Donna Frost

Chapter 6 176 Professional artistry is ontological and praxiological Professional artistry, as it came to be understood within the CCCI, has to do with a particular way of seeing and understanding the world and one’s activity as a professional in the world. It is therefore both ontological and praxiological in nature and nurses practicing with professional artistry are concerned with enlarging the space for becoming. As such, professional artistry is more than a characteristic, or what one knows and applies; it is also more than a process or a skilled (clinical) performance. Professional artistry has to do with how the practitioner views the world, how she ‘is’ and becomes, and how she helps others to be and become. As the patterns of engagement will show, professional artistry is manifested in the existential and bodilyway of being and in the many small actions of the practitioner: in her openness and willingness to be there, in the encounter, to see and meet the other as a person, to envisage and aim for the ideal and to create the conditions in which transformation becomes possible. Professional artistry is embodied by the nurse and embedded in her being and practices, and those practices are mindful and imbued with a moral intent. The ontological and praxiological nature of professional artistry was put into words quite late in the inquiry process. During the second to last inquiry cycle of the NP inquiry group the focus for investigation became the idea that ‘ professional artistry is not just what we do it is who/how we are ’ (NPI-Mtg 8 -Rec 5 of 5 ). Later, in the last inquiry cycle, this insight was articulated more strongly: ‘ Professional artistry powers our practice ’ (WendyNPI-Mtg 10 -Rec 1 of 7 ) and ‘ I carry this potential with me, I bring who I am and this is who I am ’ (AafjeNPI-CRC- 20141022 -p 10 ). We had come to see, when revisiting our previously told stories, metaphors and observations in the light of our new understandings, that it was this particular world view, our tendency to see the world as having the capacity for and benefiting from artistry, and being willing to approach practice in this way, that powered our practice as nurses or facilitators. We saw how its very embeddedness in our way of being and in our selves had made it difficult for us to ‘see’ or articulate earlier. “While walking in the bluebell woods with Angie I noticed a particularly pretty snail shell on the trunk of a tree. Brightly coloured like a jewel, the spiral form emphasized by the patterning. I’d never seen a snail shell like it. I felt a small thrill and took a photo to record it. As our walk continued I began to smile. These beautiful jewel like snail shells were everywhere, on many trees, in many different colours. True, I’d never