ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the context for practice-based research in the visual arts in relation to cultural, social, and economic frameworks that recognise both innovation and continuity. In order to determine appropriate methods for practice-based research in this space, it is suggested that clarity on what constitutes the parameters of contemporary creative practice gives us a basis for exploring and possibly expanding our presumptions. I note that our methods of practice are no longer restricted to just those of the studio and that it is a rather narrow conception for practice-based research and the production of new knowledge. Drawing on my experience of research, practice as a painter, research degree supervision, academic management, art gallery administration, and exhibition organisation, I argue that there are questions yet to be explored about what the objectives of practice-based research in the visual arts might be and the methods of how it might be undertaken.
