In this dissertation, I explored creativity in practice. I ask: 1) How do the participants define creativity?; 2) In what way does creativity reflect the positioning between actor and resource?; 3) What creative practices emerge when individuals choose to use, or not use, resources?; 4) How do resources mediate creativity? To understand creativity in practice, I used a case study featuring eight participants across two fields, four teachers and four chefs. The two fields provided a way to understand and build a comparative case study about creativity in practice through the use of resources. I interviewed and collected digital artifacts from the participant teachers and chefs. The interviews were transcribed. Then I used qualitative coding to analyze the interview and artifact data. The findings revealed nuanced elements of creativity in practice and resources, which reflected layered voices. The findings highlighted of recreative and creative practices. And more importantly, resources mediated creativity in practice to illustrate the nexus of creativity in practice. I framed creativity as a sociocultural practice and an epistemological construction rather than cognitive and ontologically based. I argue that creativity in practice is messy. Films and media portray a mythology of creativity as a cognitive and ontological construction of individual genius. The teachers and chefs shared narratives that reflected the reality of creativity as messy through the layers of learning and practices. Resources represent the mediator for learning and practices. It is through resources that creators can strengthen their nexus of creativity in practice in critical or non-critical ways. Ultimately, the significance of the research helps deconstruct creativity in practice to make visible the challenges and messiness for all creators.
Read
