For any of you that want to jump ahead here is the assignment for the following week.
Read "Place Based Education" and view the DVD "Citizen Architect", compare. Would you, do you do anything that is aligned with either of these programs?
Tell me a story on how Junction or any other place has influenced your art/ your teaching.
I have enjoyed reading and getting ideas from the Place-Based Education. I love that they take so much out of the classroom. This year I have taken my class outside and let them draw. The down side is that there is not much of a view or scenery, we have a large wooden fence with a cemetery on the other side, more business buildings ( we are in a business park) and a ditch with another business on the other side with building supplies. Not much to really enjoy seeing and drawing inspiration wise, but we did try it.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching the Citizen Architect as well, it reminded me so much of Junction and how they all live and eat together like a family. That's exactly how I felt this summer when we were all together, and I really look forward to going back next summer. It was so awesome to be able to work on our art and be around other artists and educators for 3 weeks. I definitely think being out in the community and talking to the residents not only makes those students better artists, and architects but it is humbling to be allowed into people's homes that are most likely not like what we live in. I was privileged to work for Head Start for a year, I went out to families homes and helped teach parents and their children how to read, speak English, among other things. Some of these families had so very little but would offer me whatever they had, food, drink, etc just to say thank you, even when you knew they were barely able to put food on the table. I knew it was rude and offensive if I did not accept their hospitality so I did, it was a very humbling experience and makes me realize what some if not a lot of my students come from. Homes that are barely standing, they may or may not get to eat that night, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and so much more that we just don't know. We have no idea what may happen when they wake up in the morning before arriving to school or what they have to go home to. I try very hard to be aware of this and how this affects their learning and behavior at school, just like when we have a bad day.
I know that these books that we read, the stories we hear, our Junction experience has all changed my life, and the way that I teach, the way that I learn forever. I am definitely more flexible this year then I have ever been, I want to see my students creativity and let them explore, I have had more creativity and some of the best work I have ever had by students this year. I have shared more about me and some of the hardest parts of me with my students and have found how much they have responded to me and the artwork that I am doing and how raw it is, and how much they relate to it and to me. I have had more students confide in me some of the most heart breaking things, (and unfortunately, I have had to report those same things), I know this is because of these classes and going through this program and Prof like Helen and Future that have stirred something in me, I love it! and I am so grateful!
As soon as you said "cemetery" I was like "go, take the kids to draw in the cemetery!" I love cemeteries and looking at the evidence of time etched into the headstones. I might be a little weird, but I also like to read the names and wonder about who that person was, who is next to them in time eternal.
DeleteI live directly behind my city's original cemetery and have enjoyed looking through it with my dog, Coco. I see tons of family names, the names that now grace our schools, streets, and city buildings. I'd love to take my kids there so they can get a sense of our city history, however...that'd be a literal field trip since buses would be required. Hmm...
I would love to! Unfortunately they are really strict about that and the school has agreed to not have any of our students on their private property, the headstones are all in the ground and only flowers are standing, it's not a typical cemetery.. if that makes sense. I believe there has been issues in the past that has made it this way.
Deletethank you
DeleteAndrea, I appreciate your comments and also recognize the value of being vulnerable and open with our students. The emotional return for this symbiotic healing communication is a safe place for them to express their brokenness which results in beautiful art. I can see your art room is truly a healing place! I can also see your experience in head start has served you well, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeletePlace based education is something I try to varying degrees to employ. It’s a response to community personality, needs, physical structure, environment, and population. I like to get everyone involved—old and young, student and retirees.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I have an exhibition up from Columbus day to Veterans day called Freedom and I would like to record some of the Vet’s stories and send them to the Library of Congress Veteran’s Project. I invited students to help me film.
A Vet who is blind has befriend me and is not an overt sharer. He unfolds like crumpled up paper or orgami. I had to write down his last visit (I will attach below) I will change parts of my programming based on his feelings, my community.
