Last Week at the Carter

So it has finally come to an end.
Friday will be my last day at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. It was a great experience. I feel I learned so much. It hard to imagine that come next week I will no longer be a fellow there. Everyone was so supportive and gave me the room to share my ideas.  The experience really helped me decide what I want to do in the future. I found a love for community programs and I hope in my future endeavors I can continue designing/assisting with programs in the future. The Amon Carter was a wonderful place to work and any UNT student would be lucky to get the chance to work there. It's kind of strange since many of the people I first met there have left and there is a new staff. This week I only have one more program to help with. It is an afterschool program at an elementary school. The kids were a blast. I am a little sad this is the last one I will be helping with because I had finally earned their trust. It is strange how much working with K-12 students is built on trust. I do not think you can effectively teach someone until they trust you and it took weeks for the kids to become comfortable with me. I finally got the student who refused to do anything we asked to listen to us. He is a nice kid, but he did not like us.

Besides helping with that final program, I do not have much to do this week. I do need to clean up my desk it is covered with supplies leftover from programs and art that participants have given me. Friday is not only my last day at the museum but also the day I graduate. I will be leaving two places this week. I am looking forward to the future.

Workshops

November felt like a culmination of a lot of hard work. In the two previous posts I talked about the Wandering Wardrobe, but that is only a small part of my job in Onstead. Most of my focus is professional developments and community workshops. On November 8th and 9th we had two sessions that we had been preparing for since the beginning of the semester.

On Friday, November 8th, Keller ISD brought 25 art teachers to UNT for two professional development sessions. They spent the morning in the fabrication lab learning about pixels and the afternoon in the fibers lab working on string as line. They were led by Abby Sherril who brought her knowledge of tech merged with physical making. They stitched, programed and played. It was pretty great.

The next day: Saturday, November 9th, Lauren Lake led a community workshop at Lewisville Community Center. It was a mixed bag of teachers, personal makers and the curious, and made for a very fun day. They made new sketchbooks their own through collage, sketch and alteration.

All three sessions had required weeks of planning, many meetings and lots of purchases, but were over in hours. They all received rave reviews from the participants, gaining the teachers involved valuable professional development hours and hopefully skills that will feed their classrooms. As for the individual makers, I hope they left with a sense of joy and a longing to continue their own art practice.

Wandering Wardrobe

On November 7th I got to visit Denton High School for Onstead and Wandering Wardrobe.

This is a court coat from the 1780s. It, along with lesson plans and information about its historical relevance, craftsmanship and creations, will be available for check-out for classrooms starting in the spring.

On this day, however, it was escorted by myself and Annette Becker. Me, just to observe, answer individual questions & take pictures, and Annette to give her amazing talk.

Annette spoke to the class and then pulled out the garment for closer examination.

The students were able to interact with historic fashion, while learning about its placement within history. It bridged the skills used to create the piece to to skills they are learning in their class in current day.

The specific focus, of the court coat is its amazing embroidery. Since the students are also learning to stitch they shared their own work with us. 

We were able to converse one-on-one with students about their aspirations in art and fashion and to help direct them on that path. This day was a really awesome experience. 

Wandering Wardrobe Beginnings

I'm trying to get in all my information (and tell you more about Onstead). Its been a busy semester & I had no idea how much I was taking on when I signed up. But it has been great too.

As I previously mentioned, Onstead has partnered with the Texas Fashion Collection to create the Wandering Wardrobe (WW). WW is a collaboration designed to use historical garments as teaching tools that can be checked out by educators to use in their classroom. They not only include some amazing pieces that can be viewed and (carefully) handled by teachers and students, they also include possible lessons involving art history and making. They can be tied to historical situations of their time, or even math and science. They are a true STEAM package.

Part of my role this semester is to help get this program rolling. In addition to working on a system of tracking the packages in the WW library, we are also working on promotion and teacher training. In October, Annette & I met with a director to decide on information to include in a series of promotional videos & photos. That lead to a full day photo & video shoot with both her and Peter being interviewed for specifics on both TFC and Onstead.

The promo work is currently in edits & should be going up on our social & website early next semester. The spring is also when we will start allowing pieces to be released to educators.


Tune in to my next post to see one of those pieces & see a classroom visit with Annette.

Ciao!

Getting ready: plan, write, communicate.

Most of my time in Onstead is about planning, writing and communicating.

