Valgerður Jónsdóttir

Learning within circular systems - Cultivation, harvest and material breakdown in art and art education

In this artistic research project the possibilities of integrating art and art education with circular systems of cultivation, harvest and material breakdown are explored through working with mycelium, local plants and food waste. Different ways of growing bioplastic were tested and both practical, sensorial and emotional observations were documented, creating a foundation to build educational material based on cultivation, harvest and material breakdown.

During the research period I held out a studio practice, facilitated a workshop focused on mycelium and art in Reykjavík Botanical Garden and held an exhibition in Gunnfríðarstofa in Gerðuberg. The projects pedagogical background is based on place based learning, draws from various practices of contemporary artists, environmental philosophy and indigenous theory and interviews conducted with an elementary school teacher, biologists and an environmental engineer.

During the course of the research project the cultivation of the mycelium created a framework for a creative process that can be practiced with various other materials found in the vacinity of school grounds. Art education that centers circular, regenerative systems has the possibility to connect diverse subjects, connect student practice to contemporary practices of artists through doing, as well as educating studends on sustainability through sustainable practice, where material and subject are one and the same.