Art and Design Education Department Spring 2020: Curating Learning

Learning

Pratt Institute Art & Design Education

Curatin

Curating Learning Spring 2020

Works by: Samantha Angelillo Myasia Bermejo Brenda Chapnick Alyssa Klemmtz Zac-Va Lareche Jonathan Leung Sofia Mirante Rachel Shanley Cade Smith Sophia Stokkeland Colleen Stonebrook

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Curating Learning showcases the work of ADE seniors at the culmination of its capstone course as they curate their experiences as artists, cultural producers, and learners. The group exhibition, originally planned for the Nancy Ross Project Space, turned virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research projects and related artworks created, emphasize student interdisciplinary connections and reflections on how knowledge is constructed and facilitated through teaching, learning, and curating.

Students integrated learning across their courses, community-based and museum positions and internships, as well as co-curricular experiences, in both formal and informal settings. Working across media, and informed by their own research as well as an analysis of theories of art and education, they designed applicable methodologies and created projects that ultimately highlight their perspective on integrated learning across the studio, classroom, and community.

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Introduction from the Chair

This Catalogue reflects the diversity of practices of the graduates of Art and Design Education at Pratt Institute, featuring work by students in the BFA in Art and Design Education, in Curating Learning, a class taught by Borinquen Gallo. It is evidence of our capacity to foster the growth of both artist/designer and teacher. One of the first in the country to include design education (K–12), the Art and Design Education Department integrates a rigorous program of historical, theoretical, and conceptual study which informs practicum courses in New York City Public Schools and other educational settings. Practicing artists, scholars, and educators, our graduates depart equipped and well versed in the contemporary interdisciplinary dialogue surrounding teaching and learning in art and design and adept to adjust to the ongoing evolution of the discipline. Whether working as art and design teachers in schools, museum educators, community art workers, or entrepreneurs starting art-focused out-of-school programs, we are proud of our alumni and students and applaud them for their commitment and contributions to the field.

Aileen Wilson Chair Department of Art and Design Education

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Professor Borinquen Gallo

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Professor Borinquen Gallo is an ItalianPuerto Rican Bronx-based multi-disciplinary artist, Adjunct Associate Professor, and administrator, with more than 15 years of experience in the arts and education sectors. Lying at the intersection of art, education, and community engagement, her work delves into themes of transformation, community development, socio-cultural systems, and structures through sculpture and installations made using a range of repurposed materials. Everyday detritus, construction, and packaging materials including trash bags, debris netting, and caution tape are painstakingly manually knitted, threaded, and reconfigured into lush textural weavings.

Across a broad range of considerations — material, formal, psychologically intimate, and social — the work aims to modulate between the familiar and the surprising so as to fundamentally disrupt viewers’ assumptions regarding what is valuable and discardable.

Gallo received her BFA in painting and sculpture from the Cooper Union for The Advancement of Science and Art, and her MFA in painting from Hunter College. She has received numerous awards, including the Sol Shaviro Award (2015), The Marion Netter Fellowship (2010), the Doris Liebowitz Art Educator Award (2009). Residencies include The Children’s Museum of Manhattan (2019), The Bronx Museum of the Arts AIM Program (2015), the Vermont Studio Center (2013) and The Cooper Union Artist Residency (2011).

Gallo has exhibited at Burning in Water Gallery, BRIC Arts Media, Smack Mellon, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Wave Hill Sunroom Project Space, the Queens Museum, Columbia University, The Cooper Union, Queens College, and the National Academy Museum and School, where she also served as the head of the Studio Practice Program (2015). In addition, she has worked on curatorial projects with BAM Fischer and Pratt Institute. Gallo is currently represented by Malin Gallery and is Adjunct Associate Professor of art and design education at Pratt Institute in New York.

