Two Fools to Eudaimonia: Drawing Inspiration from Collaborative Creativity in Pedagogy 🎨

This post was firstly published on December 7, 2023, on my previous blog, AKA.

Eudaimonia is a word used by ancient Greeks to describe the condition of human flourishing or a life well lived, and it serves as a manifesto for the core values of Raisa Raekallio and Misha Del Val, as stated on ´Two Fools to Eudaimonia´ painting exhibition information paper.

In August 2023, I visited this exhibition at the Makasiini Contemporary Art museum and enjoyed the ´Two Fools to Eudaimonia´ exhibition. While I appreciated the paintings in the exhibition, what I also admired was the creation process behind them. The paintings were an art work of a collaboration. The exhibition information paper partly describes the process as follows:

´´The artists have been making paintings, drawings, performance art pieces, curatorial projects, and podcasts in collaboration since 2013. They make paintings together, like musicians in a jam session, guided by a spirit of improvisation, affinity, and trust. Their core values: friendship and coming together, devotion to nature, and an appetite for coming to terms - through relentless waltz with the oil, the dust, and the vocabulary of painting - with our frail, clumsy, beautiful humanity. Their working collaboration is an open-ended process of listening to each other and to the will of paintings. The essence of Raisa & Misha´s collaboration is grounded in a trust in each other and in the process, a pliant sensitivity, a curious mind and open heart´´.

It seems clear that their manifesto, consisting of their core values, emphasizes collaboration, which contributes to their eudaimonia - the condition of human flourishing - . The entire process leaves space for exploration and experimentation, rooted in mutual trust in each other and in the process, sensitivity, a curious mind and an open heart.

In the realm of education, there has been some research done on how artists and their mindsets can inspire teachers (Hall & Thomson, 2017 ; Hall & Thomson & Russel, 2007). In this case, for me, Raisa & Misha have sparked the inspiration of incorporating more collaborative work with a heuristic approach in learning environments to foster trust, friendship and a sense of ´´eudaimonia´´ among pupils.

Are there other artworks or artists' mindsets that you find inspirational and contribute to your pedagogical toolkit? I am happy to hear about them.

Ceyda 🌺

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References:

Hall, C., & Thomson, P. (2017). Creativity in teaching: what can teachers learn from artists?. Recherche & formation, 55-77.

Hall, C., Thomson, P., & Russell, L. (2007). Teaching like an artist: The pedagogic identities and practices of artists in schools. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(5), 605-619.