Shadowing at PiM Arts Highschool with Julie Fowler

Monday- Wednesday 8:20AM-11:10AM: Shadowing Under Julie Fowler in Fashion Design and Animation Seminar

The experience of shadowing at PiM arts high school was so special and I really enjoyed my time there, especially being there in person. Julie Fowler is a phenomenal teacher, I watched her balance checking in with students, showing presentations for that day's planned lesson, classroom organization and somehow managing to run both an in-person and online classroom at the same time. 

There were moments that really stood out to me during this my shadowing experience where I was amazed by the flexibility that Julie exhibited when situations arise. Julie was careful balancing addressing topics of the class with current events happening in the larger picture of the state of our reality in regards to the news, as well as checking in with students mentally. I think this is super important. I think it is important to check in with students mental health.

On top of shadowing, I had the pleasure of interviewing Julie. During this interview, she gave me some extremely insightful tips on balancing student needs, building student rapport, lesson planning, harvesting materials. Classroom values creating a classroom where students are supportive of each other and this was evident in what I witnessed during my half week experience at this arts high school.

MSS (Fresh Eye Arts) Week 4/5/21 - 4/12/21

Week 13: date and hour

Monday, April  5th  2:00PM-2:30PM  

Today was my final individual meeting with the illustrator and Chloe. The illustrator had to leave after half an hour. During this half hour we discussed the illustrators future plans for their space project and we went over the reference photo process they began. After going through the photos they had already taken, we together broke down what other reference photos they might need to take and what ideas they are trying to convey through this Spatial related body of work they were forming.

Thursday, April 8th 9:00AM-10:30AM   

Today was my final meeting with MSS’s St.Paul location artist group. The artists were working on their individual projects and I could tell even over zoom that everybody’s energy was a bit low. Folks were tired and a bit anxious. For today’s session AJ took the laptop that I was being displayed on throughout the room to talk with each of the artists individually about how they were. At the end I also checked in with AJ about her take on my second lead lesson through the class. She told me she thought it was great the only thing that could’ve been improved was some of the logistics of how things worked on her side. I will deeply miss working with AJ, Ben and this Artist group. They were were all immensely inspirational.

Thursday, April 8th 12:00PM-1:00PM

During my last zoom meeting with Chloe’s  Illustration group Chloe initiated the prompt for food illustration for potential food packaging. The illustrators were allowed to use any media that had on hand. To brainstorm ideas for what kinds of food everyone should be illustrating today, Chloe asked what everyone’s favorite foods are. The two foods everyone illustrated their own versions of today were pizza and cheesecake! We of course listened to Country Roads by John Denver to honor one of the illustrators wishes but we also listened to some of the music that Chloe liked which was classical, a nice change.  Similar, to working with the AJ + Ben’s Artist group, I will deeply working with these Illustrators. So much talent among these folks. I will definitely keep an eye on the organization’s social medias and wesbite for updates from the artists. :)                                                    

MSS (Fresh Eye Arts) Week 3/29/21 - 4/2/21

Monday, March 29th 2:00PM-2:30PM

Monday was the individual weekly meeting with the illustrator. We had to cut this meeting short by half an hour because the Chloe had to physically meet with someone at the St. Paul MSS location. During this half hour, the illustrator exhibited the numerous cabin drawings she made over the past week over her zoom camera. She created a total of six! She exceeded my expectations with the prompt of cabin drawing. These drawings all were skilled with their composition layouts and level of detail applied with pen and ink on paper. I see a lot of love applied in some of drawings especially in the areas of specific rendering in the chimney, outdoor cabin walls, and tree branches. Witnessing this series come to life made me so excited to see what the illustrator had to create in the future. Chloe, the illustrator and I concluded this meeting with helping the illustrator strategize taking sight specific reference photos for her upcoming self-lead project on rendering important places to her. 

Pictured below are the cabin drawings the illustrator created. Here is a link to the illustrators online portfolio to see more of her work. https://www.fresheyeillustration.com/staciesampson

Tuesday, March 30th 12:30PM-1:00PM: Reviewing Lesson Plan with Aki

During my session reviewing my PBM on my Intuitive Collage  Collaboration lesson, Aki asked me to look into more specific reference images that better suited the project I had in mind. They also suggested that I spent more time planning supply distribution and presenting timing and language. This meeting was super helpful with preparing me for Thursday’s lesson.