Myasia Bermejo

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DeMarco and Asante, Father and Son Acrylic paint and collaged fabric 3 16"Ă—20" canvases May 3, 2020

Spring semester 2020, I had my little boy. He was born February 10th, 2020. I took three weeks from school off and was back in classes 18 days postpartum. The experience of having to put school on hold and return weeks later led me to want to know: What does it mean to be a working artist and a mother? How can both have attention and still be successful? And what mental and physical elements change so that both can be done? In order to find the answers to these questions, I created an art-based self-study consisting of a series of paintings. During the creation of these paintings, I wanted to document my process. I wanted to see how my work schedule changed and what would be the reason I would struggle.

Additionally, I interviewed four mothers who are artists who also recently gave birth.

For my self-study, I began with recording the times I allotted myself over a course of weeks to work on three paintings/drawings.

The pieces are figurative depictions of my partner and son. This project documented my love for them and how I, as an artist and a mother, got back to working on personal pieces. The series was done in acrylic paint, recycled fabric, and my son’s infant receiving blanket. The goal was to record the data from start to finish every time I worked on one of the pieces. I recorded my feelings and thoughts in journal entries before starting the series, and then reflected when it was done. I expressed how I think my work had evolved and explained how I had to get back in the groove with my work and how difficult it was to do. Some of my reflections consisted of recording my daily moods. Depending on how busy I was that day reflected how much work I got done on the painting.

Through this process, I wanted to understand what it takes to be a mother and an artist. This included observing what happens to normal schedules and how that affects one’s artwork.

In an article written for The New York Times, Alice Gregory wrote about how women make complex decisions when it comes to having children and working. She wrote about the artist Ree Morton and how she made the difficult decision to live apart from her children to still be able to work on her art. A common issue that arose in the interview answers I 7

received from three women was that sometimes it’s hard to focus on producing artwork when your mind juggles 20 different things.

But a common word of advice was to make time and work on pieces at least twice a week, and to make sure this is a time that is truly dedicated to working. The three women who were interviewed said that working at night is best because soon infants will be able to sleep through the night, leaving the perfect window of opportunity to zone in on your artwork. All participants in my study agree that while studio time was disrupted by motherhood, artists were able to adjust and carve out time for studio practice by shifting their schedule. With these results, I hope to bring more awareness to how women are affected during this transition process and the need to expand research on this topic.

Brenda Chapnick

Portable Darkroom & Curriculum “Photography Past Through Present and Teaching with a Portable Darkroom– A Guide for Teachers Who Want to Learn and Teach Photography” PVC pipe and blackout fabric 17"×34"×17" April 8, 2020

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With the ease of modern digital photography, we are able to take photographs with little to no deliberation or thought. Younger generations are being exposed to social media at earlier ages, and the instant gratification that comes with taking a casual selfie or digital cell phone photo stands in stark contrast with the hands-on idea of first photographic processes.

Film photography and darkroom processes require the photographer to put thought into every photograph they take, every roll of film they develop, and every print they create. The importance and nuances of these processes can only be appreciated hands on, however few K-12 schools have the resources for an in-house darkroom. This curriculum outlines some early photographic processes, such as creating and using a camera obscura, creating cyanotype prints, and taking, developing, and printing small format film negative and prints.

This hands-on learning is supplemented by teaching some history of photography, such as important advances in camera technology and touching on notable photographers.

The portable darkroom is an idea that can be taken and modified to use in a classroom.

The light-tight box has two “sleeves� and a small window; the box has velcro strips to keep all light out. Between uses, the box disassembles and folds up for easy transportation and storage. The other necessity for darkroom processes is a film enlarger, which is a large, heavy, expensive piece of equipment. The makeshift enlarger can be assembled and deconstructed in a few minutes, making the entire darkroom setup portable. These pieces are meant to supplement the curriculum and make it more accessible.

