The purpose of this article is to make the argument that when viewed as mutually supportive processes of inquiry, art and research have the potential to put the agency of educational change well within reach of artists and art teachers. As researchers well schooled in studio practices of many kinds, artists and art teachers understand that, as we grow, we learn different things; but as we grow artistically, we learn things differently. These themes are teased out around a personal journey that is punctuated by small moments of insight and periods of convergence, animated by a need to get inside problems and issues in order to draw out ideas using whatever visual and forming systems and structures make sense.