art ed digested

Art camp is progressing more smoothly lately, both in behavior and in creative energy. I’ve noticed that with the growing camper roster, each child seems more comfortable trying new things and working beyond the baseline to make their artwork outstanding.

I theorize that within a larger group dynamic, the individual egos and self-consciousness of children slowly dissolve. The spotlight is shared, and thus they feel free to improvise and innovate without the stagefright.

It’s been almost a year since I moved to Boston from Philadelphia and I’ve found the job market for art teachers slim to nil. My search last year began in Philadelphia by blanketing the area with 180 resume packets. From the 180 packets, I had two interviews. I was offered a job from the second interview, but was urged to turn it down by family who thought I would be better paid in another position. While I may kick myself now about the decision, I realize that the journey I’ve been on has made me a better teacher.

After moving, I held three successive jobs; one as a substitute teacher, one as a special education paraprofessional, and I am currently an art camp counselor. Each of these jobs, while teaching me a completely new angle on education, has only reaffirmed my desire to have an art classroom of my own again. Perhaps I was foolish, or stubborn to accept positions only in education, the jury is still out. Luckily, as a semi-recent college graduate, I still feel comfortable living an extremely frugal life.

Yet, as the time for my current job search dwindles with the daylight hours, I find myself asking some familiar questions: How does one get her foot in the door when she doesn’t know a soul in her field nearby? Will I ever have that wonderful feeling of community in a school again?

It’s been roughly two years since I taught in anything other than a school setting. This Summer, I am teaching an art camp via a United Way community center and finding it a tricky transition.

Usually classroom management is a snap- I set ground rules and boundaries, have clear consequences for inappropriate behavior and rewards for doing exemplary work. When in a naturally unstructured environment such as a small neighborhood art camp, these measures go in one ear and out the other of my students.

My current sticky widget is inspiring my students to go beyond the first few steps before they become distracted by the 30 kids playing kickball mere feet from our classroom. There are (and will always be) students who aim to please and take each art project to new heights- but those few who decide not to try at all really kill the mood. I hate to force a project on students, I prefer to “invite” them to join me as we experiment together.

The students who choose not to try seem overcome with apathy and unwilling to imagine or play- a horrible thing to witness when it comes from a 6-year-old. I’ll take these children as my personal challenge… this will take some creative problem solving.

Silliness, thou art the answer.

Feeling industrious, I opted to read the latest issue of Art Education journal on my commute today, rather than the most excellent fiction I’ve been reading lately, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

I was struck in a very personal way by:

Taking The 40/40 Challenge: Sixteen Painters Working Daily To Develop a Painting Discipline
by Camilla McComb

McComb chronicled the mental struggle when asked by her students, “Ms. McComb, do you paint every day?” A simple question at face value, but if I were asked the same question, it would churn up quite a bit of guilt and also a good deal of ambition.

Art teachers are asked to wear many hats. In my mind, we need to be foremost an educator, in order to effectively manage, teach and inspire students. Second, we must have a mastery of subject matter, very rarely do I consider the artwork created in my free time part of my career.
This hierarchy seems to have served me well thus far, but after reading that McComb considered this behavior in herself to be “perpetuating artistic fraud,” I had to do some soul searching and ask hard questions of myself.

In Camilla McComb’s case, she joined her students in a 40/40 Challenge, which was 40 paintings in 40 days, painting for one hour each night. Clearing the time, and the mind for an hour of painting nightly seems a monumental task in the busy, overstimulated “leisure time” of 2006.

I admire McComb for her ability to look honestly at herself and the work habits of her students while joining them in an endeavor to actively change how they create. I would love to see how the challenge would change if it became 40 sketches in 40 nights.

Matthew Barney is a singular artist in his sheer business sense and vision. After viewing his Cremaster retrospective at the Guggenheim, I was filled with ideas, the process of making art renewed. His work tends to quickly stratify his audience into those who love and “get it” or just plain hate it. Granted, these are difficult pieces to acclimate ourselves to- disturbing imagery, epic scale and lengths along with subtle, if not esoteric deeper meaning. For the strong-willed and openminded, they can completely change and challenge your philosophy of art.
Barney is changing quite a few of the boundaries that I recently thought could not be considered “art.” Pushing the boundaries of explanation and definition warrant a closer look.

I am eager to see Drawing Restraint 9, the collaboration between Barney and Bjork- one of my favorite musicians. The combination of harmonies, dissonance and artistic vision seems like an explosion of possibilities.

View the trailer for Drawing Restraint 9 here.

In my own art education, I did not experience oil painting until my senior year. Even then, I was in an advanced placement course.

One of my great loves is still oil painting, the saturation of the colors, the depth of tone, the smell, and the forgiveness the long drying time affords.

Considering that many of my future and past students may never become acquainted with the wonders of oil paint, I thought it best to try to love acrylics, which domintate art classroom supply closets.

Here is the first of my recent studies. Acrylics are tricky, and to coax them to obey, you need to work quickly or find a medium to bend them to your will.

This excercise reminds me yet again that students are constantly provided with materials that are unfamiliar and equally unforgiving to the learning process. So my advice to the art teachers of the world for the Summer is, take your least favorite medium - and fall in love with it.

As for acrylics, I’m still learning to love.

There are so many choices available to teachers now to share ideas and ponder the various trials and triumphs. The blog is a format I began using in early college life, and since then, the blog seems to have morphed into something infinitely more useful and meaningful in our culture.

I am inspired by the work done through the fabulous edublogs familiar to me, especially NeverEnding Search, which happens to belong to my very talented mom.
I will endeavor to make this blog a place to find inspiration, controversy and general musings on the art world, the education world and where those two worlds meet.