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Eline Coolen

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The guided art assignment Poster A3 (11.7" Ă— 16.5") 2020

Students on the autism spectrum are very common in all schools, not only in special education programs. Teaching students who are on the autism spectrum requires a different approach than teaching those who are not. For example, students with autism need longer time to process information, therefore the work rate may be slower. In addition, abstract thinking may be difficult for these students (Hermans-Franssen & Zuylen, 2007). This study investigates high school students with autism in The Netherlands that are required to pass an abstract art exam assignment without being effectively guided for their different ways of processing, and how a combination of guidance and art education can help a high school student with autism in The Netherlands.

In the Netherlands students in their junior and senior years have standardized testing. This is the case for all the subjects. In special education these tests are slightly altered for some subjects (like art education), but only in the way they are taken. The teaching materials and instructions are the same. For a student with a disability or varying processing abilities this can be difficult.

The standardized test for visual art works roughly the same in special education. The only difference is that the students in special education have more time to prepare before the exam takes place. In both schools, students get a theme they have to work with. For students in special education, it can be difficult to meet this requirement. Before a student can succeed in an abstract assignment they have to receive guidance for their disability. Unfortunately, there isn’t time allotted for this in Dutch schools.

The sources that I have read indicate that art education contributes to skills outside of arts (Cercq, 2016). My experience as a teacher has been similar. For instance one of the assignments I had my students do last year required of the students is to make a drawing. Once they are finished with the drawing the student has to alter it by cutting it up and rearranging it in one way or another. One of the students with autism didn’t want to do this at first. The drawing he made was finished and he couldn’t and didn’t want to try to see it differently. By 11

the end of the assignment the student did do it. He was able to learn to see his ideas from a different angle. This new skill didn’t stay in the classroom, the student was able to see other situations from different angles. Because of this I believe art education and guidance can be effectively combined, and I have created a method to do so.

The guided art assignment is a step by step method to help teachers create an assignment addressing each student on the autism spectrum and their varying needs. The first steps are the most important. These are focused on formulating what the goal for a student’s guidance would be. Once this goal is formulated the teacher finds an artist and social context (this could be a news article, a social problem or something different) that overlap with this goal. This creates the guided art assignment.

At the end of the assignment it’s time for evaluation. During this evaluation the teacher adjusts the goal if necessary and uses this for a new assignment.

Alyssa Klemmtz

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The Power of Clay Clay, acrylic paint, and video Variable dimensions March–May 2020

Clay has existed since the beginning of our world, with the first ceramic object dating back to 28,000 BCE (“Brief History of Ceramics, 2018”). Humans have been using clay to create figurines, vessels, and tableware that can represent the region, people, and time in which it was created. Clay is made from the minerals of the earth, creating a bond between the natural world and its people. Both manipulate the medium to become another form of itself, changing its shape, texture, color, and more. By physically connecting to the medium directly, artists can sense the movement of the clay and feel its reaction to their touch. This process can be one of the most therapeutic, allowing artists to become more grounded and centered with their work. As an artist, I thrive off of this sensation of working with clay and incorporating ceramics into my personal art practice. My ceramic work ranges from functional pieces to more sculptural work. It is less about what I am creating, but rather asking the question, “why are you creating (this)?” For my independent study, I expanded this question further to develop my research questions and sub questions. My research question is: What role does clay play in my art practice and in my overall development as an artist? My two sub questions dig deeper asking, ‘what are the benefits of working with clay as an artist?’ and ‘how can my teaching clay, as an art medium, be beneficial for children and young adults?’

Through an art-based self study study, I began to unpack these questions, searching for its answer in my clay. Due to the quarantine in New York and my lack of access to the clay studio and art supplies, I developed an oven bake clay that would act as my usual studio clay, which I could mold, bake, and paint to carry out the ceramic firing and glazing processes. I set aside studio time every day for two weeks, keeping a journal of goals, notes, and reflections about the before, during, and after of each session. By having this schedule and journal, I was able to observe recurring patterns and themes within my ceramic work, such as tactility/texture, sensory therapy, and organic forms.

