21 Woolterton Marinova McDonagh

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Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education inaction: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

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Chapter 21

Creating Sustainable Futures: A Case Study ofLandLearn Changing Minds,Innovating Outcomes

Natalie McDonagh

McDonagh Design

1. Introduction

Most of us are familiar with what we might call doingsustainability; learning aboutand managing our external (natural and constructed) environments, saving water,reducing waste, and so on sustainability epistemology - knowledge that can beapplied in/to/on the world (should we care to). In comparison, it seems much lessindividual and collective effort is directed towards learning about and understandingthe human inner environment of our minds and hearts sustainability ontology. Ourbeingness is how we regard and treat ourselves, others and the world. It generates

and perpetuates the thoughts, ideas, views, values, beliefs that direct our choices,behaviours and actions that, in turn, shape how we humans impact on the world andthose around us. If we regard both inner and outer worlds as inseparable elements ofthe same reality (Salk, 1983) and diligently attend to caring for both, we better serveour efforts to create human psychological and social, as well as environmental,sustainability. For example, it may be that I am a prolific recycler with a lowecological footprint but/and have scant regard for those around me and generatehostility that undermines our individual and collective wellbeing. Usefully attending tothe inner (as well as outer) environment can expand ways of viewing the world, toreveal other realities enabling us, as individuals and as societies, to become moresustainable in our being as well as our doing. This potentially allows all of us to

cultivate, embed and embody sustainability within us, to embrace an holistic view ofsustainability and what constitutes sustainable practices personal, social, spiritual,economic and so on, as well as environmental in our particular set ofcircumstances.

This chapter presents a case-study of LandLearn, a team of environmental educatorswho utilized an art-based methodology of self-inquiry I have developed to attend totheir inner worlds and explore the notion of being sustainability. The journey ofcreative inquiry undertaken had two intentions: one, to expand in unspecified waysindividual and collective modes of seeing, thinking about, and understandingsustainability beyond the the teams practical expertise; two, to use any new insights

or knowledge generated in the inquiry to produce something innovative and useful forteaching and learning related to sustainability.

2. Context

LandLearn is an education programme housed in the Department of PrimaryIndustries (DPI) Victoria, that has over the past decade been providing verysuccessful Professional Development (PD) for teachers, learning workshops forstudents and curriculum materials related to sustainable food and fibre agriculture. Inearly 2005, LandLearn team members felt they may have come to the useful limits oftheir existing ways of seeing, thinking about, and understanding this vitally important

topic. How to usefully (re)engage with the dilemma of sustainability - the use of the


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worlds natural resources to produce food and fibre and the need to conserve andreplenish those resources?

I was invited to design a programme of exploration for LandLearn using the art-basedmethodology of inquiry I have developed called Creative Contemplation. For thepast four years I have been working with DPI successfully applying this methodologyto benefit individual and organisational development where it has no knownprecedent. DPI has demonstrated great courage and vision (especially for a science-based organisation) in utilizing this art-based system of knowing to develop staffcapabilities that address diverse aspects of themselves, such as their capacity todeal with complexity and uncertainty, to be innovative, to be strategic.

This programme of inquiry with LandLearn applied the methodology to generategreater self-knowledge related to sustainability that may also have applied benefit toothers. It was conceived as a continuous journey of creative inquiry, where theinvestigation began in the personal, intangible, inner (mental, emotional,

psychological) world of self-knowledge; gradually extending outwards into the realmof group and collective knowledge; ultimately arriving at applied knowledge togenerate practical outcomes a teaching and learning resource for schools. Thejourney was structured as a series of four one-day facilitated workshops, spanningfour months linked in between by self-directed activities. Participants also hadtangible tools in the form of Open Mind, Open Heart

1- a guided system of symbols

for self-inquiry and a journal of related learning materials.

An Art-based Methodology of Inquiry: Creative ContemplationMy education and professional experience are in design and art. Through this I havecome to know that arts processes are critically important kinds of human exchangethat have the capacity to change the way we think about how we come to know whatwe do (Sullivan 2005: 193). Ten or more years ago I focused my attention and

professional practice on designing tools and methods that utilize/transfer/activatecreative modalities found in art and design, but that are accessible for people whoare not art and design practitioners.My design movements over the years have beeninfluenced and informed by diverse bodies of theoretical and philosophicalknowledge (e.g.,., Dewey 1934; Salk 1983; Stambaugh 1999), becoming distilled intowhat I call Creative Contemplation. This is a practical, art-based process of self-reflexive creative action and critical reflection (Sullivan 2005) that has proved to bevery effective in enabling people to generate greater understanding of self, othersand the world. The space available here only allows a brief sketch of the

1Oblique Inspirations

Open Mind, Open Heartis a thinking tool produced by McDonagh Design.


