Final Presentation: Video, Activity, Discussion

Taylor, Elaine, Anna

Video Theme: Our goal was to center our final video presentation around the ideas of identity and community in terms of art education. Incorporating footage from both Seminar I and Seminar II, we created a final piece that

Video Outline:
Part 1: The Jeremiah E. Burke High School
-In the first part of our video we present footage we collected from our fieldwork hours at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School. As this footage plays, the three of us comment on our personal field work experiences. We also comment on the artistic energy present in the classroom. Elaine collected interviews from Alisa Rodney as well as one of her student teachers Susan Hampton. We were also lucky to have a student named Brandon discuss his interest in art with us. Throughout our footage of the Burke art room, we have decided to integrate artists we explored during our seminar 2 study that we feel relate to the student work we saw at the Burke. These artists include, Nick Cave, Sigalit Landau, and Brian Knep.

Part 2: Artward Bound
-We explain what Artward bound is and we introduce Shyimel, our student, through an interview. As footage plays, we also comment on our trip to the Fens with Shyimel and Franklin. We incorporate other artists and events from seminar 2 into the Artward bound footage including the Verdant show, and Nancy Holt.

Part 3: College Access Day
-Our video then goes on to discuss and depict our experiences at college access day on April 17, 2012. We comment on the art activity as well as the gallery visits. Artists that we incorporated from seminar 2 in this section include Linda Sneddon.

Conclusion:
-We conclude our video presentation with a short slide show depicting artwork created by Burke Students, Artward Bound Students as well as College Access students. Our desire in this was to depict the student work as contemporary art.

Activity:
(The activity portion of our presentation will run in tandem with our final video presentation.)

We decided we would collect all of our photos that the three of us we have taken the semester and incorporate them into a slideshow. We plan to present this slideshow in two parts; each 15 minutes long. The first 15 minutes will be dedicated to photos relating to Seminar 1 while the second 15 minutes will be dedicated to photos relating to seminar II.

The slideshow will be presented on a piece of acetate that our classmates will be allowed to write on. At the fifteen minute mark, we will flip the acetate around so that all of the seminar We believe that they should write responses to the photos or draw freely as they wish. We also will provide each of our classmates with a different color marker to emphasize the idea of individuality.

Discussion:
The discussion portion of our presentation will rely on our classmates reflections and opinions. Our desire is that our discussion remain open to interpretation.

Last week in class Taylor, Elaine, and I worked on our final video presentation. We had basically finished the actual “video” part of the final video presentation when we began class so; during class time we started to focus on the audio portion of the video. Elaine was great enough to get some awesome interviews with Alisa Rodney from Jeremiah Burke High School; as well as one of her student teachers. We also have interviews with Brandon (a student from the Burke) and Shyimel (one of our artward bound students). We also decided that we each would record our own comments that would be played throughout the video. We made a lot of progress towards achieving our end goal and ended class very on track.

During class we also visited the Paine and Bakalar galleries to view the MFA thesis show. This was a really awesome show because it had a lot of interactive pieces. One MFA student had a massive collection of photographs printed on newsprint that he made books out of. At first I didn’t realize what the photographs were printed on because I couldn’t believe these ridiculously amazing photographs were printed on newsprint of all things. It was really bizarre to see such pristine photographs on such cheap paper. It made me really be mindful of how carefully I handled the newsprint. I looked through all of the photos extremely slowly because I didn’t want to rip anything.

Another MFA student created a virtual “wishing well”. This piece was by far my favorite in the show. I loved the fact that you could incorporate your own drawing into the collective art piece.

Last week was College Access Day. We had been planning this event for the past several weeks and I was really looking forward to the day’s events. I was in the exhibitions group and we worked really hard to come up with an activity. It took us a really long time to come up with a solid idea and it took a lot of different opinions to get it situated just the way we wanted. I chose to be a part of the exhibition group because I was really curious to see how the students would respond to art in a gallery setting. This semester I had already been exposed to seeing students enjoy art in a classroom, outdoor, and after school setting so I was excited to observe this environment as well.

 Our group created an activity that would incorporate two different galleries. In case you’ve forgotten the basic structure of our activity: here’s a little refresher!

We created a small booklet made from thick paper that had two different flaps. The inside flap was solid white paper while the top flap had a cut out of some kind on it. We made sure that each booklet was different!