As I began working with my clay, I immediately felt at ease again. Just by feeling it around 13

in my hands, my clay muscles were activated and getting their exercise again. The creamy texture of it has always given me a sense of calm, as it acts like a stress toy to squish. Being a very tactile person, I prefer mediums such as clay that I can directly touch and feel each change I’m making to my form. One of the most beautiful characteristics of clay is that it can be built up, manipulated, destroyed, and recycled to go through the process again and again until the desired object is achieved. This allows an endless amount of artistic freedom with no pressure to succeed on the first try, giving me the confidence to simply explore the medium each time I sculpt and focusing less on the final object. Through my transformation of the medium, I explored the benefits of working with clay for myself, as well as, investigating how it has changed and influenced my art practice as a whole.

Zac-Va Lareche

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Learning Through Activist Art Media and materials Variable dimensions April 29, 2019

The work that will be exhibited is part of a series of lesson plans that I have created surrounding the theme of Activist Art. The reason I chose to focus on Activist Art is that I’m a minority, and I often get asked to voice my opinion on topics in classes I have taken where I’m one of the few or only black student in the class. For example, a professor would ask, “What are your thoughts on this artwork, being how closely related it is to you?” which no one should assume solely based on a person’s color.

Activist Art is about giving a voice to an issue through a form of art; In my own art practice, I try to give voice to topics that I hold dear to me, which is why some of my artworks can be classified as Activist Art. I have made a zine that highlights quotes about female empowerment with imagery of women and words that express what women are and what we can do. I also made a print collage mixing imagery and quotes that are empowering black love, as well as a print showcasing an image of myself as a victim of violence printed twice in two different color schemes.

The research questions that guided this project are: What are some ways to teach high schoolers about Activist Art through art-making, and how is it essential, as well as how does it impact them? The sub-questions are: What is Activist Art? How is Activist Art used in the high school curriculum? What is the impact on learning of Activist Art? What are some ways to teach Activist Art in schools?

To answer these, I set out to design a curriculum made up of different lesson plans to teach Activist Art to high schoolers. There also is a related body of work that goes with the lesson plans consisting of corresponding project samples. The first lesson is titled T-shirt Power. Students will learn about the uses of a t-shirt and how it can be art. They will learn this by creating a t-shirt design done by using the relief printingmaking method. The example t-shirt design has an image that speaks to black girl empowerment. This t-shirt can be worn by a person to promote more self-love for black girls to show black girls are amazing and loved. Students will gain an understanding of one printmaking method, as well as how a t-shirt can mean much more than what it is.

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The second lesson is titled Stickers’ Attributes.

Students will learn about how to make sticker designs using the stencil method. The theme for the example stickers focuses on female empowerment. These stickers can be placed anywhere, on a street pole or a wall, to show people that females are a force to be reckoned with and are amazing. The goal is for students to view stickers in a new way, as a way they can promote a cause. The title of the third lesson is The Weight of a Poster. Lastly, students will design a poster using a collage method. The focus of the example poster is violence. The poster can be put anywhere, where violence is a daily occurrence. To help inform people what it is and how to get help. Each topic that was chosen is closely related to me. I feel that we as people need to do more talking about the issues we care about while also doing something about them. And I want my students to know that they too can make art about issues that they think may get overlooked.

Furthermore, giving a voice to a topic, that is what Activist Art means to me. Through these categories: Defining Activist Art, Activist Art Research, Activist Art Pedagogy, Activist Art Across Mediums, Impacts of Activist Art, Recommendations, My paper will go more in-depth on each one. Furthermore, learning through Activist Art is important because students learn about how they can use art to share their thoughts, new-found information, their ideas on solutions, and most of all, bring awareness to a topic that should not go overlooked.

