Building a Participatory Culture

Though I don't discuss it often, I do have a professional life; yesterday was one of those "peak" days, so I thought I'd share it with you. I attended the annual Art Education Conference at Kutztown University.  I used to attend them regularly until I became active in PAEA, and had to choose between the one-day Kutztown conference and the three day Pennsylvania Art Education Conference, which was held at various sites throughout the state.  I opted for the latter because of the variety and travel.  There was a time when I loved getting away from home; that change speaks to my improved relationship and life circumstances. 

Kutztown held an experiment on Friday.  Building Participatory Culture is just that: an experiment.



Brainstorming

We began with a fascinating talk by David Darts of NYU; the focus of his presentation was the effects of participatory media on our society as a whole.  By participatory media, I mean web based programs that allow interaction, like Wikipedia, blogs, social networking, etc. Using the aptly named "copyleft" approach allows a dynamic process of growth and regeneration of ideas, very different from the "entertain me" ethos of previous generations.  I particularly appreciated that Dr. Darts showed me that culture still does exist and is growing rapidly; it's just changing forms, as art and culture will do. Being ensconced in my own history and pedagogy, I couldn't see it.  Though my classes have lead me to a hint of those changes via postmodern pedagogical theories, the electronic media connection makes incredible sense in a hands-on way.

And we did do some hands-on learning,though not with electronic media; well, one group did.  I'll return to that later.  Each group of 20 or so was facilitated by a team of educators provided by Kutztown University.  They led the group in brainstorming, discussing, and shaping the experience, though they did not dictate the process.  It was a good model for higher education, and, to some extent, an interesting approach for some K-12 processes, though there was debate about the practicality of this method on younger children whose social skills and studio experiences had yet to be developed. 

A sculpture / installation / experience was to be created, using simple materials provided by the university. We had about 2 hours to work together, which was also interesting, given that there was little group instruction or formal communication.  Ours appropriately resembled a tornado when it was finished; from the flurry of activity in the many directions we took, I felt that was just about right.  But it was good activity, and people took on the roles that were needed.  There were thinkers, and shapers, movers, organizers, and observers.  We fell into our natural places somehow.  I can't say it was entirely comfortable; I experienced moments of angst and annoyance when things I had been working on were changed.  I experienced great waves of excitement and energy. I can only imagine an adolescent experiencing these things, and wonder if they would have the skills to examine those emotions, and stay stable.  Good lessons, all. The end result was satisfying.

A Creative Maelstrom

Some of the other groups' pieces follow:

This Piece Used Traditional Materials And Electronic Media.



This Piece Used Pants as a Metaphor.  They Used a Looping Recording to Illustrate their Point.



An Entire Habitat.  Cool.

Heather's Group Made a Facebook Page...a Truly Participatory Experience!
http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=Paper+or+Plastic+KU&init=quick&tas=0.7711095026061798#!/pages/Paper-or-Plastic-KU/167192539978364

 I found the experience entirely stimulating and satisfying, and left with a glimpse of the future.  I'm happy to say that art and culture are thriving; art isn't dead, it's just gone viral, and it looks a lot different than it did a decade ago, which is as it should be. Blog on!

Of course, I still enjoyed the rustle of leaves and the blue sky in between them as I left the campus.  It's all good; fuel for the creative fire.

My life is so varied; always has been. Lately, I've been splitting my time between school (Kutztown University), work (where I teach), home, farm, and occasional short road trips.  I don't get many chances for those, unfortunately.

Kutztown provides lots of inspiration for teaching.  They have a student exhibit of recycled works on display right now...coincidentally, exactly when I'm teaching that unit in school.  I'm enjoying their over-the-top solutions:

Plastic Goblet Light Fixture

Old Sock Milk Jugs (polymerized)

Plastic Cutlery Pterodactyl

 Of course, nearly every day includes both teaching and the farm.  While I choose not to blog about my classroom because of professional considerations, the farm is fair game, and infinitely interesting.

We've been battling pinkeye this last week.  My poor little doe Faith went out to be bred, and may have carried it home with her.  While she's unaffected, 4 of our older does came down with the affliction, and had to be separated from the herd.  I've been giving injections, applying ointment, and hand milking those girls all week.  Poor things!  Our two senior citizens, Dolly and Jazzy have been hit the hardest. There is improvement, though.  And we've finished the course of antibiotics, so only time will tell.

These girls weren't affected. Neither were their appetites!

Suppertime!

 I take a walk in the woods on days that are challenging at work; I need these solitary times to decompress.  They feed my soul.  On one such occasion, I found this gooey, frostbitten mass that must have been some sort of mushroom.  The fallen tree had several of them; I'll research them and get back to you.  This has been my mycology moon.

An Interesting Fungus
*UPDATE: An Old "Orange Jelly"

 Turkey tails, the ubiquitous little fungi that devour our fallen wood, are everywhere.  Apparently, they're prized by certain cultures for their curative properties.  Who knew?  I'll be trying some turkey tail tea this winter.

Turkey Tails

 Piggy tails are a different story entirely.

It's Rough Being a Pig

 Last weekend, my friend El and I visited the farm together so she could see our newborn calf.  One of the volunteers had forgotten to shut the gate between the cow field and the pig run, and chaos ensued. I have never seen cows band together like a street gang and attack before; usually they just mill around, benignly grazing and mooing.  These cows were pissed!  They attacked those poor pigs enmasse.  You've never seen fat pink buttocks running away more frantically. I'm ashamed to say that I can't stop laughing about the visual memories it brings up: think "West Side Story" (the Jets and the Sharks). Those poor piggies! Thankfully, the vet and his assistant were on site, checking out the goats, and between the 4 of us, we were able to break up the rumble.  The piggies had to take a long nap that afternoon.