Peter gets communications from school districts, cities, museums and other groups inquiring about workshops. Sometimes we do a visit or meeting with the people who reach out. Other times it's all phones calls and emails.

From there we help them figure out specifics; whether it is something we have done before or completely new, and whether it will be held at UNT or offsite. We reach out to potential and returning session leaders, or we plan to run the sessions completely with in-house staff.

Session leaders cover a wide range of topics: from pedagogy to art making. It all depends on their specialty. Regardless of whether the sessions leaders are guests or staff, a lot of thought goes into their planning. It's a lot like preparing assignments for classes when you are a Teaching Fellow, except you have to consider your audience much more. Is it a professional development for teachers? If so, what grade do they teach? Elementary teachers require a completely different type of workshop than secondary educators. Is the session actually for students in K-12? If the workshop is being requested by someone other than a school district representative, is it a community event?

Once workshops are planned and leaders are in place, we order supplies and verify spaces, all the while keeping in close communication with the people requesting the development. It may not be glamorous, but it's kind of fun making sure that everything is in place for the day.

Some specifics

WOW! This semester has been CRAZY! I thought I had shared this post but it sat there as a draft. Now I'm going to be posting, posting and posting some more.

SO without further ado:


At the beginning of the semester I got to go on my first Onstead visit. We got a call from a new project space: Latino Arts Project, in the Dallas design district. We met with the educator, director and overseer of the space. They were looking to make connections with educational organizations in the area and, of course, Onstead fits that description. Peter & I were told by the director that they do not see themselves as either a museum or gallery, therefore "project" better fits their mission.

In addition to the meeting, we got to experience their inaugural show featuring sculptural works from private collections and museums across Mexico, mostly moquettes of major monuments. The space is small and never should have been able to contain so many works well, but it was curated beautifully. The mix of conventional cool white, ala every gallery ever, warm laminated wood and traditional costume as reference to statuary(curtesy of guidance from Annette from the TFC) was very successful.


We left with new contacts, some awesome opportunities for bridges to art education and with having had an amazing experience.

       

           

       

            

      

Busy & Bustling - GDAC's October

I should definitely say - I have never been very good at keeping a consistent journal or blog, so I apologize for the radio silence!

October was a busy month over at GDAD: We had two shows open the same night (with a spectacular crowd!), Arts After School began, our first Family Program went off without a hitch, and several other events took place at the Patterson-Appleton Arts Center. I have been working closely with Christine, our Education Coordinator, on several projects along with assisting the Arts After School Program, more on that later. But first, I want to address the Arts After School:

Steven working hard on his collage

We have eight kids - four girls and four boys - and they are all a joy. Our theme for this semester is "Grow With Me" and is themed all around nature, specifically trees. Using the idea of a tree and its roots, the kids are doing a different craft each week to reflect their innerselves and their own roots. By creating artworks that will eventually be shown to their parents exhibition-style in December, the kids have been exploring themes based around growing, having discussions about them and their interests, and exploring their "roots". The works have included self portraits, assemblage, printmaking, yarn crafting, and next mobile making. During the two hour session, many discussions and workshopping happen, allowing the kids to gain better motor control, enhance their hand-eye coordination, and to build upon skills they already have or gain new ones. It's really interesting seeing each students' interest come out and seeing what they prefer to work with and on; sometimes it's a challenge to keep them on task since they are interested in so much! I've even been able to work some art historical facts into the workshops, which some of them seem to enjoy. Finding ways to incorporate a little history and to supplement the lessons with some Artful Thinking techniques has been a personal goal of mine.

Blind Contouring 

Artist Hugo Juarez discussed his work with families.

The new Family Program is called "Greater Donuts, Arts, & Crafts" and was pretty successful on our first run. We were able to get donuts donated and we had to awesome artists come and workshop with the visitors while simultaneously running a scavenger hunt in the galleries. We had some of the artists join in talking about their work with the families, which they really enjoyed. Prior to that Saturday, Christine and I worked to make up questions for the scavenger hunt, making them as intriguing as we could, and creating questions that would open up a dialogue between family members. One of my favorite things that I got to see was one of our Arts Afterschool kids leading his dad around the galleries, discussing his thought process for each question and which pieces were his favorites and why. It was refreshing to see how many families showed up and participated in not only the crafts (making felt donuts and painting ceramics), but also the scavenger hunt!