Place is a powerful influence on me—for teaching or otherwise. The way buildings are situated—do they turn in on themselves?, do they open up for to people visit? How are the oriented? For example, the Dallas Museum of art, turns its back to the city and opens up to the expressway? What does that say about the city, and who are this visitors and how they will get there?
Place dictates quite a lot of how I teach for the little house museums. First of all, place grounds us all in a history. I tell teach about where the buildings came from and what they were used for and what they represent? I talk about what it takes to move a settlement to a city? These buildings tell a story of place each with a different accent--What stories do they tell? Sometimes in the history of the place—where things have been also tell a story—their provenance. Who owned them, What happened there?
Since place is so important for me-- Even something as simple as Do I hear birds singing? Is impactful to me --I hear them in Junction. I hear them in my plaza.
Place is so very important--BUT so many people live day to day in total disregard or ignorance to how place functions or affects them. New buildings are plopped in without much care and there's this general idea of "it doesn't matter what surrounds a building...maybe some bermuda and begonias." Getting students to look at how buildings or even their own houses are designed (good, the bad, and the ugly) is the first step. Getting them to consider changes and then possibly making those changes happen--super cool.
DeleteI love your thoughts on this Lynn! Thank you for your input!
DeleteBeautiful. I once was a guard for an outdoor museum. You are so correct when you speak of the stories the houses tell even when transported to a new site. I had the honor of meeting some the former residents who shared their memories. On my hourly walks around the site I learned to love some houses and avoid others, much like out lives...we know when we are welcomed and when it is better to stay away.
DeleteI talked to a vet recently. He was blinded in the War. He is white haired with a neat trimmed beard and a gentle voice –he is a kind man with a stormy soul. The Divinity student he left as a fresh soldier in 1966 came back from Vietnam scattered and with soul pieces still somewhere far away cast to some distant wind in a tempest best left alone. He has no interest in regathering those old parts of himself.—he leaves them blowing on that Dantean wind that keeps lovers almost within reach but forever separated from what is most dear. He is lonely. He lives as authentically as he can.
ReplyDeleteI am fortunate on quiet days--He visits me in the museum. When I first met him, asked if he would share his story and he said “No.” explaining people who saw action as he did find it just too difficult. They are haunted after the story we hear ends by the story which continues to repeat in their memory. It’s a sincere expression, I have heard before-- I had an great uncle who fought in WW11 and he wouldn’t talk about the war nor would he leave his tiny central Texas town once swearing in the wartorn if he got home, he would never part from it again. I understand that silence. The effort to forget—the memories that stir in the warm dark beneath the surface—that despite trying to keep the white clouded blue skies--take shape into forms of menacing clouds move across a stormy sky becoming dragons and demons and warriors which were once kittens and bunnies and horses. Those winds which shape and renew the old dark memories have blown the stormy soul again to me in a white house museum on the edge of some place safe.
He told me he dislike the Veteran’s Parades with cheering bystanders and being told “welcome home”. He suggested a coffin in the Parade would be essential. After what he saw, lived, walking into an airport 48 hours after the battlefield being greeted by girl scouts with cookies and grownups with posters was even more disorienting. A better acclimation would have a been a scotch and hookers,( he is from New York). What would he want, I asked, as a survivor and protector? "To talk about a sculpture of a soldier coming home, to have a hug, and to be thanked for his service."
He said that November was difficult for him because he lost many friends in November but its when those memories began to spill from him. He told me about how keeping one’s wits keeps one alive. It was vastly better than keeping orders.
He told me about sitting on sand bags all night convincing an enlisted man to stop trying to kill the chaplain. The chaplain told the 19 year old soldier it was God’s will that the people he loved died. For the soldier, it logically followed that it was God’s will that the chaplain die. Since most of the soldier's agreed with the young enlisted man decision to hear the voice of God calling the Chaplain home Then, a 26 year old Lieutenant, it was my Vet's task tell the boy, it was the commander’s will that the chaplain live. God and the Commander did battle in the boy’s head all night long while they sat on the sandbags full of grief and death and dogma. That jungle, starfilled was-their own Bethel wrestling with the divine-- thinking of their battle wounds and remembering Jacob’s bum leg—it scars to force a human will on the mind of God.
