Objects of amplified context: an interview with artist-teacher Pepón Osorio

The authors recount lessons learned through the experience of interviewing Professor Pepón Osorio about his practice as an artist-teacher-researcher. Central to the authors’ interview method is ‘bead collage’, an arts-informed inquiry process that invites participants to construct and reflect on their experience by manipulating small objects of material culture. This interview methodology facilitated an encounter in which Osorio internally and externally organized his thoughts through the creation of a bead collage. The artefact is a visual testimony of the interview process, his teaching philosophy and his approach to art-making. As a result, the article is a visual and textual construction that unpacks Osorio’s approach and passion as an artist-teacher. The authors conclude that the centrality of stories, use of negotiation and improvisation, knowledge of self and situation, and art as testimony are valuable strategies to articulate when teaching others about meaningful intersections of community, collaboration and art.