Tom Hudson’s archive – Methodologies of intervention

This article reveals how submersion in, and appropriation of, the archive has shaped my teaching practice at Leeds College of Art. Engagement with Tom Hudson’s archive, housed at the National Arts Education Archive (NAEA) at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP), inadvertently became a piece of writing about my own teaching practice in the role Hudson had held 50 years previously. Using archival documents amassed throughout Hudson’s teaching career, I investigated both his pedagogy and teaching philosophy, and found myself developing appropriated project briefs within my own curriculum planning. A methodology of intervention emerged from my research, which began with hermeneutical methods employed within the archive. This engagement with Hudson’s collection became a piece of reflective writing about my own teaching practice at Leeds College of Art, at a time of renewed interest in Art Education History. This will be explored using both images and words, to reveal the insights gained from working with an archive and the direct use of its materials in a contemporary context.