What a story. My grandfather has just started telling us more about his time in the Philippines during WWII. He never said much of anything when we were younger. Just recently he shared a photo album from his time there. I'd agree with your Vet, that we do need the somber reminder of the coffin in our parades. We want to celebrate an honor the sacrifice that our heroes have made (even those that did not die in the service still gave up something of themselves), yet we neglect to acknowledge that "elephant" in the room--physical and spiritual death.
DeleteThank you for sharing! I wish my great Uncle Bernie had shared about his travel in the military with us, unfortunately they died with him. I have a picture up in my house of him, it was an honor to have known him, he pushed me in my art so much! I understand what that Vet goes through when opening up those memories and allowing them to flow, any time you have trauma and it comes forth it is very hard to turn off in my head, which is what I have learned anxiety is and PTSD. I do not blame him one bit for not sharing those memories, and yes we do forget those that died and served our country so honorably. We need to have a humbling moment in those parades to bring us back to reality of what Veteran's day and Memorial day is truly about. It's not about the BBQ's and parties and getting drunk, but remembering those that have fallen, those that are still serving and those that have served. Military hold a special place in my heart, and we need to remember more of those things.
DeleteYou are an amazing story teller...thank you for sharing this life with us. As a military brat (father WWII and Korea) and married to a Marine Col ( Viet Nam on) I have experienced the silence, the 100 yard stare and I have heard the night screams. You museum is a safe haven for a worthy and wounded soul. Good work and thank you for opening the doors.
DeleteWith this week’s readings and video I am so overly inspired and dyeing to get out and make a difference with my community! I really enjoyed the movie, Citizen Architect. I love the idea of taking students out of the classroom and working with the community and making a difference where it matters. A large structure in the middle of New York City does not mean as much as a new, functional house with running water. The idea and practice of the rural studio, is the most brilliant, and inspiring idea to come to architecture, community outreach, and education. The buildings are all unique to that single structure, and most importantly with these functional community buildings and houses, they are for real, everyday people who matter most. The idea of getting these architecture students out into the field and learning to actually build and design in the real world gives these students wonderful experience and will only put these students further ahead of their peers and hopefully change the world of architecture, not because of design, but for who the buildings are designed for. Not designed for wealthy aristocrats, but for everyday people who not only need but also deserve just as amazing community buildings and homes, with modern conveniences that we take for granted, like airflow, running water, and plumbing. This is a project that I will share with many in my life, and keep up with; to demonstrate the amazing ways we can not only work with, but also help our community! Speaking of Community and changing education, I really enjoyed Place-Based Education. As you know I am all about animals, the environment and working outdoors. I am very passionate and love learning, teaching about and working with the organic world. The idea of taking students outside of the classroom and educating them with the world around them is underappreciated. Being a student in Junction for two summers, we are definitely surrounded by the outdoors, and this environment inspires you in some way, whether it is in your art, your way of learning, your way of teaching, or even in your way of self-centering, and self-discovery. So as of no surprise I am a huge advocate for incorporating the outdoors, and our natural world around us into our education system. In the book David Sobel even states that because of this practice, students scores are positively changing, and being effective for their education. The students are learning about the history of their local community, and environment. Students will also get their education from the science of the wildlife and environment resources that surround them. The students are learning about natural and organic food, and having healthier lifestyles through their diet, and exercise by being outdoors, and also obtaining fresh air. Working with their classmates to classify species of plants and animals, creating a garden, or working together to learn new things through their community teaches the students, how to collaborate and work with others, which is an amazing life lesson. I am the Graduate Research Assistant for the School of Art here at Texas Tech University, and I am working at a middle school right now for after school enrichment. I would love to apply this to my clay class and work with my students and take them outdoors and see the garden space that they have in the center of the school, learn about the resources they have there, maybe even create art pieces for the space, to brighten it up, and maybe come up with a community project, or project based on their community. This is just all so inspiring, and I plan on practicing this, and sharing with you all down the road!
