Final Days

My Last Few Days – High Up Installs, 80 Drilled Holes, Opening Excitement

These past couple of days I've left the classrooms to I find myself 20 feet up in the air balancing on metal scaffolding, drilling holes, and listening to hallway high school banter. Hanging one finished print after another I drilled and drilled while listening to the comforting sound of Ira Glass's voice from This American Life podcast coming through my headphone. Every student that finished a print, then applied their work to a piece of wood. So each of those blocks of wood are being drilled to the wall to create a permanent student installation in the stairway at the school.

Over these last two weeks as you've known I've had my hands in the classroom teaching and assisting Mankato West High School Studio Art students in creating a reductive relief print. It's been a world wind over these past weeks and it seems like i've been there way longer. I've been able to connect and better understand teachers as well as the students, learning how to be a better teacher and leader through out this whole process, something you never really understand until you find yourself emerged in it.

With every project we teach there are always mixed feelings about art. Some fall in love and some grow great hatred. But whatever the opinion of their work is when they complete that final print, once they saw their work on display they grow to have excitement for themselves and their work. Placing the work onto the wall shows the students the value of their work and the value of making art.

Wednesday night from 6-8pm Mrs. Downs and Mrs. Youell held an opening reception for students, teachers, and parents to come and view the installation, the students work, and the art rooms. It was such a great turn out and a new excitement was shared throughout.

Now that my time at West High School is over I'm excited to see the continuing and progression of the arts within the school. Kids get excited about art and I think this residency was a great opportunity for everyone involved. It exposed the students to a new art form, connected them to the arts in our community, at the same time employing a local artist. I hope this is a project that all schools in our region can explore.

Thank you again to Tessa Downs and Nicole Youell for allowing me to come into their classroom as an artist in residency at West High School these last few weeks. They both a great teachers and it was such a great experience!

Also to Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council for supplying the grant that funded this project.

Day 10 – Last Day Classroom, Pretty Teal T-Shirts, and Install Prep.

Day 10 – Last Day in the Classroom, Pretty T-Shirts, and Install Prep.

I know i've been behind on this blog but like all of you know as adults with have too many things on our plate and typing can get pushed back. But last week most students were finishing their prints, creating titles, and helping with composing a t-shirt design. The last layers of black ink were laying down and signatures were being applied. Classrooms were feeling the satisfaction of finishing and the panic of not being done. Some students shared they were up late carving in bed...Pure dedication there, but also slightly unsafe., but still love it.

On Friday each student was responsible for creating one T-shirt design to help promote the arts within the high school and to help expose them to another form of printmaking. One that to teenagers, might seem a little more cool. Just the fact of placing a print on a t-shirt verses a print on paper totally changes its “coolness”. Making them work fast, we push them to finish their edition of 5 prints but also come up with a whole another concept. Sometimes we only learn time management by being thrown way too much. Yes, there were growls over homework but creativity should be pushed. After the students drawings of triangles, brushes, and yellow submarines were handed in, Mrs. Downs and I picked the image we felt best fit the project and students.

Over the weekend days Mrs. Downs and I spent time drawing the student's design and text. Test printing and making our own mistakes, same as any student. It's not just the students that have homework but every teacher at that school I'm sure.

With loads of work and art done in just two weeks, today I started my final few days at West High School. Final students finish and handed in their prints. Feelings of relief the work is done, was paired with sadness over wishing prints turned out different as well . Many students who felt positively almost hold in their excitement, I guess thinking your artwork is cool isn't the hippest thing to admit, so i'm ok with one on one satisfaction sharing. I would say that most students ended up having several positive things to say about their work, either about the process, what they learned, or how it turned out. I try to explain to students that their printing for the first time and it's all by hand. We will see imperfections of a hand done process and to try and embrace those ideas. For many this is not an option, mathematical and scientific minds don't always sit well with those imperfections. so I can't get to down on their unsettled mindsets.

Following their prints each student was able to screen print a West High School art T-shirt. Each class picked the color teal so shirts of teal printed triangles, lines, and text were produced in each class. Some students even left wearing their shirts through the hallways. It was great to show the students a process that they see the end result everyday on clothing of theirs and others.

But many students ended up with great overall prints and I am very proud of all of them for pushing through. Like i've said, printmaking isn't for everyone but it doesn't just teach creativity, but time management, following directions, and problem solving. So I hope even if they didn't fall in love with printmaking that they took away something else.

