Sunday, June 3, 2012

It has been such a long time since I have posted here. I  finished the Spring semester with flying colors, although it was not easy. The last week of classes was marred by some culprit who stole Justin's computer and my backpack from the ceramics studio. Why do people do things like this? I had a brief break after the semester ended, only to start working on my summer research with the McNair Program.

I can hardly believe I was selected for this prestigious honor, but I am excited to continue my research. We had an orientation for McNair last Thursday and Friday, and I am in quite an elite group. I never met so many talented people. There are 25 of us, including the senior scholars (students who are participating for the second time). Grad school sounds intimidating so it was good to know that was a normal reaction. I am really looking forward to this experience.

My mind is also spinning with ideas for ceramics for Fall 2012. Below is a small sample of some of my work from Spring. I have so many ideas, I will probably be getting started before classes. I am thinking about my classmates in Peru and reflecting on the differences in our summer experiences. While I would love to travel, it just isn't in the cards for me. For now, I will concentrate on the opportunities before me, you never know what to expect!

The Othering 2012 Cindy Friese

Antipathy 2012 by Cindy Friese

Bereft 2012 by Cindy Friese

The Outsider 2012 by Cindy Friese


Saturday, March 3, 2012

Brazilian Artist Norma Grinberg

This week Brazilian ceramic artist Norma Grinberg visited at UWM Peck School of the Arts for three wonderful days. The ceramics club I belong to, CASA, sponsored her visit and it was awesome. I was fortunate to attend two very inspiring lectures, one on her work and on Friday she presented another lecture on Brazilian ceramic art. It was especially interesting to me, because all of the work was in a style that is appealing to me. On Thursday she was able to view a piece of mine  that was on display at school for a scholarship competition and she told me my work was very strong. I explained I am having trouble making progress on this work, because I wasn't certain which direction to take it in. She made some helpful comments and said we would continue the work on Friday in a special workshop for our wood fire class. I am so glad I got to know Norma and hope to be in touch with her in the future. If you want to see Norma's work her website address is:
http://normagrinberg.com.br/ just a note, I use Chrome as a browser and it translates it from Portuguese to English.








Saturday, February 25, 2012

Unveiling of United Community Center Mural

I've been meaning to post pictures earlier, but this semester has been crazy! In January we unveiled the Memories Project mural we created at the Adult Day Care center at UCC. Every other Saturday we work in the Hispanic community with adults who have Alzheimers or dementia. We created a mural and invited the families to see what they had done. It was so nice to hear from the family members. Most were surprised what their loved ones could do. I will post more later, but for now, here is a few pictures.

TASK workshop at SUPAR

I had my first day of teaching at high school and as a warm-up I decided to try a TASK workshop. These parties and workshops were designed by an awesome artist, Oliver Herring. It can be done with groups of ten or 600 participants. You supply various props and supplies, a list of tasks are written, and people perform these tasks. That's pretty simplified, but for more details you can see his blog here to learn more: http://oliverherringtask.wordpress.com

I made a point of telling the kids to be as creative as they could in completing the tasks. As I was giving the limited instructions, one student asked what they had to do. I said, "Basically, act like a fool." He replied, "That's easy, I do that all the time." It was a great ice breaker and I really got to the know the kids. Oliver Herring is conducting a TASK party at the National Association for Art Educators in New York this week.


Here are some pictures from my day.
R. sweeping with his "broom"

Q. draws task




The finished task...

D. hides from aliens

Taping a body outline

Teacher's mouth taped shut

Jumping rope

Q. is weatherman
and here is his "cameraman"


Cindy, teacher and Q. captured by T.



Friday, February 24, 2012

KaBoom! by PES



In preparing for teaching this week, one of my cohorts turned me on to PES. I particularly liked this one so I decided to share it here. I will post later about my first day. It was awesome.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

I found a very innovative blog from a high school art teacher in NC whose students reinvented this original video. I thought it was a very clever way to have kids get involved with art history!


If you want to check out the version made by high school art students follow this link:

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

We saw this in Art Ed class and I thought it was worth posting here. Robinson makes some salient points and the animation just adds to this delightful and thoughtful speech. Please watch and let me know what in particular you found interesting.

Enjoy!


Friday, January 27, 2012

NZ Book Council - Going West

I haven't posted for awhile, because I have been busy with my first week of school. My classes are good and I think it will be a busy semester but good. I have been being turned on to all sorts of new things by my sister and I wanted to start to post some of this - it is great stuff. She tells me I need to embrace Facebook more and hook up with some of the artists she sees information on a regular basis. I hate it when she is right! Anyway, for now just enjoy the above video. Very nice.