ReplyDeletethat sounds awesome!!! I can't wait for you to share your experiences with us!!!!
DeleteYES. Allow the inspiration to flow. All communities have a story.
DeleteJayson,
DeleteFantastic! I look forward to hearing about your journeys, stories and opportunities for change to strengthen community environments. Architects practicing architecture should always be cognizant of global issues and humanitarian contributions to society. Even small contributions from firms by whatever means, could have lasting impressions on society on many levels.
I have to say the biggest influence in my teaching was working in a behavior program at an elementary school in Canada. It was there that I truly experienced the benefits of artistic creative expression to connect with the students with severe behavior issues. Whether it was music, drama or creating different forms of art, I could definitely see a transformation within these special students. They took pride in their work and shared much more about what the root of their brokenness was and it’s causes. Art became the language they were looking for and it set them free. One of my favorite activities was creating puppets and using them as special characters who became their trusted friends. The students would also use these puppets to problem solve issues they were dealing with.
ReplyDeletePlace-Based Education was something I grateful experienced while growing up on the Island (Prince Edward). We had a wonderful marsh close to my elementary school that our teacher would allow us to explore. I remember doing observations such as gathering tad poles from the pond and keeping track of their growth stages. Another lesson I recall was winter survival and creating igloos outside in the school yard. Honestly, I was so glad that we did not have to spend the night in one of them! Another year, I had a science teacher who had us gather trash around the school yard. We did researched how long the items we found would take to break down in a landfill, these lessons are ones I will never forget. Reading Place-Based Education was truly uplifting. I loved reading about schools that connect with their environment end up having decreased behavior problems along with increased students learning activity. Also, the study on the impact of school grounds on children’s learning capacities caused me to think about how much is wasted on institutional ugly structures. For example, the elementary school I had worked at here in west Texas was like an ugly dust bowl with no aesthetic beauty. I thought of how I would love to bring in a master gardener friend of mine and help create with the students a Xeriscaping and xerogardening area near the play ground so dirt would not constantly blow.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see pictures of your Island--was that the Anne of Green Gables Island?
DeleteDavid, we have had 3 MAE students do projects on their environments surrounding their schools or courtyards within the schools. Changes can be made. It takes time, lots of volunteers (in one case a new boy scout badge was designed for the work completed) and a little money from grants or donations. Just be ware of those who still think roses are the only proper plant should grow outside a building in West Texas!
DeleteThe video--amazing! And the book as well; both present a more rounded, "whole" approach to education. In our humanity, facets of our personality and life bleed into each other--none of us are as rigidly compartmentalized as we see presented in educational settings. At school we travel from room to room: here we learn about writing and expressing, down the hall we learn how to compute, outside we "do" life. But in reality all things flow. The great thing about Sam Mockabee as an educator is that he connected students to the real world and the real struggles of people needing a space to live. My freshman and sophomore years I was pre-Arch (granted these students in the video were probably more advanced), but we never once had a project that even made us think in the manner Sam directed his students, let alone took us into a real-world setting. It was all elite and cerebral.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started teaching I had great dreams of engaging the students outdoors: building sculpture gardens, interacting with the neighborhood. All that fell to the wayside as I was swamped under the load of two elementary art programs. I still made the students contemplate their context; I still do a project based on J.J. Audubon's "Birds of America" where we spend time observing what species of birds are in our everyday environment and we eventually create relief prints based on our sketches. It was great to hear students tell me about the cardinals, turkey vultures, and herons they observed when out and about on their own. One of my campuses was on a farm--I frequently took classes out to draw the cows and the vista. I gave that campus up when our program restored full time this August. The campus I chose though still has wonderful opportunities for the students to engage their site. Future projects I have in the works: interacting with the people in our community by creating artwork for our assisted living center, designing art for our police/fire/rescue staff, and having the art club pair with the Environmental club to create works from (clean) recycled goods collected on our campus. Projects that would be awesome (but I haven't figured out how to fund/get the kids there): bring students to our city parks to create sculpture/public art, team up with the city planners to implement student designs into their landscaping projects and maybe have students help. I see the students involvement creating a sense of ownership in their community.