Tomorrow I will go 20 feet up in the air and hang each wood back print in the stairway of West High School. I'm sure I will be peered by many teenage eyes, so I hope to look like I know what i'm doing.

Sorry for any incorrect typing with in this blog, i'm an artist...hehe. :)

Day Seven – Big Deals over Printed Puppies and Pastel Plates.

Day Seven – Big Deals over Printed Puppies and Pastel Plates.

The art rooms were filled today with printmaking chatter and inky hands. Students were printing on counters, tables, and their desks. I was running around answering questions and demonstrating how to ink up rollers. I'm basically getting my daily dose of exercise and teaching at the same time. Through the past couple of days students have started to not just stay at student status but also act in a teaching role. Students are able to lend knowledge to each other about colors, process, and self-assurance. Yes, we still run into problems with ink, and cut plates; I turned my back for a few minutes today and a small blue line of ink turned into a desktop full of a light blue inky puddle. But the students are now learning a little better to take on that responsibility.

You would never think just pulling paper off a plate would bring a similar response to a touchdown or home run. Jumping up and down and screaming was happening even before noon. Our drying shelves were all filled to the brim today, and every roller was in use. Mrs. Downs (art teacher) was so proud of her students, it was really an awesome sight to see. We are teachers, we invest a lot, and seeing the the students push through the not-to-fun times of carving, and getting to printing can really get one excited... and no it's not just from the caffeine from our early morning coffee.

The excitement art can bring is like no other. Even the students that would never identify as an artist are getting the art bug. Being able to finally see their hard work of carving plates paying off is keeping them engaged to continue to the next step. They're not just learning how to create a new form of art, but how to communicate about the process as well.

I asked the students why they take art
Answers:

To hang out with friends

Because they like art

So they can take other art classes
So they don't have to take a hard class

So they can work independently

To get ready for art classes in collage

To learn how to teach art

Because their mom made them

Everyone's answer is different, but all in all...we are here and all making art.

Tomorrow students will start to design an art department t-shirt...I tell myself to get ready for another world wind of crazy ideas.

Day Six – Late Start, Sticky Fingers, Layer Two

Day Six – Late Start, Sticky Fingers, Layer Two

Late starts and printmaking don't really mix, or in better terms, a short amount of studio time is really hard on the students work. But I was surprised with the amount of work pushed out by students in 33 minutes. Second layers were pushed down and final first layer cuts were made. Seeing works coming together gets everyone looking forward.

There is just something so cool to see the students roll that first layer of color over their tan plates and see the image come to life. I've literally heard students go, “Wow” after their first piece of paper is printed. Looking at a drab plate you've sent hours carving isn't the most exciting thing. Students switch so quickly from hating the project to liking it.

Printmaking is a love/hate type of thing, similar to any art form. But it's not a instant reaction type of process versus drawing or painting. We don't make one or two marks to create a final product, we have to make many many many marks and follow several steps to get to that final piece.

From my old-folky printmaking heart -

As people by nature are experimental and perceptive; valuing experience and quality in any work form, and printmaking is no different. And when you are printmaking, it’s not only the final product but whole process and the experience that matters. It engages an artist’s sense of work, which certainly makes print making a beautiful experience.

I'm just excited to be sharing printmaking with these students, yes it's a struggle, but all art is. Printmaking is not only an art form, but a way we live and think today. It is through printmaking that we have most of our earlier art forms reproduced and preserved for today’s generation. Printmaking has actually formed the basis of the way humans have developed art and literature.

Why is printmaking an important thing to teach? It forces students to think in terms of a complicated process, rather than simply getting pigment to reflect light and make images on canvas. They learn about an art that straddles modern technology and the expressive arts.

Day 5 – First Layers, Fake Nails, and Forearms

Day 5 – First Layers, Fake Nails, and Forearms

So today was a day where things finally started clicking. Teaching a process where things sound backwards is sometimes nearly impossible. Getting students over the hump of idea struggling and color choices is soon over. Today students started cutting their plates and printing their first colored layer. Seeing that first color being applied to the paper started getting them excited, no turning back now!

But with every positive insight is a not to positive one. Comments of sore hands, not being able to draw, or cut straight lines fill the classroom. One student today was even trying to opt out of the project today because she had just gotten her nails done the day before. As a woman I never want to stand in the way of anyone looking their best, but sometimes nails must be sacrificed for the sack of art. Physical beauty and art can go hand in hand, when students spoke about their hands hurting, I informed them how printmaking is a great workout for our hands and forearms. Outrage from the girls came yelling out, but then they proceeded to tell me how nice my forearms where.

