Abstract:
This study examines the model of naive to sophistication in Discipline Based Art Education (DBAE) as a representation of the practice of two artists. In particular, the study focuses on the DBAE prediction of connotative integration among the four roles of artistic practice as a marker of sophistication in the artist. The study is designed to reveal the concealed frames of reference which motivate the beliefs of two artists and their practice over time. The methodology focuses on a semantic analysis of the texts and contexts which form a representation of the underlying folk beliefs of the two respondents. The evidence emergent in the investigation suggests that understanding is not transparent in the two artist's explanation of the works that they make. It emerges that the reflective insights of the two respondents effectively misrepresent their own motives and performances. Cover or folk terms provide evidence of complex motivation, as well as incoherence and denial in the respondent's maintenance of their practice. The study concludes that the model of connotative integration presented by DBAE is neither predicted in the practice of two respondent artists, nor, more generally, entails a fruitful archetype of educational practice in the visual arts.