Jonathan Leung

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Translating Romantic Literature into Illustration: Nothingness & Being Oil on canvas 10"Ă—16", 15"Ă—24" April 22, 2020

Within this series of oil painted illustrations I wanted to explore the relationship between Romantic landscape painting and Romantic literary works to examine how the qualities of Romanticism such as the beauty of the sublime and the duality of nature, manifest across the mediums of literary novels and paintings; specifically perceiving how literary descriptions of settings can be translated into illustrations. In this exploration, my primary focus was researching how the literary landscape descriptions from the novel, Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë could be translated into images. Throughout this process, I closely examined how these illustrative paintings were constructed through the negotiation of literary descriptions of Wuthering Heights’ landscapes into the visual language of art and design. Examined through my self study was how this process of translation synthesized new visual interpretations of the text but also how by translating the literary description into an image, certain details are diminished and enhanced in their degree or prominence. It is through this process of translating literary description into illustration that a predescribed tension and hierarchy of detail is formed which shapes the interpretation of the source material. Furthermore, this series was developed in context and in reference with examining previous illustrations of Wuthering Heights by artists such as Peter Forestor, Ethel Gabain, Barnett Freedman, and Edna Clarke Hall and by investigating photographs of the actual sites which were interpreted by Emily Brontë.

From this analysis of creating these paintings, I uncovered a predisposed tension between Romantic literature and illustration. In examining the literature of Wuthering Heights, I noticed the lack of specific definitions of adjectives, and the vague descriptions of nature created an ambiguity of interpretation. This ambiguity of words allowed myself and other illustrators of Wuthering Heights to negotiate the literature landscapes of Wuthering Heights into spatial maps through visual language, both enhancing certain details of the text while diminishing others. Additionally through this interpretation of the literature, illustrators of Wuthering Heights in their visual interpretations 17

are subject to not only personal bias towards themes present in the text but also, the context of their time. New illustrated editions of Wuthering Heights when published recontextualize the original context of the novel and its interpretation. The illustrators’ interpretations of Wuthering Heights therefore both complement the literature by forming an accompanying spatial map which guides the viewer but also crafts a contradicting interpretation by enhancing certain details and diminishing others through bias.

Sofia Mirante

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Pandemic Embroidery floss, linen, embroidery hoops, yarn, fabric, elastic 2020

Through the creation of Pandemic, I set out to generate a list of skills, techniques, and concepts to explore what could be learned through the use of craft materials and methods, specifically knitting and embroidery. My research questions were: • What skills and concepts can be learned from working with knitting or embroidery?

• What are the unique, tactile qualities of knit and embroidered work?

• What are the emotional benefits of working with knitting and embroidery?

These materials have specific, tactile qualities that differ from more traditional fine art materials such as paint or pencil. Knit and embroidered works have varied textures, and knitting produces a physical object rather than working on a surface. I believe these materials are often unjustly relegated to the world of “craft” when in reality, works of fine art can be produced with these materials just as readily as works of craft can be produced with paint.

The separation between craft and fine art is a blurry one, filled with gray areas and exceptions. After researching literature attempting to define that distinction, I have determined that there is no clear answer to the question of whether or not an object is considered art or craft. This relationship has changed over the course of history and varies based on region and culture. Ultimately, I believe it is up to the artist themselves to define where their work fits best.

Whether or not a work is considered to be a craft, there are still plenty of things to be learned by using embroidery, knitting, and other craft materials. While producing these works, I kept a process journal that I then used to synthesize a list of the learning outcomes of knitting and embroidery. The learning outcomes of knitting and embroidery can be separated into three categories: technical, conceptual, and socioemotional skills. Knitting and embroidery both require high levels of fine motor skills as well as a knowledge of the technical skills required to start and end a project and create a variety of stitches. These materials can teach concepts including using physical 19

texture to produce meaning, incorporating math in the production of art, and understanding spatial relationships. Using these materials also teaches several important socioemotional skills including patience, persistence, and focus. My research has determined that there is value in teaching and learning knitting and embroidery and further development of the inclusion of these materials in classrooms would be beneficial to impart and reinforce these learning outcomes.

