The Art Nexus Integrating Artistic Practice Research and Teaching

The ART Nexus:

Integrating Artistic Practice-Research and Teaching

Traditionally, in a university setting, faculty workload is divided into three sections, TEACHING, RESEARCH and SERVICE to community and university. But it can be quite daunting for a teaching artist to balance maintaining artistic professional standards with a university’s teaching schedule and research deliverables. In the last three decades, there has been substantial research into documenting the potential benefits, as well as the inherent challenges identified in the nexus of research and teaching, which acknowledges this complex relationship. I've found that the concepts behind the Artistic practice-Research and Teaching (ART) Nexus (Bennet, Wright and Blom 2010) can help you determine how to use your research to inform your teaching in actively engaging ways. However, for the ART Nexus to have true benefits for your students, these linkages need to be carefully cultivated and designed to fit your particular population of students.

In 2012 I had just completed a premiere with Ibis Ensemble in Trinidad of a new inter-disciplinary work, Little Red Riding Hood, composed by my British colleague, Dr. Adam Walters. Following the premiere, we published a hardcover book and cd, which we distributed both online and at performances that summer in the Olympic Village in London and at the Chautauqua Institution in New York to raise funds for the Caribbean Network for Arts and Education Foundation (CANOAE), the non-profit that houses my teacher-training string program. It was an exciting summer and it inspired me to look for another creative project to sink my teeth into. However, with a rapidly expanding teaching load and an active role in programming and performing with Ibis Ensemble, as well as a substantial commitment to outreach, I was not looking to add to my schedule any further. In fact, I was worried I might burn out if I didn't find a better way to organize my life. I needed to find a way to work smart (SMITH SFEAH, 2018). Around that time Adam and I attended the premiere of a new documentary about the enslaved African-Americans who had fought with the British in the War of 1812 in exchange for freedom and land in the south of Trinidad. The subject matter excited both of us, as it was about our collective history. We had collaborated with Che Lovelace, a Trinidadian artist, on Little Red Riding Hood and decided to put the artistic team back together for an arts-integrated performance piece about the journey of the 'Merikins', the name still used 200 years later by the community of people descended from the freedom fighters who had settled in the south of Trinidad following the war.

As I began some preliminary research, it quickly became clear that this was a part of history relatively unknown to younger generations in Trinidad. According to Professor Mick Healy, a specialist in linking research and teaching, "students are most likely to gain benefits from your research in terms of depth of learning and understanding when they are involved actively (Healy 2005)." In addition to my double bass studio, I teach several service-learning courses on the BFA program, courses that explore active engagement in learning, arts integration, and residency planning for budding teaching artists. These seemed like perfect opportunities to explore our collective history. And so I began to devise a plan to weave the subject matter for my research into my teaching.

Whilst researching the text, I worked closely with several descendants of the ‘Merkins’, who in turn introduced me to Ed Papenpuse at the Maryland Archives, whose research project, “Flight to Freedom” was especially informative. I loved this quote from him, “I am a firm believer that history is best explained and promoted through fiction and music. In many respects, the latter is far more important than the former as music sustains memory through time more effectively than the written word alone.” Building on this sentiment, I engaged a particularly talented student teaching artist of mine to work on designing a residency that integrated history and music centered on the journey of the 'Merikins' to Trinidad. Her artsintegrated residency engaged school children through memory spirituals and storytelling and allowed them to construct and demonstrate their knowledge of history through music and theatre.

Other historical sources included the archives from the Sotterley Plantation, a national historic landmark in Maryland, dedicated to preservation and research into life on the plantation. I also corresponded with the celebrated historian Alan Taylor, who shared early excerpts of his book, 'The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia in 1772-1832', which ultimately won a Pulitzer Prize. These were wonderful, inspiring sources of information to share with my students about our collective history. As I prepared to write the text, I assigned the subject matter to an enthusiastic group of student teaching artists, who joined up to put on a multi-media performance about the 'Merikins', to a theatre full of secondary school students at the Lord Kitchener Auditorium in Port of Spain.

Whilst researching the text, I worked closely with several descendants of the ‘Merkins’, who in turn introduced me to Ed Papenpuse at the Maryland Archives, whose research project, “Flight to Freedom” was especially informative. I loved this quote from him, “I am a firm believer that history is best explained and promoted through fiction and music. In many respects, the latter is far more important than the former as music sustains memory through time more effectively than the written word alone.” Building on this sentiment, I engaged a particularly talented student teaching artist of mine to work on designing a residency that integrated history and music centered on the journey of the 'Merikins' to Trinidad. Her artsintegrated residency engaged school children through memory spirituals and storytelling and allowed them to construct and demonstrate their knowledge of history through music and theatre.

We held our first workshop of River of Freedom in 2014 at the International Symposium on Art Music in the Caribbean, hosted by the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), Academy for the Performing Arts (APA). The second workshop took place a few months later and included short presentations from the creators on the historical and musical research undertaken. Both workshops were utilized as master classes for Adam’s composition students, who had analyzed the score in class. In the lead up to the premiere, which took place in the south of Trinidad in the heart of the Company Villages, where descendants of the 'Merkins' still reside, student conductors prepared excerpts of the score and as a final exam conducted Ibis Ensemble during a rehearsal. Finally, following the US premiere, which took place at the Chautauqua Institution in August 2018, a colleague on faculty chose to use the work in her Form and Structure course. Students dissected the piece and discovered multiple gems that Adam had hidden within the musical score and explored a variety of literary themes woven into my text.

