Week 15

Residency – Silverwood Park – 3 hrs

This week in Doodblebugs we talked about Owls. The art project was pretty ambitious and I don’t know if it quite worked as planned. The students colored paper like stars with neon colored crayons. Then, Chelsea painted each paper black and wiped it dry. We then had students choose a paper owl to adhere to their night scene. The crayons glowed under the black light box that Chelsea had made but we ran out of time sadly. The kids had a crazy amount of energy due to the snow having melted and it being beautiful outside. Fiona turned 5 this week and was incredibly excited to make sure we were all aware that she was no longer 4. I love when one of the kids says their age because then each one of them has to shout out how old they are themselves. All and all, even when the energy level is high, I’m getting better and maintaining my energy level and sometimes successfully calming them down.

Residency – Minneapolis Community and Technical College – 3 hrs

This was the last day of Photo 1. We had some work time before lecture and then we had our final crit. For the final, each student had to have 10 images that fit into their chosen theme. We then tried to figure out what the theme of the work was before we dove into critique. John decided that this week we would not lead the crit, but rather the student showing the work would. So instead of John or myself jumping into conversation, we allowed the artist to ask leading questions and get what they wanted out of it. I thought this was great idea because often critiques can go in a direction that is of little use to the artist. It was so great to be a part of this class and get some experience at the community college.

Week 14

Residency – Silverwood Park – 3 hrs

This week’s Doodlebug’s class theme was vegetables! As you can image, when you tell 4-5 year olds that you’re going to be talking about vegetables, they all go “EWW” or “OH GOD”. There was maybe one student who wasn’t totally upset with the idea of vegetables. We went around the circle and asked each student what their favorite vegetable was. 2 students agreed that bananas were probably the best vegetable and one student said his bunny was his favorite. Hopefully by the end of class they understood neither of those things are vegetables. We made a vegetable soup collage out of construction paper and went for a hike by the lake. I think the students can feel spring is here when due to the extremely high energy level they all had.

Residency – Minneapolis Community and Technical College – 4 hrs

This week was all lab time in prep for final projects. So instead of splitting the class half and half, we hung out in the darkroom for the full 4 hours. Only about 4 students showed up to work, but those who did I think appreciated the time to work.

Week 13

Residency – Silverwood Park – 3 hrs

This week in Doodblebugs we talked about baby animals. We read a story about baby animals and talked about what different animals are called when they are infants. We made bunny baskets out of folded paper plates. The kids colored their bunnies, attached paper ears and googley eyes. I wish I had taken pictures of them because of the ridiculous amount of options the kids came up with as to where eyes should belong on a bunny. I’ve become very comfortable in the class and look forward to my time working with Chelsea, Noelle, and the kids.

Residency – Minneapolis Community and Technical College – 4 hrs

This week at MCTC students were working through their street photography project again. We seem to have lost a few students because the class has been much smaller as of late. Most of the students who remain seem very dedicated to the printing process and work very hard during lab hours. Lecture was another critique which I believe is our second or third one. The students are getting better at not saying “I like this” or “this looks good” and rather, have begun to ask leading questions and guide the critique in the direction that they want.

MCAD Grey Studio Webinar – 3 hrs

This week I had the unique opportunity to lead an online grey studio portrait lighting and edit demonstration. MCAD Admissions reached out to me to create a demo that would showcase the grey studio and MCAD’s facility and be fitting for a high school audience. I found it was an incredibly different type of teaching method than being in front of a class. I prepped a PowerPoint that the students could go through with me during the live demo. I went over how to light a model in the studio and then a portrait edit demo on Photoshop. Honestly, I was incredibly nervous before this demonstration. Speaking in front of people is not a huge concern to me and I think it has to do with being able to read the crowd and interact with them. This on the other hand, was me talking into a camera not totally sure of who is there and if I’m going to fast or not. All in all, I feel proud to have been asked and I feel like it went pretty smoothly. I think with more practice I could feel completely comfortable speaking to a camera and teaching in a webinar format.

Week 12

Residency – Silverwood Park – 6 hrs

This week I spent two days working with Silverwood Park. On Monday I helped with one of the Library Programs in Wayzata. Even though we had heavy snowfall, the class till had about 13 students show up. For all library programs, we start by making origami kits to keep kids engaged while they wait for the program to begin. Most of the students were elementary school age. We talked about all things weather related for class mostly focusing on stormy weather. After the lecture portion ended, we did a little static shock experiment and then began our art project. The kids were instructed to draw things related to weather such as clouds, lighting, tornados, and umbrellas. After they drew them on their paper, we traced the shapes onto transparency paper and created little lanterns with them. I’m not sure if I’m getting used to be around 4 year olds, but the class felt much quieter than what I was used to.