The two shows that opened on October 4 (and subsequently were part of the basis of our scavenger hunt) are 30 Under 30 and More Time. The opening was a huge success, with over 200 visitors coming to see the artworks of local artists under 30 and Annette Lawrence. I photographed the opening as well as helped to provide support to the refreshments.

On the social media/marketing side, I have been working with creating and updating GDAC's Facebook and Instagram, likewise trying to boost our presence on Instagram. I've been working to photograph events and to then post about them in warm and inviting tone. Further, I was able to design a new flyer for Greater Donuts to help promote it, which was my first time using InDesign as opposed to Photoshop (it came out great, by the way, and is displayed on GDAC's window and elsewhere). I've also been dabbling in making promotional type videos for use on social media platforms. 

Behind the scenes, we are looking ahead to 2020 with new projects in mind, as well as to the holidays and planning out events. I'm excited to keep working with Christine and GDAC, helping to bring more people in and enhance the organization's public appeal and presence.

Installing the Pop-Up & Maintenance

My experience with curating for the TFC was reasonably challenging in terms of content but also proved to be a major undertaking when it came to the bigger picture. The show was installed in the TFC's Study Space at UNT on October 15.

Researching and choosing the objects was an interesting challenge - I had to correlate what I was considering conceptually with pieces that were available in the Study Space for display. I also chose to involve vintage Vogue articles that correlated with fashion trends and stylings. This gave the pieces social context and crafted a short narrative about the wearer of these garments, which was my end goal. Otherwise, I was concerned the selection would exclusively become about the surface-level aesthetic of the pieces.

Writing the labels was an interesting experience - Annette gave me substantial readings that discussed an effective label, and I definitely obsessed over those for weeks at a time. Having to fill a label with enough information to be helpful to the viewer without becoming overwhelming is a beast of its own, and led to a lot of back-and-forths in terms of revisions (which Annette warned me about, and I was happy for the feedback). Although compromises had to be made (for example, the signage's display is not necessarily what I prefer, but the space is still incredibly new and this experience led to a lot of feedback about how to better use the Study Space in general), I am still content with the materials I presented - and I can only hope the display was satisfactory for the classes that were using it for their curriculum.

This was an excerpt from the wall text describing the selection:

"From film, to vintage styles like rockabilly and pin-up to Halloween costumes and cosplays, fashion design of the 1950s has remained alive in the American popular imagination. We often associate fifties fashion with archetypes of the suburban, nuclear family with performative gender roles, like the “American Housewife” baking pies in her iconic day dress and red lip. Although this is certainly a significant “character” of this era, this exhibition moves beyond stereotype and into more nuance, exploring lesser known silhouettes of the decade, how these silhouettes were addressed in a growing era of advertisement and mass production, and how they would influence future fashion designs. The selection is inspired by excerpts of Vogue and other publications from the decade, reflecting on the urgency of “must have” shopping-list articles and how wearers were described with a fixation on promoting a stylish sameness."

Arranging and dressing the display was demanding in a different way. I worked with Janelle, the collections manager, on the display that afternoon. Janelle was invaluable and made me aware of ways to display others' work in a public space, something I do not have a lot of experience in. We went about dressing the mannequins, as well as adjusting their figures to better present the clothing. We don't have bullet bras in the collection, for example, so at least one of those mannequins ended up having a stuffed bust, to better support the illusion of a gown.

I am now working as Annette's research assistant for a show that she will be curating in March, which focuses specifically on florals in Men's Wear. I'll be spending the remainder of my time with the TFC working on this project, assumedly. This is totally fine with me, now that I have a better understanding of the research process :)

All about voting

For my major project at my fellowship, I have been going too different schools in Fort Worth and talking to students about the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical society 7th Annual Juried Art School. The museum recently partnered up with TCBHGS and I decided I would design a small workshop session for students that wanted to enter the competition. During the session, students get to discuss the history of Voting Rights and the museum collections. And afterwords, they all make a poster that conveys a message they think is important. 

