This residency I asked some new G1's if they would like to see my study plans? They did with eagerness. I can appreciate that. I'm a show me person. Show me what you have done and I can then go and do it myself. G1's have that special extra burden of having to write and overall study plan and a first semester study plan. The overall can be taken from your application. I think I have covered that in previous posts so I won't go into it. I would suggest that those coming into the program perhaps draw up some things for both. It may change but at least you won't feel so overwhelmed when you get to that first week residency. A bibliography is also needed so if you have books at home that you have not gotten around to reading bring the MLA format for those books and you will have a head start. So Here I give you a peek at my sutdy plan for this semester.
It is strange I kind of feel like it is peeking up my skirt. But i'm all for helping others and if it should help then by all means... peek away!
Remember that degree criteria. It is essential to any writing you do in this program. Also this is a G3 study plan. as a guidline and reminder
G1's- new student and relular study plan
G2's have a study plan and a progress report
G3's have to do their practicum- That is me and so I have a practicum proposal.
G4's this semester is to fill in any gaps that you may have either in meeting the degree criteria or in your practice
G5's have to create their portfolio which is really just a black book that has presents the work that you have done at the school and ties it together.
This study plan has been approved by your advisor
Guidelines: The study plan for one semester describes, specifically and in detail, what you will accomplish this semester. Refer to your STUDY PLAN AS A WHOLE as well as the MFAIA Degree Criteria, and as thoroughly and concretely as possible elaborate on this semester's plan of study activity.
Areas of Inquiry that provide the academic and artistic context of your studies.Voice
Practicum
Studio Art
Writing
1. What are your overall learning goals for the semester? Describe the areas of inquiry, central themes, concerns and/or questions that your learning activities will address. How do you envision your creative and intellectual work evolving? How do you anticipate this work will move your practice forward?The semester is my practicum semester. I have been challenged to do something out of my box, and so, you could say, that this semester will be a challenge of doing the opposite of what I am accustomed to, of what has been comfortable, and safe, and outwardly and inwardly affirming. It is allowing vulnerability to come forth, even enticing it and then using creative means to document it. It is looking into places not yet explored.
The process of the practicum entails embracing and exploring the different approaches to: the experience, the art and the writing. At first the idea of this practicum was unsettling, but, after 2 months of consideration I feel I have processed it and welcome the exploration. I am enticed to walk into the process—sit, explore and observe. The title of the practicum is "Experiential Exploration of Self and Sacred." Within this semester I will be giving myself permission to create without payment or projection of creating for future payment or a commission. It is simply for the experience of creating.
As I prepared for this practicum some questions have come to the surface. I reflect on these here as I will through the semester I feel that the practicum is leaning in the direction of ritual and a spiritual journey. But most certainly, I think it is just as important to process the questions that I had and have. To look at the uneasiness as I approach and am in the practicum. The questions that brought me to the point of walking this new journey.
* Am I able to designate a certain amount of time to creating just to create, to ritual and creative meditation? What is the process and personal issues I will have to evaluate as I give myself permission to do this practicum? Why did I resist it?
* Mother-loss will most likely creep into my work as I am still grieving the death of my mother. I am working through my own grief of losing my mother. How does this place of emotional involvement keep me from the type of unusual experiences that I am used to having, when I am on the outside looking in? Do I somehow feel less connected in an observing way, when I am wrapped within the grief? Is this what my client's feel when they are searching for their loved one and feel almost jealous of the connection that I have with the deceased, that they cannot reach. Must you step out of the emotional involvement to receive some of the connections that I seem to have with posthumous commissions?
* When considering a practicum where I create art that is not commissioned based. Why does it bother me that I would be creating art that does not have a place or purpose? I understand the need for others to do this. It is not the experience that I am have trouble with, it is having the physical 3d objects when I am done, and not having a place for them. Once they are created, the purpose is complete. Now they feel like stuff that I have to find a place for. Is it so important to create?
* Can I instead create opposite of what I do now? Can I create temporal objects? Can I create things that are not meant to last, instead of bronzes that will be here forever? Can I work with miniature expression instead of life-size or monumental? Also, instead of creating over exceptionally long duration's, what if I focus on fast?
* After being away from color for so long, how will it feel to incorporate it into my artwork, either in sculpture or illustration?
* A recent thought that has come up is surrounding the security of doing bronze commissions. In this practicum, I am the only person to validate the artwork that is created, or I may not validate it. How will it feel to loosen up, or be quick or watch something disintegrate? Will the work still be considered graduate level work, once I have been taken out of my comfort zone? Have I let my day-to-day artwork, commissioned, and paid writing defines who I am as an artist and writer?
