David Woof on wed 30 mar 11
n for next year
Hi John=3D2C=3D20
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Don't bother to move to the warmer climes. Lights in art rooms are dimmin=
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g out all over. 'Stay for the kids!!!'
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I see two issues that must be separated before any viable solutions can com=
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e to the fore.
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First=3D2C one must detach from the notion that the teat of the state is th=
e =3D
only resource.=3D20
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And second: Ask=3D2C "is it the financial security that our jobs represent=
t=3D
hat we are most concerned about or do we and the parents really want art in=
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our kids lives enough to take personal responsibility to deliver?"=3D20
So how committed are the art teachers of America? I know that many for a =
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long time have been spending out of their own pockets for supplies and dona=
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ting the extra hours not part of job descriptions or pay. =3D20
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I too have purposefully put myself on the local front lines with this and s=
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o will share how I am working to make a difference.
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In addition to doing my own studio work=3D3B I teach at the college=3D2C an=
d am=3D
teaching art as an independent contracting provider for a small Charter Hi=
=3D
gh School in Arizona. =3D20
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Aside from $0.96 cans of spray paint=3D3B paint brush packs=3D2C and basic =
acry=3D
lics from Wal-mart=3D2C our art supplies are largely scrounged and donated.=
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My kids learn that art subject and materials are everywhere. =3D20
=3D20
I mix and provide my labor to reclaim clay from a local Art Center who is h=
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appy that they don't have to throw their scraps in a land fill. We all gai=
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n something.=3D20
Contractors=3D2C cabinet shops=3D2C retail stores set materials out and cal=
l me=3D
because they believe=3D2C as many of us do=3D2C that "it's good for the ki=
ds."=3D
We receive expensive extra heavy poster papers and ad signs with clean u=
=3D
nprinted backs=3D2C cans of mis-tinted house paints in a rainbow of colors.=
..=3D
various scrap sheets of MDF=3D2C paneling=3D2C and plywood...to do paintin=
gs o=3D
n and build sculpture...Iron scraps to weld....Ceramic flooring tiles to re=
=3D
fire with low fire drawings and paintings...need I list on?
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And each year we come home from the Red Rock High School Art Competition=3D=
2C=3D
which represents all of the high schools in Northern Arizona=3D2C with at =
le=3D
ast 50% of our students bringing home awards. And this on a boot strap bud=
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get!!! We don't focus on the competition or the awards=3D2C but the annual=
a=3D
ffirmation from our peers that we are accomplishing something of value feel=
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s really good.
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I also schedule several Art Field Trip workshop days each semester for othe=
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r small schools who can't afford an art teacher on staff.=3D20
They bus their kids over to my teaching studio. Sometimes the parents pay =
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the small fee per student and sometimes the school finds it in the "petty c=
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ash".
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Or I set out a bag of clay so the "Patio Town" kids can come over and make =
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stuff while I work nearby. We trade ideas and language from our varied cu=
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ltures and they leave with pride in themselves=3D2C where they came from=3D=
2C a=3D
nd that they are learning to find their value here.
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Everyone has creative energy and if all we can do is give them opportunity =
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to experience their creativeness=3D3B even in one satisfying creative event=
w=3D
e will have helped them see something bigger and more attainable about them=
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selves and the world. Those who will become working creatives and artists=
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in many disciplines will do so=3D2C and become so=3D2C In Spite of parents=
=3D2C =3D
teachers =3D2Cand community (state funding) rather than Because Of anything=
w=3D
e do or don't do. =3D20
My goal as an art teaching mentor is that they all get a chance to come awa=
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y with a personal creative experience that opens their eyes to their own cr=
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eative potential.=3D20
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Anyone with half a creative brain=3D2C social consciousness=3D2C and a cari=
ng f=3D
or the coming generation can tailor any project to meet state art ed Standa=
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rds=3D2C or compliment another teachers unit.
