De-centring the Studio: Walking as a Critical Pedagogic Tool

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De-centring the Studio: Walking as a Critical Pedagogic Tool

Nutter, Digger (2025) De-centring the Studio: Walking as a Critical Pedagogic Tool. In: 2025 GLAD Symposium - Where Art School Leads, 5th September 2025, Nottingham School of Art & Design.

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Creators/Authors:

Nutter, Digger

Abstract:

The studio is the art school’s defining pedagogic space, but what happens when we step outside? This presentation explores how walking, an everyday act, can function as a critical pedagogic tool that repositions dialogue (Orr & Shreeve, 2018), fosters curiosity (Goertz, 2018), and invites embodied reflection (Springgay & Truman, 2018). Drawing on a published case study with Year 3 Interior Design students (Nutter, 2025), I reflect on a structured paired-walking activity shaped by art walking practices (Cardiff, 1999; Biserna, 2022) and musical scores (Neuhaus, 1979). Using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022), I explore how students engaged with movement, informality, and place to encounter ideas differently and the challenges they faced. The findings highlight the pedagogic value of unpredictability, detour, and experiential learning. I argue that learners activated walking as a distinct mode of engagement, prompting reflection on the fixed nature of the studio and how curriculum and learning might be more purposefully entangled, mobile, and relational.

Output Type:

Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Additional Information:

Research Question This presentation draws on the findings of a published case study: Detour from the studio: Novelty and walking as an approach to decentre studio learning (Nutter, 2025). That study asked: To what extent can small group walking activities promote relevant and contextual place-contingent discussions among interior design students? The work explored how walking, as a method rooted in art practice, dialogue, and movement, could decentre the traditional studio and open new pedagogic possibilities. The GLADHE presentation revisits and reframes this question to consider its implications more broadly for curriculum design and pedagogic practice across art and design education. Methods This presentation builds on a published case study (Detour from the studio, Nutter 2025) and reanimates its findings through a performative structure. The original study involved a structured, practice-based walking activity with Year 3 Interior Design students at Glasgow School of Art. Students undertook paired walks guided by zines featuring open-ended prompts, drawing on art walking practices and musical scores. Data was gathered via participant questionnaires and two audio-recorded focus groups, then analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; 2022). Themes were developed to reflect the varied ways students engaged with place, movement, and peer dialogue, highlighting the pedagogic value of novelty, dislocation, and detour. For this GLADHE presentation, the research is revisited through a walking video and a recorded/live side-by-side conversation with the researcher. This format is used to provoke and reflect on the findings, positioning walking as a critical and relational pedagogic tool. Context of Contribution This work shared at the 2025 GLADHE Symposium, focused on enhancing learning and teaching in the creative arts. The presentation contributes to an ongoing conversation about how we create inclusive, situated, and responsive learning environments within art and design education. The work speaks to a growing recognition of the need to make space in the curriculum for students to belong, orient themselves, and meaningfully experience their learning environment, not just through content, but through place. While such concerns are often associated with international or incoming students, this project highlights that the need is equally pressing for local and continuing students, whose relationship with institutional space may remain partial, assumed, or unexamined. By reanimating findings from a peer-reviewed case study (Detour from the studio, Nutter 2025) through walking video and live reflective dialogue, the presentation offers a critical and affective lens on curriculum design. It proposes that walking can serve as more than a method, it can be a mode of thinking, relating, and disrupting studio norms. The work contributes to current pedagogic debates around place-based learning, dialogue, and belonging, and invites educators to consider how learning environments might be decentered to better support all students.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Collaboration, Dialogue, Place-based Learning, De-centred Pedagogy, Curriculum Design

Schools and Departments:

Learning & Teaching

Dates: