Jokela,T (2008) A Wandering Landscape: Reflections on the Relationship between Art and the Northern Environment. In Art Community and Environment (ed Coutts and Jokela) Bristol: Intellect

‘What is a ‘Northern’ Arts Based Research Methodology and is it useful to us as Artist Teachers who do not reside in the ‘North’?

A Northern arts based Research Methodology would imply a process of working within a specific location or place using particular materials available. This appears to be the message from Jokela’s reflections on art in the Northern Environment, that we all have the ability ‘to make our mark on the landscape’Jokela (2008) and be influenced by it. Jokela’s reference to Arte Povera (60’s, 70’s) suggests making art from simple everyday materials, which is evident in the sculptures from snow, ice and wood. Location and materials are  important to Jokela as he creates magnificent sculptures which mirror the surrounding landscape.  Jokela’s reflections on his relationship to place describe it as having ‘associations of loneliness, barrenness, wilderness, emptiness and extremity, Jokela (2008). Yet he fills the landscape with bold Contemporary sculptures and installations which own the space they are created within.

As an artist teacher living in a different kind of North from Jokela I have a strong bond with place and community; I experience a sense of topophilia (Yi Fu Tuan within Jokela, 2008)and Relph who describes a person’s bond with a place and local identity. Indeed the landscape which influences me, has been worked over the centuries providing the local communities with shale oil and the remaining slag heaps are a constant reminder of the labour from the past and development since. As an artist teacher, like Jokela, I am on a journey of discovery and critical reflection. I am’ fumbling about, not always knowing where my goal is; and when I reach it I may not necessarily be able to describe the path I took to get there’, Jokela (2008). The fun is in the exploration and discovery.