In Doodblebugs this week we talked about maple syrup! Many of the same kids were there with a few new students this week. I’m beginning to feel a lot more comfortable in my role at Doodblebugs and learning the balance of having fun with the kids and also getting kids to listen to me. We colored maple trees this week and glued red and orange tissue paper on as leaves. Watching the way these kids work is really interesting! Some kids slap everything together as fast as possible with little attention to what they are making while other students are meticulously trying to fit each leaf where it belongs on the page. We went for a hike through the snow to go see where sap is collected in the park. I learned that if you let one kid push you into the snow, they’re all going to want to push you in the snow! I started a snowball fight that I was not prepared for. It’s been a lot of fun to spend one morning a week hanging out with these kids and getting a break from my own school and responsibilities.

Week 11

Residency – Silverwood Park – 5hrs

This week I started working Tuesday mornings in the Doodlebugs class. Doodlebugs is a course for 4 and 5 year olds that happens every week. To be honest, I was pretty hesitant about how I would enjoy working in a class with kids in this age group. However, when I was there working with Noelle and Chelsea and met all of the students, I had a lot of fun. We had play time right away in the morning, read a book about frogs, talked about the different types of frogs, and made frogs out of paper plates. It was such an entirely different mindset than being at MCTC or the senior center and I found I really enjoyed it. Those kids have a lot of energy and the time flew by. After having met Lily Yeh and having experience helping her teach, I felt a new enjoyment in working with children.

Residency – Minneapolis College of Art and Design – John Johnston – 4 hrs

This week lab was pretty sparse. We had one student show up during that time to work. However, we had quite a few more show up for lecture. We went over mounting photographs and John gave a demonstration. We talked about different types of mat board, what traditionally is used and why it’s used. Students do not have to mount photographs if they don’t want to, but I’m hoping a few students will go the extra step to make the work pop. After the demonstration we discussed street photography/portraiture. The students have been working on this project now for about a week and have concerns about pulling a camera out at someone’s face in the middle of the sidewalk. We talked about the shooting from the hip method, the pretend you’re taking a picture of your friend method and a few others that either John or myself have had success with. I was doing a lot of street photography before I came to MCAD and had a lot of those concerns myself so it was nice to try and give some advice on how to overcome it. We went over the work of Gary Winogrand as well as some other photographers to try and get peoples imaginations going. I’m looking forward to see what is being produced and how courageous the students will be!

WEEK 10

Residency – Silverwood Park – 4hrs

This week at Silverwood I helped out with a watercolor class at the Shoreview Senior Center. We learned about different types of owls, mostly one native to Minnesota now that the owls have started to return for the season. We had a taxidermy owl as well as some other physical things like wings and talons. The first half of the class was teaching the students about the owls and having conversations about personal stories involving owl sightings or interactions. Next we moved on to the water color of the sky. All of the students seem to be engaged and excited about using the watercolor brushes we had for them. It was a great experience to learn the different teaching methods with different aged students. I have been doing a lot of work with college students as well as some little kids, but this was my first time working with seniors. I enjoyed the conversations as well as knowing our lesson was a big part of the day/week for all of those involved.

Residency – Minneapolis College of Art and Design – John Johnston – 4 hrs

This week in Lecture we critiqued the students work for the abstraction project. The critiques are set aside in the last hour of lab and typically we use it all up and can’t get to everyone’s work. It’s great to see students talking about the work and having conversations around it that go much further than “I like it” or “this part looks nice”. Students are started to talk about why they like the work and with the help of John and myself, we pull more questions out of them.

Shadowing – Lily Yeh – 3 hrs

This week I was extremely fortunate to be able to assist Lily Yeh during her workshop at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. I arrived late due to being at Silverwood for the morning photo walk and Lily got me up to speed very quickly. The participants were broken up into groups, each given paper, paint, and marker. Each group was instructed to come up with a poem, a banner, and a presentation of said poem and banner to everyone. They were all working hectically under the time constraints Lily had given them. Lily told me that when she gives people a certain, usually short period of time to work, they don’t have time to over think and complicate and what come out of people is far more authentic. While the groups were working Lily and I went around engaging with people and seeing how everyone was doing. At one point, Lily look at me and said “Big Tom! We sing now!” and she began to sing You Are My Sunshine while walking around the college center. As a student at the school I did not feel comfortable singing You Are My Sunshine for everyone to hear, but Lily’s energy was particularly contagious so I did my best. Lily told me that if she acts goofy and joyous then those around her will feel comfortable doing the same. When the groups were all finished with their work, each of them presented their creations in an audience participatory format. It was fantastic to see and hear what everyone came up with. I also never felt so at ease with a group of strangers acting ridiculous and genuinely having a lot of fun. After the presentations we had a time for reflection on the morning and went around in a circle discussing what was positive out of the experience. It was such a fun experience and so informative that I am suddenly far more interested in working with a young age group.