Here are some images from the program: 

I really love doing the program. The students have been doing a fantastic job. A lot haven't got to do printmaking yet, so they get to learn a technique. It was awkward at first to do the program, especially since all the high school students tower over me, but I have gotten the hang of it. Students are really embracing how the topic relates to their lives. I was worried that they wouldn't since we are talking about the past, but we found ways to make it meaningful for the present. I still have to see about three more schools. One has 400 hundred students, I am apparently suppose to speak to in one day. I am very worried about supplies and time. I will definitely have to abridge things for that school. I go to an elementary school tomorrow, I am interested to see how it goes. The goals for the elementary school program are entirely different and overall the program is more positive and focused on the students themselves. The high school program gets dark at points. The bottom image is of the class talking about a group of protesters being arrested. Its not the most pleasant of images. The elementary school students will not be seeing that one.

My not so secret goal is for all the students to vote in the future. That is the message underneath all of this. I think that is more important for me than them actually entering the competition.  

Running behind, but jumping in!

Man, I am REALLY behind the 8-ball on my posts & comments. This semester has been crazy, though, so here's my first & I will be commenting today as well.

I am doing my internship for the Onstead Institute. I was really excited to get this opportunity. Here's the gist of what I do:

Onstead is a community outreach organization that holds professional development (PD) opportunities for art teachers at school districts in the area. We also provide assistance to museums, community organizations and individuals who reach out for support and connection. I am responsible for being a point of reference to these partnerships. I create curriculum, and run PDs, connect with partners who assist with PDs (often these are faculty, fellow grads or alumni), and do all the day-to-day preparation leading up to and following PDs. We also partner with other organizations under the UNT umbrella, such as the Texas Fashion Collection, to further both parties outreach though joint ventures. Te partnership with TFC is called the Wandering Wardrobe. I am specifically working on the WW project attempting to get it up and running and to assist in the tracking, curriculum and connections it involves.

This position is extremely interesting and pretty broad. No two days are ever the same. I will save details for up-coming posts, but working at Onstead is busy. I'm enjoying it so far and look forward to the rest of the semester.

Researching for Exhibitions in the Study Space

When asked what I would want to learn from my internship, I was primarily focused on my interest in curation, and how I would love to find some practical experience in developing an exhibition that was not entirely studio-art based, or involved work of my own. Annette has offered me two opportunities throughout the semester to research and develop pop-up exhibitions for the TFC's Study Space, which presents outfits that typically correlate with lessons or focuses by the Fashion Design students. I am in the process of finishing the first of the two - this exhibition relates to 50's Fashion specifically for a Fashion/Computers course. The other, which would be closer to the end of the semester, is up to me to choose and develop.

I have spent a large majority of the past few weeks simply studying fashion trends from the 1950s. I have specifically kept my research based in the United States in order to keep myself afloat as someone who only knows about some of the more iconic silhouettes of the era, ie. red lipstick, the cotton-print dress, Stepford Wife-Esque inspirations. Annette has allowed me to be as bombastic or general as I choose. It could simply be framed as an "inspired by decades" theme, or I could be more specific and potentially even critical if I choose to be.

I certainly want to inject a voice into the chosen objects, so my exhibition inspirations have been from articles I have found in vintage Vogue magazines that specifically correlate to the outfits chosen - therefore characterizing them, and hopefully bringing a new context to an otherwise straightforward exhibit. I'm sure you can imagine some of the offhanded content you would find, particularly in regard to women, in an era that is specifically known for its resurgence of gender-bias conformity. Some of the descriptions that I have read do not age gracefully. Something that was fashion-forward in the publishing year feels more sardonic when read with a present-day eye. Here is one of my favorite excerpts from "American Look" (Vogue Article Feb 1, 1950):

The French journalist intones, like a litany: “She has a room with a bath in a good hotel. Her clothes are always pressed. She owns a hundred pairs of white gloves. She has good skin. She goes to art exhibitions, and she has amusing, upsetting opinions. She always thinks she is too fat.” (pg. 125)

This is one of the more extreme characterizations I have found in these magazines. I do plan to choose excerpts from additional sources, particularly for menswear, but I hope to pair these publications with the clothing in order to add a new dimension of understanding to them and to breathe more life into what would otherwise be a somewhat encyclopedic presentation. I'm actually meeting with Annette today to bounce ideas and get some clarification on a few things regarding presentation and my own understanding of the garments - so I'm looking forward to confirmation of my findings and new potential sources for research!

