Re: Response to Friday

I was pleasantly surprised by my reaction to last Friday's class. Not having a formal art background (i.e. an actual art related degree), I still feel some anxiety around being asked to draw in front of people. However, the collaborative nature of the exercise freed me from any worries about the outcome and I was able to relax and enjoy the process. I can see an exercise like this being really helpful in a classroom to get students to open up to art and see it in a different light than the one they might be used to. 

Reflecting back, the drawing portion was definitely easier for me than creating poetry. It was great to hear all the ideas for changing/modifying the exercise. The face drawing was a perfect example of how multiple perspectives enrich the learning experience.  The face drawing was not only an interesting process but, in my opinion, a pretty cool final product. 

A little something about me..

Umm. . . .

OK so this whole collaborative thing. . .  umm. . .  well how long is this entry supposed to be? anyways. . . 

well with the exercises we did in class last week, I felt like maybe I had a different idea of what was supposed to happen. I'm not sure if I was misunderstanding what the whole "collaborative art" thing was supposed to be or maybe I was just interpreting it differently than the rest of the people in the class.

for example

with the actual poems that we did, the final products that we seemed to come up with seemed more like stories to me. like narratives, narratives that didn't make sense. and i guess some poetry is just that. but I suppose I was thinking more along of the lines of something like (and forgive me for what lies ahead)

birds chirp outside my window

the wind sings a song

a symphony of nature 

(really really apologize for my poor stab at trying to make "poetry")

but anyways, you know what I am trying to say?

as for the drawings we did, with the exception of the head and the body that we made (where we had an agreed upon idea of what we were supposed to end up with) I think I was thinking differently about those to. I approached it as something like where we are supposed to go to the paper and draw something abstract, not anything recognizable. Like maybe a series of lines, or a dot of color, just forms and shapes that together, made the final piece. as opposed to a recognizable band-aid or hot dog. And I am not saying that was wrong it was just different from my idea of what I thought was the purpose. 

Which then leads to the point that I was having a hard time with the whole thing, because as artist participating in this work I had to give up some control over what I thought it should b, or be like. And I had a hard time doing that ( I don't think I showed  it but the struggle was there internally). Which actually makes me worry about how I am going to do in this class.

I don't know, just throwing it out there!

uhm...

I posted my short blog as a comment in response to Farolyn's....I guess I totally didn't have this class blog thing figured out yet! So are we just supposed to comment off of one general blog or each write our own summary of what happened that day? Please forgive me if I messed up my first blog post! lol

U-N-I-T-Y!

I enjoyed the collaborative projects created last class. The first exercise functioned like a warm-up. Each team member placed their unique signature on a 11" x 14" sheet of paper. During the second round the artist's creative flow was purposely interrupted by a term such as 'skull' or 'Obama'. The artist had two options: to illustrate the term or reinterpret the term within the context of the current piece. By the second and third exercise I understood the concept of de-centering subjectivities while creating artwork with others. As an artist it is easy to become attached to an artwork. The thought of collaborating with someone else can be frightening. While participating in the exercises I was open to the idea of someone 'remixing' my crayon masterpiece by adding a bruise or a burger and fries. 

I was most apprehensive about the exquisite corpse style poem. It takes time to conceive a thought, apply pen to paper and to allow all three elements to merge as one.  The team had 11 seconds to read the poem, digest a line or two, produce a sentence, and write the selection on the paper. I recall reading the last word on the preceding line and marking the paper with a nonsensical set of words. I remember many group members pausing and at times cracking under pressure. Time became a threat. It forced our minds to scramble, our chests to tighten, and our cheeks to become rosy red. The clock became a thief, snatching sanity and calmness from our fingertips. The exercise also gave me some ideas for 'icebreakers' to use in the k-12 classroom setting. By participating in the exercises, I do feel more acquainted with my fellow team members. :)