Artist Statement | Example and Planning

As you all know, we are in a constant state of revision with IDEAS Project Block. The development of the educational program and the development of projects are increasingly more professional and more true to how creatives communicate their ideas in the world. Today's focus is on Artist Statements. Despite what you may have already started or drafted, please consider the example and make revisions that advance your writing.

DO NOW: Read the example Artist Statement quietly to yourself AND out loud as a group. After reading, document a Connect. Extend. Challenge.

• How does the statement connect to statements you've read/created in the past? How does this project connect with characteristics of your project?
• How does the statement extend your thinking about what should or should not be included in an Artist Statement? How does the statement extend your thinking about the project it is written about...even though you can't see it?
• How does the statement challenge you? What challenges does it present to your existing draft, if you have one?

Digital technology has become an integral part of the average global citizen’s life. While most of our individual actions are associated with entertainment, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, it can also be used to improve individual learning experiences. One of the best things about digital technology is that everyone can use and benefit from it, including students with special needs. In education, it is so important for a student to be able to learn in their own way. Some students are visual learners, while other students learn best when working with their hands. Regardless of what kind of learner a student is, digital devices such as the iPad can be adjusted to help a student with that particular learning style. Digital technology’s versatility is a huge educational benefit for both the average student and the student with special needs.

These paintings represent the different learning experiences that occur with technology. I was inspired by Pablo Picasso’s Cubism. Up close bright colors and chunked images expose the complexities of learning, but from a distance the overall presentation of images suggest the benefits of technology in the classroom and meeting the needs of every student.

DO NEXT: Read Artist Statement Overview - Clarifying Questions? Then, create a short-hand list of MUST HAVE elements of an Artist Statement.

NOTE: Addie will be coming around to offer informal support to project blocks , beginning with Mike and Stuart's groups.

Please use studio time to write drafts and continue the list from Friday, if needed. We do not have Project Block on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will offer workshops for EoL formats and stage presence.

May 6th | Project Deadline

Congratulations! You have reached an intersection of your intellectual pursuits and your developing habits; the end of a creation phase is a unique space to reflect on how you got to where you are in this specific work and who you are in it. I hope today is both a celebration and a catalyst. While we are concluding the formal creation phase (the working-ness, the multi-messy-ness, the re-making-ness), this does not suggest that you must stop your work. It does, however, mean that the work that still needs to occur needs to occur outside of IDEAS Project Block time. This means making arrangements with staff, if materials and spaces are needed. This means early mornings. This means weekends. This means staying after school. You've come too far to not finish!!

FRIDAY, MAY 6th

Everyone:

• Own your Exhibition of Learning date, time, place, and format.
  (Put it in your calendar. Take off of work. The schedule will not change.)
• Write your project title and the time, date, and place of your EoL on the back of one postcard. Deliver this post card to your family, inviting them to attend. Additional post cards are available in the office for larger families. 
• If there is someone outside of your family that you would like to invite by mailing them the post card, please address the post card and include a brief, personalized note in the white space on the back of the card. We will mail these for you; put them in Kimberly's mailbox when complete. (We encourage these invites. Please do not hesitate to ask your Advisor for help with addressing the card.)
• Read Madison's email regarding the Volunteer Schedule, and respond as she requested. 

Groups must decide what else is needed for this day in the middle:

• Perhaps it is a gallery walk, celebrating the work and offering small suggestions for revision. 
• Perhaps studio time, followed up with sharing out the most transformational part of the process at the end.
• Perhaps it is something I cannot imagine...decide together.

NEXT WEEK

Outlining and Practicing Exhibitions of Learning

Writing and Revising Artist Statements

REHEARSALS WILL BEGIN ON MAY 16th

PARADIGM GALLERY INSTALLATION WILL BE MONDAY, MAY 23rd @ 8:00AM

Week of May 2nd - 6th | Finishing

It is the beginning of May, which means we are at a turning point for projects. This is the last week of Creation Phase and the first week of outlining Exhibitions of Learning and Artist Statements.

Evidence of Learning and reporting it in Jupiter:

For Habits of Work, use studio journals, calendars, project planning documents to evaluate progress. Note that while the percentage of these individual assignments is small, reporting on this information will reflect on the growth in the habits necessary to persist through this and future projects.

For Discipline Standards, use disciplinary rubrics to provide feedback on projects as they are at this point. A deadline for completed drafts was set for May 1st. From here, projects should be finished through revisions and tweaks. If a student needs feedback from a staff member in a discipline different from their project advisor's, please set up meetings in person. These drafts might also be done as self-evaluations by students. Please use the comments to indicate which standard is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... depending on the rubric used.

 Calendars:

This week, all students will be asked to confirm their Exhibition of Learning time and place. Madison O'Brien and Molly will be managing this process. After you confirm this week, there will be no changes made to the schedule. 

Check the project calendar. Note that there are EoLs Monday, May 23rd through Thursday, May 26th. Tuesday the 24th and Thursday the 26th are required attendance from 12-8:00pm. Please plan accordingly.

Invitations:

One of the goals for this spring's Exhibitions of Learning is to engage more community members than ever. At the end of the week, we will give you post cards to send or deliver to three people you would to have attend our Exhibitions of Learning. We also have a Facebook event that will have updated information.