I know you will make it happen. You have the talent and passion to find the way. Usually the issue is transportation which is a deal with the principal. I bet there is a science class with team up with you or maybe an English class that will need a day to reflect on "Waldon's Pond".
DeleteWow, Emily, you have a lot of great projects in mind. I love that you take your students out to sketch birds and livestock, that is amazing. Kids love being outside, unless its hot. Maybe there is local museum or library that can help you plan your events and get you into a city event planning committee. My local museum has been very helpful in the past.
DeleteEmily,
DeleteYou've crafted your words beautifully. Thank You for your optimistic insight and perspective. I completely agree with your statement "But in reality, all things flow". That to me, is how the real world works, not in theory. I'm certain that you will make significant landscaping and environmental contributions when you can satisfactorily wrangle the logistics. That alone can be monumental in itself. You have great ideas to further launch your students' ideas to higher plateaus.
Back in the day, when I was a junior in high school, our Dallas Area Rapid Transit was bringing the rail up into Plano. They had contests for students to design tile work at the various stations. I can remember my art teacher, Mrs. Haggard, having us meet in the Douglass community, a very old African American community in Plano from the days when Plano first became a city. We sketched the historical buildings, talked with people who lived in the community, and researched African American artists that created work rooted in their history. My piece wasn't selected in the end to be the winning and implemented design, but the whole process helped me to learn more about the city and people where I lived and worked and gave me a sense of pride about the rich history in a place that seemingly lacked a richness (new suburbia).
ReplyDeleteJunction has certainly affected my teaching! Whew. The interaction with other art teachers in a setting of such relaxation and openness has made me more relaxed in my classroom (a lot of that too is that I now have only one classroom!) and feed that desire to collaborate. I have always collaborated when possible, but Junction brings a community feel to education that I want for my students. Junction also fed the art bug. Haha, just yesterday this crazy girl helped drag an enormous oval Bailey kiln into my garage (ok, so I told the beefy dudes where to step so they wouldn't trip). Once I get an electrician to drop me a new GINORMOUS outlet, I'm in business to continue working on my clay here at home. I'm excited too to bring some student work home where I can implement James' alternative methods--which I've always been too afraid to do at school because of the possibility of administrators freaking out over the smoke and/or smell. Oops. Haha.
You just have to let your bosses know in advance of your plans, relate it to the history of art/or history of civilization, alert the local fire department and invite other classes to watch. Really,, it can be done,
DeleteI found the Place-Based Education book to be a wonderful read. This is a beautiful book to reconnect students with nature, the great outdoors and the enormity of lessons that communities can learn by connecting with their environments. I am presently not a teacher, nor was I a teacher in the past, so I don't have any opportunities to implement any of these ideals into practice. I hear from many art teachers about how they are overwhelmed with school curricula, programs and the bureaucracy of their system. I am certainly empathetic to those ideals, as I soon will navigate my own teaching journey(s) through this complex teaching maze. One thing I know for certain is that I champion interests stated in the Place-Based Education book. For me, it may be a daunting task to create learning opportunities for the school, teacher interactions and contributions, and students getting "hands-on" experience to incite change to their environments for well-rounded learning opportunities. I feel it it certainly worth every effort. To me, theory without practice is but half of the overall equation of learning.
ReplyDeleteOutside of my previous career in architectural practice, I have volunteered as an assistant baseball coach for 13+ years. That was a year-round time consuming series of events that I remain passionate about. I believe that if I restructure my efforts of connecting my students into their own environment studies, that could be equally successful as my previous baseball coaching journeys were. It will indeed be challenging to implement strategies, find a handfull of "team oriented" contributing teachers, and find ways to coordinate issues with present school district criteria. Perhaps my approach is "dream-like". The way I see it, if I can implement any change, learned opportunities exist for all. I would hope the changes could/would incite changes for other schools and their environments. The horizons of learning in this environment are vast. I relish opportunities for change and enlightenment.
