Art, Scholarship, Community: Experiences of Viewing

This critical reflection originated in a visit to the ‘Artists and Academics’ exhibition held at Fargo Creative Village, Coventry, 26 November 2016. My thoughts about the exhibition have served as a springboard to consider ideas of scholarship, art and community more broadly. I use my research on British artists from the early twentieth century, their ideas about the processes of viewing art and the spiritual in art, to discuss examples in the exhibition. I conclude by considering how this collaborative event can bring academic ideas into conversation with artworks. I suggest that the resulting exchanges may enable viewers to think differently about art and scholarship as well as enrich academic practice.