Week 9

Our spring break has arrived and I spent most of it in Chicago. I typically don’t go out of town during breaks, but I felt like it would be helpful to stay positive for the rest of the semester. Although I took the week of from making and teaching it has been extremely helpful to my practice. I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Institute, Hyde Park Center for the Arts and a few private galleries. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how much I love going to these institutions and spending my time there. I think it’s a shame the way many people view these “white cube” spaces, but I completely understand why they have the reputation they do. I believe I could fit very well into one of these institutions doing community outreach and education work. Being able to reach broader communities through education and outreach events could allow the curtain to be drawn back on contemporary art and allow people to engage with it. Most complaints I hear about contemporary art are all very similar. It’s as if people think there is some sort of riddle that they don’t have the answer to and the artist takes pleasure in the fact that the viewer simply can’t understand the work. Obviously this isn’t the case, in my opinion anyway. Breaking down this stereotype of the pretentious artist and the pretentious institute is very important to me within my own work and I believe as a teaching artist as well. I would like to get more experience working for institutions like these and see if it would be a viable career path.

Week 8

This week MCTC is on spring break and I have not been to Silverwood so I have no hours to report this week! In my own practice it’s the week before spring break and it’s been particularly stressful. Mid-terms are here and everything is due. In my independent study class I’ve taking a pretty big turn in my installation work. I have recently felt like I’ve been overthinking all of my projects to a point that it doesn’t allow me to engage with actually making. So, to try and combat this I started working with 2x4s and drywall which is very new! I’ve been thinking a lot about spaces, both interior and exterior and how I can complicate our relationship with these concepts. I’m interested in creating abstracted wall structures, incorporating natural materials like dirt, trees, or stone, and creating a space that is neither entirely indoor nor outdoor. I often think of my practice as being material first, so I start with the materials and consider their possibilities in relation to one another. Working with these new materials has allowed me to stop being in my head as much and simply making first and reflecting afterwards. It’s been nice to have the week off from TAing in order to really get into my own practice. Hopefully something positive is coming out of it!

Week 7

Residency – Minneapolis Community and Technical College – John Johnston – 4 hrs

This week in lab things went pretty smoothly. The students essentially have open lab hours during class and a few other days throughout the week. Most students are proficient printers and are capable of troubleshooting things on their own. It’s been nice to hang around during this time and get to know the students better as we have been getting more comfortable as a class. None of the students in the course art majoring in art or have any experience in photography but watching them problem solve and create work they feel good about has been a great experience.

In lecture this week we went over negative hygiene. Up until this point in the course we have not stressed over negatives or pictures being scratched or dirtied because it’s a pretty easy fix and not entirely important when learning to print. We discussed ways in which to get grime off of a negative and how to properly handle them. We also introduced spotting photographs. Spotting is a technique used to “erase” or cover up blemished that may be imbedded in the negative and not able to clean off. In the age of photoshop, spotting seems like an incredibly tedious and difficult task. I personally am horrible at it and it’s a do as a say not as a do sort of situation. From here on out we will be making sure photos aren’t just printed well and nicely composed, but also we will be looking at the cleanliness of the final print.

Week 6

Shadowing – Jan Elftmann – 6 hours

Up until now, I have completely forgotten to write in my experience shadowing the teaching artist Jan Elftmann. We met a few weeks ago at her loft in order to go over the semesters schedule and discuss what I would like to help out with. While I was there, Jan was curating pieces for the 801 gallery with one of the artists. I hung around and chatted with the artist and gave my input on what pieces I thought looked best and where they might go on the wall.

About a week later was the last day of the Art Shanties on Lake Harriet. Jan runs the art car parade in the twin cities and she organized it this year for the Art Shanties. They were not allowed to actually drive the cars on the frozen lake, so instead all of the artists involved created a remote control art car and drove them around the shanties. I had never heard of the art cars before, but seeing everyone out in 8 degree whether driving around r.c. art cars was a really fantastic experience.

