Day 3 at Goddard!

I am again inspired by Ta-coumba's energy and enthusiasm during our morning art workshop. We delve deeper into discussion about public art, as we paint, draw and tell stories. He says, "when introducing yourself to a community, you should invite them into your process." I ponder this statement as I look back at some of my own community based projects. I ask myself, "how have I invited my community into my art process?" I realize that only until recently, have I begun to invite my community into my process. In prior community works, I have been so intent on having polished material ready to present from the first moment of a project, that I have forgotten how being transparent can lead to happy mistakes and a stronger bond with the people I'm working with. I realize also, that this desire to be "polished" before a project is finished has been my response to being "new." I have had a fear of being seen as not skillful or experienced enough to complete projects that are large, and may involve groups which are for whatever reason, challenging to work with. I am proud that my work with the Storyline Project of Winston Salem has been a totally transparent one. I have made so many new friends and acquaintances because of it, and I feel like my art work has suddenly been taken to another level.

My favorite qutoe from Ta-coumba's workshop is, "Shut up, pay attention, and don't have an outcome!" He makes this statement in response to working in collaboration with groups and committees. He works with many committees when engaging in his work, and they often involve not only artists, but city planners, politicians, community representatives, school representatives, and other "non-artist" community members. However, he says that many times, these people are the ones that come up with the best ideas, as they have no expectations of themselves. He also acknowledges that when doing community art, it belongs to the community, not to the artist. He says that it is hard for him to sign his name on a piece of community art, since those who brought the doughnuts to the planning meeting, or supervised the school children during the making of the piece of art, etc, are all responsible for the outcome.

Later in the day, we meet in our advising groups. We were all supposed to bring an activity that represents part of our artistic process. I decided that my activities would revolve around what I call, "repetitive evolution," and technique tempered with "unadulterated groove time." Repetitive evolution is a process by which to create dance phrase work, that involves repeating one movement until another movement naturally happens after that movement, until you have a complete phrase. Creating phrase work in this way encourages a deeper level of muscle memory and a chance to allow the movement to come into its own as it is being created. Since many of the people in my group do not fancy themselves movers, I presented this concept as a partner exercise where we bounced words back and forth between us, which evolved into stories, word association experiences and generally, a good time! For unadulterated groove time, I had my group mates draw a "perfect" circle, a "perfect" square and a "perfect" triangle and in between each of those tasks, I encouraged them to engage in U.G.T. in any way they felt appropriate...doodling, stretching, singing, leaving the space, etc. The concept is, that if one must engage in technical practices, they should be tempered with impulsive activities that continue to cultivate joy and exploration, as these explorations and discoveries derived from those explorations may change the way we engage with our technical practices.

Other students presented concepts of asking specific questions to engage in a process, observation as an entry into a process, collaboration as a vehicle for art making and more.

At lunch, I show Alrick Brown, a faculty member and filmmaker, the rough cut of my documentary, Art for the Living. He points out places that need cleaning, asks me questions about the process of making the film and gives me insight into his theories on editing. Ultimately, he congratulates me on a job well done thus far, and urges me to continue to work through any challenges I may be having during the completion of the film and to remember the intention of the film as I continue to cut.

To end the day, Seitu Jones, another faculty member at Goddard and community-based artist gave a presentation on boat making as an art form. As it turns out, he has used boat making with many groups to encourage collaboration, community, sustainability and beauty. I am fascinated as he takes us through the history of African boat making traditions, and the boats he has made with various groups of high school students and community groups. Today, we will venture out to the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Making to learn more about the craft of wooden boat making, before we make our own Goddard boat next residency! I'm so excited!

This morning, I will attend a workshop on comedic improvisation, which I am very excited about and later, I will show some work at what is called, "Considered Space." Considered Space is where students can show works in progress for feedback.

More later!

~Cara