The interplay of knowledge within the ART Nexus, coupled with the innovative approaches utilized by teaching artists, can help design the research models within our disciplines as well as in other creative areas. (Bennet, Wright and Blom 2010). By allowing my teaching to be informed by my research and service, I have not only learned to economize my time but have also discovered deeper meanings and utilizations for all of my deliverables, as well as identifying layers of opportunity for creative learning in the classroom. The response from my students has been overwhelmingly positive.

Our arts-integrated, inter-disciplinary work has now been performed to audiences across the nation and abroad, bringing our collective history to life through poetry, music, and art. Thanks to wonderfully supportive colleagues, I have managed to weave my research into five courses at UTT APA. And although there have been challenges with time management, by carefully selecting content to integrate into my teaching that is of great relevance to my particular population of students, I find the benefits of designing these linkages to be manifold.

References: Bennet, D., Wright, D., and Blom, D. (2010). The Artistic-practice Research-Teaching (ART) Nexus: Translating the Information Flow. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 7(2), 1-16.

Healey, M. (2005) Linking Research and Teaching to Benefit Student Learning. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 29:2, 183-201, DOI: 10.1080/03098260500130387

SMITH SFHEA, D.(2018, October 8). Connecting the Dots in the Teaching-Research Nexus [Weblog post]. Retrieved January 8, 2020, from https://davethesmith.wordpress.com/2018/10/08/connecting-the-dots-in-the-teachingresearch-nexus/

Artwork

CHE LOVELACE

Lovelace was born in San Fernando, Trinidad. He studied painting and engraving at L’ Ecole Regionale d’Arts Plastique de la Martinique. Lovelace has been involved in several international exhibitions, including shows in the 1990s and early 2000s featuring important artists of Latin American and the Caribbean. In 1998, with artists Peter Minshall and Christopher Cozier, he represented Trinidad & Tobago at Caribe. Exclusion, Framentacion y Paraiso at the Meiac Museum, Spain. Awarded the UNESCOASCHBERG Artist Bursary in 1999, Lovelace worked in London for several months under the auspices the International Institute of Visual Arts. Lovelace has had several solo exhibitions of his paintings, including at the National Museum of Trinidad & Tobago in 2004. His work has been exhibited at several Biennials, including at the VI Bienale de Pintura, in Ecuador. In 2003 he co-founded the Studiofilmclub cinema space in Laventille, Trinidad, with fellow artist Peter Doig. In 2010 he collaborated with Caitlyn Kamminga and Adam Walters on Little Red Riding Hood.

Music

ADAM WALTERS

Adam read Music at Cambridge University and at the Royal College of Music. As a French horn player, he then worked with orchestras including The Royal Opera House, English National Ballet, and BBC Concert Orchestra. Adam’s music has been given numerous performances in Trinidad and abroad. His Little Red Riding Hood (2011) was made into a book in collaboration with artist Che Lovelace. The Old Yard: Portraits of Carnival (2012) – poetry by Muhammad Muwakil and photography by Maria Nunes – was premiered in 2012. The Temple in the Sea (2013) for solo percussionist with poetry by Sandra Alcosser was premiered in 2014. From 2014 to 2018 Adam played tenor-bass steel pan with Massy All Stars Steel Orchestra in the National Panorama Championships. He has a particular interest in the music of Trinidad’s Spiritual Baptist faith and took lessons in djembe from a local player. These experiences have had a significant impact on his music Adam is an Assistant Professor of Music at the Academy for the Performing Arts (UTT).

River of Freedom

The story of the “Merikins”

Introduction

River of Freedom is an arts-integrated work written for narrator, solo voice and chamber ensemble. The piece brings history to life through words by Caitlyn Kamminga, music by Adam Walters and art by Che Lovelace. This is a tale of the journey of the enslaved African-Americans who fought with the British in America’s Second War of Independence of 1812 in exchange for freedom and land in Trinidad. According to their ancestors, who still reside in the south of Trinidad, these men were proud of being American and were known from then on as the ‘Merikins’.

The Merikins arrived in Trinidad in 1816. To mark the 200th anniversary of this arrival, we plan to take the work to America and to the UK during the course of 2016. River of Freedom marks the second collaboration between Adam Walters, Caitlyn

Kamminga and Che Lovelace and was given its premiere performances in Trinidad in May 2015.

Music by Adam Walters - British composer and French horn player living and working in TrinidadScript by Caitlyn Kamminga - American playwright and double-bass player living and working in TrinidadArt by Che Lovelace - Trinidadian artist living and working in Trinidad

About the Author

Caityln Kamminga

Caitlyn Kamminga currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Double Bass and Project Leader of Searchlight@Schools at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, the Academy for the Performing Arts. After graduating cum laude, with both a BM and MM from the University of Southern California in 1992, she joined the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, where she held the position of Principal Double Bass until 1995. Subsequent positions include section member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Assistant Principal Double Bass in the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. After six years in the BBC NOW, Kamminga moved to London to freelance, where she worked and toured worldwide with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia and the London Mozart Players. She has recorded the symphonic repertoire with major symphony orchestras extensively and has several independent recordings of new chamber works for double bass.

Ms. Kamminga has been the recipient of major grants from the United States Embassy to Trinidad and Tobago and the Vincent Wilkinson Foundation for the creation of new works, including Jab Molassie and River of Freedom, which received an American premiere in 2018 at the Chautauqua Institution, where Kamminga performs annually with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. River of Freedom will be performed at the African American Museum in Philadelphia in March 2019. Currently in development, Basses Are Loaded, Kamminga’s latest play, received a staged reading by the Friends of the Chautauqua Theatre Company in 2015 and will be workshopped at the American Dream Theatre in Norfolk, VA in 2020.