Week 8 at MCBA- 03/26/22

Today I joined Anna Haglin for her second paper making class. This week, the students were making lots of handmade paper teamed up with a partner. They learned the proper abaca to water ratio in the tub, how to use the mold and deckle to form the sheets, how to flip and press the mold to release the sheets, and how to squeeze and dry the paper so that it would dry flat. Anna also discussed and showed examples of different materials to make abaca out of and how different stir times in the raina affected the finished result. 

Working with a partner for this was very fun because we got to discuss our practices with each other. I think that these classes can be an excellent form of community building because you meet so many different artists that work in different fields and get to learn about the different ways people are creating art in their lives. The students brought their handout and notes from last week and were well prepared to try it for themselves. Each student was able to make lots of paper, which were then “sandwiched” in the drying rack. This process was a little confusing, so once I caught on Anna had me lead students in assembling the sandwiches. Overall, today's class was lots of fun and I think the students were satisfied with the amount of paper they got to walk away with and the ability to make more on their own. I really enjoyed my time with MCBA and I’m excited to come back one day as the space and classes are so informative and inspiring!

Week 7 at MCBA- 3/19/22

Today I participated in Anna Haglin’s European paper making class. This is a two-week workshop, so today’s class was very information heavy, while next week’s will involve more work time for the students. Anna had a video about the history of paper making for students to watch as well as a detailed explanation of how to use the raina pulp maker. The room that the raina is stored in is very small, so Anna split the class in two groups in order to give demonstrations.  This was an important decision, because the class was meant to be the prerequisite to using the raina during studio hours, and so it was important that each student fully understood and could see the entire demonstration. The other half watched the video on Anna’s TV, which she had brought in. The Tv was not set up before class, and I think that doing this would have made class run just a bit more smoothly. The video was very interesting and talked about a professor who had attempted to recreate the way that paper has been made historically, and showed how he used the historical precedent to solve problems that came up. However, the Reina demonstration was detailed and students watching the video in each group  ended up having some downtime while the other group was wrapping up the explanation. The students did not seem to mind this however, and they chatted about their own practices and different local art events with one another. This is a perk to teaching adults, you can leave them unattended and unoccupied for a short while, whereas with children, this is much harder. Anna also provided a resource list to learn more about the different types of homemade paper and Overall, I think the students learned a lot and are excited to make paper next week. 

Week 6 at MCBA - 3/12/22

For today, I was assisting Michelle with a water marbling workshop. This was actually the class that I was assisting with on my first day at MCBA, so it was the second time that I got to be a part of it. This felt like an advantage because I knew the processes and techniques that were required and as such was able to be more helpful for the students when they required help, such as during cleanup when I knew where most things belonged and what the steps were to cleaning the eye droppers or draining the tubs. This makes me more confident in my own abilities in the future, when I start teaching in my own space. This also shows how helpful practicing a skill before writing a lesson plan would be. 

 I also assisted Michelle today by helping with prep such as cutting paper and filling containers with water. I cleaned the paint table and eye droppers throughout the day so that students could use them and the cleanup process at the end would be faster. Set-up and clean up are a very big part of art classes because so many materials are involved, and this helped me realize how long this process can be. Planning an in-class clean-up time is important so that students can learn how to clean up a project that they want to do at home, especially if the project is new or messy.

When she was introducing the project, Michelle used a handout so that students could follow along and take notes while she demonstrated. It was detailed and included almost everything she said during the explanation, so it was easy to refer back to. 

Throughout class, Michelle taught through three or four different methods of applying the paint. She left time in between each one for the students to explore the new technique on a few different pieces of paper. By presenting the options in this staggered way, Michelle ensured each student would try out each new method and remain engaged for the entire class. She also ensured that the students were not overwhelmed, as they could have been if she had demonstrated all of the different methods at the beginning and let them work for the rest of class. 

Overall, the class was really happy with the work that they produced and everyone seemed to enjoy the class a lot. Students were connecting with one another and supportive with each other’s art. I really enjoyed being a part of this class and getting to be a part of so much fantastic art. 

Week 5 at MCBA- 2/26/22

This week, I got the opportunity  to shadow Erin Maurelli again. She taught Letterpress 4, the last session in the letterpress class. Her class printed several copies of a small book that students bound together at the end of the day. They printed the poem “Auto Lullaby” by Franz Wright as well as images from the MCBA letterpress collection and Erin’s personal supply of letterpress images. 

Erin prepared a guide sheet on how the papers would fit together by drawing a diagram and marking each page with a number that correlated to a stanza. She also brought several prints of an example book she had made the exact same way, and a poem that the students would print on the pages. The preparation beforehand helped the students out a lot and I will remember this trick in my own classes, especially for technically complicated skills. A visual diagram as well as a verbal explanation allows for students with different learning styles to understand the project.