* How can I tell a story using something other than words?
* When I let my own voice emerge singularly without client influence either in artwork, or writing what will it say? Is this practicum beneficial in my development as an artist and writer? I'm trying to embrace it and step out of the thought that it is a waste of time. I would never attempt this without the prompting of practicum. I have too much creating to do for others.
When asked how I envision my creative and intellectual work evolving during this semester I really can't say. I am sure it will evolve; all journeys affect the person taking them. To be perfectly honest, I don't know how this semester will move my practice forward. The question becomes one of my own questions.
2. What creative projects will you undertake and what products do you envision emerging from your creative work this semester? Describe how this work will be documented and how it may contribute to the development and rigorous exploration of your interdisciplinary practice.SEE PRACTICUM
3. What critical discourses and theoretical concepts will you engage with this semester? Identify the artists; theorists; movements; fields of study; cultural, social and political frameworks; or other areas of knowledge that you plan to explore and describe how you see this work in conversation with your creative projects and/or contributing to your overall creative development. How will you document this activity; what written or other products-such as critical writing, essays, annotations, etc.-will emerge?I have had an entire semester to sit with this idea of a practicum as I presented it to Jackie last residency. I am now excited about the process. I am very glad I did preplan it as it has taken me an entire semester to settle into the idea. There are several areas that I think I may explore and it is defined in the Practicum Proposal. I am a perpetual documenter. Depending on the concept of each of the pieces I may use photography, videotape or just write essays. Maybe I'll cull back and explore a different voice using fewer words, perhaps poetry. I think it will also be necessary to keep my own journal on my feeling of this process. I would like to let the practicum mold itself. That is the point of the practicum to take dictation out of my creations, and, therefore, the documentation and the process are guided by the creation.
I am a perpetual documenter. I think it will also be necessary to keep my own journal on my feeling of this process. I would like to let the practicum mold itself, and as I watch how it happens see how it molds the artist.
4. What specific resources do you plan to use? Include a Bibliography, as well as other resources you plan to use. In addition, please describe how you envision co-learning with peers this semester.I would like to read. Reading helps me to reflect. It influences my thoughts. Because the type of writing I may be attempt is not something I practice daily, it will help to read it. I might also like to spend time looking at other artists and their introspection or perhaps work like Andy Goldsworthy. The following are suggestions for the semester from myself and others. I'm open to further suggestions.
NEW ADDITIONS
Mcgee, Margaret. Haiku--the Sacred Art: a Spiritual Practice in Three Lines. City: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2009.
Hass, Robert et.al. The Essential Haiku. New York: Ecco Press, 1994.
Hamill, Sam. The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets. Boulder: Shambhala, 2006.
Cheng, Francois and Fabienne Verdier. In Love with the Way : Chinese Poems of the Tang Dynasty. Boulder: Shambhala, 2002.
Ellis, Normandi. Awakening Osiris. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1988.
Beier, Ulli. Origin of Life and Death. London: Heinemann, 1966.
Hahn, Kimiko. The Unbearable Heart. City: Kaya Press, 1995.
Hahn, Kimiko. Mosquito and Ant: Poems. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.
Sanchez, Sonia. Like the Singing Coming off the Drums. Malaysia?: Beacon Press, 1998.
Mandela, Nelson. Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007.
Fox, John. Finding What You Didn't Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making. NY: Tarcher/Putnam, 1995.
Langer, Suzanne K. Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite, and Art. NY: New American Library, 1951.
Palmer, Parker J. Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 2000.
Behn, Robin and Chase Twichell. The Practice of Poetry. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Kowit, Steve. In the Palm of Your Hand. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.
Elbow, Peter. "Voice as a Lightning Rod for Dangerous Thinking.." (1995): Print.
Newlove, Donald. First Paragraphs. New York: H. Holt, 1993.
5. If you are planning a practicum for this semester, include the complete Practicum Proposal (as outlined in the MFAIA Handbook Addendum) here, describing the project's aim in relationship to your learning goals and how you plan to document it.TITLE " Experiential Exploration of Self and Sacred"
This practicum is an abandonment of the creating for monetary reward or dictation by others and instead encouraging exploration, introspection, and fermentation while giving place to the emotional nuance of the creation.
As a paid sculptor and writer I work from commission to commission and project to project. The projects have a purpose and the finished object or writing has a place. In this practicum I am holding space for creating. There is no client to satisfy and no dictated topic of writing deadline to meet. The only prompting is the dance between muse and self.
