Welcome to Week Six. Just a reminder, you do not need to apologize for late posts. I totally understand and expect delays. Just post late in a current week, like some of you are doing--thank you. Also, please remember to write in first person--"I", "me"--not we or us. Own your words and your questions. What I am enjoying about Week 5's posts are the questions you are posing to yourselves and the class. Am loving that.
A few comments about some Week Five posts. Then off to this week. Some posted about performance and its possibilities in the classroom. I listened to artist Nick Cave a few semesters ago at a TASA conference at TTU. He does lots of performative work. Look him up. Lots of posts about your initial reactions to Schneemann. Might possibly be normative in our culture where that might be a common knee-jerk reaction. I'm wondering if and how it might be connected to consumerism? Some posted are inspired by Chu Yun. Check out the Cathedral of Junk in Austin,TX. You can see it right now in Yard Art and Humanmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home (by Jill Nokes with Pat Jasper, 2007, University of Texas-Austin Press). (I used this book a few years ago when the theme of a class was neighborhoods and activisms.)
Some of our artists come out of particular gender and historic/herstoric narratives--that run counter to what and how we have been taught--about art, about teaching, about learning. What is appropriate and what is acceptable, etc. Last fall in an online research class, a student posted about a student he had in his art class from France who had been taught differently about genders and bodies. The student couldn't believe how conservative gender norms are in Texas. As we read and critique these artists, keep in mind that they do keep making art. Something I wish I did more of. A few posted and questioned how "schooling" not learning is socially constructed to be a very narrow corridor of acceptable practices in US schools. Where our efforts are merely reactive and not proactive.
Though we seem to have lots of pornographies in our culture, erotic art forms are more difficult to find. When I say erotic, I mean more toward what audio Lorde referred to as the body having erotic potential and power--not at all sexual. Might want to check out that essay of hers--it's short and online. posed a question that everybody ignored last week about a possible semester project. Please start considering that. Consider something basic and simpler--documenting via your phone, you thinking about yourself or your project--can be a project. I am not looking for ten page papers on theory. A series of self-portraits--you will see this in the next book. I took my undergrad class last semester to the Ranching Heritage Museum to to some plein air painting--trading card size and postcard size. Just to sit and think or paint. Many just sat and looked and thought. I love the metallic and glitter watercolors some used. You could create a 5 minute Ted Talk on your phone about your ideas--and that's your project. You can document yourself. Dialog with yourself and develop a short video on your phone. Notice I am pushing perform--and document. Let's keep it simpler. Simpler.
In a few weeks we finish this quick eco trip (where we are looking at the different methods artists use) and venture on to political graphic identity narratives from women using testimony and witnessing as a strategy/method to make his/herstories known--a much different approach to research than what we are reading.
How about this for our project ideas? Keep in mind that you will create your own blog page where you will house your project--hopefully on Blogger.com. You can make it private and it's free. It's very easy to create and design. You may want to begin to play around with it. Or you can use an existing website you may have. We will visit each site and comment on them. I do not want to be the sole keeper of ideas. I am not grading your ideas. I will make comments and hopefully learn from you. I hope you can grasp that pedagogical shift from overlord to co-teacher, co-collaborator. You are already are doing it. You are teaching me. I am just hoping that you take some personal risks and do something that really resonates with you. It can be research you are currently working on. Don't follow us. Lead us. If you do something really personal, you can make it really private so that even I don't see it.
Keep in mind how Weintraub writes about these artists. Use her as a model. She, like you, writes about the several methods the artists are using. You might use autobiography, video, performance, sustainability, and industrial ecology as your methods to creating your research. That's what we need to develop and demonstrate to each other. For example, if you create a performance--and it can be one minute--document it with your phone and upload it to youtube for free or another space if you need privacy and write about the experience--telling us how you planned, what you did, etc. Small steps. Anyone hearing this and getting it?
Also keep in mind when thinking about possible lessons or projects, for example, that traditional mindsets foretell what's good for what grade level. I could say that environmental issues are better for high school populations. Not true. All of these ideas are for all populations and all people in my opinion--as Marc posted. I don't think we have ever been taught to consider any of these issues for class or or own lives. We are taught to stick to still lifes, pinch pots, etc. There is an artist in New Orleans, Dr. Bob, who makes art out of beer caps. His studio is like Andy Warhol's was--a factory. Great work--and so different. How do we change our own mindsets on what is possible and appropriate and what is not? That could make for a great personal journey.
In Week Five, some of you posted about sanitation workers. A theme of dirty work was mentioned in a few posts. Think of this, I am my garbage. What might a week's worth of my garbage say about me? Or a month? A project? Taking a ride with sanitation--a project possibility? Many of us know nothing about this stuff and have to reacquaint ourselves with real people doing real things. Dumpster diving. Defending our art classes that are not taken seriously. Collaborations?
And now Week Six. I am enjoying the global perspectives in the book, based on social and land considerations. I hope you are noticing the multiple methods artists use to examine topics. Keep in mind that interview, autobiographical writing, and biography are also ways to create research and document. Weintraub is creating critical writing about these artists that is historical and biographical as well. So, keep in mind that we are always working in multiples.
Note about thinking about projects one more time. Rather than make something, which you may do, how about documenting how you are thinking about something--or planning. You could use your phone to video yourself thinking and/or planning. And post that process as a project. What I'm saying is that documenting yourself as a performative journal, so to speak, would be a great project. Perform...record with phone; upload to youtube. Think about that. You are still creating and documenting that with phone/video. These could be performative lessons. You describe or perform it and viewers take what they want. I think we can post privately on Youtube. Think about that than something more traditional, but it's up to you. You can do anything for this class.