This week I helped Jan at the Lyndale Elementary School with an Engineering course for 1st graders. She works at the science museum as a teacher artist so she had been sent to Lyndale to lead a bridge building course. This was a really fantastic experience for me to see how Jan was able to engage with the first graders and get them all very excited about the course she had planned for them. It was also a really fantastic experience to be able to identify that I don’t think I could be a first grade art teacher. The project was pretty simple, using blocks and note cards for the bridge and hex nuts for the weights, we built 3 different structures and tested their strength. Anytime a bridge would fall, the kids would scream and laugh and work quickly to test it again. Jan was great at identifying children who were being problematic and voicing it to the teacher who would be able to take care of the problem. I had to take away hex nuts from students myself when I saw them trying to put them in their mouth our throwing them at one another. The reach that the teacher had to seemingly see all of the students at once and discipline students from one side of the room to the other was so impressive and it was so clear to me that I likely do not have that kind of patience.

Residencey – MCTC – John Johnston – 4 hrs

This week at MCTC the students had open lab hours from 2:30 – 4:30. All of the students are becoming very comfortable working in the dark room, they’re beginning to be able to troubleshoot many of the issues that arise in the printing process. A few students have dropped the class so everyone who is still in it seems to really enjoy the process and care about the images that they are making.

In lecture this week we held our very first critique. John went over what it means to do a critique of a visual work and the best methods to get the most out of the process. I really appreciated this introduction to get students to stray away from simply saying “I like this” or “this looks nice”. John and I swapped some horror stories of critiques that were either unbelievably harsh or on the other end, so nice and positive that it really wasn’t very beneficial. The critique went so well that we were unable to get through everyone’s work due to the fact that everyone had so much to saw and engage with in the photographs.

Week 5

Residency – Silverwood Park – Christa Von Wald – 3hrs

This week at Silverwood Park I assisted with a senior clay class. The class created clay lanterns and then went on a snowshoe hike out on the lake. Christa had already prepped for the class and had the materials laid out, the room set up, and the clay slabs cut for each student. The class began with a talk about winter recreation with Noelle, one of the parks naturalists. She had a winter recreation trivia game to get everyone comfortable speaking and creating a fun atmosphere. Most students in the class had already met through other YMCA events, but the trivia was a great way to get everyone engaged in the beginning. When Christa took over, she passed around an example of the clay lantern and described the process to everyone. Each student was to take paper cut out shapes of hearts, trees, or snowflakes and imprint them into their clay slab. From there, the students used straws to poke out holes in the shapes for the light to shine through after the clay gets fired. When the students had their designs and their holes poked out, we formed the clay into a circle and started glazing them. The whole thing went very smoothly, mostly due to the fact that Christa had everything so prepared and each step was laid out very clearly all along the way. Overall everyone seemed to really enjoy working with clay and for some it was their first time.

Week 4

Residency – Minneapolis Community and Technical College – John Johnston – 2hrs

This week the students had their first day to actually print their very own photo. It’s been a long process of lecture and example in the dark room to get here, but they officially know all the basics of the darkroom, enlargers, and chemicals. All of the students had a pretty easy time printing. The photos ranged from pictures of their pets or their apartments, to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It’s pretty easy to identify which students have an interest in the images they were making and which ones maybe didn’t.

Next week I will be sitting down with John to go over ideas for my teaching day. I have two ideas that I like fairly well, the first is an old project I’ve been assigned before called performing place and the other is called a moment extended. The performing place project is finding some sort of place or setting and altering it to make it perform for you. This could be a simple alteration like connecting string across the room, or it could be a more permanent alteration. The idea is to take a setting for a photograph and have some say as the artist in directing our attention or evoking an emotion or connection to that place. The moment extended project was an idea that I got from a quote about photography. It said something along the lines of photography being able to see the world in a way our eyes are not capable, it’s able to take a moment and extend it. So with the moment extended project, I would like to utilize the slow shutter speed of our camera and photograph an extended moment. It could be people walking downtown and capturing all the lights that travel past and the blur of the pedestrians, or it could be a portrait that blurs our subject because of our inability to sit perfectly still. This project could be really great in getting students to explore the possibilities of how the shutter speed can affect their final image.

Week 3

Residency – Minneapolis Community and Technical College – John Johnston – 4hrs

         This week in Lab the students made a contact sheet of their roll of film. A contact sheet is basically a print of all of your negatives as positives. This way we can look at the images to how well they were exposed and to decide which photos the students will print next week. Most students had shot a second roll of film and have been experimenting with shutter speed and aperture and how it affects the final image. Working with photo 1 students is always a lot of fun for me because there’s always a bit of forensic work that goes into figuring out where students are going wrong in the printing process.