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methodology but I trust this provides the reader with enough information to locate thework conceptually and philosophically and get a sense of its practical application1.

The cogency of Creative Contemplation comes of two inseparable, intertwinedelements: A Methodology of Material Practice and the Attendant. In more concreteterms, this is a mode of thinking through the hands using material language, that isenabled by my presence in the role of custodian (not facilitator) of the creativeinquiry; a role that I call being (an) Attendant. The operational structures of these twoelements (and the elements they each in turn comprise) are Mbius strips whereinner and outer exist in a seamless relational exchange/flow where inner becomesouterbecomes innerbecomes outer...and processbecomes productbecomesprocessand so on.

3. Being (an) Attendant

The Attendant is key in the design of operationalizing all this for others in a non- artor design context, such as a science-based government department. She seeks tocreate the most favourable possible conditions - physical and meta-physical -conducive to Creative Contemplation; where people feel safe to inquire and reveal ofthemselves, feel free of judgment. The Attendant initiates the process by craftingtenuous open-ended question(s) that locate the mind and heart in the nature of theinquiry.

4. Methodology of Material Practice

Engagement with Materials/Material Language

The inquirers use materials such as papers, fabric, felt, gauze, balsa, that are easyfor an inexperienced maker to handle. With the question in mind inquirers take time

to contemplate the inherent qualities of the materials - colour, line, texture, weight,pattern, etc and intuitivelyselect those that have some resonance for them relatedto the question/inquiry. Material language then becomes the navigation instrument toexplore the abstract, intangible, unrecognised realities of mind and heart in the lived-experience of sustainability. The intention is to enable the maker to engage thecreative intelligence of materials and embrace art making as an act of self-realization,at that place and time (Carter, 2004).

Enactment in/through/of Making

This methodology emphasizes and activates the performative principle of art making(Bolt, 2004; Carter, 1996). Participants focus on their direct lived-experience of the

creative inquiry, to be as attentive as possible to the actof making an artwork thatcan transcend its structure as representation and, in the dynamic productivity of theperformative act, produce ontological effects (Bolt, 2004).

Embodiment in Material Form

The art object that has emerged in the enactment of making becomes an object ofinquiry that is contemplated as a material embodiment of the reality brought intobeing by the maker. Being concrete and permanent the visual, tactile object can carryfar greater, more subtle and more complex data than words and allows multiple,

1For detailed description of Creative Contemplation methodology see McDonagh (2006b).


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readings over time that can, at once, both reveal and accumulate multiple layers ofmeaning to the mind.

Listening Through the Eyes

This blend of aural/visual contemplation intends a more oblique sensory

consideration, allowing more subtle discernment of the complex of data generatedthat is embodied in the made artefact.

Stories MaterializedInquirers further materialize data from their lived-experience, in written and spokenforms, by engaging with verbal language as yet another material.

5. Outcomes of LandLearns Creative Inquiry

To reiterate the intentions for this project were to: Expand LandLearn members individual and collective ways of seeing,

thinking about, understanding sustainability beyond their practical expertise, in

some way meaningful to them Use any new insights or knowledge generated in the inquiry to inform the

design of something innovative and useful for teaching and learning related tosustainability.

This journey of inquiry came to be known as Creating Sustainable Futures and itproduced significant intangible and tangible outcomes1.