 On the inside flap, students were asked to chose a piece of art in the gallery space that they liked or found interesting. We then asked them to write, doodle, or draw their response to the work in any way that they wanted (we provided colored pencils).

(inside flap)

 The outside flap was designated for the second gallery visit. This time we wanted the students to write, draw, or doodle a response to a work that they didn’t like. At the same time, the cut out that we provided would serve as a way for the students to combine both of their drawings as well as their gallery experience.

(outside flap combined with the inside flap!)

During the few hours of planning we were given in the morning my group walked around to some of MassArt’s galleries to see which ones we felt would be best suited for our activity. We instantly nixed the shows that were up in the Bryant Gallery as well as the student show in the cracketorium because we didn’t feel as if the students would get a really good sense of what a gallery space is about (personally, I wasn’t a big fan of either of the shows). We eventually decided to focus on the Godine Gallery (which was currently holding a student collaboration show) and the Student Life Gallery which had an incredible fibers show on display.

 In the morning we also discovered that our original plans were to be shifted around slightly. Only about half of the amount of students we expected to attend the event were planning on coming (I’m sure most of the students who chose not to attend were out enjoying the beautiful day-I don’t blame them) so it was obvious we had to make several adjustments. After everything was situated it was decided that our group would attend the art making groups activity as well as our own. I was glad that we were going to be able to see the art activity actually come together but, I was a little concerned that we would be encroaching on the other team’s space. It was their project that they worked really hard on and I was a little worried I would get in their way.

 During the art activity I tried to be supportive of the other group. I participated in the free wall and also helped a few of the students with their materials (for example, I was asked to open a jar of glitter; which is very difficult to do without getting sparkly powder all over the place). I did feel a little awkward at times because I didn’t really know what my place was. I think most of my group felt the same way. I did notice how excited all of the TAG Boston students and Urban Scholars were with the project though. I think the art activity group did a really great job picking a project and I think the executed it very well.

 After the art activity we were finally able to visit the galleries with the students. We had the TAG students first while the Urban Scholars were on their admissions tour. There was a little bit of a language barrier with a few of the students but, I think they got the gist of the assignment pretty fast and they seemed excited about it. I was glad that the group was small because this gave the kids a lot of space to work on their drawings and they were really able to spread out. I think they all really enjoyed themselves.

 We then headed to the Fibers show where we really had to reiterate that they should not touch anything (which was a really hard rule to keep track of in a show like this–especially since you want to touch EVERYTHING!). I think all of the students absolutely loved this show. We actually were really lucky because two of the senior fiber students whose work was in the show were there and they were open to the students asking them direct questions about their work. This really got the students interested in the meaning behind the works they were looking at. It was really incredible.

By the end of the TAG Boston group, a few members of our class started to trickle into the gallery. I think they were now in the same position we had been in during their activity earlier in the day. I’m sure that they weren’t sure what they were supposed to be doing just as we didn’t really understand our role.

 However, I was extremely disappointed when most of our classmates left the shortly after their arrival to the gallery. Elaine was the only one who stayed and participated in the activity with us for the full amount of time we were there. I was definitely upset because our group had stayed to support them during their time with the students. We observed their interactions and have the ability to give feedback on how their activity was received. However, our group now has zero way of getting any kind of feedback. I think we did a really great job with the students and I would have liked our other classmates to see that. We didn’t even see Beth after the art activity concluded. I’m extremely disappointed because I think we put just as much effort and time into our project as the other group. I think our group deserved the same amount of respect as the art activity group; despite the fact that our activity took place later in the day and everyone would clearly prefer to be home than at school.

 After we dropped the TAG Boston students off at admissions for their tour we met up with the Urban Scholars. They were absolutely exhausted and made it clear that they were not up for anymore walking. They asked to only be taken to one gallery so we decided to take them back to the Fiber’s show since it was our favorite.

 I went to a very competitive high school in terms of college preparation. 98% of my graduating class went on to attend four year colleges. I didn’t even know art school was an option until I was a junior. When I did discover art school existed it just kind of clicked for me: I knew that was where I belonged. I was almost looked down upon by my peers because I chose to go to an art college rather than pursue a more “practical” career path. The students I met at college access day were definitely not as set on college as the students at my high school were. I’m really glad that programs such as TAG Boston and Urban Scholars exist to get these kids on to a college campus so that they understand all of the options they have after high school. I think they all have great potential and can go extremely far if they are given the chance.

