Crafting Living Inquiry with a Quilt of Children’s Images

Abstract

Embodied encounters in and with crafting as method led to knowing with making in this research. A crafted bricolage of photographs from young children (aged 15 months to 5 years) was created at their early childhood centre. The children’s photographs became material for further thinking as they were transferred to fabric and combined into a quilt that was tie quilted by children and the researcher as artist/researcher/teachers (Springgay, Irwin, Leggo, & Gouzouasis, 2008). Our craft processes in quilt making initiated ongoing integrated art-making, teaching/learning, and conversations with and without words. Much research in early childhood has a focus on the child, but what do children focus on, and how might they be more than participants? Rich experiences throughout the co-creation of the quilt as a living inquiry provided spaces for learning and knowledge making. Craft as research and a piece of art to display for the learning community provoked questions and opened understandings about and with young children, their preferences, and their capacity as co-researchers.