A Cognitive Investigation of a Material Led Art process

There is a wealth of research investigating the cognitive engagement of tool users and much debate about whether our cognition can extend to the tool tip or incorporate the tool into our body schema. I contend that an expert materials led artist, can cognitively extend beyond the tool in use to the material that they engage during art making. I interviewed three expert artists, a painter, a potter and a sculptor about their tool use, materiality, environment and expertise. Their insights confirm a tacit knowledge that extends into the materials they engage and informs their actions. The experience of these artists’ forming an expertise with their chosen material offers the Enactivist approach insight into a higher-order form of Sense-making, rather than just ‘maintaining a meaningful environment’.