Howard Riley: Specialist in Pedagogical research
Institution and title: |
Head of Research in Art & Design, Swansea Metropolitan University |
NAFAE position: |
Co-opted member of steering committee |
NAFAE duties: |
I have a special interest in nurturing pedagogical research within the Fine Arts, particularly in the teaching and practice of drawing, and see my role in NAFAE as to encourage networking and debate in this area. I am also very keen to collaborate with NAFAE members on sharing best practice in the teaching of drawing. |
C.V: |
Howard, why is NAFAE important to FE and HE Art providers?
NAFAE is important to all sectors of art education because it can receive the views of all members and act as a kind of ‘focus’ for a disparate range of ideas and opinions which would otherwise be lost in the confusion of cross-debate.
NAFAE can also act as a central, coherent spokesperson to articulate the concerns, ideas and suggestions of teaching staff and practitioners to the decision-making authorities.
Howard, what important issues are facing Art over the next 5 years?
The compulsion to make visual art has always been driven by the two fundamental human faculties: our ability to perceive, and our desire to communicate, to share with others the perceptual, emotional and imaginational interpretations of what we have experienced.
Today, the means of communication have never been so wide-ranging and sophisticated. But let’s remember what my favourite cultural theorist Raymond Williams (who happened to be Welsh!) warned us about: high technology is no guarantee of high culture.
Let’s also remember that our ability to draw preceded all other communication technologies. Drawing preceded writing, even… So the important pedagogical issue is this: to develop in our students an intuition unfettered by any reliance on sophisticated technology. Intuition is the result of prolonged tuition (I wish I’d said that – it was Ben Shahn’s insight.) Its nurturing within the future generation of artists is the responsibility of the present generation of educators. And that’s us!
Howard, what else are you involved in?
- Member of the Eastern Arts Research Centre, Malaysian Institute of Art. (I was a visiting lecturer there when I was teaching in Australia throughout the 1980s.)
- Member of the RCA’s informal research group which is looking at indicators of dyslexia in students’ drawings.
- Co-editor of ‘Tracey’, the online journal of drawing research.
- Member of the AHRC Peer Review College.