On Tuesday we went to see the William Cordova show “this one’s 4U (pa’ nosotros)” at the Boston Center for the Arts. The show was dedicated to putting together seemingly opposite subjects that also hold subtle and eerie similarities. Personally, I’m not a big fan of work that supports the concept of juxtaposition. This is possibly because I’ve had about eight art teachers in my life complain about how it is an entirely overused concept; and I have always agreed with them. Contemporary art is something that I usually associate with new and innovative ideas; not older theories.

I also didn’t really enjoy the stories about how Cordova put together the show. For me, contemporary art is intended to have a strong concept that backs up almost everything about the work. That is the part of contemporary art that I love the most. I think it is so incredible the amount of intellectual detail artists can incorporate into their work through their process, materials, size, presentation, etc. So, to hear that parts of the show were just kind of haphazardly placed by the artist during his installation kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

    Despite my indifference to the show; I did like the way we were led around the exhibition. It was a very straightforward tour. We were allowed to ask any questions we wanted at any time and we were met with answers that the staff provided to the best of their knowledge. I also appreciated that the staff did not pretend to know about things they clearly didn’t. I would always prefer an “I don’t know what the artist was intending to do.” rather than a completely pretentious made up response.
In the afternoon we had a chance to visit Linda Price Sneddon’s studio on Albany Street. I’m always excited to see a practicing artist’s studio and I thought Linda’s was great. It was colorful and welcoming and you definitely got the sense that this was an artist’s space (unlike Brian Knep’s studio; which I would have initially taken for a science lab). I was also very impressed with how she spoke about her work. I’m not at a point yet where I can talk about my work for a long period of time so I was slightly in awe of the fact that she spoke eloquently for about an hour. I was able to capture a lot of her explanations on a voice recorder and I hope to be able to use them in our final video presentation.

I was mostly impressed by her projections. At first, I thought her work was a little glitzy and flat however, once she projected her video onto the work I was extremely impressed. I was shocked at how much she had managed to make a seemingly flat wall and floor design come to life in a three-dimensional way.

I was also impressed with her drawings that she showed us towards the end of the visit. I’ve never been a fan of brightly colored art (I’ve always thought it looked somewhat cheesy and childish) but; I remain completely impressed with how she handled her color palette.

I’ve recently completed my field hours at the Jeremiah Burke High School. I almost wish I was required to spend more hours there (despite the early commute…sigh). I felt as if I was just getting to know the students before my hours were completed. It was a little hard to build relationships with the students because they were either in and out of the classroom so quickly or; they were not interested in getting any help from us (which is totally understandable-I would have been the same way in high school). We also were not there every day so, I’m sure some of them didn’t recognize us or pay us much attention. I also wish there had been a little bit more for us to do there as helpers. We were able to create some signs and do some basic helpful chores but; we didn’t really get a chance to get involved with teaching (especially since Alisa already had the help of two student teachers…as well as a bundle of other MassArt volunteers).

However, on the last day that I was there I was lucky enough to help one girl learn how to knit! I had made it my project for the day to help Alisa untangle the ridiculous amount of yarn she had. I thought the students would become more keen on using the yarn if it was more easily accessible. During this time I was also knitting with my circular needles. One student named Ashley came up to me and asked me if I could show her how to do what I was doing. I was so excited/nervous to help her. I had never actually taught anyone how to knit before and I certainly did not want to sound confusing and discourage her (especially since the words “confusing” and “knitting” go hand in hand for most people).

(the product of an hour of untangling yarn)

Ashley was extremely ambitious; she wanted to create a blanket (not an easy or quick task for a beginner). I asked her if she wanted to practice first on bigger needles but, she was very adamant about making a blanket and refused. First, I taught her how to cast on her stitches (because she was creating a blanket; she had to cast on a whole lot of stitches). It took her the whole class period but, she finally got the hang of it. It was so great to see someone so excited over being able to do something that I taught them!

Several other girls came up to me throughout the day and asked me to show them how to knit too. I think I got better at teaching as time progressed because all of the girls seemed to be getting the hang of the technique faster and faster. It was awesome to know that I was improving along with them. By the end of the day, one girl thanked me for teaching her and informed me that her next project was going to be to knit a hat. It is so unbelievably cool that I had a part in her creating that goal for herself!

I’m going to miss the Burke. I really hope I get to spend some more time there throughout the rest of my time at Massart. I just think the environment is so welcoming and creatively driven. The students inspire me so much; I even found myself working on projects while I was there simply because the room itself was so motivating. All in all, I think my field hours were an incredibly rewarding experience.