Thursday, April 1st 9:00AM-10:30AM: Artist Group with AJ + Ben 

This Thursday I presented my second prepared lesson as part of my Teaching Artist Practicum curriculum. I prepared a lesson plan titled “Intuitive Collage Collaboration”. During this lesson, I opened with  a slideshow presentation, giving an overview of the project at hand. The artists were then handed drawing paper by AJ + Ben to create thumbnail sketches. For the next thirty minutes following the sketches, the artists were given Mixed Media paper to create their finalized “individual pieces” that would then be intuitively adhered to the larger “collaborative” blue poster board. During this lesson a couple of distractions occurred such as bathroom breaks, a lock down drill and my internet connection being lost. I had to finish reviewing the artist created projects over a FaceTime call with AJ.

I was so thrilled the creative leaps the artists initiated by being free flowing with their mark making and cutting their pieces into shapes! One of the individual pieces an artist made was even created to be interactive where you could fold the flaps surrounding the glued center of shape on the piece of poster board! 

Thursday, April 2nd 12:00PM-1:00PM 

Like the last couple of weeks, this week's lesson was to create package illustrations for art supplies! This week was different because the artists were able to choose which type of art supplies they preferred. One thing I enjoyed about Chloe’s method with this lesson was asking the zoom “room” what they felt like drawing today, (which happened to be a baseball scene) as well as when Chloe pulled up google images of the subject matter the illustrators wanted to draw, she asked engaging questions to the illustrators on what they saw in the images. 

MSS (Fresh Eye Arts) Week 3/22/21 - 3/28/21

Monday 3-22-21 2:00PM-3:00PM 

On Monday, the Illustrator was not able to make it to the meeting but Chloe and I still met to check in on how the Teaching Artist residency was going. Chloe suggested that I start taking lead in helping mentor the Illustrator in projects. 

During this meeting, Chloe and I also briefly discussed the classifications and history of ‘outsider art’ and its relation to representation of artists with disabilities.

Tuesday 3-23-21 9:00AM-10:00AM 

Tuesday was the time we rescheduled to meet with the Illustrator. The session opened with the Illustrator showcasing some of their wonderful Illustrations she had continued to work on over the past week. These illustrations were extensions of last week's project of creating a series of illustrations based off of the story she wrote about appreciation for her care workers.

Tuesday 3-23-21 2:00PM-2:30PM
I emailed AJ my Planning Backwards Model Draft for my upcoming collaborative lesson on April 1st. AJ was really into the idea and notified me that another Art Facilitator will be joining the classroom to help run the class, which will make everything run so smoothly! 

Thursday 3-25-21 9:00AM-10:30AM 

AJ’s in person class now has another Art Facilitator in the class to help assist run the in-person operations and teaching. This person happens to be an incredible MCAD Alumni, Benjamin Meritt. Whose work focuses on living with chronic illness. This week’s class was a little bit more chaotic than usual because CARF was touring and observing the facilities and classes of MSS. To accommodate this background chaos, AJ had me do a simple one on one check-ins with each of the artist’s present that day. 

Thursday 3-25-21 12:00PM-1:00PM 

During  today’s illustration group there was a CARF visitor who joined the Zoom meeting for the first half hour. During this half hour, Chloe ran a presentation on the subject of illustration and how the illustration class at MSS MN benefits the artists of the organization. Chloe also showcased some portfolios of the Illustrators in the group. 

During the second half of the hour, we did a continuation of last week where we created pen illustrations that would potentially serve as packaging illustration for selling a package of black pens.

MSS (Fresh Eye Arts) Week 3/15/21 - 3/21/21

Monday 3-15-21 Meeting with Chloe Russell and Illustrator. 2:00PM-3:00PM

This week was another continuation of the previous weeks where the Illustrator had added more pages to her artist book based on her initial piece of writing. Since the previous weeks, the illustrator had produced seven more drawings! Concluding the book at thirteen pages! Chloe asked the Illustrator if she was comfortable with moving on and decided yes she was. 

After Chloe and I were finished giving the illustrator feedback on her artist book, Chloe then moved into the plan for that day’s lesson which was to prepare for the illustration group’s lesson later that week, by practicing packaging design. Chloe was giving prompts such as these to prepare her illustrators for working with real clients. 

Chloe asked the Illustrator to brainstorm possible sold items that she would like to create a design for packaging on. The Illustrator decided on creating ‘packaging’ or branding for an MSS bakery that sold sugar free Banana, White Chocolate Chip cookies. I’m in love with the uniqueness of this item the illustrator chose. 

