understand how the creation of knowledge, as a by-product of their interactions around the learning experience, provided transformative spaces that enrich meaning within this artistic milieu. In this way, we can understand the value of artistic practice and its close connection to the artistic piece and the resulting aesthetic experience, paying particular attention to research and production processes.