Last Tuesday we had another opportunity to work with the artward bound students. Elaine, Taylor, and I had planned on helping Shyimel as well as Franklin and Andy how to create linoleum block prints. Our plan was to have them all make a stamp of their signature so that they could incorporate it into their field guide as a sort of personal authors note. Unfortunately, Franklin and Andy were not present so, the three of us worked with Shyimel.

Shyimel was very excited at first to create his signature on a stamp. Since he is very into graffiti; his signature is very important to him and I’ve seen him write it in numerous creative ways.

(examples of a few of Shyimel’s sketches)

However, we had some unforeseen trouble with the printing process and Shyimel became increasingly frustrated as time went on. I completely understood his frustration though. I remember a time in eighth grade: I was asked to create a copper print and I found it so tedious and time consuming I just gave up. This is not the first time I’ve experienced Shyimel’s short attention span when it came to materials however so, instead of focusing solely on creating his signature, we basically let Shyimel create whatever he wanted. Our goal was mostly to get him printing; it was important to us for him to have the experience because we all believed that he would enjoy the medium.

Shyimel ended up creating a small stamp of Goofy. Of course, he became frustrated with the cutting tools and the printing process but, I still think his creation came out great for a first print (despite the fact that Shyimel absolutely appalled his end product… he completely refused to let me take a picture of it).

After we finished printing we still had a little bit of time left over so; I decided to help Shyimel with the format of his field guide pages. He had already came up with a small mockup of what he planned to create. I helped him edit what text he was going to keep in his information section and also where on the pages he was going to place his drawings. I think Shyimel has a real knack for graphic design. He didn’t hesitate once when I asked him where and how he would like to place anything. Despite the fact that he was not able to create a successful linoleum block print of his signature; Shyimel did decide to put a great design of his signature into the bottom corner of his field guide. I think the end product is going to be really creative informative, and also personal to Shyimel. I wish we had another chance to work with the artward bound students this semester so that I could see the end product of all of their hard work!

Last class we had the opportunity to work on our final presentations. Taylor, Elaine, and I are planning on working in a group of three (we will create a 30 minute video presentation as well as a 15 minute class discussion). We chose to work together because we all did our observation hours at Jeremiah Burke High School and we also have all worked with the same artward bound students so, we thought it would be effective to combine our resources and create our project together.

In the afternoon we all visited the Forms in Flux show at the School of the Museum of Fine arts. I was really excited to see a collaboration between artists who reside on opposite sides of the globe. The whole show was so cohesive and harmonizing; I would never have guessed that these artists came from such different cultures. There were several pieces in this show that I thought were really amazing.

I loved this paper sculpture by Michelle Samour. I thought it was so intricate and it flowed so beautifully. I took about eight different videos of this piece because I thought it was so impressive.

I was not as big a fan of Samour’s two dimensional work that hung on the wall, however. I thought they were really uninspiring and I thought the layering was highly unsuccessful and created a very flat and uninteresting image. I wish I could have seen more of her sculptures as opposed to her flat art.

I also really enjoyed Noriyori Shirakawa’s work. I thought all of her paintings were simple, elegant, and unique. The color scheme really complimented the gallery space. Each painting seemed to trigger a different memory or feeling to me. I’m really interested to see how the rest of the class interpreted the paintings.

One thing that I would change about the show is the volume of Patte Loper’s ten second video animation: “All Who Love” (2009). The looping ten second carousel-esk music was slowly driving me crazy. Although I was a fan of the actual animation (is was kind of creepy and beautiful at the same time); the music made me want to get out of the gallery space as fast as possible. It completely unsettled me. Headphones would have benefited the whole show overall; in my opinion.

Last week we had the opportunity to work one on one with the artward bound students in an artistic atmosphere. Taylor and I were lucky to work with Shyimel again and; because it was such a beautiful day out; we decided to take him outside to Evan’s Way to draw. We thought that if we were in an outdoor environment; Shyimel would develop more inspiration for his field guide observational drawing (which could easily be considered highly uninteresting for an eighth grader who has been in school all day).

At first, Shyimel seemed to be slightly irritated that her had to do observational drawing again. He said that he had already drawn this same plant before and that he was bored with it (totally understandable). Trying to open up his mind to new ideas that would make this seemingly boring subject more interesting to draw; Taylor and I introduced Shyimel to many new materials that we had managed to collect from the art closet (scratch board and oil pastels were among them).