This practicum includes both explorations of art as well as writing. I am requesting narrative transcripts and course equivalents. The course equivalents will show this semester as an equal exploration of both. My goal is to dedicate a designated amount of time in complete abandonment to the muse. I'm considering 10-15 hours a week in this process of creating without dictation. It is hard to define what that looks like. Some of it may be just being still and waiting, there may also be ritualistic experiences; some of it may be processing what comes up in the process of interactions. Some may be observing, and of course the creating.
As a beginning to this journey I may like to explore the following.
I may like to explore the gesture and moment of creating fast, a brush stroke and gesture in clay as compared to the time intensive work of my traditional practice. Similarly the writing, prompted by the sacred, the ritual, the exploration or experimentation will support the journey and the work. I am drawn to poetry and haiku or simplicity within fewer words.
Perhaps my work will become a part of the natural processes of life and death— explorations in creating temporal objects as compared to the bronzes that I do now. Creating pieces that change form through time, in a ritual of exploration and experience.
I want to tune in to my own inner voice, the voice of my ancestors, and the voice of nature and God, instead being lead by the voice of clients.
Introspection
I am sure the process will entice emotion and thought. This is the introspection of my practicum. Where is this journey taking me? I'm genuinely trying to allow it to happen, to be swept away.
Possible Art Projects "Generational Touch"
As beginning projects, I want to start with two elements in my studio that have a very strong emotional attachment to me. The hand cast of my deceased mother and the hand cast of my father. I may also cast my own hand as well as my daughters and use casts of these in different aspects of the art of "generational touch" There are several things I would like to do with these hands the first being a ritualistic candle burning where the wax drips from one to the other hand. Perhaps different object are placed in the wax in layers. As I work in the studio I will make this project a regular part of my creative process and reflecting on what it means to me. I may also like to take these hands to different places and set them or even leave them and observe how I feel. What if I cast my mom's hand in sugar? And placed it in the yard exploring what this means to me as I watch it deteriorate?
I will document my feelings about "generational touch" in a creative journal.
"Small Gestures of expression".
I want to explore doing small gestures to see if I can create the emotional reaction or involvement from something small and quick. If I can get these to work, I'd like to create one a day for a semester.
Interaction with nature
What art would I like to interact with in nature? Can I create out of nature? In this same light, as I explore this artistic process I would like to do the same with words and writing. Perhaps they are combined? What if I cast my father's hand in gypsum and wrote with his finger? What would I write, Where would I write it? How would I feel as his fingers were worn away?
This is just a sample of what I am thinking. I'm trying to let the process happen and really not dictate too much into my plans. Otherwise I begin to enforce the deadlines and restrictions and am getting away of the intention of the practicum. I am also certain that this practicum will bring up lots of questions within myself as I mention in other parts of my study plan. I may have to keep a separate journal on that as well. The process will be documented, but I would like to reserve how it will be documented to the process itself. Some may require photography, some writing, and some video. At the end of the semester I will have an art show where I will present this "new body of work."
6. How will the work you are planning for this semester advance you toward fulfillment of the MFAIA degree criteria?
This will also be seen as I work through this semester. I know it satisfies my practicum and it focuses on a fully developed personal practice. It may advance in other areas, but once again, I do not wish to dictate that at this time. I want to “trust the process.” { NOTE THIS IS A STRANGE WAY TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION AND I WOULD NOT THINK ABOUT ANSWERING IT THIS WAY HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE DIRECTION OF MY PRACTICUM)
Keep in mind, as you plan your study, the ways in which you will move towards meeting the MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts Program's Degree Criteria. Please refer to these criteria.
At the end of the semester you will write an evaluation report. Then you will need to look at this plan and ask yourself how well you followed it. The more specific it is now, the easier to compare it with what you actually do during the semester. The clearer your goals, your plans for learning activities and resources, the schedule you laid out for yourself, and your description of the products you hoped to make, the easier it should be for you to assign values to or find value in ('evaluation') these aspects of your ongoing study.
If you and your advisor agree that your study plan should be changed during the semester, make sure the changes are recorded in an Amended Study Plan. If this change indicates a change in your STUDY PLAN AS A WHOLE, amend that plan as well. To formal changes to either study plan, your advisor must approve the changes in the Student Information System. © Goddard
Thank you to my G2 group. Thanks for inviting me in, and bonding. I am amazed that God landed me in your group, a group that understood lost and mourning and that realizing mourning was actually praise. I bond with you not because of our studies, but because of what we share in between our studies that makes each of us so very deep. thank you, and oh yes, Congrats to Amanda on her graduation.