When teaching in my own classroom, I will give a lot of creative liberty to my students because I feel like students learn the most when they feel they are in control of their projects/ assignments.

Thursday 3-17-21 12:00PM-1:00PM Illustration Group with Chloe

Today was packaging design with the whole group! There were four artists who joined the zoom meeting. Chloe began the lesson by showing a real example of packaging that was designed by an illustrator. These products were art supplies that featured illustrations made out of the same materials the inside of the packaging contained. 

To do our own twist on this, Chloe asked the class to only make art today using a black pen and not color. We were trying to make art that could potentially go on top of pen packaging to show the potential of the pen. Similar to Monday, Chloe asked the class what they felt would be a good subject to draw to show off the pens technical potential. We started by drawing Octopi and then we also did an orca, after that the class concluded. Next week there will be an organization visiting MSSMN and observing the arts classes to see if the organization is doing a good job or not.

MSS Week 3/8/21 - 3/14/21

Monday 3-8-21 2:00PM- 3:00PM ‘One on ones’ with Stacie and Chloe Rusell  

Monday’s meeting with Chloe and the illustrator was an expansion off of last Monday’s meeting. The illustrator showed Chloe and I  six completed pages of illustrations out of an in progress thirteen page artist book depicting her written autobiography she had shared with us the previous week.  

Thursday 3-11-21 9:00AM-10:30AM AJ + Artist Group 

AJ opened the beginning of this class time with presenting a slideshow she created on grayscale and monochrome. AJ used an array of examples of this type of work, including work from photographs and paintings. AJ did an excellent job of including the artist groups participation in the presentation by pausing during appropriate moments to ask the artists what they saw in the examples she was presenting. I could tell that this really helped the artists make connections and digest the presented subject matter. After the presentation was over, the artists were free to work on whatever they desired for the remainder of the time. 

Thursday 3-11-21 12:00-1:00PM Chloe Russell and Illustration Group

This meeting with the Chloe’s Illustration group was an extension of last week’s beginning endeavor project of the illustrators creating portraits for each of the MSS Faculty to be displayed on the new Fresh Eye Arts website. Some strategies that I notice Chloe implementing into her teaching method are dividing up the studio time and check-ins with the artists through using the tool of playing music that the artists request. She does this by asking the artists what they want to listen to, usually at least one artist has a craving for a particular song. At the end of that song, she then asks the group how their pieces are doing and asks them to hold up their work to their device camera, (in this weekly meeting, everyone is joining from zoom). I would like to incorporate this method into my own teaching practice because I also find that listening to music is extremely beneficial to getting into the headspace that allows for creativity to flow. However, I will only use this method if my students wish to incorporate it into their own class space.

MSS Week 3/1/21- 3/7/21

The beginning of this week kicked off similarly to the last week where the “one on one” meetings with the Illustrator were pushed to Tuesday. Chloe and I spent this session assisting the Illustrator transforming one of the Illustrator’s written autobiographical stories into a series of potential artworks. Watching Chloe initiate this process for the Illustrator was extremely insightful. I learned from Chloe that visual aids and creating collaborative planning diagrams with the learner helps the learner ‘see’ what must be done. This was the learner has also taken a part in creating their own strategy, instead of the teacher just telling the learner what to do.

On Thursday, I met with AJ’s in-person artist group via zoom. AJ began the session this day by showing a video created by https://creativegrowth.org/ . The art sector of MSSMN is in the process of fully becoming a professional art studio for their participating artists, similar to Creative Growth Arts. This video that AJ showed to the artist class members featured artists such as Judith Scott and Bill Traylor. Observing AJ pause this video in moments to discuss with the class is a strategy I hope to implement into my own methods as a teaching artist.

After the video, AJ and I spent the remainder of the class time talking with each of the artists for one on one meetings on how they were and what they were working on. As a teacher, AJ gives her full attention to these artists and what they have to share, while simultaneously aiding them in whatever of their individual needs that may arise.

AJ and I are in the beginning process of planning my next observed lesson scheduled for my Practicum Residency. Currently this lesson is planned to focus on collaboration!

Later, at noon on that same, Thursday, I joined Chloe’s Illustration group. This week we spent time creating portraits for some of the MSS staff that will be featured on the MSS website!