My original concept when I started this project was vastly different from what Pandemic became. I started this project before Coronavirus ever reached the United States. I intended to have two works - one knit and one embroidered. In the end, the events of the past few weeks inspired me to create a comprehensive installation that incorporated the worries we are all currently consumed with. There are two knitted versions of the Coronavirus, three hand-sewed, three-layer face masks with pockets for HEPA filters, and an embroidered take on an animal cell. Working with each one of these materials is very slow and labor intensive, and I spent countless hours working on producing these objects. The slow creation of these objects not only represents the way the virus lingers in our thoughts constantly, but it also served as a meditative experience for me.

It was a way of focusing on doing something with my hands to distract myself from the horrible events of the pandemic.

Rachel Shanley

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Untitled Traditional and/or Digital (depends on preferences of each artist) Size depends on each artist and their works 2020

As children, characters in cartoons and movies that we watched growing up played a major role in our lives and childhood development.

From Spongebob Squarepants to Minnie Mouse and Scooby Doo, these iconic characters became a part of us, our collective imaginary and our daily lives, helping younger audiences connect to the real world around them.

This can range from simple math problems to acknowledging one’s own emotions, learning how to properly respond to and reciprocate them. Children become influenced, creating their own characters inspired by the ones seen on television in crayon or colored pencil, possibly giving them a short story or their own personalities. When reaching their adolescent years, they continue to improve their process of character creation, along with a further development in depth of story and emotions of said characters. These young creators see the emotional interactions of different people they see in everyday life and on television and, through their own mindset/process, try to recreate the emotions onto paper through the characters they made. As a way to express their own emotions, many of these young creators will use this as a way to cope with stress, anxiety and depression, projecting and putting all of their emotions onto paper through a character they have made. As someone who has done character creation for this very reason (for over ten years now) with my close friends, I couldn’t help but think of how this can help students in a classroom setting. With my own self study of my own work and art process (which can be defined as a chaotic mess of different markers, colored pencils, etc.), an interview of other character creators and scholarly articles found from my school library, I answer the “hows” and “whys” of character creation. Is there a connection between the self (emotions, experiences, thoughts) and different types of fictional characters (official and self made)? How does character design exactly affect student understanding of their emotions and sense of identity? How can this connection help students better grasp/process their emotions by placing them onto a character or a sheet of paper as an illustration? What specific elements of character creation can bring this connection of 21

emotion and character closer? Through deeply exploring how myself and others express themselves through character creation and our processes, starts, etc., my study highlights what could make character creation beneficial for both teachers and students. We learn about the different aspects of character creation, from movement to timing, and how bringing the abstract of emotion to a concrete visual? state can be a difficult, yet rewarding process.

Emotion can help connect your audience to your character through reliability and accuracy, leaving a mark on your audience by possibly bringing out their own emotions in the process. This process of putting emotions into a different external being can help us escape the realities we live in, and help personify and project our feelings onto something else, helping us feel better in the end. This can also show that everyone is going to react differently to something; everybody is different in their own feelings and emotions. With the help of character creation, students can better be able to express themselves in the classroom and on their own through projecting how they feel onto paper, giving themselves an open canvas to show how they feel in that exact moment.

Applying this practice can help students better talk about and understand how they themselves and other students feel on a day-to-day basis, and through learning how to articulate and visually represent their emotions, grow from them.

Cade Smith

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Dedication Station: Iconography and Online Altars for a Queer Christian Practice Oil and charcoal on masonite, Pinterest boards/found imagery 5"×7" 2020

