Biography

John Haworth has a Masters degree in Fine Art: printmaking (Lancaster University) and a PhD in Psychology (Manchester University) .Currently he is Visiting Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, undertaking research into ‘Creativity in digital fine art’; and a visiting Professor in Well-Being at the University of Bolton . His practice-led research on ‘Creativity and embodied mind in digital fine art’ has been funded by grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK. www.creativity-embodiedmind.com He has an innovative photo-ethnographic project on ‘The Way We are Now’ combining his research into digital fine art and subjective well-being. His fine art prints have been exhibited internationally.

Illustrated Talk

Creativity, Imagination and Innovation in Digital Fine Art Printmaking
The critical reflections of artists were used by the psychologist/philosopher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, in an ‘ Embodiment Theory of Art’ (Haworth 1990, 1997) which views the artwork as “enriched being” in its own right, as distinct from an analogue for an external truth or essence, as traditional aesthetic theory claims. It proposes that this enriched being is not produced primarily by intentional acts, the traditional view, but by the reciprocal influence of consciousness, the body, techniques and materials. In‘Sense and Nonsense’p 59 ”  Merleau-Ponty (1964) claimed “that modes of thought correspond to technical methods, and that to use Goethe’s phrase ‘what is inside is also outside’”. In ‘Phenomenology of Perception’ (1962) he argues that “consciousness is in the first place not a matter of ‘I think that’, but of ‘I can’ ” (p 137). In the posthumous publication  The Visible and the Invisible edited by C. LeFort (1968)  Merleau-Ponty viewed his theories as incomplete, and indicated that one of the areas destined for review was the study of the imaginary “which is not simply the production of mental images, but the baroque proliferation of generating axes for visibility in the duplicity of the real” p. lii. The illustrated talk will use the perspectives of Merleau-Ponty in a discussion of the production of digital prints  based on a log of the creative process, first used in interdisciplinary practice-led research  on  explorations in ‘Creativity and embodied mind in digital fine art’ funded by the AHRC (Haworth 2010, 2013). Pointers towards the nature of imagination will be made. The talk will also illustrate the development of an innovative project, on ‘A day in the life of—, which crosses the borders of visual research methods, printmaking, and subjective well-being.University of the West of England.

Open Folio 1

In the Right Place
Prints shown relate to vision, feeling and emotion over a day, which potentially involve individual and collective experience. The works are conjoined. Together, they are ‘In the right place’   The Portfolio includes a brief introduction .The print ‘A day in the life of—-‘ 60 cm wide x 120cm high is part of an innovative photo-ethnographic project  on ‘The Way We are Now’, with instructions on how to participate   “http://www.creativity-embodiedmind.com”  Other prints include ‘Morning Mooring’ 60cm wide x 100cm high, and  ‘May Day’60cm wide x 160 long, which draws on photographs taken throughout a stormy day at the harbour.

Open Folio 2

Vibrant Transience
Printmaking has long been my chosen medium because of the potential it offers for the exciting exploration of delicate surface properties. The digital print medium I find particularly attractive as a conduit for the idea of the vibrant transience of reality. In part, ‘the medium is the message’. Many of the prints I make also have their origins in transitions in daily life. My prints have been exhibited internationally. I am a gallery artist at Comme Ca Art Manchester. Previous examples of my prints can be seen in the gallery at  http://www.creativity-embodiedmind.com  and at  http://www.neoartists.co.uk/artwork.asp?StuID-911