Oh the Opportunities: Working with GDAC

After what seemed like a grueling process of trial and error, many applications, and encouragement from outside forces, I finally snagged an intern position at the Greater Denton Arts Council. Originally I had applied for the Education internship, but then things went a little sideways when the Education Coordinator ended up leaving in July, so when I went in for my interview with GDAC's director, Georgina, I didn't really know what to expect. We had a wonderful conversation and I let her know about the various interests I have and the experience that I have gained at UNT and in outside work, relating it all to what might be beneficial to a non-profit arts organization. This interview was a few weeks before the new Education Coordinator, Christine, was hired on, so my position was a little play-it-by-the-ear. 

When I say play-it-by-ear, I mean that I do not have just one particular set of responsibilities, rather I and another intern will be used in various sections of organization, including Education and Social Media. Although I was hoping to be just and Education intern, I think that this opportunity to dip my toes in different avenues will not only help grow my current skillset, but will also put more tools in my toolbox when it comes to working within a non-profit and see the many different hats everyone wears. From my standpoint, I will be able to observe the innerworkings of the organization and help contribute to the conversation with new and fresh ideas as well as provide my assistance where and when needed. 


On the social media aspect, the first big campaign that I have participated in is North Texas Giving Day. This once-a-year special event is a priority in helping to raise funds for not only our facility, but also other non-profits and businesses throughout North Texas. I was able to help create social media ads to help reach out the community to promote GDAC's mission, help with the planning process of the booth and what craft we would be facilitating (make & take fans), creating examples of the craft, as well as participating at the actual event on September 19 on the Square in Denton. We had a good turn out - kids, families, and even some adults were super into creating their own fans. We supplied markers, colored and textured tapes, different types of papers with designs, images, and text, and three examples of different fans everyone could make. Seeing each unique creation come to life was very rewarding; from the determined kindergartners to the enthused adults, each worked hard to create a work of art they were proud of. 

Other social media ventures we are working on are promoting the Arts After School Program, Family Programs, and other events taking place at the Patterson-Appleton Art Center. Along with assisting in planning social media content, we are also assisting Christine and Jenny, the exhibitions coordinator, with researching and fundraising for GDAC. Currently we are working on fundraising for our first Family Program in October. 

I am so excited to stretch my muscles in the realm of social media, photography and design, and marketing, and to couple that with the skills I've learned through the Museum Education program pretty simultaneously. We begin the Arts After School program on October 9, and hopefully we will have a good turn out for the class. We have been planning some fun stuff that we are looking forward to, and are so excited to share it with Denton's students. Along with another intern, I will be assisting Christine in the class, facilitating lessons, and helping kids grow a love and appreciation for crafting (and a little bit of history too :) ). 

Working with the Texas Fashion Collection - the First Weeks

Thinking about finding a museum internship has its pressures, of course, but I realized that my own nervousness wasn't coming from the idea of interviews and practical adjustments, but rather seeking a position that satisfied what I have found to be my niche of interest in Museum Education. I now have 2+ years of experience working with college-age learners, which has been a rewarding experience, but I have realized that my own interest and heart go to the materials that are being given to learners. Ie - The exhibitions themselves, and the inner-workings of collections. This realization is a major part of why I was so excited to work with Annette in the Texas Fashion Collection.

When I met with Annette over the summer to talk about the possibility of working in the space, she asked what I was interested in focusing on during my time with the museum. I mentioned my interest in curation, as well as creating didactic labels for artifacts - which is a difficult art in itself. I had an opportunity to learn about these practices (to a degree) in Dr. Shabout's summer Curatorial course. Annette was quick to offer multiple learning opportunities this semester that correlated with my interest, including learning about their new database, working directly with their collection's manager and potentially assisting with (de)accessioning objects from the collection, and even curating pop-up "shows" of the garments that would go up in the college's study space, which will correlate directly with what students are learning in their own courses. I was incredibly excited to get some practical experience in these fields, and I was determined to make it work simultaneously with my own thesis work in Fall 2019.

I quickly realized as my Fall semester began that I really saddled myself up with an intense array of varying responsibilities. From developing my portfolio for my thesis (show going up in March) to teaching a course, creating studio work for my own classes (and attending Museum Ed), and working with the Texas Fashion Collection to satisfy my internship requirements, I felt some trepidation about my schedule and whether or not I would be able to give my attention to everything at once in a meaningful way. After all, it CAN be done, but unless I'm able to give everything the time it needs, it feels like a waste of my own energy.