In this body of work, as a semi-lapsed queercripple Catholic, I explore the possibility of artmaking as an outlet for spiritual development and personal devotional practice outside of the institutional Catholic Church. I began this process with two questions: “how can art be used as and/or in a queer personal devotional practice in the form of iconography?” and “how can devotional spaces be made online?” Though I have experience with online devotional spaces in my own spirituality, this question has become increasingly relevant given social distancing and quarantine measures. Informed by both academic research and personal meditative practice, I have painted icons of saints and biblical figures who have been theorized to have been queer or adopted by queer communities on small wooden panels. In exploring iconography, I found that the process of meditating on each figure, designing, and painting the icons themselves can be a devotional practice, but once the icon is finished, it becomes a stagnant devotional item. I then began the digital altars (https://www.pinterest.com/dedicationstation/ ) as a living, continuing way to build off of the spiritual practice I began through meditating and artmaking, and to create my own queer worship space online. Therefore the images of these physical icons preside digitally among their own altars, where online offerings and related imagery have been gathered in the form of Pinterest boards. This digitized practice is illuminated and contextualized via observations of online worship spaces of both Christian and pagan nature: Lenten masses being livestreamed in the wake of covid-19, online shrines, devotional blogs by and for queer and/or leftist Christians, and Pinterest offerings. These spaces give practitioners of any spirituality the ability to connect with others online, protect themselves from the prying (and sometimes violent) eyes of unsupportive families, and have access to their altar(s) or other devotional materials anywhere, allowing for a new, nomadic, rogue spirituality to form.

My digital altar, cheekily named the Dedication Station, features separate altar “boards” for six queer(ed) saints/biblical figures: Joan of Arc, John the Beloved Disciple, Perpetua, 23

Brighid, Judas, and Sebastian. Images are saved/offered on each board according to an intuitive practice influenced by Catholic saint lore, queer theology/readings of the saints, and imagery received during regular meditation, all of which deeply informed the creation of the icons themselves, as well. A description of the icon and explanation of the imagery used and offered appears in the descriptive text of each saint’s board. This self-study in iconography, personal meditative practice, and online curation provided me with personal, academic, and community data within the following categories: queer theology and Catholic aesthetics, online worship and devotional spaces for queer Christians, imagery related to these saints (acquired via Catholic saint and biblical lore as well as meditation and prayer), and the use of artistic practice as a form of devotion. Over the course of my self-study, I found that iconography is a rewarding way to incorporate art into a practice of creating devotional objects (though the practice must change after the icon is finished in order to still be spiritually active) and that online devotionals are a viable alternative for portable spirituality, with the added benefit of visibility/being able to be shared with others in a way that physical altars cannot be.

Sophia Stokkeland

From Life & From Photograph Oil paint on wood panel 12"Ă—12" 2020

Throughout my experience as a student of painting, I always wondered why my professors would fervently express how different the quality of light and form in a painting could be, depending on if it’s reference was observed from life versus a photograph. I decided to investigate this topic further in an art-based selfstudy. The questions that I set out to answer are: How does an oil painting’s visual results differ in the quality of the light represented within the piece, depending on if it is painted from life versus a photo reference? What is the visual difference--in regards to light--between a life painting and a photo reference painting that one can detect from viewing one of each kind of painting side-by-side? How do art educators view painting from life versus painting from a photo reference? My quest to answer these questions included two different means of obtaining data: creating two paintings from life and two paintings from a photograph of the same subject matter, and interviewing artists and art educators with a series of questions on this subject matter.

Within the four paintings I created for this study, there are two subject matters. One is a landscape painting of the dunes on a Robert Moses beach. The second subject matter is a still life of some of my precious possessions: shells, rocks, crystals, and other small objects.

I painted two painting versions of each subject matter, one from life and the other from a photo reference that I took myself. The photographs for each were taken when I began the painting from life. I tried my hardest to ensure 24

that the cropping and format of the photograph coincided or was similar to that of the perspective visible from where I was sitting while painting my life paintings. I wanted to make sure that my paintings were as similar in format, framing and and time-of-day as possible to enhance the focus of the comparisons and judgements of the two “identical” paintings on the quality of light and form within the paintings. The paintings are all the same size and created with the same medium. After completing each painting, I wrote a reflection on my experience on painting from life and painting from a photograph, recording my own personal observations and data.

The questions that I posed to my interviewees included: Do you dislike it when students use a photograph as a reference for a painting?, Within your personal painting practice, do you prefer painting from life or photo reference?

