Scoping an Audience 6B: Laramee creates meticulously detailed renditions of the unreliable truths she conveys. Why do you think she expends this extraordinary effort?
In the interview on page 65 it says a gallery director told Laramee that she was a really good artist but that she was never going to make it in the art world because of the three strikes she had against her: she was young, pretty, and a woman. This is the reason I think Laramee makes such an extraordinary effort - to prove people like this man wrong. A second reason I think her art is so detailed is because she wants her viewers to believe her work is real, since the majority is "false." In a way, the details allow her to cover her tracks ahead of time. It's like when little kids lie to their parents - they usually get caught because they haven't planned all the details of the lie out. A third reason I think Laramee tampers with truth is because of her relationship with her family. She never really knew her father, and in attempting to think like another person (him) she seemed to believe she could be her father. She knows that being an artist is about investigating the unknown, and that part of our job is to use our imaginations. Through art Laramee was able to experience her father. Reading about Eve Andree Laramee reminded me of the Diane Arbus's quote "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know."
I think my practices as an artist will help me to stay fresh as a classroom teacher. One of the professors I've had for three semesters now always tells us that it is time to stop teaching when you aren't learning anything anymore. As long as I'm creating art, I should be learning something! I think a skill/quality that artists develop that lends itself to the art of teaching is passion, which can be contagious and motivating for students. Passionate art teachers support students whose favorite medium is different from their own, just like passionate foreign language teachers promote other foreign languages to their students such as French, Arabic, German, etc., even if their own foreign language is Spanish. Patience is another another skill that I think many artists develop that lends itself to teaching. Most of us have taken an art class that was hard in the beginning (Ceramics 2 anyone?) but gets easier with patience. I might incorporate my work as an artist into my teaching by using a piece or two as examples of line, texture etc. But I would be sure to make a disclaimer that I don't want my students to copy exactly what I do just because they think it will earn them a good grade. Photography is a way I will continue to make art while I teach - I am constantly photographing. Art, like other things in life that are important such as friends and family, is just something you have to make time for each week. As a teacher summers will be nice for additional art time. This is important because as I stated at the top, creating helps you to grow and prevents you from becoming stale. Almost in a "if you don't use it you loose it" sense.
I characterize the relationship between teaching and art making as: art making teaches. I can't recall a project I did that resulted in me not getting something (however small it may have been) out of it. The question "How will you balance the need to teach technical skills with the need to help students make art that is personally meaningful and creative" reminds me of my last post where I was wondering how you grade the slacker who is a natural versus the hard worker who just can't master a concept. I guess weighting technical skills and personally meaningful/creative art equally on a rubric wouldn't work because there would be students who would be failing who shouldn't necessarily be. This question also reminds me of the debate in the foreign language world: competency versus proficiency. (Meaning the person speaks and they are understood, but has no written grammatical/spelling skills versus the person who knows all of the grammar/spelling rules but cannot speak the language.)
I know we are supposed to do page 62 part A for homework too, but what book?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
P6, #2a in the manual for In The Making under Sourcing Information.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the note about Postsecret. I've actually been visiting the site religiously for about 5 years now, so very perceptive of you!
ReplyDeleteSince you are aware of Postsecret which deals (obviously) with secrets, I think it's interesting that it also ties into your analysis of your particular artist. Art presents a constant paradox of truth, since by nature it is pure opinion and cannot truly be an unbiased representation. Like Eve said about less truth being in a more detailed photograph, I find that the more I stage a photo, the less significant it becomes. Capturing the world as it is creates a much more profound image.
I really agree with what you say about if you don't use it you lose it! I also think the artist you chose to look at had some great points to say about planning out the details, I can see the connect between that and teaching. There are so many pieces that work together in teaching art if you don't plan them out you cannot achieve what you would like. Great blog!
ReplyDelete