Today the students were given their first assignment in lecture. Now that everyone seems to be getting a hold of how the camera functions, they can actually go out and create some work. The first assignment is one I’ve never heard of before but I think is very interesting. For the most part, students all have 25-30 negatives to a roll of film. So, this project is about using all 25 negatives to create one overall image. Whatever composition you want to make; you have to grid it out into 25 different negatives. So if I were to photograph the front of MCAD, I would mentally chart it out and photograph it 25 times in a grid formation. So typically you have to be pretty close to the subject and consistent where you line up the edges of the building. I think this is a great way to think about perspective and to get students to work slowly and carefully. It will be very interesting to see how many students successfully create the illusion of 1 image!

Week 2

Residency - Minneapolis Community and Technical College - John Johnston - 4 hrs

We have negatives! This week the students developed their first role of film and nearly every student was successful. The class began with students pairing up to roll film and go through the chemical process. Rolling film must be done in complete darkness so we hit the lights and the students worked together to open their canisters and get the film on the roller. After they rolled it up and put the film in the light tight canister, we turned the lights back on and began processing. There’s always an air of nervousness and excitement when developing film that I find addicting and it’s that feeling that you don’t get when shooting digitally. After the development process was over, the students took a look at their negatives and we talked about what problems arose and how those issues can be avoided next time.

 During lecture we continued our discussion of ISO and introduced shutter speed and aperture. John went over the different stops within each scale and how they affect the overall exposure. This was another lecture heavy day due to the need to learn the concepts. These concepts will be more easily understood when students actually go out and shoot. I have seen instructors do a live demonstration with a DSLR to show how these components affect the images and I feel that actually being able to see it while you’re learning helps the information sink in. Due to this being a college course and we have limited time, I understand leaving the experimentation up to the students. Next week we’ll hopefully have another roll from each student and we will begin making positives from their negatives!

Week 1

Residency - Silverwood Park - Alyssa Baggus - 3 hrs

This week I was at Silverwood to help with the Winter Play Day. The Minnesota Kite Society was running a kite making workshop and kids and their families could participate in a snowman making contest. When I arrived there were already kids flying kites out on the frozen lake as well as a member of the Kite Society flying a kite that was 90 square feet with a 70 ft tail behind it. I worked the kite making station for the majority of the time. Kids would come up and pick out the color that they wanted, then they could choose from many different template options to trace things like cats, unicorns, frogs, or race cars. We help them line up the template on their kite and then let the kids draw and color their kite the way they wanted. After they designed their kites we helped them set up the frame and strings for them to go out and fly them.

I think the kids learned about the basics of color theory through their drawings depending on if they picked out the orange kite or the pink one, they had to choose colors in relation to that show they wouldn’t become muddled. Aside from that I think the kids were obviously learning about physics in how they could make their kite fly as well as patience for working to get their kite in the air.  It was so enjoyable to watch the kids get so excited about their drawings and then see their kites take off on the lake. I think one of the most exciting things was seeing so many kids and parents outside playing even though it was 0 degrees outside.

Residency - Minneapolis Community and Technical College - John Johnston - 4 hrs

This week was my first day working at Minneapolis Community and Technical College as a Teacher’s Assistant for Photo 1. The course is structured as roughly 2 hours of Lab and then 2 hours of Lecture afterwards. Today was packed with information because it was the introduction to the wet lab. The class went over all of the steps to the film development process in the lab and all of the things they will need to be successfully doing it themselves next week. That part of teaching photography is always a lot of talking for one day but I don’t think there’s a better way to get students introduced to it. After going over all the steps this week, and hopefully students took decent notes, they should feel relatively confident in the process this coming Wednesday. The second half of class was spent introducing students to ISO. All students should have their own 35mm camera and rolls of film. John went over the difference between film speeds and what people might be interested in purchasing. Although it was a lot of lecturing for the day, I think it’s important to go over everything in detail so students know how their film works. I wonder if having printed examples could be beneficial for students to be able to hold and view the photographs. I think the students learned a lot of information for one day and through experimentation this week and next, all of it will make a lot more sense to them. John has a prepared presentation for examples of photographs and a brief over view of the history of photography that had most of the students engaged and excited about the possibilities. I’m very excited to see how students respond to analog photography and who will fall in love with it and who will grow to hate it.

Teaching Artist Practicuum - Pre-Start

Residency - Silverwood Park - Alyssa Baguss

In preparation for my teaching artist placement at Silverwood Park I met with Alyssa Baguss the morning of January the 4th. We discussed possible options I could help with such as photography walks and different clay courses and teaching opportunities off campus. The very first thing I will be helping with will be kite flying and a snowman making contest. I couldn't be more excited to be doing something so fun and unusual to begin with. Within my own practice I focus heavily on natural materials/environments and feel that working at Silverwood Park will be a wonderful opportunity to combine education with my own practice and interests.