 When it comes down to it we all have our different preferences. One student told me today he's really enjoying using his brain in a different way, that creating his plate takes time but he's finding it calming. I tell them printmaking is something not meant for everyone, but they don't know that until they are forced to. At the end of the day what does warm my heart is being asked if they are allowed to take carving tools home to work, sometimes a TV and carving are two things that go hand in hand.

Every student has their own self portrait idea:

List of Self Portrait Ideas:

Flowers

Heart

Hockey Sticks 

Chicken Wing

Darth Vader

Skeletons

Dogs

Shoes

Ballet

Maps

Crying Faces

This is just a super short list of what our 90 students define as themselves. What image would you pick to represent you?

Students at the end of this residency will have one of their prints placed into a permanent installation inside the school but also their work will be on display at the Filln' Station Coffeehouse for the month of January. Students are doing great, they're learning to think independently and how it's important to use both sides of their brains, which to be honest I still need to learn.   

Day Three – Idea Pushing, Paper Pressing

Day Three – Idea Pushing, Paper Pressing, Murphy Stitching

Day Three was filled with the exchanging of ideas, confusion conversations, and image understanding. It seems like these three things wouldn't always go together, but when creating a work of art that's meant to speak about yourself, they have a tendency of colliding.

Today students were able to finally speak their minds through pencil on paper after two days of presentations and demonstrations.

Students are finally given the freedom to work, and it can be difficult for both teacher and students. All of a sudden you have ideas too small and ideas too big, pushing to add lines and take away. Where do we draw the line of what is creative? As art teachers we have ideas and hopes of where we want our students to land. But unlike topics of math and science where things are based on facts, Art is in the eye of the beholder. We constantly work to help them progress, supporting our students in understanding not just art, but creative thinking.

Do we push teaching technique or creativity? Both will always be present, but there's a struggle of balancing art freedom with grading and guidelines.

On this third day I was able to sit down and talk with students, and try to understand their own process versus just listening to mine. Seeing new ideas of what self image is, is always exciting to me.

Ideas of snow skiing reindeer, music jamming pizza, and cows riding in wheelchairs.....are these the images we picture when thinking self portrait? Probably not right out of the gate, but norms are meant to be broken. These student works are meant to express the ideas of what really happens inside a teenagers mind. Self reflections is meant to be funky and odd, filled with bright colors and Darth Vader Masks.

After only three days i've started to connect with these students, having conversations from sports, to puppy obsessions. Nothing better than seeing one of your students with a patch of your dog sewn onto this pants....Gotta love Mankato.

Tomorrow students will start carving into their plates, no turning back then. Let the problem solving/art making begin! 

Day Two – Print Demonstrations, Did I Do Good?

Day Two – Print Demonstrations, Paper Documentation, and Color Separation

Two days into my 15 day artist residency I find my hands dirty. Dirty from ink, sink water, and upside down demo plates. Today the students were shown the process of reductive relief cut.

The Process of reduction printing is a method used in relief printmaking. In relief prints, cuts are made into the flat surface of the block and ink is then rolled across the surface. Any area that is not cut away will pick up the ink, but the ink will not go down into the cut lines. When run through a press it transfers the ink to paper creating the print.

As art teachers we find ourselves creating lesson plans and presentations, trying to teach students new methods and ideas, but art sometimes is better shown than spoken.

Yesterday wasn't just filled with creating excitement and understanding, but words of, “ I can't do this” and “ You expect us to do what”?

But teaching for several years now, doesn't mean I don't fall flat. In demos today I found myself with an upside down print, printing on wet ink, and messy paper, while telling my students, “Don't do what I'm doing, this is just for demo purposes”. In art we make mistakes, and teaching isn't just about the project, it's about moving forward in our mistakes.

Hearing those students words as a teacher can be a blow to the creative spirt, but today through cutting, rolling, and printing student's brains began to understand the processes around printing plates.

”I can't do this”, turned into “I have this idea”.

Some ideas shared in public and others relieved in torn up notebooks, either or drawings have started. Ideas of ballet flamingos, laughing crying people, and dragons filled with checker boards.

What makes a good art teacher, but also what makes a good art student?