A few comments about some Week Five posts. Then off to this week. Some posted about performance and its possibilities in the classroom. I listened to artist Nick Cave a few semesters ago at a TASA conference at TTU. He does lots of performative work. Look him up. Lots of posts about your initial reactions to Schneemann. Might possibly be normative in our culture where that might be a common knee-jerk reaction. I'm wondering if and how it might be connected to consumerism? Some posted are inspired by Chu Yun. Check out the Cathedral of Junk in Austin,TX. You can see it right now in Yard Art and Humanmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home (by Jill Nokes with Pat Jasper, 2007, University of Texas-Austin Press). (I used this book a few years ago when the theme of a class was neighborhoods and activisms.)
Some of our artists come out of particular gender and historic/herstoric narratives--that run counter to what and how we have been taught--about art, about teaching, about learning. What is appropriate and what is acceptable, etc. Last fall in an online research class, a student posted about a student he had in his art class from France who had been taught differently about genders and bodies. The student couldn't believe how conservative gender norms are in Texas. As we read and critique these artists, keep in mind that they do keep making art. Something I wish I did more of. A few posted and questioned how "schooling" not learning is socially constructed to be a very narrow corridor of acceptable practices in US schools. Where our efforts are merely reactive and not proactive.
Though we seem to have lots of pornographies in our culture, erotic art forms are more difficult to find. When I say erotic, I mean more toward what audio Lorde referred to as the body having erotic potential and power--not at all sexual. Might want to check out that essay of hers--it's short and online. posed a question that everybody ignored last week about a possible semester project. Please start considering that. Consider something basic and simpler--documenting via your phone, you thinking about yourself or your project--can be a project. I am not looking for ten page papers on theory. A series of self-portraits--you will see this in the next book. I took my undergrad class last semester to the Ranching Heritage Museum to to some plein air painting--trading card size and postcard size. Just to sit and think or paint. Many just sat and looked and thought. I love the metallic and glitter watercolors some used. You could create a 5 minute Ted Talk on your phone about your ideas--and that's your project. You can document yourself. Dialog with yourself and develop a short video on your phone. Notice I am pushing perform--and document. Let's keep it simpler. Simpler.
In a few weeks we finish this quick eco trip (where we are looking at the different methods artists use) and venture on to political graphic identity narratives from women using testimony and witnessing as a strategy/method to make his/herstories known--a much different approach to research than what we are reading.
How about this for our project ideas? Keep in mind that you will create your own blog page where you will house your project--hopefully on Blogger.com. You can make it private and it's free. It's very easy to create and design. You may want to begin to play around with it. Or you can use an existing website you may have. We will visit each site and comment on them. I do not want to be the sole keeper of ideas. I am not grading your ideas. I will make comments and hopefully learn from you. I hope you can grasp that pedagogical shift from overlord to co-teacher, co-collaborator. You are already are doing it. You are teaching me. I am just hoping that you take some personal risks and do something that really resonates with you. It can be research you are currently working on. Don't follow us. Lead us. If you do something really personal, you can make it really private so that even I don't see it.
Keep in mind how Weintraub writes about these artists. Use her as a model. She, like you, writes about the several methods the artists are using. You might use autobiography, video, performance, sustainability, and industrial ecology as your methods to creating your research. That's what we need to develop and demonstrate to each other. For example, if you create a performance--and it can be one minute--document it with your phone and upload it to youtube for free or another space if you need privacy and write about the experience--telling us how you planned, what you did, etc. Small steps. Anyone hearing this and getting it?
Also keep in mind when thinking about possible lessons or projects, for example, that traditional mindsets foretell what's good for what grade level. I could say that environmental issues are better for high school populations. Not true. All of these ideas are for all populations and all people in my opinion--as Marc posted. I don't think we have ever been taught to consider any of these issues for class or or own lives. We are taught to stick to still lifes, pinch pots, etc. There is an artist in New Orleans, Dr. Bob, who makes art out of beer caps. His studio is like Andy Warhol's was--a factory. Great work--and so different. How do we change our own mindsets on what is possible and appropriate and what is not? That could make for a great personal journey.
In Week Five, some of you posted about sanitation workers. A theme of dirty work was mentioned in a few posts. Think of this, I am my garbage. What might a week's worth of my garbage say about me? Or a month? A project? Taking a ride with sanitation--a project possibility? Many of us know nothing about this stuff and have to reacquaint ourselves with real people doing real things. Dumpster diving. Defending our art classes that are not taken seriously. Collaborations?
And now Week Six. I am enjoying the global perspectives in the book, based on social and land considerations. I hope you are noticing the multiple methods artists use to examine topics. Keep in mind that interview, autobiographical writing, and biography are also ways to create research and document. Weintraub is creating critical writing about these artists that is historical and biographical as well. So, keep in mind that we are always working in multiples.
Note about thinking about projects one more time. Rather than make something, which you may do, how about documenting how you are thinking about something--or planning. You could use your phone to video yourself thinking and/or planning. And post that process as a project. What I'm saying is that documenting yourself as a performative journal, so to speak, would be a great project. Perform...record with phone; upload to youtube. Think about that. You are still creating and documenting that with phone/video. These could be performative lessons. You describe or perform it and viewers take what they want. I think we can post privately on Youtube. Think about that than something more traditional, but it's up to you. You can do anything for this class.
