Our first set of workshops began this week at FAIR school Downtown, so exciting to begin working with 2 drawing classes, taught by Ms. Nikolai, one of the Visual Arts teachers, at FAIR Downtown. Through a series of conversations we decided that it would be best to work with two of her beginning drawing classes and to focus on creating contour line drawings of objects, people, or symbols of importance to them.
This is an interesting conversation to have with a teenager. How do you talk about value and not have it be money based? Also, what does it mean to say that something gives your life meaning? In proposing this piece, " 10, 000 Things That I Love that You Might Love Too!" A mural project created with youth from around Hennepin County. I thought a great deal about the selection of sites and also about what items have been important to me in my development as an artist but, I did not spend as much time thinking about what it takes to name this in a public way.
Working with highschool student I am learning a lot about the courage it takes to name what is important to you and the bravery it takes to commit that image to paper. One of the amazing insights of this week has been the questions and the images that the students in Ms Nikolai's class has created. The art work is really amazing and we have spent our first workshop classes creating the drawings, and transferring them to our 5 foot by 8 foot canvases. Images to come soon!
