Review of “Arts-based Contemplative Practices in Education”: 2017 Canadian Society for Studies in Education ARTS Pre-conference

This review is a poetic and photographic response to a pre-conference session convened in May 2017 by the Arts Researchers and Teachers Society (ARTS) of the Canadian Society for Studies in Education, and organized by Susan Walsh, Barbara Bickel, Carl Leggo, and Diane Conrad. The gathering took place in Toronto, Canada on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, and of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. The theme of the pre-conference was arts-based contemplative practices in education. The day offered a collaborative space for learning and co-creation as a community of practice supported by a hospitable and responsive design. This enabled movement away from traditional vertical hierarchies of knowledge dissemination towards more lateral exchanges and emergent learning structures.