Thus far it has been manageable. Each day has been slightly different in regards to my responsibilities. I have had some time to explore and become familiar with the Vault as well as the Study Space that is attached to the CVAD building... I've spent quite a bit of time thus far with Janelle, the Collections Manager, assisting her with condition reports for pieces that are being sent to a separate exhibition - which, by the way, is fatiguing for its specificity, but intriguing for its purpose. I have also been able to assist with handling objects and assisting in the preparation of mannequin-dressing for photographing pieces that will be sent to the database. I have definitely enjoyed the hands-on assignments, and generally just assisting with the function of the museum.

I will be spending Thursday getting more personally familiar with pieces in the study space in anticipation of my first Pop-up assignment. I will be researching the objects and their context using resources that Annette gave me, and we will brainstorm and discuss my findings next week. I'm very excited to have a hand in curating small exhibits, from selecting pieces to developing curatorial themes that will assist the viewer in understanding the presentation. I have a feeling it is more complex than I'm anticipating - particularly when it is not my area of expertise, however, being comfortable enough to thrust myself into different areas of study is necessary if I want to expand further on this practice anyway.

I can sincerely say that I am incredibly excited to see what this internship holds in store for me, and how it might assist me with getting into the field after graduation :)

Grand Reopening and Community Partnerships.

For the duration of the Fall semester, I will continue working at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art alongside the wonderful members of the museum's education department. I am lucky enough that the museum will be reopening in the next week and I will get to see how programs typically operate at the Carter. Since various sections of the museum have been closed for renovations the last six months, the programs the education department have hosted have been mostly held offsite which has limited the amount of people that could attend. I am hoping this semester that I can learn more about program development and become better at writing lesson plans. I will have ample chances to try my hand at it as I will be writing some of the lessons for the spring After-school and girl scout programs. I am really excited about the latter as I have not written or seen any programs that are formed in partnership with organizations like the girl scouts and I am interested to see how the museum is able to connect its collection to what scouts are doing. 

I am also hoping that my major project at the museum is successful. I will be designing and holding workshops at high schools around Fort Worth. The workshops are born out of a recent partnership with the Tarrant County Black Genealogical and Historical Society and the Amon Carter. The genealogical society will be holding a juried art show for local artists and students in the spring. My workshop is suppose to be for students that are interested in entering the show so they have a clear idea about the theme and how they can approach it in their art. I am in the early stages of planning it and have mostly been looking into which artworks I think would be helpful for the students to see before they start creating their own work for the show. The theme is the fight for Africans Americans to have a right to vote during the Civil Rights Movement. The head of the genealogical society would like me to focus of the history of the Civil Rights Movement and struggle for African-Americans to freely exercise their right to vote. I want to see if I can also include some art-making activities as I want to give the students a chance to start working out their ideas on paper and they don't have to just sit still for the entire time after already sitting through their classes. I might contact the schools that are participating to see what students have already covered in their classes so I have an idea about how much I can go into the history. Although, my biggest concerning is trying to make it meaningful for the kids that are participating. Not only is this an event that happened decades ago and they might not have a connection to, but most, if not all of the kids that will be attending the workshop, are not voting age. I have time though to figure this all out. 

I hoping to that I get more responsibilities in the incoming months as the education department is a little understaffed. Especially in community outreach as a few members will be switching to other departments or leaving the coming months.  

The actual event.

I felt like overall, my  art educational event at WAAS went well. I wanted to write a post before the event but I was kind of anxious about it. I decided to present on Doris Salcedo’s Plegaria Muda because of the living plants since the exhibition in the room next door also has living plants. 

I had set up the event in two parts. The first part was a brief retrospective on her artistic background and other pieces I selected by Salcedo, ending with Plegaria Muda. The second part was the “art making workshop”. I wanted to give people a chance to apply the inspiration I hope they felt when being introduced to sculptural installations in a community setting. Perhaps some of the artworks evoked something in them that some quiet time to process before they drive home will be soothing.  It still feels like a blur from the moment I stepped up to introduce her work, to today.

I was encouraged by Brandy and Michelle (the other two women I was working with to make the event happen), to speak without notes. I had used all of my time up to the day of the event researching, putting together the  activity (supplies, instructions, objectives, budget, concept) and researching. I talked about her work from powerpoint slides, as well as passed out several of her exhibition catalogues in the crowd and a small wood box with volcanic sand for visitors to touch a type of soil. I definitely could have practiced more, but somehow my 15 minute talk turned into 30. I had to adjust my tone to the audience. I had written some points, but they did not feel like they all were applicable at that moment. I am finding the need to understand when it is the right time to inform, educate, or entertain. That becomes harder when dealing with topics such as death, and during that night, I read from my notes during some parts. I also did not know at what time would my personal interpretation be the most beneficial, I gave it at the end, but I feel like I would have to learn to adjust that depending on the audience. 

