Influential Artists

Some of the major influences to my own art making.......


Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois

Cells; Spider

Kate Chopin

Literature

Janine Antoni

Saddle.

Touch.

Mona Hatoum

The Negotiating Table

Corps Etranger

Egon Schiele

Self-Portrait

Visiting Artist

This past Wednesday, November 28th, the UICA hosted a Penny Stamps discussion in their theater style auditorium. Along with smaller venues, such as colleges and other types of art institutions, the two art museums in Grand Rapids do a great job of bringing in many different artists from a variety of mediums, style and popularity. Unfortunately, more times than not, I have been unable to attend the events for whatever reason - work, deadlines, or otherwise.

This time was different though. One of the most influential individuals, in regard to my art-making practice, was going to be in Grand Rapids. The UICA was hosting Janine Antoni, not only one of my own personal favorites, but an internationally recognized and successful artist. It was an incredible opportunity to be able to hear Antoni talk about her own work and ideas. She was well-spoken and communicated the concepts and ideas behind her work very articulately ad convincingly. Her ideas made sense, and there was a logic to the way she works that was refreshing in its straight-forward, powerful, elegance.

Janine Antoni at the UICA. 2012

I am so happy that I was able to attend this artist talk and hear the thoughts of one of my favorite artists. Her work and practice are so similar to my own, and her influence is directly accounted for in my own sculptural process. The experience of hearing  her speak was one of learning and encouragement, and makes me even more excited to continue making my own art.

Finding that fine line

       As a future instructor of art it will be my responsibility to give my students a foundation of principles, rules, and guidelines from which they can build their art skills upon. Through instruction, explanation and demonstration I can give my students the basic understanding that they need in order to be able to make interesting, quality pieces of art. However, it is also my responsibility, as an art educator, to push my students to explore.
      When does this transition from teacher-led instruction to student-led exploration occur? Will I be able to recognize when students are ready to move past the basic skills and start thinking in more conceptual ways? I think so. Students will have several chances to prove that they understand fundamental skills such as color theory, two dimensional and three dimensional design, as well as composition and basic drawing skills. These skilsl will all be assessed through major projects in an introductory level art class.
        The real interesting work will be once students have acquired these skills and begin to learn how to address concept. Teaching students how to think in a new and more difficult way is a tricky thing to do. In one hand, there is little concrete, straight-forward methods for teaching something as abstract as conceptual thought processes. So students will feel lost and slightly abandoned as they are encouraged to explore ideas and expression.

 

       On the other hand, it is also tricky for a teacher not to direct a students thought too much. It is my job to help students understand new things, but in this scenario it is critical that their ideas be there own. It would be very easy for me to give students examples- but that's too easy. I need to find ways to promote critical thinking, curiosity in a topic, or the exploration of an idea. Rather than giving students ideas to work with, I will give them resources for which to start researching, or have discussions with them about where their interests lie.
        Through these discussions, research and exploration I believe that introductory level students can begin the process of thinking about art in a richer, more complex way. They can begin to make connections between the physical mediums they are working with and the abstract ideas that they are interested in, or feel are important.

To define is to limit

The way that the art education major is currently set up at Grand Valley allows students to obtain a Bachelor of Arts with their K-12 certification. This is all well and good and will allow graduates to obtain a job teaching art at any grade level, which is a welcome freedom when jobs are scarce.
However, a BA degree does not reflect the extensive amount of work that students do in their actual studio classes. As art ed majors we are actually required to take many more studio classes than those students who are getting a studio degree. The requirements for art ed include a wide breadth of classes, including several introductory level classes, a handful of intermediate and advanced levels, as well as many drawing classes.

The lack of recognition for this effort is a little frustrating. So, after a little bit of research and investigation, I discovered that I would only be four classes away from a Bachelor of Fine Art degree. With the amount of classes I have taken to obtain my BA, there would only be one extra semester needed in order for me to graduate with two whole degrees.

This news was an excellent surprise to me, and I have since jumped on the opportunity to add on a BFA degree. I will not only graduate with the recognition I think I deserve for my efforts, but I will be able to go farther in my professional work. Many graduate programs will only accept BFA degrees for those hoping to eventually get their masters in a studio, such as sculpture.

With only one extra semester at Grand Valley, I will be able to go on to graduate school, get my masters, and eventually get a job teaching sculpture at a university level. This is a win-win situation that will allow me to fulfill some pretty major goals.

Cheers.

A critical comment

Cri-tique
noun, verb, cri-tiqued, cri-ti-quing.

1. an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work; detailed evaluation; review.
2. a criticism or critical comment on some problem, subject, etc.
3. the art or practice of criticism.

To a student that has just spent four weeks toiling over what is now their final project, this definition of critique is not a very exciting one. To bring a finished product in front of a group of people is a challenge in itself. But when the group of people are primed and ready to look at your work as if it is a problem in need of evaluation, review and criticism is a completely different matter. The concept sounds counter-productive to a student's education, using fear tactics to educate never helped anyone.

However, as a student of the visual arts, this way of evaluating work becomes the norm as it is the standard in many classes and schools. Students repeatedly try their hardest to finish a piece of work to the best of their ability, and then present it to their peers in order to learn how they could have made it better. Sometimes these critiques can be really discouraging and hard to swallow- but the majority of the time the input from the group is valuable and constructive. The reality is that critiques are
not as terrifying as they sound initially.

In fact, one of the most consistent problems is that groups are not critical enough. By no means should individuals be meaner, but they do need to be more thoughtful about the input they do give. Questions and comments should relate to relevant information in association with the piece of work such as: formal qualities, conceptual ideas, and how the two connect together.

With these considerations in mind a student has a lot to gain from the comments and suggestions made by their peers and art instructor. Critiques are a useful teaching tool in any  classroom, at any age level. They do not have to be scary and can be carried out in a very positive way. Their function in the visual arts is to act as a means for development, improvement and learning.