Regarding Citizen Architect, I believe that the contributions of Architect Sam (Sambo) Mockbee are huge. I watched this video over and over again to extract the multitude of meanings that the Rural Studio convey. I truly love the premise of Auburn University's Rural Studio concept and the ideal that architecture students leave their academic environment to live,work, and contribute to the Hale County Alabama community.
ReplyDeleteI must say that when I was in architecture school at Texas Tech years ago (of which I graduated), I never studied about architects "giving-back" to the public for little or no financial gain. The homeless were a fixture within the urban fabric and not a valued asset for the urban fabric. I am at a loss as to why in the 5 year program not once was this an issue entertained for any project I or my colleagues worked on in any way. I am embarrased by that premise. Architects have the wherewithall to change people's lives by architectural design. That is significant. My question is, can architects not contribute anything to further societal good other than to only satisfy clients? To me, that is unconscionable.
Indeed there is virtually no money in Sam Mockbee's Rural Studio ideal. But to me, that is the challenge, the very treasure that Mockbee contributes by using salvage materials to create creative, dynamic shelters and simple public structures. Architectural design need not be expensive to be significant. That is a delightful challenge that every architect should consider. So, I ask.. what about the common man? He/She needs shelter also - are they insignificant in relation to architecture? Architect Steve Badanes said in the Citizen Architect video:"architecture can be very influential. It is a gift to make lives better for everyone".
Sam Mockbee designs for the poor in one of the poorest regions in North America. He, along with teaching his students, provide significant creative ideals to make the most of the least materials. Mockbee utilizes discarded objects and materials from prior use such as standing seam metal, old salvaged windows and car windshields to craft beautiful spaces for human interaction. Sam Mockbee had respect for the common man as he was one also. Sam restored dignity and respect for "music man" and the shelter he created for him, and the Hale County community. Newbern Alabama wouldn't have a new fire station if it weren't for Sam.
"The Rural Studio is a pioneering landmark for instituting the value system for America that happens to be manifest through architecture" said Michael Rotondi, architect and educator of the Southern California Institute of Architecture. I completely agree. Students are in a community and responsible for contributing to that community. Lessons are learned by all, and the public has a wider perspective of the few architects who believe in "giving-back" to the communities that raised them. In the end when the fire station was built, Peanut Robinson was most appreciative that someone recognized his Alabama roots as valid and significant. His smile about the finished product tells the whole story of "place".
This is one of the most beautiful descriptions of Mockbee's work I have ever encountered. Thank you for sharing your architect's insight.
DeleteTexas Tech University at Junction has touched me in several, profound ways. Firstly, Junction is where I began my journey in the world of art through an experimental drawing class with Jeff Wheeler and a fresco painting class with master fresco artist Frederico Vigil. I was/am fortunate to learn under these great instructors. That was the summer of 2013. Before going to Junction, I had practiced architecture for 14+ years and away from it for 4 years. Although I have learned an enormity of experience in architectural design work, it left me stressed and burned out. I have had enough of the term "value engineering". This is a simple term used to remove design ideals due to budget constraints. If you've seen Ayn Rand's movie "The Fountainhead", you know what I am talking about.
ReplyDeleteSchematic design was something I was only able to do when I first graduated from college. Architecture is such a huge realm, I was disappointed that I was becoming a CAD droid to produce construction documents with machine like precision. Problem was/is, that part of architectural design is not something that I relish every single day. I had become a robot for construction document production. I love design work and schematic design ideals, but the AutoCad programs took me further away from my passions of drawing and painting.
When in Junction, I relished every moment of my 2 3 week classes. There were no interruptions, no outside influences, nothing to cloud my ideals of drawing and painting. I credit Future Akins for the opportunities provided me to take these 2 classes and excel. The classes were time consuming and made me think of "seeing" in a whole different manner than I had ever done before. I loved every moment. The summer of 2013 will forever be etched in my mind forever.
