David Bondt art work

After reflecting over all that we covered in our readings this semester, I found I was most fascinated with the art relating to the first nation peoples. Learning about the native struggles within the art world continues to show the in justices these individuals face. I am also grateful that I had the opportunity to experience art shows in Canada that focused on native artists. It was not until this course that I realized how the native art I viewed as a child/adult really impacted my creative process today.  I can associate my great love of color due to viewing the many works of Anishinaabe artist Norval Morisseau and the beautiful animal prints made by the Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak.

The work I created for this assignment is stylistically inspired by the aforementioned native artists whom I admire so greatly. The technique I used is called “collography” print making method, which is a new process for me. I designed a salmon representative from the Pacific North West native art style called “Haida.” This piece is in response of seeing a PBS program on the removal of a dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State. The video shows the incredible transformation of a predominantly native community that witnesses the salmon returning to an area where they once thrived. There is also an important story which tells us what the salmon represents to the Pacific Northwest Coast people and it goes like this:

“The people believed that Salmon were actually humans with eternal life who lived in a large house far under the ocean. In the Spring, they put on their Salmon disguises and offered themselves to the villagers as food. The tribes believed that when entire fish skeletons were returned to the sea, the spirits would rise again and change into Salmon people. In this way, the cycle could begin again the following year. Since the villagers feared that the Salmon people would not be treated respectfully by White people who had no knowledge of the taboos and regulations, they did not want to sell Salmon to the first White men.”

 My piece represents the selling of the Salmon to white men who cut off the ends of their tails which keeps them from swimming upstream (representative of the damn).They are also swimming in a circle which represents their completed life cycle once the damn is removed.

http://artfromthetribe.com/?symbol=Salmon

http://video.pbs.org/video/2336971141/

Hey guys sorry for the delay with all the posts but I have been working but there is no excuse for my slacking.  I have caught up in the posts and I have enjoyed reading all the responses. Sorry I could not respond to them sooner and I apologize for my slacking efforts.

Any who…for my final project I decided to do something I do not do very often and I am not very confident in. Painting.  I am kind of a one trick pony when it comes to artwork since all my work is black and white.  I am always willing to learn but I lack the motivation to do anything new.  I am not a good painter (in my opinion) and I have not painted very much. 

I chose to do a painting because I was inspired by Our Lady of Controversy, although my artwork has no controversy I was inspired to do something new.  I do like the meaning or what I feel is the meaning behind Alma Lopez version of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  So I chose to paint because I wanted to challenge myself and do something I wasn’t good at and not be afraid of what others would think.

I painted a cherry blossom tree starting to bloom in the night sky with the moon in the background.  I have chosen this because in Japanese culture it represents life.  The representation I get from it is that when the cherry blossom blooms life becomes greater.  Like my artwork and as time has gone by my artwork has bloomed and become greater.  Lately I have not had any motivation to draw or even do any artwork but while painting this it gave me a start in the right direction.  A friend of mine did a similar piece and I based my painting around hers.  I liked the meaning of the whole piece.  Like the cherry blossom my artwork is precious because it only blooms for a short period of time. I don’t do artwork very much anymore but I do cherish what I have done and what I will do in the future. 

The cherry blossom tree is in the night sky with the moon in the background because I take each day as it was the last. The piece hits home with me.  “Appreciate the moment for today is the day you will always remember, life is to short too worry about tomorrow.”  This is my life quote I have tattooed on me and this painting represents that. 

A Pedagogy that Engages Community

This semester seems to have flown by!  But as I look back at the books we covered through the class, I spot several "take-aways" to apply in my teaching realm.

Through Rendon's "Sentipensante" I saw the connection between a holistic teaching strategy and shaping the whole learner.  No matter the age of the learner, connecting all areas of learning together, rather than compartmentalizing disciplines, and connecting learning to their outside lives allows the learner to have a more complete learning environment.  Rendon has us contemplate our students as whole thinking/feeling/perceiving beings, rather than an empty vessel to fill with knowledge--dumping in the daily lesson.

We switched views slightly in VSD; not away from a holistic pedagogy, but to look more closely at artists pushed to the outside.  Through the essays covering the Venice Biennale, we were confronted with the unique situation facing Native artists here in our country and those in other locales as well.  Through our conversation, we discussed that not only do artists of Native backgrounds face a hardship in showing/selling artworks.  We found that many of us in the class perceive a bias when showing our work--many of us don't consider ourselves mainstream artists.  This creates the desire in us to push on and continue creating/showing/discussing.  

