The space of memory: promoting transformative learning in undergraduate art education

Creative practitioners often capture, represent, test and contest the phenomenon of memory. Memory is integral to the way we construct identity and provides a wealth of experience and material for creative works that is readily available to artists regardless of age, background or life experience. This paper investigates The Space of Memory - a first year undergraduate sculpture project that explores notions of memory in relation to space to stimulate learning. We discuss, from the lecturer's perspective, how beginning artists can use the processes of more established artists to tap into personal memories and experiences of space and then be inspired to make their own creative works. Observations of students over the past five years reveal that this project catalyses invention by activating very personal and specific memories as an accessible site and repository of untapped material for creative works. Furthermore it provides direct experiences of embodied ways of knowing, produces full-scale sculptural works, brings together theory and practice and grounds students' art making in a contemporary context. We believe this innovative learning experience helps undergraduate students understand and directly experience core concepts of spatiality and creative process in ways that promote engaged and transformative learning. It provides a vehicle for students to capture the personal, synthesise concepts of identity and then translate ideas into creative works, thus initiating a critically aware art practice.