Well what do you know »
The people over at Juxtapoz gave a small write up on the gallery show at Backspace. My friend, curator and artist of the show, Ashley hit me off with the info yesterday. I guess live painting is an acquired taste for some artists. I think they are right about the hit and miss. One can’t get too critical about that stuff. It’s in the moment and that’s all that matters. However, I don’t take my painting back home to “finish” later.Whatever I did that night, is what it is.
I wish I had taped the event as there were lots of people. I’m very bad about documenting my events. I will make sure to have someone document these things as they come along. The gallery started around 7:30 pm. At around 10pm that’s when it started getting really crowded. I had a lot of friends there so it was really hard for me to concentrate on my painting for 20 minutes at a time. I didn’t mind it at all as I haven’t seen some of my friends in over a year. Ashley and Milan were in their groove. There was a keg at hand and I helped myself to a few. Painting, seeing old friends and drinks, do make for a good time.
It was a rainy trip and like an idiot I thought bringing a wool jacket and sneakers was going to keep my dry. For some reason I thought I was bringing the LA warmth to the Northwest. Next time slap me on my head and tell me to bring the proper gear. I did live there, you know? Here are some other pics of the event:
< milan
< Ahley
It settles in… »
The first class is the biggest challenge for me. I have 4 students. 2 of them like to draw and the other 2 seem to wonder through my lessons. The other 2 classes have 2-3 students. I’ve worked with many kids before this. I’m kind of surprised on how I feel challenged with just 4 students. I think part of it has to do with it being a long time since I’ve taught kids. I think the other part is how the class appears jaded. I’ll have a better plan for the next session.
Today we talked about the ancient cultures of the Mayans and the Egyptians. We reviewed symbols in their paintings and how we continue to use symbolism today. I’m sure they thought I was wacky when I talked to them about the egyptian god Ra. I brought it to their attention that he had a falcon head for a face and rode the skies in a boat during the day. On top of that he had to battle a snake every night in order to ride the skies the next day. Talk about drama! My goal was to make them think about how wild this idea was. This idea sounds like something you would see in a block buster movie. This vision happened 4000-5000 years ago. People can you feel me?!?! There was no TV back then. There was no movies!!! This kind of story is told because there needed to be an explanation about something. Hello? As these kids looked with little interest I had my wind taken out of my sails. Students-1, Me-zero. Come on you guys.. This is some amazing stuff if you think about it. Where do you think Osiris shoes got their name from? Look at the symbols that are around you. We are surrounded by symbols that have ancient roots.
The first class didn’t take the subject well compared to the other classes. From what I understand they thought it was too much like ‘history’. I took special note of ‘John’. He likes to draw a lot. He’s 17 and I can tell that he has had a lot on his shoulders. He was distant today and the subject of ancient cultures didn’t help the situation. I was trying to let him know that the characters he draws (which are disney characters) have historical significance. I tried to explain to him that knowing a bit of history can make you tell enrolling stories. I felt that he tried to grasp that but his teen angst got in the way. Im going to be thinking about how I can connect him to art history. There are a lot of kids his age that are getting the support within the art community. He shouldn’t be any different. I will try and show him the door but I know he’s the only one that can choose the direction. He was the biggest impact for me today. Some how I’m using his outlook as the gauge of my teaching abilities for the rest of the classes. I’m going to have to take their eyeballs and clean them with a squeegee. If there I can teach them anything it will be that their daily walk, daily commute and daily living is completely surrounded history. Let’s wake up!
It's rough out here. I tell ya… »
I have 3 classes. Each of them is an hour long. In each class I have 5-7 kids. I thought that I was working within the LAUSD. To my surprise, I’m not. I’m working with a school that is within the county’s supervision. I have a diverse range of students in each of my class. Jennifer (a student) tells me that she is really into fashion and would like to work with clothes. Her classmate Chris was drawing cartoon characters from the moment I stepped foot into the classroom. Some are really loud and others are so shy that I was amazed at my own shape-shifting during class. I thought I was going to have a hard time dealing with them. The only problem ( I’m mean challenge) is to keep their thought trained on me. It’s tough to get them involved with class. I literally have to go into their minds coax the conversation out of them. It’s not that they don’t want to talk or engage…I believe they don’t think they have anything to talk about. I’m worried about their level of involvement in my class. In my first class I had 5 students. My second class had 2. My third class had 1. I can only do so much on my side and I know that they have a lot to deal with outside of school. I can tell by there eyes that they have seen a lot. I was told that these were some of the challenges I was going to face. When this mural starts I would love for everyone to be excited for this project. But I’m fully aware that I have lots of outside influences not working in my favor. I know I have an agenda, but it’s for their benefit.For the next five sessions (2-3 weeks) I will mostly be teaching art history and basic art techniques. For this coming session I will be talking about mayan and egyptian cultures and their use of art in society. I hope they get charged off of this like I do. I mean those cultures are rich with spirituality. I hope to show them the connection that they have with ancient civilization. They’ll probably think I’m nuts because who thinks of stuff like that? weirdo’s? I hope to show them being different is not a crime but a blessing.
The day before. The very beginning… »
I’ve always enjoyed working with kids as it has always made me feel that I was making a difference in this world. When I lived in Oregon I taught a mural class at a middle school. I also taught a class in computer design. Both of these were school driven but the curriculum was based upon designing a mural or learning the technical aspects of computer design. The last time that happened was in Winter 2003. Since then I have only thought about the past as a memory. In recent months I have talked to friends about working with kids again. Being here in LA can make a person feel very selfish. I wanted to get back to what made me feel good about myself, sharing. If you search you shall find.
I’ve been interviewed and hired to be a teacher at a school somewhere in San Gabriel California. I’m really looking forward to getting back to things that meant a lot to me. The only difference is that I must do this in a specified curriculum. I’m nervous but also excited.
Thesw are the people who I will be talking to during this whole production: www.bluepalminfo.org. I feel that I will need a couple of sessions with the kids before feeling completely at ease. I feel a bit overwhelmed with the subject matter because it seems so much in such little time. I will have to teach a little bit of everything in art, mostly history. In all fairness to how this program needs to work; it seems that the LAUSD has a policy in keeping the art academia as it’s priority. So I’m supposed to teach historical periods, famous paintings, artistic vocabulary and hands on training one hour a day; to three classes of 5-6 students. Let me catch me breath here as I think about what lays ahead of me. Hmmmm…this should be exciting to say the very very very very very least. I’ll be working with these classes one day out of the week for the next month or so. After that it will be twice a week. At that point they will be geared up to be outside and paint a mural for the public. I feel very excited about the coming months.
Tomorrow I have mock class session with Jackie to go over my style of teaching. I’m going to have to pretend that she is my class and talk to her like a teen. Talk about acting, I should be in Hollywood! Give me a minute to settle into that idea and I should be fine there on out. I’ll be getting pointers, criticicisms and food for thought. I will be able to use that coacing when I engage these kids on Thursday for the first time.
This is the first in a series of entries about this project. I hope to get permission from the proper channels to take pictures of the kids. I think this will help you the viewer see the story unfold each week. Stay tuned to find out more. Welcome aboard!