The video of architecture students pushing against the norm in their instruction--bringing an aesthetic to the rural poor in Mississippi--stirred ideas in myself for ways to push my own students into their community.  It was beautiful to watch the change in community as the outside architecture students came into the community and plugged into the lives of the inhabitants.

And in "Our Lady" we saw what happens when a piece of artwork becomes so controversial to a group that it riles up a vicious argument within a community.  Our conversation took us through these ideas of offensive artwork, what an artists' rights are, and how to diffuse an intense battle such as the one Alma Lopez encountered.

As I process each of these ideas and how it percolated through my conscious and into my day to day existence, I saw a theme appear.  

Recently in the news the idea of economic inequality and yet again, anti-capitalism/anti-Reganism have been pushed to the forefront of national conversation again.  These issues aren't any more pressing in recent days (as a slightly cynical libertarian I blame the media for stirring up problems where problems really are no worse than usual), but I've seen the usual increase in social media on these topics.  I see friends lamenting how our communities are colder (HA!  ice storm, yes, but also relationally) and we find greed in our holidays rather than charity and goodwill towards our common man.  

Yet in my community I see warmth and communication.  Thursday night as the ice fell and temperatures dropped, a limb came down on my power line.  This single gal didn't freak immediately, but after some sparks ensued, I called my firemen and waited for them to instruct me.  The lights of the firetrucks brought my neighbors out to check on me.  They made sure I was well and helped me get my car ready to head to my parents'.  The next day my neighbors began cutting the fallen tree off my line.  And called our neighbor up the street who is an electrician.  From the warmth of my parents house I began work on the dozens of cookies I'd deliver to all my neighbors who were working to help me out.  (And I'll probably ice up their favorite winter six-pack as well).  All this to demonstrate that no, there isn't a freezing in relationships in our communities.  

It is up to each one of us to reach out to our neighbors.  To help your neighbor, you have to KNOW your neighbor.

My neighbors check on me in crisis because I made it my goal to know them.  I'm constantly talking their ears off as I walk my dog or get my mail or tend to my garden.  I pack up my car with goodies I find at the plant sale to share with my neighbor Marian in her garden.  My plumber Johnny lives two houses over; he checks on me and I serve him up fresh baked bread and cold beers.  He brings me fresh chicken and duck eggs.  A small group of dog-walking neighbors meet up in the park on our afternoon walk to catch up.  

Even outside of my street and neighborhood, I have made an effort to engage my PTA moms and the area arts groups.  The PTA moms are plugged into my art classroom and help me to raise supplies and funds for the kids projects.  When I needed a solution to my horrible art storage problem, I sent out feelers for boy-scouts needing to complete their Eagle Scout project.  I have two coming up to school this week to measure for awesome flat file storage. 

I didn't wait for people to show me they deserved my kindness; "when they're nice to me, I'll be nice back."  All this goodwill comes out of a pointed effort to befriend those in my life.  

What I see solving problems, inequalities/rifts/offenses, in our community is training ourselves and our students to reach out into our communities and ENGAGE the people we run into.  Neighbors, firemen/police/facilities, school communities.  If each of us has the default setting "help those around me" than we can help to heal many hurting individuals/families in our day-to-day paths.

Each of these books tie into this theme.  A pedagogy designed around seeing society and being engaged in society.  The theme of being the solution.  To effect change by demonstrating the ways to changing injustices.  Not waiting for a government program to step in, not waiting for "someone else" to come fix it.  "When someone else starts doing that, then I will."  But to step up and help in ways that we each can help.  Little things or big, just by changing our outlook to be "other" oriented rather than self-absorbed.  

My art work for this semester are two collages.  I've layered the pieces originally both prints, with paint to pull out my imagery of the tree of life and a fallen dove.  The larger piece is a piece I'm mailing back an forth to Will Clark, another Junction former student that I made a friendship with that past summer.  He and I embraced the idea of long distance art making.  I'll mail him this piece and see what changed he creates.  Perhaps he'll send it back again.  The dove piece is an artwork that I started as I continue working through ideas surround sexual assault.  I tend to use lots of tree, dove/bird, and rodent imagery when dealing with this issue.  The tree for me ties into a couple themes:  the idea of the original tree and original sin (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil)--a prelapsarian utopia and then the pain in the postlapsarian world.  The tree also symbolizes family and rooting for me--a support system and a way of belonging, being rooted.  The bird (dovish) is obviously wounded/falling; ideas concerning a peaceful person/being and injury without provocation.