I am proud to say that I contributed to the Hummingbird Fresco on the side of the Mockingbird facility at the Texas Tech Junction campus. I was indeed privileged to work alongside master fresco artist Frederico Vigil and some extremely talented artists/teachers in the class. I treasure the memories and lessons learned from that wonderful experience.
Rick, indeed Fresco Class was such a unique and amazing experience. I never did actually have a chance to work as a computer aided drafting tech, but can totally relate to the mundane process creating plans. Did you find Citizen Architect interesting, considering your architectural background?
DeleteCorina,
DeleteI'm sorry that I'm just now responding to your question. I've been overwhelmed with schoolwork.
I truly Loved Citizen Architect and Sam Mockbee's Rural Studio. I watched the video several times to extract meanings. If I could have had an opportunity like that while in architecture school, I might have stayed engaged with the profession. I love the trade off..the public gets architecture and the architect (or soon to be architect), gets to learn lessons in humility, dignity and character of real public needs. While in architecture school, I was regretfully unable to serve an internship before I graduated. The dean change in the architecture school and the downturned economy were huge detrimental conditions for me. I wanted, needed this experience badly. I pursued 2 firms, one in Irvine California, the other in Dallas, Texas. After several months, neither firm made any kind of commitment to me as a student intern. In fact, the firm in Dallas, lost my partial portfolio that I scraped pennies and nickels to put together. It was a brutal lesson to learn of my insignificance to that firm. My architectural life sat lost on someone's desk that only mattered to me.
The treasure of Rural Studio is that the Auburn University students live and design on-site. I believe that there is no better way to understand how and why to design architecture than that. Architecture as I said previously, is a huge realm. Decades ago, architects specified everything regarding architectural work. In my work experience, I found that architects can't do their jobs today without a multitude of professional consultants involved. Today, firms are required by the American Institute of Architects (A.I.A) to respectfully adhere to the Intern Development Program (IDP) guidelines. In my day years ago, the IDP requirements were loosely defined with loopholes. This ideal favored the firms and their interests rather than development to the young architectural ranks. Because I am presently an Architectural Registration Exam (ARE) candidate in the State of Texas, I cannot and will not speak further about this.
To conclude, I wish more architects would "give back" to communities that raised them rather than being solely concerned to satisfy clients interests. Yes, clients pay the bills and that is significant, but architecture concerns far more than satisfying self-interests for personal gain. No architect can argue that.
After reading Placed Based Education and watching Citizen Architect I am reminded about the community based project in which I participated in my hometown a few years ago, which was a mural on a fence that was directly across from a middle school. I was amongst a few student artists that each created art in assigned sections. The student artists mostly did graffiti style artwork, while my larger section was a mosaic like design with palm trees and another with a butterfly. During the times I would work with a few helpers, so many people stopped to tell me how nice it was to have art in the neighborhood, and more so something different than gang graffiti. It was then that I realized that my graffiti laced town lacked art, and that gang graffiti is what my students consider art because that is what they know and see every day. The fence was torn down and rebuilt since, so while it was a fun project, I understood it wouldn’t be permanent considering it was a private residence.
ReplyDeleteBefore I began the MAE program I was in an Educational Technology program at UT Brownsville, and the deeper I got into my coursework the more innate desperation I developed to be with nature. One of my favorite stress relievers is to stroll into a local nursery and immerse myself in amazing plants, and trees. The colors, textures, fragrance, and energy soothed me along with the butterflies and dragonflies buzzing about. I suppose the reason I felt the need was because I was on the computer so much of the time that I need to take a mental and physical break to regenerate. In educational technology project-based learning is widely implemented as well as the concept of a 24/7 wall-less virtual classroom. Those two approaches are also discussed in Place-based Education, the only difference is that there is a human interactive and philanthropic nature involved. What I found interesting that “ students who had been exposed to more vegetation and landscape features showed higher scores for pastoralism (enjoyment of the natural environment) and lower test scores for human dominance (the belief in human’s rights to use technology to adapt to and dominate nature).” (Sobel, 33)
Citizen Architect really touched a chord within me because I started out in college in a drafting program, which I loved, but my path was determined when I took my first painting class. I still love residential architecture, so I absolutely loved the idea of architect students getting immersed in such a philanthropic adventure such as the Rural Studio. I was so moved by this documentary that I plan on sharing it to my high school Drafting Teacher, whom I work at the same high school with now. The accomplishments of the Rural Studio must have spanned over several years considering the time, labor, and energy that goes into such projects. The Rural Studio reminds me of Habitat for Humanity. Doing something that matters, and touches on the greater good of humanity is what matters the most to me because that is what we will be remembered for, the lives that we touched, and how we left the world a better place than we found it.