Intangible Outcomes

The experience had a profound impact on the teams individual and collectivethinking. It delivered significant insights for each of them into their ways of seeing,thinking about and understanding sustainability particularly those ways tending torestrict, limit and frustrate their educational work. These insights enabled subtle butsignificant practice changes favouring growth rather than stagnation. It is important toreiterate here that there were no norms embedded in the programme no impetus todirect people towards any particular way of thinking, any pre-destined view or anyfavoured practice the insights and mind shifts were particular to each individualbut/and had commonalities within the group. An example of this was evidenced intheir use of language and vocabulary reflecting shifts in viewing themselves and theirwork. The notion of being temporary custodians appeared. Custodians of the land,their education work, the intention of awakening sustainability consciousness in

society; vastly expanding their idea of themselves as educators. Further, participantsrevealed a distinctly spiritual dimension and disposition to the groups being anddoing that had previously not been evident and/or acknowledged. This served toconnect the team and its education work to something greater than itself, beyond thisparticular time and place, alleviating feelings of desperation and despondency allowing the burden of concern for the world to be held more lightly.

But I see nowour work is only one thread and there are lots of others allworking with the same threads somewhere else, even some time else and it isall connected. I dont have to make it all tie together at my one place, at mypoint, it is already connected.

1For full details of LandLearns creative inquiry and its outcomes see McDonagh (2006a).


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During the journey of inquiry team members experienced a sense of becomingsustainability; this brought to the fore (for all concerned) the importance of individualresponsibility in Gandhis sense of being the change you wish to see in the world.This in turn produced what is probably the most powerful effect of this wholeexercise. At the risk of reducing a subtle but significant ontological proposition into a

simplistic, crude characterization, this effect shifted peoples practice mode frominstruct through information to influence by example. Team members weresurprised (and delighted) to notice that people around them, notoriously resistant tonotions of sustainability (e.g., converting to green energy) were now amenable tomaking changes they had been refusing for years, and made them of their ownvolition, without discussion. The influence was operating through embodied examplenot verbal instruction and proving far more potent and effective.

Tangible Outcomes

As hoped, significant individual and collective insights were generated in the inquiry

that theninformed a significantly different teaching/learning resource for schools fromthe standard resource book LandLearn would have made before the creative inquiry;an innovative thinking tool called OBLIQUE inspirations as well as a PD programme.These have been branded Creating Sustainable Futures and both are beingexperienced by other educators and generating similar, notable benefits for thempersonally and enhancing their teaching practices.

OBLIQUE inspirations KitThe OBLIQUE inspirations Kit takes the broad, holistic view of sustainabilitymentioned earlier going beyond notions of sustainability limited to the environment.This device enables you to explore what sustainability is to you in your life inrelation to yourself, others and the world.

The Kit operates on two art-related principles supported by Gardners extensive

research into creativity that shows the basic unit of thought is the symbol and thebasic entities with which humans operate in a meaningful context are symbolsystems (1982: 39), and even more importantly, an artistic medium provides themind with the means for coming to grips with ideas and emotions of greatsignificance, ones that cannot be articulated and mastered through ordinaryconversational language (1982: 90)

The OBLIQUE inspirations

Kit provides the mind with a readymade system ofsymbols embodying diverse aspects of sustainability. The 48 cards in the Kit carrycarefully chosen photographs, illustrations, graphic artworks and stories. These arenot a compendium representing sustainability issues rather they are a collection ofimages for visual contemplation; images to inspire reflection, curiosity, wonder.

These threads of contemplation continue through the device of a Book of Inquirywhere each image is linked to further inquiry, this time word-based. This may be in


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the form of philosophy; poetry; literature; quotes; factual scientific information, or self-reflective questions. By inter-weaving diverse visual and verbal elements the mindworks using the multiplicitous logic of the blot (Carter, 2004) creating a continuousrippled canvas of self-inquiry; both revealing and creating new and unexpectedconnections. Working in the manner of the blot - in the way blots of watercolour paint

act on wet paper closely mirrors the brains organic structure and natural system offunctioning (Claxton, 2006). In this way rich and useful insights can emerge,generating deeper understanding of mind and heart, which, in turn, informs ourbehaviour.

A sample of comments from teachers who are using the OBLIQUE inspirations

Kitserve to illustrate the affect (and effect) of this thinking tool on themselves and theirstudents:

Before I opened the Kit I thought I had a good idea of what sustainabilitymeans to me but almost as soon as I started using the cards I began to realiseI actually have a very limited view of it. I could almost feel my mind physically

stretching to take in new ideas it was quite amazing.

Ive used the Kit with my students (who have special developmental needs)and I was amazed by what came out of itI had no idea they had suchsophisticated conceptual understanding of sustainability. Im sure wed neverhave got to know this without using the Kit.

