Graduate students from the University of Arizona School of Art will hold a public reception for a new participatory arts-based research exhibition, “Material Matters: Endeavors in Arts-Based Inquiry,” at the Lionel Rombach Gallery from 4 to 6 p.m.
Featuring works by art education researchers Andy Julo, Mandi Smith, Ziyu Feng, Yuqing Wang, Aru Zhao, Jackie Zhao, and interdisciplinary artist Camden Hardy, the show frames artmaking as an active method of inquiry.
“This exhibition began in our graduate seminar as an exploration of arts-based research (ABR), a way of learning that treats creating art as a form of research itself,” the cohort says. “It prioritizes the act of making as a method of investigation. We discovered that knowledge grows through cycles of creating, sharing, reflecting, and responding, each idea building on the last into an ever-expanding spiral of understanding.
“Our thinking is shaped by philosopher Jane Bennett’s concept of “Vibrant Matter,” which suggests materials and environments are not passive objects but active participants in the world. Knowledge, in this view, isn’t made by people alone, it emerges through relationships between artists, materials, communities, and places.
Each of the eight exhibiting artist-researchers began with a guiding question that evolved through making. Rather than offering final answers, this exhibition encourages guests to consider art as an ongoing space of inquiry. This spirit takes tangible form in two collaborative projects: a written response wall and a participatory loom built within the gallery, which visitors are invited to weave into directly. Together, these works carry the classroom’s questions into this space and ask you to add your own thread to the conversation.