I truly think Junction is a lot like the Rural Studio because of the full immersion experience. Interacting with one another, dining together creates a real sense of community and relationship building. The shared spaces of the dorms, cafeteria, and facilities is also community building. Junction has been such a great experience for me, that it leaves an imprint on my soul. If there was a way that I could create that kind of experience in my own classroom, I would do it in a heartbeat. I always strive to ignite the humanitarian in my students. As long as I have made them think for themselves, and believe in themselves. I would like to have more public art to inspire students.
After watching “Citizen Architect”, I get a better feel on my view architecture. I started off in the College of Architecture at TTU. I had my own way of drawing and view on what good architecture was. What I am about to say is not a knock on the CoA, it is a good program but it is just not for me.
ReplyDeleteWhile attending the CoA they give you this feeling that the only good art/architecture is what your TA or the professor deems as good. I never thought I was the best drawer or architecture student but they do not make you feel like your work is adequate enough for their program as I saw a bunch of great artist denied. Like in the movie “Citizen Architect” they send the 3rd year students abroad on a similar study. Unlike in the movie they are not sent out to better a community but to work on what is “good” architecture. Like the skyscrapers of New York and Dubai. I left the program because I didn’t feel that it was going in the direction I wanted to go.
I think if I were to go back into architecture I would help my community like those in “Citizen Architect”. I like the idea of helping people like the Music Man. I wouldn’t want to change the way they life just make it easier. People like Peter Eisenman, who only build for themselves is why architects have a bad name. I always do things for others that help me feel good about myself. I make art for people to enjoy and that give me joy. It’s a win-win in my eyes.
I never really had an influence when making art. It was more like I saw something and drew it. The one thing the CoA gave me was the influence I needed for my art. All the art we drew was for a grade but I had one teacher in my second year name Prof. Chinn that always said, “You need meaning behind everything you do, even in art”.
My art is never finished and is consists of scenery. I choose to not to finish my art because I feel that art is life. Like my life which is just beginning, so is my art. I am young and I am influenced by many things. My life is changing and it will show in my art because art is life and we have to change with it.
Kyle,
DeleteI hear and respect your words clearly. Years ago, I was the tiny boat in a giant architectural ocean. I still remember my sophomore year the observation tower for White Sands New Mexico. I proposed a dynamic vertical composition, a "tower" only to have my german instructor hold it up in class and say "this is NOT how a tower should look". I was humbled and I learned to not take criticism personal. He wanted to "break me" of all preconceived notions of tower design.
Peter Eisenman has, I believe, a significant place in architectural design of today, though I cannot readily relate. However, regarding Peter's comments about Rural Studio, I was greatly offended. How would, could Mr. Eisenman know about designing for the poor? He's the dean of the Yale Architecture School. With his position, he is vastly separated from the poor. To simply discount architectural work by any architect as "insignificant" is bombast (his comment about Mockbee's Rural Studio work). Ego is considerable in architectural work.
I completely agree with Prof. Chinn in the statement "There Must be meaning behind everything you do". That is also true in architectural design work. Corina made an excellent point with her comment about Mockbee's work, it "touches the greater good of humanity and is what matters most". Artists and art can and does touch people in multitudes of ways. Artistic expression is a way of letting our inner souls out.