A theme that continues to come up in teaching and my own learning experiences is the concept of community and the connections that form between students, teachers, and different groups of people. Sonya Clark, the visiting artist who came to the art department this week, inspired me with the way she talks about community and making connections between people through art. Her artwork seeks to talk about issues of racism in our country, as well as what it experiences that African Americans have in our society. Using hair and beads as material, she felts, weaves, and sews to imitate the act of communication between people, which forms connections or bonds between them.
I’ve been reflecting on these concepts and her material choices in my own artwork. For example, the artwork I created for Tori and Jalaina’s photo collage is based on Sonya’s artwork and continuing the concept of community. For this artwork, I started creating strips with abstracted imagery that I relate to making #connections and forming community. These strips will later be cut up and sewn together to form threads (strips) for my final weaving.
Related to teaching and learning experiences, the connections I have been forming with students in both my Polaris class and my practicum class at Poudre High School have been improving the art experiences for students. As I communicate with students and get to know them, I can feel the bond getting closer and their interest, trust, and engagement in art making improve. Related to previous learning experiences, I remember several art projects when I did (and did not) want to get engaged because of poor communication with and relationships with an art teacher. Thus, forming relationships and connections with students help both teacher and student grow and learn from art experiences.
