Arctic art education in collaboration - creating dialogues for learning

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Abstract

This article presents a developing process of a shared hybrid university course which aims at encouraging dialogue between Arctic communities, children and youth, teacher students, professors and local actors from cultural and educational fields. The Arctic partner universities sought to integrate contemporary art practices with Indigenous and regional knowledge systems, enabling the examination of sustainability challenges through the perspectives of Arctic communities and environments. Grounded in local contexts, Arctic Art Education (AAE) is ecoculturally sensitive and transcends borders between countries and universities by situating the project within broader discourses on decolonisation, sustainability, land-based education, and transdisciplinary approaches.

This article focuses on the data that consists of the university students’ reflections on the special hybrid course connecting online and onsite learning and collaboration between universities and an Arctic community. The results of the qualitative analysis define the elements of the Arctic Art Education learned in the Nomadic Hub course. The conclusions emphasise how art-based action research develops the multidimensional structure of the shared course. Shared courses facilitate boundary-crossing knowledge production, meaningful encounters in remote interactions, and situational and transformative learning. Rooted in ecocultural contexts, learning in AAE emphasises relational, embodied, and ethical approaches to sustainability and teacher education in the North.

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Keywords

Arctic art education, art-based action research, teacher education, transdisciplinary teaching

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