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As a young person I experimented with a number of life experiences in "volu=
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ntary simplicity" so that come what may=3D2C I could live without fear of t=
he=3D
economic ups and downs historically common to folks who must do art and to=
=3D
societies in general.. My first painting as a young adult=3D2C becoming c=
om=3D
mitted to my art=3D2C was executed on a 18 X 24 rectangle of cotton bed she=
et=3D
=3D2C primed with scrounged house paint and painted with paints trash can s=
al=3D
vaged from a discarded paint by numbers set=3D3B using frayed ends of paper=
b=3D
ook matches=3D2C dog hair=3D2C and barber shop sweepings taped to the ends =
of s=3D
ticks for brushes. Enough folks liked it=3D2C and the sale(not my mom) br=
ou=3D
ght me enough money to buy some real brushes and tubes of black=3D2C white=
=3D2C=3D
and the primary colors in acrylics=3D2C and I was on my way.=3D20
=3D20
A returning Vet from Nam=3D3B going into art school on the GI Bill=3D2C saw=
som=3D
e of my paintings and gave me a 25 lb block of clay from which I hand built=
=3D
vessels and objects and figured out how to fire them to about 2000 f in my=
=3D
wood burning heater along with a dusting of baking soda and crushed vitami=
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n pills (wasn't too kind to the stove) but it got me back to my childhood l=
=3D
ove of clay. I had not heard of salt/soda firing but I knew that Blacksmit=
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hs had used baking soda to flux-weld iron so I had a go...and was hooked.
My inspiration wasn't solely from my art teachers=3D3B It was also my fath=
er=3D
who played violin and wrote poetry and a grand father who would show me cl=
=3D
ay deposits in creek banks=3D3B letting the horses we had ridden graze whil=
e =3D
we made pinch pots and sculptures=3D3B all left behind on a log to bake in =
th=3D
e sun and get washed away by the next rain=3D2C and my mum who read me the =
cl=3D
assics during my measles and mumps confinements and never stopped from enga=
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ging me in discussions of ideas=3D2C or providing me with modeling clay to =
ab=3D
sorb the hrs of confinement. We must get back to "the village raises the c=
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hild." Education must be a joint effort and contribution!!!!=3D20
=3D20
Forget the millions of dollars and the unreachable masses of millions=3D3B =
ju=3D
st reach out and offer what we have to those with-in reach. We could form =
=3D
a living chain of art around the world. It's grass roots time folks=3D2C a=
nd=3D
it is up to us older folks to cough up some of our time and resources: pas=
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s the torch for free. We are enough=3D2C we have enough=3D2C we will recei=
ve e=3D
nough of everything important in the measure that we give it away.
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I just read some of the posts coming in on this thread. I like K. Savino's=
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thoughts re imagining a door and then knocking on it.
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Focus not on what the State is doing or not doing: but what we as individua=
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ls or in concert are doing?
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Historically=3D2C and in totalitarian regimes in our times=3D2C artists hav=
e ha=3D
d to survive from honest work=3D2C patrons=3D2C and guilds. We can do it a=
gain=3D
and we can bring the next generation with us. Look what Clayart has survi=
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ved and how it has prospered! What effect it is having on other Organizati=
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ons. And look to the power of a new NCECA for our children. Get involved t=
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here=3D3B make it your organization. Add to it's voice and influence.
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Ask a personal question to self: 'do I need to get off my rickety old arse=
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and quit sniveling???!!!' What would be wrong or beneath me to haul my se=
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lf down to an elementary school or a park and set up to work for a morning.=
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Curious creative kids of all ages will come and engage. =3D20
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Oh! So! "it wouldn't be becoming for a world renowned person of my stature=
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to rub elbows with the great unwashed!" Bull!!! we will all=3D2C soon eno=
ug=3D
h=3D2C be getting washed by other hands in the morgue!! Make something cou=
nt=3D
as a gift given freely!
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Maybe it is time some Ivory Towers and attitudes crumbled to the dust that =
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they were created from.
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Art's living power: no palace can command=3D2C define or contain it=3D3B n=
o co=3D
mmon man/woman/child can be denied it.
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David Woof..... armed to the teeth with paint=3D2C pots=3D2C clay=3D2C and =
poems:=3D
at the crossroads in Clarkdale=3D2C Arizona: where one can travel to anywh=
er=3D
e from here.
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2. art education is on the ropes in Michigan for next year
Posted by: "John Post" johnpost@WIDEOPENWEST.COM=3D20
Date: Sat Mar 26=3D2C 2011 7:42 pm ((PDT))
I try to stay away from discussing politics on this list but
unfortunately in this case politics is having a direct impact on
whether or not kids in Michigan will get arts education next year.
Governor Snyder has........If anyone knows of two art K-12 education positi=
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ons opening up for
next year in a state with a warm sunny climate=3D2C let me know. My wife
and I may have to leave Michigan when the lights in our art rooms are
turned off for good.
John Post
Sterling Heights=3D2C Michigan
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