Why?, Do you feel that the quality of light represented in a painting is affected differently if it is painted from a live subject versus a photo reference? If so, how?, What are the benefits of painting from a live subject — whether it be a live model, a landscape, or an object/still life?, What are the benefits of painting from a photo reference?, and Do you think it is important to teach both painting from life AND painting from a photo reference; do you think one is a more important skill to know than the other?

The answers to these interview questions revealed interesting patterns and links between answers. Categories of answers quickly revealed themselves, showing that my interviewees had very similar thought processes in regards to this topic. The categories revealed themselves to be: What Resources Do You Have Available to You? (having to do with accessibility and pedagogy), Manipulating Images (having to do with the topics of artistic appropriation, accessibility, and pedagogy), There is Only So Much Time (regarding light and time constraints), How Long Can you Hold That Position For? (in regards to composition, time constraints, and perspective), and The Needs of Growing Artists (solely speaking of pedagogy and the timeline of the needs of skills to be taught to art students.)

The data that I collected — from my studio 25

based painting study, personal painting journal reflections, and from my interviews — indicated that most importantly, painting from photograph and painting from a live subject are both valuable and irreplaceable to artists.

All participants expressed that using them in unison builds a strong foundation for artists to build upon. Painting from a live subject is most important to teach developing artists first, before they learn to paint from a photograph. The art educators who participated in this study expressed their perspective that one learns to train their eyes to understand three-dimensionality and light when painting from a live subject. You are also able to interact with your subject, taking in all of the sounds, smells, textures, and perspectives that come with it. Painting from a photo reference is more accessible, as it is available to you at any time of the day, any time of the year, or any environment. You are able to search for any reference that you may require for the inspiration of your artwork. In addition, your perspective and light shown within your subject will never change; it is preserved in the photograph. You are also able to manipulate the lighting and coloring of a photograph using today’s technology. These are just some of the findings that emerged from this limited study of nine participants, including myself. It is a topic that one can study throughout their experience of being an artist and art educator, and continuously learn new things about both techniques along the way.

Colleen Stonebrook

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i invite you to love’ Mixed media Variable dimensions April 2020

i invite you to love’ is an exhibition installation that explores the coexistence of art and therapy within the context of creating a treatment plan for those who have difficulty stabilizing their mental health. The work exists in a public sphere in order to illustrate the importance of being heard; one of the key factors that attributes to mental health. The foundation of this project is created through personal anecdotes, field notes in a multitude of mental health institutions, as well as collected peer interviews addressing: 1. time spent in mental health facilities and 2. art practice(s) in connection with a treatment plan; all working in tandem with academic literature. Overall, the findings of this exploration have concluded that the inclusion of art within a treatment plan is necessary to allow patients an opportunity to express themselves when words fail, as well as a space to get outside of their heads and experience their time with treatment in an peaceful way which will create space for better sessions and healing. The main way to successfully incorporate this practice is through individual therapeutic sessions and opportunities, so that the voice of the artist can truly be heard, validated, and discussed.

The works in this installation inhabit a variety of mediums to demonstrate the different ways art can take form when addressing mental illness and trauma. The quilt exists to provide an example of story-telling without words as a freeing form of expression, and the interactive doll piece is created to symbolize the struggle of vulnerability paired with acceptance that letting go of secrets will allow for the creation of strong bonds with others. Finally, the zines exist to: 1. prove that writing and journaling is vital to a recovery process and a valid art form, and 2. create a space where others can see their own story within the words on the page and therefore feel heard and accepted without having to outright share their strife. All of the work in this installation is incredibly personal, vital to survival, and inviting all attendees an opportunity to accept love, both towards others and towards themselves.

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Special thanks to:

Jorge Oliver Dean, School of Art Heather Lewis Professor, Department of Art and Design Education Borinquen Gallo Professor, Department of Art and Design Education Jonell Joshua Assistant to the Chair, Department of Art and Design Education

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Samantha Angelillo Nomadic Drawing Watercolor and marker on paper 9"Ă—12" 2020

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