just a little fun, but just a little

A new year in graduate school has started and I can just feel that this year is going to be different.  I think I am finally settling in quite nicely it now being almost four weeks into the semester (I can't even believe it).  What I am so excited about this year is my new window of time to play, make, and create with those materials I have been collecting for over the past year.  Sitting in my kitchen closet, stuffed in the corner are the dozens of plastic grocery bags that are ready to be revamped.  Some of you already know how I like to work with trash, garbage, or another wo or man's treasure so here is a little treat for your eyes.......a special ThankyouHaveANiceDaySmileyFace umbrella.  

the intersection of a teacher and artist

Much time has passed since my last blog entry.  After finishing up my first year of graduate school, I was in dire need of some down time, so traveling to Colorado and resting in the sun on some of my favorite southwest Michigan beautiful beaches was my way of slowing down a bit and enjoying things that I love.  During this time, though, I made sure I was working with my hands somehow so my journey in the art world, be it by myself, with fellow artists, or with young artists, remained alive.

In the beginning, this blog was connected to a course I was taking in cyberpedagogy, where I explored the significance of digital technology in art education.  At this time, however, I was also interested in creating a blog that acted as a resource where my ideas, experiments, and objects that interest me come together to explore how I may merge my own studio practice with critical pedagogy.  As an artist interesting in teaching, I am constantly questioning how I may maintain my own studio practice while engaging youth in exploring the arts.   I am excited to help young artists make meaning and discover ways to critically explore their surrounding worlds.  And by doing this, I can't help but ponder the notion stating that artists who teach in public schools are often not truly artists, but people who can't do, but teach.  Do artists involved in teaching necessarily need to be professors to maintain an active studio practice or sustain a strong connection with the art world?

Last month I worked at an art center in St. Joseph, Michigan that strives to expose youth to the professional world of art and art making.  Known as The Box Factory, this art center is full of professional working artists and there studios, and the students who enter this place have the opportunity to not only gain raw art experiences by working in and around these studios, but to become directly engaged in the materials, processes, and concepts used in contemporary art.  This experience has lead me to ponder how the public school classroom can become more of a center of art then just another course listed within public education state requirements.  If we start to refer to our public school art classrooms as working studios with teaching artists, how will this change our outlook on public school art education? 

These questions don't necessarily have a simple answer, and have been asked many times over, however, I do feel these questions can help artists like me to remember that merging our personal studio practice with education has the potential of creating an interesting intersection.  This intersection is where the contemporary art world meets public education, an aspect that remains significant in our engagement with critical pedagogy.  The hard part is finding the balance.

listen to the lines

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

Thanks Caitlin.

Autumn Story

Lucinda Schrieber

last but not least

One more time, okay, here I go, once more, so get it while it lasts.  

Chicago Artists' Coalition has the honor of being the last web critique.  I have explored many websites and discovered some great artist resources throughout the last couple months, who would have known there were so many, and I feel I have only scratched the surface.  As for the design of the websites, some were horrible while others were just amazing, and I am going to say that Chicago Artists Coalition falls right in the middle.  The site is easy to navigate because the links to all the pages were always right at my fingertips.  The information is clear and informative even though it is a bit  next heavy at times.  The content is great and relevant for the intended target audience.  I mean, there is an "artist bank", did you know that?  I will not complain about having an artist resource for finding jobs, workshops, exhibition space, and everything in between.  Even though I am a bit skeptical about showing my art on a group online gallery, this is a great option if you just want to get your stuff out there.  We just need to get more sculptors and installation artists to show their work on sights like these, it just seems like everyone is a painter.  Thank you CAC for being there, and thanks to all the people that work their butts off for things like this to exist.  You are appreciated.  

Here is the one of the lone sculptors on the site:  Kip Pasta, Cityscape, wood.

Cleverly Hilarious

William Lamson
Hunt and Gather

I love to think in ways that go creatively beyond the expected. Like in this video. Cleverly Hilarious.

did you know?

Did you know that Alexander Calder created jewelry throughout his life?  I was so surprised to learn about this.  He started as a young boy because his sister needed jewelry for her dolls. How sweet.

living sculpture

 I have been looking for artists that work with clay in alternative ways and even though I am told there are tons out there, the search proves to be a hard one.  A friend of mine told me about this artist named Linda Sormin, and am thankful to have found an artist whose work is right up my alley.  As seen above in Sounding Retreat (2008), she combines clay with everyday objects to create living sculptures.  She often uses raw clay to construct her forms, breaks them down, and then rebuilds them again forming an endless process.  Her installations are amazing and expands the potential of clay as a material.  I am curious what could happen if these were created to be placed outside the gallery space and in everyday environments.  Would people destroy them, would people contribute to them, would they be left alone?