                               

The activity portion was my favorite. They were assigned to make collages from the two found objects I found shown in the pictures above.

I still do not have words to express, but the art made by the people who came was so beautiful and inspiring. I hope to write more about it in the future. Scroll down for images of work made that night.

Below are some pieces made by some of the people in the picture above.

Nature of Reality

WAAS was currently exhibiting a sense of growth and nourishment through the exhibition by Shamsy titled Cocoon. By the use of real plants, not only was it visually represented, but physically. 

Plants use soil to grow, some of them... at least the plants in the exhibition. 

After visiting the Warehouse and seeing Salcedo’s work, I recalled her piece Plegaria Muda when Salcedo was awarded the first Nasher Prize in 2016. I did not take pictures of the exhibition that day, but the scent of the soil in a gallery space that day impacted me the most. When researching the piece for the lecture, reviews mentioned the scent of the grass as predominant, but not to me. 

After establishing the material connection between the current exhibition and the lecture/workshop to be presented, I immersed myself in learning about the piece, and the artist. 



I was initially going to include Nadia Kabi-Linke’s piece, Tunisian Americans which was the piece across from Salcedo’s Untitled, and utilized soil as a major component of the piece as well. Upon researching the two, I felt the connections were too political and with a very heavy sense of death for the exhibition space I was entering. I decided to focus on just one, and selected Salcedo’s because the soil was nestled between two boards of wood, and allowed the air to move through it, as opposed to Tunisian American Soldiers, which presented the soil in individual glass air-tight vials.

I would like to revisit their ways of using soil in their pieces, but I wanted this project to be a way to limit my options and focus on one thing. I struggled, it is still hard for me to know what information is best to include and what to leave out. The connections between the lecture and workshop were not established until like a week before I was scheduled to present. It was interesting to be researching the piece, my audience demographics, ways to find sponsorship for the event, as well as touching base with the gallery and the other people involved in ensuring the event was a success. Overall, I had a month of time to research and implement, although accomplished, I would have felt better with 3. I also have to realize the subject matter of research, restricting my time to research is important in the future.

Grow so much you shatter the concrete.

I Visited WAAS ’s new exhibition on June 8th to understand the programming I was going to be inserting myself into the following month. My internship experience last year really motivated me to cultivate art-spaces which allow and encourage emotional vulnerability in a public setting. I feel like that is very important for today’s society, particularly in my personal location, Texas. 

I wanted to bring to WAAS a way of understanding and working around contemporary art which heals. Aspects of healing through art can be using it to express inner reflections, deprivations and imaginations. Or simply by using art-making as a means to interact socially with other humans without actually “socializing” (aka talking). To be in a room with other humans who want to feel better and move forward can be incredibly strengthening. I was interested in using art to facilitate collective spaces of emotional expression, conscious or unconscious.

The following week after my visit at WAAS I art guarded for the new exhibition at The Warehouse titled The Sensation of Space, and stood in front of a piece in Doris Salcedo’s Untitled series.

Image courtesy of The Warehouse. From left to right: Bettina Pousttchi, Doris Salcedo and Nadia Kaabi-Linke

 In the same room was a sculpture by Bettina Pousttchi titled Double Monument for Flavin and Tatlin X (2013) and Nadia Kaabi-Linke's Tunisian Americans. As well as work by Vlassis Caniaris, Bosco Sodi and Katheryn Andrews.

Reflection of Gallery 10 on Kathryn Andrews' Die Another Day, 2013

The pieces together really had me thinking about the way in which we can block things from our historical memory. 

Close up of Untitled (2001) and Tunisian Americans (2012)

Close up of Untitled (2001) and Tunisian Americans (2012)

Sometimes it isn't an intentional block, but an emotional block, a numbing of an aspect of reality that helps us forget just enough to move forward and grow.

Not my picture, I found it on Pinterest:
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/aa/ac/8c/aaac8ca001487300077219648cd5655a--tree-roots-as-above-so-below.jpg

Growth, I thought of the way a tree’s roots can grow so much, they shatter the concrete sidewalk.