HAND / HEART / HEAD: Aesthetic Practice Pedagogy for Deep Sustainability Learning

This paper proposes that aesthetic inquiry can convey emotional knowledge related to sustainability topics, which is different from scientific inquiry that conveys facts and analysis. Sustainability is an emotionally charged theme of study and people often have difficulty in grappling with its complexity. We provide a method of art-based learning that can help people to understand and deal with sustainability topics as opposed to classical ways of learning (lectures, coursework). Art is a vehicle of human emotions, and aesthetic inquiry can help to get at the emotional connection between humans and nature. During the ‘workshop’ process we have developed over the past few years, participants produce paintings, drawings and metaphors that bring life to their vision of sustainability. Expressing this perspective as a work of art and sharing it with others, helps them to better understand underlying concepts, creates a sense of community and gives courage to take action.