6. Professional Development Programme

The Creating Sustainable Futures PD programme replicates a similar journey to theone undertaken by the LandLearn team but in a condensed version structured in 3parts, totaling 9 hours, spread over 3 months. It further extends and enhances the

art-based inquiry embodied in OBLIQUE inspirations with Creative Contemplationprocesses of thinking through the hands where various forms of individual and groupartworks are made (such as Wish Flags) that embody both personal and collectiveexperience of sustainability. At the time of writing, the first trial of the full three-partPD programme is just underway with one school in Victoria, and two more expectedto follow in the coming months. LandLearns experience of the journey can begleaned from one members reflections:

Using this methodology and its processes allowed what we felt. It was aninspirational and positive activity that tended not to get bogged down in thedetails and the negativity that can often be associated with sustainability

discussions. Perhaps the greatest contrast between this process and moretraditional approaches is that we were able to feel our ideas and messagesabout sustainability. It provided space for the team to explore alternative ideasin a supportive and non-threatening environment. It also highlighted the valueof using non-traditional thinking processes to address such a complex issue. Apersonal benefit for me is greater freedom in the way I think about otherproblems or issues now.

LandLearn and I wait with intense interest to see if this experience is shared by theteachers undertaking the trials but the indicators from a preliminary focus group(November 2005), who enthusiastically embraced the concept, bode well not just to


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enhance their own thinking but for applied use in the classroom1:

I can see that the ideas would work as a focus point to get the students reallythinking. It would be valuable to use the Wish Flags, for example, to launch awhole school celebration and commitment to sustainability. We are rewritingour curriculum (in line with the new Victorian Essential Learning Standards) sothe ideas are very relevant.

7. And to end

It is worthy of mention that although Creating Sustainable Futures was initiallyconceived for those involved in environmental education it quickly became apparentthat the concept is applicable to anyone concerned with living a sustainable life. Weare deeply encouraged by the interest being shown by the corporate world, forexample, the Environmental Partnerships Programme of ALCOA and Elite, one of theBP group of companies, both of whom are particularly enthusiastic about theOBLIQUE inspirationsKit. All of this encourages the view that Creating Sustainable

Futures is a valuable contribution to achieving the shift called for in the AhmedabadDeclaration for Education for Sustainable Development, 2005:

Education for Sustainable Development implies a shiftto the recognition thatwe are all learners as well as teachers. Environmentally sustainabledevelopment must happen in villages and cities, schools and universities,corporate offices and assembly lines, and in the offices of ministers and civilservants.

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I trust that what I have been able to convey (in words!) demonstrates the potency andefficacy that art-based methods can have in expanding how we see and think aboutsustainability; in cultivating those two vital organs mind and heart - that ultimately

dictate whether or not our society can, or will, create sustainable futures.

References

Bolt, B. (2004). Art beyond representation: The performative power of the image.London: I.B Taurus & Co.

Carter, P. (2004). Material thinking: The theory and practice of creative research.Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

Carter, P. (1996). The lie of the land. London: Faber and Faber.

Claxton, G. (2006). The wayward mind: An intimate history of the unconscious.London: Time Warner Books.

Dewey, J. (1934).Art as experience.New York: Perigree Books,\.

1The Creating Sustainable Futures PD programme will be evaluated in 2007 and assessed on its

viability to be delivered within the school system.2

International Conference on Education for a Sustainable Future (2005). The Ahmedabad Declaration.Ahmedabad, India. www.ceeindia.org


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Gardner, H. (1982). Art, mind and brain: A cognitive approach to creativity. NewYork: Basic Books.

McDonagh, N. (2006a). LandLearn: Changing minds, innovating outcomes, reportprepared by N. McDonagh for Department of Primary Industries, Victoria.

McDonagh, N. (2006b). Creating sustainable futures: An illustration of art-basedthinking changing minds, innovating outcomes.Conference Proceedings of the2006 Art Education Australia National Conference, Art: Setting the standards -Art Learning and Teaching, Art Practice and Research.

Salk, J. (1983). Anatomy of reality: Merging of intuition and reason. New York:Columbia University Press.

Stambaugh, J. (1999). The formless self, Albany: State University of New YorkPress.

Sullivan, G. (2005). Art practice as research: Inquiry in the visual arts. ThousandOaks, California: Sage Publications.

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