I Have A Plan

 Final Project-A MEANINGFUL PIECE OF WORK that is a new thinking, and brings you to a new place; inspired in studio work or teaching.

I was excited by the work of many artist I looked up this week.  Andrea Dezso, an artist who works in layers like a stage set had amazing intricate work.  Also involved with layering in a beautifully different way is Arturo Herrera who works with printing over collage.  Matthew Blarney sounded hilarious in his process of Drawing Restraint, but too scary for me when looking up his other work.  Finally an artist I know, from 1995, Tim Hawkinsons' (and I go way back (he he.)  way of working ironically, was mentioned during the review of my sketchbook.  Turns out, I'm post-modern in my playfulness and metaphors.

So, I'm really looking forward to making some words out of sign language letters of interesting materials as my choice in the final project.  I worked with a lot of tactile solutions in my sketchbook, and brought a L out of plaster to add to the alphabet, AND though no one saw it, my animation included words out of everyone's letters.  I really enjoyed the look of them, and feel that making whatever word is going to add to my newest portfolio of work.  And might I add, it seems very marketable, so Target, I'm ready to accept your check with multiple zero's!

Other experimental drawings that students mentioned was by working with bleach, or Softscrub with silk screening.  Sounds like I might need to get a book on it to school myself in these techniques.  Another new concept for me was creating a book that would then open up into four sets, like a carousel, sort of: scenes of a book.

This weeks hands-on activity was made by a few small groups of workers, making globes.  One group created out of cardboard or bamboo strips, one in stop motion animation, one that was with experimental materials like glue and beads, and my group of Romina and Jake who made tape casts of balls.  It was a fun way to capture this shape.

Before we left this intimate group for the night, we summed up what was to be expected.
last class- final project
14 blog posts
14 reflections
18 sketchpad assignments
and then a quickie demo was given on ironing bags to create a book cover-3 shopping bags, folded over, should create 18 layers, and 12 pieces of 7" x 3 3/4" paper should be cut for the inside pages.

a second day

It was great to see how to wrap-up a project when so many are at different stages.  I remember in grade school, I was never the one to finish an art project first, and if I was coming in last, I just went after school or brought it home to finish up.  But these days, when so many are busing home or have after school commitments, there is no after school; even in our class.
So, in the beginning of class there was a game plan made up by a show of hands of who had what to finish, a member of each group set up a table to complete that task, and then we all pitched in to clean up.  It was so fast, easy, and efficiently done, and EVERYBODY had completed all six pieces of the assignment by the end of the night.
1.overlapped flat print
2.corregated cardboard print
3.group print- with masterwork example by Nancy Spero
4.oil resistant print
5.sticker print out
6.folio

Given, we had to move at a quick pace, there were reminders of how much time there was left to the end of class, it made the class fly by.  It was also really great that the mood in the class was very "all for one & one for all."  Students really helped one another, a great community was created.

Monsters Out of the Bag

The class started by opening my amygdala and closing my hippocampus and I was left too frozen to begin.  I wish these emotions were somehow part of the lesson, and I could have created a piece that showed how I am still so fragile when it comes to 9/11.  But hearing first of a boy who asks about how could you have known all day and not tell me of my father's passing, brought me back to the same situation eight years ago with my husbands little brother and sister.  I knowingly fed them KFC to make sure they had food in their belly, before the news came home to them.
The story's that Aileen then told of her day on 9/11, receiving information, answering questions, and making sure all the students were safely home by foot, reminded me of being on the train the following weekend in 2001.  A boy about three, stood on the seat in front of me and started talking.  From hello's, the conversation jumped to the way the planes crashed into the buildings.  He would make the sound effects, move is arm and hand as the plane, and kept repeating, pausing to point in the direction of where the buildings used to be.
I asked him if he was ok, and reassured him that it was safe now.  I asked him, gently, if he remembered anything else about that day, and how did that make him feel?  We had a solid conversation about 9/11 and the three year old was still all smiles as we approached our destination.  His father turned and thanked me and asked if I was a teacher.
All this, and the waiting to see what the next target was, and the sky with no planes or sounds of planes, the days following with the smoke rising into the blue sky, and months later when I would still flinch when a plane flew behind buildings, all this is what I was thinking when class began with handing out the cardboard's and scissors.  I know we continue to constantly move on, but I needed a minute to regain myself, or I needed to continue and use the sadness, fear, and memory to drive a creative work.  I needed to harness my feelings into that kind of outlet, because I know I can produce great work when I'm crying whether it's by art or writings.  I'm interested in getting the book Forever After: New York City Teachers on 9/11, and as I've written before, I don't read books regularly.  But it's to learn, from our history, from myself.

11/2 class

"And the wind, whispered, Mar-y"  That's what my sources said about the quick class that Mary conducted after the graphic novels were handed in.  It was a print-making lesson, and conducted in a very relaxed way.  It was meditative.  I guess once in awhile it's nice not to have all the inspiration and thought, that goes into a lesson.  Just the bare minimum, perhaps more like an exercise, instead of a step to a final product.  Of course we always speak of product versus process, but this was like seeing it from inside the box.
I've seen this reaction before, in undergrad.  A drawing teacher, Jo Shane, knew she would be out, and had a substitute.  The change is a spring of refreshment for the students, instead of the regular routine.  It's not that the stand-in is exceptional, just different; and if a student looks at what he/she is doing with a new perspective, and finds insight, the sub is a success! 
I think it's good, and although my hopes are to work in a public school, not allowing for a stranger to come in and take over for a day, I would like to create the same effect by having a friend teach in lieu of me once a year.  It did seem hard though for Jo to not be insulted by our positive feed back about the substitute.  It's always personal.  You hope when students are left alone they continue to carry their class themselves, but maybe you quietly wish that the report back isn't SO positive.