Initially, Shyimel was attracted to the scratch board but, quickly dismissed it. He was unhappy that the under layer was white and ‘boring’ (although, we were pretty persistent that the under layer was silver, not white) . We encouraged Shyimel to draw the plant (Andromeda) in a way that he had not done previously. This led Shyimel to combine both the unfamiliar art of observational drawing with his comfort zone, graffiti. Shyimel ultimately created a title for his field guide page. He wrote “Andromeda” in really beautiful graffiti letters while incorporating an observational drawing done in colored pencil around the letters. I think it’s really going to look unique and eye catching in his field guide

(Shyimel’s plant, Andromeda)

While we were all drawing together; Shyimel told us about his future plans in terms of education. He is going to finish the eighth grade this year and is now figuring out his high school plans. He told us that he is not quite sure which school he is going to be attending next year because he has to wait for acceptance letters from the many schools he applied to. He did express a lot of interest in college and college life. Shyimel asked Taylor and I a lot of questions about how dorms worked and what classes were like at MassArt. It was lucky that Taylor and I lived in the two different freshman dorms last year so that we could each explain our own experiences and give Shyimel a wide variety of information.

I’m looking forward to the next class with artward bound because we really get to be creative with the students. I think it is an environment where a lot of the students, especially Shyimel, will flourish artistically.

I think it’s really great that the Whitney Museum of American Art is taking steps to make art education more accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. It is true that art is one of the first areas to go when public and private schools are forced to make budget cuts. It is extremely important however, that art is not lost to the public. Creating educational centers that are highly accessible to the public is such a good way to ensue a continued interest in art education.

I’m also glad that the Whitney Museum of American Art is giving people of all ages the ability to lean and enjoy art. It has always seemed unfair to me that the public is only offered art classes between the grades of 1 and 12. There are plenty of people who don’t fall in those specific age groups that take an interest in art. They would like to pursue their talents as well. This is why I find it important that centers such as the one at the Whitney Museum of American Art exist.

Last class we were split into groups and sent out into the Fens with one artward bound student. Elaine, Taylor and I were put in charge of helping Shyimel discover a plant or piece of nature that inspired or interested him. I had worked with Shyimel previously in the artward bound classroom and was excited to see how his creative process would alter (or stay consistent) once he was placed in an outdoor environment. I was a little bit worried that he would be uncomfortable or timid about being outside due to the fact that he lives in a city. However, he seemed to enjoy himself in the Fens (minus the geese poop…he hated that).

Our first goal was to help Shyimel become comfortable with the outdoor elements and give him a connection to nature. Elaine had the idea to give him a bag of bread to feed the ducks with. Our hope was that this activity would give him a source of entertainment as well as interest. (The outdoors seems much more inspiring and exciting when you are given something fun to do). Shyimel loved feeding the ducks and geese. We even saw some fish eating the bread. During this time we were able to get to know Shyimel on a more personal level by asking him questions about himself and his artwork. This helped us build a stronger relationship. I do not think we would have been as successful in building a relationship if we had been inside the classroom.

While we were exploring the Fens; we decided to give Shyimel a flip camera. We wanted him to be in control of his journey through nature and allow him to pick his species naturally. We believed having an ability to personally document and narrate his experience would help him accomplish this goal. We also took pictures of species that interested him so that he would have a few visual references to look at the next week in class.

Here are a few plants he found interesting:

He really liked this specific bush. I believe it is the specimen he is going to use for his field guide. He thought that the hanging seeds were really interesting. He also liked that this bush was already green; unlike many of the other plants in the park. We took a few samples from the bush that Shyimel can use as a reference while creating his field guide.

He also really enjoyed this tree. He said it reminded him of the tree in the movie Avatar. (You can see Shyimel’s hand with the flip camera filming at the bottom of the picture).

Although Shyimel took interest in a few the plants around him; he was mostly intrigued by the man made structures in the park.

When Shyimel saw this World War II memorial; he took his flip camera and started to walk all the way around it. Immediately he said: “I want to draw that!”

I wish that this project was also including man made structures; especially since we are in a city environment. If I had been organizing the project, I would certainly let Shyimel use this monument as his field guide topic.

Hopefully we can find a way to integrate Shyimel’s interest in the monument into our week 3 project. This way, we will be able to help Shyimel create a piece that truly captures his interest and inspiration.