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(head photo)


Interview Questions



Research Team


Lisa Bouraly
Angela Henderson
Marie-Soleil Provençal
Aaron Outhwaite
Sepideh Zabeti
Anna Leonowens Art Gallery


Research Description


This paper focuses on the interdisciplinary foundation of this research project. This process began with a series of interviews conducted with each of the participants in this project: Design Instructor, Angela Henderson, Material Scientist, Aaron Outhwaite, Artist, Marie-Soleil Provencal and Masters of Design Student, Sepideh Zabeti. The goal of interviewing various participants on the project was to look at the unique ways in which their own disciplines were challenged/benefited by interdisciplinary practice. 

The collaboration with Lisa Bourlay who is currently a PhD Student in Museology at UQAM began as she was working in the University’s permanent collection in the Winter of 2019. She writes:

In the early 1970s, the toys were created by ten international artists in collaboration with designers. In 1971, Bonnier International Design (NYC) commissioned a group of artists to “invent and design a collection of toys. The idea behind this project was to tap the inventiveness of a group of people who are visually articulate, and to involve them in making works for a practical as well as an intellectual use” (Exhibition catalogue 1972, 5). There were no restrictions on material or formal uses for the toys; however, plastic was the dominant material used for most of the completed projects. Between 1972 and 1973, Toys by Artists toured in more than one hundred museums and galleries across the globe (including Halifax). In each gallery, children and parents were invited to play, use, and experiment with the toys: “with all the “do-not-touch” signs down, dozens of children yesterday enjoyed the exploits of the Flying Man and the Magnetic Sandbox” (Osgood 1972, 28).

The Toys by Artists exhibition offers a useful point of departure for exploring the interdisciplinary environment and collaborative process at work in this project: Unstructured Play. I’m interested in the interdisciplinary and collaborative process implemented by Henderson in this research project (methods, practices, techniques, reciprocal learning), and in the influence or impact these aspects may have had on each of the participant’s practice(s). How does the collaborative process unfold with participants from different disciplines and realms of expertise? How do they interact through the use of common materials? How is the creative process expressed or experienced? Do these forms of collaboration influence the ways in which the materials are selected or created?


The interview is designed in three sections.

Part 1: Context and Interdisciplinarity

  1. Can you describe your practice and your expertise?

  2. How did you get involved in this project? How would you describe your contribution to this research?

  3. Can you talk about your methodology and the way you interacted with the material and/or participants?

  4. Can you give me an example?

Part 2: Collaboration and Reciprocal Learning

  1. Can you describe your involvement as a collaborator in this project? What kinds of dialogue and collaboration emerged?

  2. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the project, would you say that this research offered an alternative form of production? Did you learn or develop any new approaches that would be helpful to you in your discipline?

  3. Are there any project-related successes or failures you might like to share with me?

  4. Would you say this project changed your views on pedagogy or expertise? I am thinking here about the traditional educator who transmits knowledge.

Part 3: Impact and Knowledge Creation

  1. Are they any types of knowledge that emerged from your experiment?

  2. How would you define the concept of play? Did this project impact your understanding of the term?

  3. What has impacted you the most as a participant in this project?

  4. Do you consider it necessary for this project to produce a final object?

  5. Did you notice any shifts in your understanding of your practice? Did this project inspire any new interests or projects that you can tell me about?

Thank you.





COLLABORATIVE DESIGN FOR UNSTRUCTURED PLAY


SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant



DESCRIPTION

This SSHRC-funded project brings together the following collaborators: Undergraduate and Graduate Design students at NSCAD University; Undergraduate and Graduate students in Chemical Engineering at Dalhousie University along with Early Childhood Educators, Pre-Primary and Grade Two students from Halifax Grammar School; Lake City Woodworkers, a Halifax-based social enterprise that support individuals with mental health challenges.

Recognizing the environmental harm of plastic, the potential opportunities in bioplastics and the creativity of children, the goal of this project is to use a collaborative design methodology to marry materials research, novel fabrication technologies, and design innovation to produce a toy prototype. The goal of this project is to design and fabricate children’s toys through a collaborative design process between NSCAD University Design Students and Early Childhood Educators at Halifax Grammar School.
RESEARCH TEAM

Angela Henderson, designer
(NSCAD University)

Aaron Outhwaite, engineer
(Dalhousie University)

Marie-Soleil Provençal, artist
(NSCAD University)


COLLABORATORS

Grade 2 Students from Halifax Grammar School Lake City Wood Workers