So here I am, signed up for a summer semester, with the world’s best class. Finally, UGA is offering an art ed. studio course thanks to Chris Schulte. I’m able to implement all the direction and information gathered in art education classes and apply it to my art materials. I’ve decided I want to get as much as I possibly can out of this class, so I’m going to write in a journal each day, and if all goes well, type up each entry here. I’d also like to document my works of art as they progress, change, shift, transcend and are influenced by both my instructor and my peers.

How do you “be there and be with others”?

Most importantly – being present in one’s life, one’s classroom and within oneself (wide awakeness, as Rebecca Williams calls it, and as Libba Willcox implemented it).

How do you be with others?
-listening
-engaging in conversation (more than just surface deep)
-asking questions (real ones)
-support (as an instructor but also as a mentor)
-encourage and challenge
– pushing of conceptual and technical applications, material exploration and the use of personal experience as creative material.

How can I be with my students?
-It is important to me to leave all personal struggles in the car. I want to create a safe and positive learning environment and therefore, I must be positive, strong, engaged and genuinely interested because that is what my students deserve.
-Push the idea of collaboration. I want to make art with my students and among my students. I think it is important to show them I am a maker of art, not just an instructor of art.
-do not plan so far ahead and so tightly that there is no room for change. Be open to a shift in the class if my students take interest in something else.
-Consider the idea of radical hospitality and how it can be applied in a classroom (high school, specifically). I love this idea of Chris’ coffee – maybe create a new ritual or tradition similar to this. I love the thought of a ten minute, beginning of class pow-wow.

Art Making – being there and being with others
-knots: embroidery, crochet and knitting
-idea of unification without assimilation: mixed media or photo portrait series.
-the idea of working together as separate pieces to create a stronger whole. (similar to the exquisite corpse)

• panels that add to a larger piece?
• talking – how to translate/transcend conversation into tangible art.