Abstract
David Ecker’s contribution to the influential 1965 Penn State Seminar drew on his background in philosophy and aesthetics and his original thinking about the phenomenology of the artistic process he defined as qualitative problem solving. In this reassessment of his thesis, the authors adapt Ecker’s ideas to construct a method of interpretive analysis for examining visual arts practice. Three phases of critique are extracted from Ecker’s descriptions and applied in an analysis of a contemporary art group, the Nationwide Museum Mascot Project (NWMMP). Ecker’s awkward combination of discipline-based rationalism and artistic intuition in identifying significant problems in art education is mostly borne out. However, the argument that systems of knowledge that inform research practice and curriculum development in art and art education are predominantly drawn from established discipline-based epistemologies is shown to be an inadequate conception. Yet, Ecker helps us understand the awkward yet efficient role art plays when educational purpose, individual agency, and artistic provocation are taken seriously.