Meanwhile, back in the goat pen, our calf  Pumpkin is having an identity crisis.

Pumpkin, Behind the Goats

Hide and Seek

Am I a Goat? 

I'm so Confused!!!!!

 He does kick his heels up and rip around the corral.  The goats don't quite know what to make of him, but they treat him kindly. Baby Huey.

Then there's home.  When I'm not reading, grading, or writing, I still love my kitchen, especially now that Peter has finished the new counter and back splash.  I'm bringing in the last herbs.  Hobie helped with the peppermint.

Is that Cat Nip?

 Today will be spent at home, or taking a much needed walk in the park, depending on my mood and timing.  We all need a little unstructured time, and I'm so happy to have some today!  Photos to follow!

Postmodernism

OK, I know it's not goats, and it's not cooking, or gardening, or any of the other bazillion things I do for fun, but it's on my mind.

Food for Thought

Postmodern art is defined by Wikipedia as :

"Postmodernism describes movements which both arise from, and react against or reject, trends in modernism.[20] Specific trends of modernism that are generally cited are formal purity, medium specificity, art for art's sake, authenticity, universality, originality and revolutionary or reactionary tendency, i.e. the avant-garde. However, paradox is probably the most important modernist idea against which postmodernism reacts. Paradox was central to the modernist enterprise, having been introduced by Manet. Manet's various violations of representational art brought to prominence the supposed mutual exclusiveness of reality and representation, design and representation, abstraction and reality, and so on. The incorporation of paradox was highly stimulating from Manet to the conceptualists...

One characteristic of postmodern art is its conflation of high and low culture through the use of industrial materials and pop culture imagery. The use of low forms of art were a part of modernist experimentation as well..."

OK.  In order to have Postmodernism, one needs to have first assimilated Modernism (defined by Wikipedia below):

"Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The term encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the "traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social and political conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world....A salient characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness. This often led to experiments with form, and work that draws attention to the processes and materials used (and to the further tendency of abstraction)."

The Magic Garden: http://www.phillymagicgardens.org/

I read this all to mean THIS in a nutshell: I have been teaching fragments, background, building blocks.  It's a postmodern world; there's multiplicity, assimilation, reaction to learned elements and principles, and informed individualized response.

Apparently, I've been walking THAT razor's edge.

Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral: http://sspeterpaulcathedral.catholicweb.com/index.cfm/NewsItem?ID=196582&From=Home

It's a postmodern world.  I saw that last Saturday, in Philadelphia.  Within one hour, I saw a stunning Catholic Cathedral, Hare Krishnas, Black Panthers and a guy in tie-dye singing folk songs; Logan Square was teeming with eclectic, ecstatic life.

Ratha Yatra Festival, the Festival of Chariots: http://www.phillyrathayatra.com/

I had no idea.  My mind is still wrapped around carrying my baby there in a back-pack in 1979, after taking mass transit for hours from Drexel Hill. It was pretty quiet in Philly in the late 70's, at least in the daylight. To a girl from Boyertown,Chinatown was pretty exotic.  So was the Italian Market.  I walked a lot in those days. 

That baby is 32 now, and I suppose I should get my head around the changing climate of the world, as well as my up-till-now relatively static pedagogy.

My baby girl

There are problems though.  NCLB has moved the focus of education even farther from the arts; there's the debate of integration vs. interdisciplinary, vs. independent subject matter.  There's the press for data, the drive for accountability and assessment.  It's a modern system in a postmodern world. I'm reading journals and articles, and researching on the University's database.  I finish my classwork and go off on tangents.  Yee-HA!

Well; there it is in a nutshell.  I'm even dreaming about it; rehashing my life, with overlapping characters; it's a 4th dimensional postmodern approach to my personal and familial history; rather confusing.  I guess you had to be there.

So please forgive me if I'm not posting regularly these days.  I'm going through one of those intellectual growth spurts that turns you on your head and shakes all of the lint out of your pockets.  I'll post some of that lint here, as I catch it.

Stepping Out of the Box

I was going to tell you that I'll be blogging less often, but then I read this: http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/2010/09/ten-important-things-ive-learned-about-blogging/

Read #2.  I won't be a cactus.  I just can't.

But I must warn you: things are about to change.  I went back to school.  That's right.  The teacher is a student again.  And I don't do things half-heartedly, so you're going to hear about it.  Most definitely. For instance, I realized tonight that apart from the professor, I'm the only teacher in the bunch.  And they all want to do what I'm doing.  I'm trying to step back and let them discover their own teacher's hearts.  I'm having trouble keeping my mouth shut; I hope I don't alienate anyone.  The professor is good; she makes the class interesting, and structures the class well.

So, wish me luck.  So far, I'm finding the subject stimulating; it's about the historical and ideological growth of the field of Art Education. Which is why I can't keep my mouth shut.  I feel like that kid in the front row with their hand up, going "ooh...ooh..." and just DYING to speak.  Not a bad feeling.

I'll keep you posted. Maybe I'll be doing some growing too.

In the mean time, I'm still milking my goatie girls, walking Faith, and pursuing my recently set goals.  And...believe it or not, Peter and I went camping this weekend.  That's right.  I'm stepping out of my box.  And (whispers) I actually enjoyed it.

View from my tent, Labor Day weekend

The times, they are a' changing.

I caught myself singing in my classroom this morning during my prep.  What the heck is going on here?  I'll let you know when I figure it out.