 I appreciated the way Erin broke down the project and how the class worked together to divide and conquer it. Students were paired up to set up the letters for each stanza and print several copies of each page. I think this benefited them and the class because they could work together to solve their problems. This also benefited Erin because she could help with more technically challenging issues. The end result was about 20 hand-bound books and each student got to take home two. The collaboration was fantastic to watch and be a part of, and I definitely want to make something collaborative with my students like this one day. 

Week 4 at MCBA- 2/19/22

Erin Mourelli’s class today was working on making prints with different materials such as legos, as well as starting to incorporate multiple layers of print. Students worked with both pink and yellow and got to experiment with how they layered together into a neutral color. It was also interesting to see the gaps between the legos and the saltier areas of each print, where a single color appeared by itself. Erin did a fantastic job of keeping the steps very accessible through explanations that were detailed but not overwhelming. She also left a lot of time and created an open environment through her friendliness, which resulted in many students asking questions and engaging  in discussions before the class began work. She walked the class through steps of aligning the paper with the legos and linotype print block and explained how she figured out which directions it needed to move in to be perfectly lined up. While she did this, the class was double checking their understanding and questioning the adjustments, and when it was lined up, it felt like a class achievement. I appreciated the way she invited students to help her with the math and directions, because I think the students really benefited from this and would be able to line up their own work with less tear. Double checking class understanding through asking discussion questions is very important because otherwise students can feel overwhelmed and confused without you knowing. Teaching children has taught me this, therefore I like to asks questions like this while I teach a lot, especially to remind them about something we discussed in previous weeks. Students were able to confidently move into the process of printing by themselves after the demonstration. 

Week 3 at MCBA- 2/12/22

Today I attended the class “Teaching Book Arts to Young Children.” I was initially excited for this class because I was under the impression that we would be teaching kids, and I enjoy teaching a younger audience so much. However, the class was instead focused on different activities and methods that are helpful when teaching children book arts. This class turned out to be very useful to me, however! Many different projects and different forms of book arts were presented and explained. The Teacher, Ellen Ferrari, is a preschool art educator. She told me before class that she hadn’t taught adults in years and as such was a little nervous going into the class. However, she brought so much energy and skill to the classroom! She was absolutely wonderful and I hope I have the opportunity to work with her again in the future. I enjoyed her teaching style in particular because she was incredibly enthusiastic and bodily as she taught. For example; when she was explaining an M fold, Ellen bent her arms over her head to demonstrate how to bend the paper. Her years of experience showed through the way her demonstrations were more like performances, and she kept me fully engaged even though I was not completing the projects with the class. Ellen was also incredibly prepared and organized, each material she had the class use had its own dish that was laid out for them before class started. At the end of class, she simply stacked all of them together, which kept cleanup very easy. She also brought different books with project ideas, children’s storybooks, and  learning games, all of which she used to give context to her projects. 

Week Two at MCBA- 1/16/22

For this week, I was shadowing a Letter print class from 9:30 to 4. This was a pretty complicated class because in order to properly fit the letters in the press so that they would not move some math was required. There were lots of small spacers and larger furniture that had to be kept track of and re-organized afterwards. It was my first time working with letterpress, so I was really grateful for the opportunity to be able to create my own piece. The teacher for this class led with introductions and asked everyone why they were interested in this particular art form. Many people in the class were artists, and it was interesting to have such a wide range of backgrounds all working in the same medium as the class produced a huge variety of different prints. A lot of the class time was spent discussing the technicalities of the process, and because of this the work time felt a little rushed. I could tell a couple of the participants felt a little stressed during the final half hour or so when they still had not printed their pieces, and so I spent time helping them complete their setups. I also helped with the clean up process, which was somewhat a challenge because of how many different pieces had to be re-organized. Overall, the class was very enlightening and the teacher was willing to help everyone at each step which made learning the new process feel much less challenging.  

Here’s my print! staggering the letters in “love” was the most challenging part, but I think it turned out fantastic!

Week One at MCBA- 1/9/22

For this week, I shadowed a water marbling class taught at MCBA. I arrived at 9:30 and stayed until 4. Going into this class, I was unsure of how much I would be able to help students as I did not know anything about the medium. However, the teacher gave clear instructions and went over each step thoroughly, and I felt much more prepared to assist with simple things. I enjoyed her teaching methods because she demonstrated what she was doing as she explained it, and talked about why each step was important to the process, such as the spray that primes the paper for the paint. I helped people choose color palettes and helped with cleanup at different stages in the class, but mostly I was providing encouragement and connected with the students. It was interesting to hear why some of them wanted to take the class, as some people had a little background in water marbling and others were trying it for the first time. 

https://www.mnbookarts.org/?gclid=CjwKCAiA9aKQBhBREiwAyGP5ldkA9tFLFYP_vQeCG1pxCUTN7UTQ_APj6F4ILcgucCAs9CpMRZ5h7BoCfCAQAvD_BwE