Creativity, Research, and Passion at the International Creative Research Methods Conference #ICRMC

September 30, 2023 by Dawn Wink 6 Comments

Creative Researchers gathered the inaugural International Creative Research Methods Conference on 11 and 12 September in Manchester, UK. I have followed conference creator and creative researcher Dr. Helen Kara for the past several years and was thrilled to see the announcement of the upcoming conference. The conference was in the UK, I thought, “I’ll submit a proposal and if accepted, I’ll figure out a way to get attend. I was over the moon when my proposal, Beyond the Brick Wall: Transdisciplinary Research Through Creative Methods was accepted and I was UK bound. And the people, creative methods, and ideas that filled the upcoming days filled my transdisciplinary  heart and spirit! My hope is to highlight and share the amazing creative research possibilities and work of the conference.

With Dr. Helen Kara

Conference creator Dr. Helen Kara welcomed all and kicked off the conference dedicated to exploring creative research methods with researchers from around the world. After reading and admiring her work for years, to actually meet and HUG her was a gift and a blessing.

Keynote speaker Dr. Pam Burnard opened the conference with her her presentation on Performing a Rebel Yell: Doing Rebellious Research In and Beyond the Academy. Dr. Burnard encouraged us to write rebelliously, described how to Depart Radically in Academic Writing (DRAW), and I loved her thoughts and visuals on “lines of flight.”

Pam Burnard

© Pam Burnard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conference attendee Suzanne Faulker created amazing visual maps of the sessions.

Visual Map of Pam Burnard’s presentation by © Suzanne Faulker @SFaulknerPandO

With Caroline Lennett.

Keynote presenter Dr. Caroline Lenette spoke on The Importance of Being Disruptive: On Decolonising Creative Research Methods. Dr. Lenette shared her anti-colonial work, “I want you to honestly evaluate how you engage with creative research. If you don’t, you may perpetuate the creative methods of colonisation.” She spoke of the three stages toward decolonisation: Cognition: critical self-reflection and reflexivity; Commitment: Indigenous-centered research/majority-world knowledge and ethics; Conduct: Changes in practice. Dr. Lenette is the creator of the Anti-Colonial Research Library, “a collection of open-access articles and books, websites, and YouTube videos on Indigenous and anti-colonial research methodologies. If you are looking for practical examples from different parts of the world and want to know more about these research methodologies, start here!”

Visual Map of Caroline Lenette’s presentation by © Suzanne Faulker @SFaulknerPandO

Dr. Laura Pottinger explored research through the lens of Making, slowly, as method: piecing, steeping, stitching. What a feast for our the textural senses to think about research through her work that “focuses on the practice of natural textile dyeing, investigating the relationship between slow, creative practice and environmental care. Working with textiles practitioners, it examines the diverse modes of collaboration taking place in slow processes of colouration, and the novel environmental sensitivities that may be developed by creating colour with plants and living materials.”

Dr. Laura Pottinger

© Laura Pottinger

My presentation focused on Beyond the brick wall: Transdisciplinary research through creative methods. We explored transdisciplinary creative research methods through the lenses of wildness, beauty, imagination, Lilyology, and Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN.)

Dr. Dawn Wink

Lilyology by Dr. Nerida Blair, art by © Dawn Wink

Dr. Irene Gutiérrez Torres and Dr. Silvia Almenara Niebla presented their work and documentaries through their presentation Using Audiovisual Methods in Borderlands: Empirical, ethical and methodological dilemmas. Dr. Gutiérrez Torres and Dr. Almenara Niebla presented their research and documentary work along borders around the world, including “Border Diaries,” a documentary that “intersects a personal journey back to her native Spanish town, on the border with Morocco, with the lost images of other migrants.”

Dr. Silvia Almenara Niebla and Dr. Irene Gutiérrez Torres

<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/507888504″>Diarios de Frontera // Border Diaries (Dir. Irene Guti&eacute;rrez, 2013, Spain, 25′)</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/user112368850″>Culturas del Cine</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Here, another of her documentaries, this one focused on the USA-Mexico border: Connected Walls

An extra special time connecting across borders with Silvia Almenara Niebla and Margarida Borras Batalla. Irene Gutiérrez Torres, you were with us in spirit!

With Silvia Almenara Niebla and Margarida Borras Batalla

The conference and time in the UK was so rich, this will take at least a couple of Dewdrops in hopes of honoring all. Too much richness to fit into a single post—more soon. Bravo and bravo to Dr. Helen Kara for creating this phenomenal conference and to the incredible presenters and attendees!

Conference Programme: