Artistic Vision » Random

Ouch …

JWP — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:30:47 +0000

I know I have been delinquent in posting. My family and I were in an auto accident at the end of July. Fortunately, my wife and two kids were unharmed. Sadly, I suffered some internal bleeding and a lacerated spleen. After being in the hospital for four days (with my spleen intact!), I was discharged and homebound for three weeks. While homebound, I was hoping to get some painting done. Unfortunately, other accident-related issues came up that completely took the wind out of my sails.

The last week of August brought teacher orientation. The first day of school followed the week following. It was a long end of Summer to say the least. But, again, I remain so very thankful for the Lord’s provision for me and my family during that time.

All of this being said, I did finish two small pieces and started another. I’ll post them shortly. I wanted to simply put the word out that I did not drop off the face of the earth.

Art is Solitary (Sports vs. The Arts, Part 5)

JWP — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:07:47 +0000

In my last post—sorry for the length—I touched on a few observations I had for my students when they stated that art was hard and that was one of the reasons why they believed kids prefer sports to art. That may be a piece of it, but I think there is another component that plays a significant role: sports, especially in neighborhoods, build camaraderie and friendship—both of which are positive and powerful intrinsic motivators. I believe this motivation is a key component that drives sports involvement up while visual arts involvement down.

Drawing, painting and many other visual arts aren’t group activities. Rather, they are solitary endeavors that pull you away from friendships of the nature you see develop on neighborhood courts and ball fields. A monthly meeting or weekly painting group meets briefly. Suffice it to say, artists aren’t known for playing well together. Artistic temperament aside, developing a craft requires hours of practice that rarely involves others except when feedback is being sought.

Easy Access

Think about it: sports friendships are not only built around playing together but also joining in to watch a favorite team or complain about a favorite player’s recent slump. So, we find those friendships on the court being nurtured by weekly get-togethers to watch games that are on at all hours throughout the day and night thanks to the preponderance of cable sports channels.

Such venues simply don’t exist for visual artists. (If I’m wrong, please let me know!) If nothing else, I find that many visual artists, in an effort to practice their craft, turn the TV off not on.

A Final Note

Consider that there is little change in the individual sports enthusiasts’ friendships as aging occurs. Friends may move away but they still text or talk about “the game” or a favorite player. They may even participate in the same fantasy league together. Lifestyles change but, again, that doesn’t inhibit the core value of the friendship.

With art, there exists the fear of diminishing returns. As an artist moves through different stages of life (job, marriage, family), he may find it more difficult to pursue his art and so see his skills deteriorate. Because of the isolation, it can become easy to withdraw further instead of fight your way back to the level of proficiency you once had. And, as my students rightly say, art is hard.

My next post will touch upon contemporary culture’s influence on the minds of students.

Pleasing the boss or, the pain of overcommitment

JWP — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:07:28 +0000

Last year, I did a “quilt” project with Trish Maunder, who works with the Faith Ringgold Foundation. Trish does her own story quilt idea in school classrooms. During that time she also educates students about Faith and her story quilts.

Students pick a theme and then each student translates that theme into a personalized image. They also need to pick a famous quote or write a poem to accompany their image. The pieces are glued onto a larger piece of canvas with fabric strips covering the seams and then a fabric border is set around the whole thing. They turn out really well.

Well, the founder of my school saw the quilt my class did and wanted another one to auction off at an annual fund-raising event. Long story short, I exploded the original idea into a series of smaller quilts based on the founding principles of the school’s charter IN ADDITION TO the large quilt that would document the school’s growth from conception to fruition. It’s moments like that where I think to myself, “I know, let me put this bag over my head so you can all beat me with a stick.”

Well, the students let me down at the end of last year and I didn’t get much done. So, I ended up having to hijack my two painting classes to complete the work. It’s going to take the entire quarter to get all of the quilts done. I’m just hopeful that when they are all put together that they are strong pieces. Of course, they better sell too! LOL!

Friends tell me they get roped into doing things like this too. Why do we, as art teachers, fall for this stuff? I know on some level I liked the original idea and wanted to see it come to pass. In the end, though, I need to remember my ADD tendency to over-commit. It’s during those moments that I need to remind myself to be practical and realistic. In the end, I know my students better than any administrator because I work with them every day.

So, lesson learned. In the end, though, I’m thankful to 1) have a job and 2) have a job teaching art.