MSS Week 2/22/21-2/28/21

During Monday's meeting with the Illustrator, Chloe, the Illustrator and I opened the meeting with the Illustrator being excited to show us a story she had drafted up in her notes app that morning. She showed us by sharing the screen of her iPad over Zoom and reading the story aloud. Once the Illustrator was finished reading and we finished sharing our feedback to her, Chloe then began to introduce an illustration prompt of creating a book cover. This was a specific prompt for book cover that included a princess and a goblin narrative. This session was super fun, filled with many giggles and laughter because the Illustrator was drawing her version of the “goblin” using a reference of Gary Spongebob’s pet snail from Spongebob Square Pants. 

On Thursday, I was not able to join AJ's artist group because AJ was gone for that day. However, Thursday was also my first time joining Chloe Russell’s Illustration class. There were a few participants who joined and a couple of familiar faces. There were a couple of new folks whom I was introduced to during this session as well. Today’s agenda was creating repeating patterns with Illustration. The MSS Minnesota’s Arts Program Director also popped into the zoom meeting to observe the class. During the zoom class my laptop lost connection so I had to rejoin the class with my phone’s cellular data at first and then rejoin again when once my laptop regained wifi. This made it difficult for me to properly observe the class. But from what I was able to observe despite the wifi problems was all the class members were engaged and excited about the topic, each producing some beautiful illustrations that could be turned into potential patterns.

MSS Week 2/15/21 - 2/21/2

The “one on one” meetings that usually happen with the Illustrator on Mondays were rescheduled for Tuesday. For this session Chloe, I and the Illustrator each showed off our portfolio work, celebrating each other's creations and gaining insights into each of our artistic practices. At the end of the meeting Chloe also showed the Illustrator how to fold and cut a piece of paper into the structure of a zine booklet. This gives the illustrator a tool for the future for easy zine making if they ever feel inspired to make one. 

On Thursday, the Artist group with AJ were working on their own individual projects. I met with the artists present for that day and even had the pleasure of being introduced to a new MSS artist! Some examples of what each of the artists were working on was an impressively large scale Posca marker on canvas piece, a still life of a bird house with impeccable line work and delicious detail, another was working on a piece with a unique tool of melted and re-hardened crayon on a stick! At the end of the zoom session with the class AJ offered some insightful feedback on my lesson on the ‘Blind Contour’ lesson, the last class and some improvements I can implement for future lessons.

MSS Week 2/8/21 - 2/14/21

This week opened on Monday with me joining the weekly “One on One'' zoom sessions with Teaching Artist, Chloe Russel and one of MSS’s Illustrators. The session began with the Illustrator proposing to spend time working on a commission she had received, to paint a Yorkie (Yorkshire Terrier). Chloe helped the Illustrator break down all the steps of consideration that needed to take place before beginning the endeavor, such as, how the artist was being paid, how large the piece should be, what reference images to source and the type of media she was going to be using to create the artwork. After the steps were all planned out, the Illustrator began working on cutting a poster board down to a framable size. She decided she was going to draw the Yorkie from the reference image she was provided by the client and then go back and use watercolor paint. Chloe and I guided her during the process on some techniques on how to use her new watercolor cake pan set. 

On Thursday, I ran my first planned lesson on “Continuous Line, Blind Contour”, aided with the graceful help of AJ Jarvi-Beamer and accompanied by MCAD Teaching Artist, Coordinator, Aki Shibata as an observer of the lesson. There were only three MSS artists present that day.

The day opened with AJ and I figuring out how I can present my presentation on the lesson over zoom, since I was having some technical difficulties on my end, we decided to have AJ share and I would communicate with her when to go to the next slide. 

During the presentation, I explained the concept of Continuous Line, Blind Contour Drawings. I pushed an emphasis on following the guidelines of two rules; 1. Don’t look at your drawing paper, and; 2. Keep your drawing tool in contact with the paper/canvas. I then showed the artists some examples of Architect, Frank Gehry’s continuous line drawings, some examples that included added color by Ian Sklarsky, and a brief two minute, YouTube demo that went in depth on how to practice the blind contour drawing exercise.

After the presentation, AJ and I surveyed the room to see what everyone wanted to draw. AJ printed out a reference image for each artist with their preferred drawing subject for the exercise.

I structured the studio time into two 2 minute drawings and one 30 min drawing. AJ suggested we played music to get everyone in a creative vibe, and put on music that she knew these artists would enjoy. 

There were a couple of distractions during the studio time such as bathroom breaks and an orange being on the floor. We added some extra time to accommodate. 

At around twenty minutes before the end of class we all shared our drawings that we created. I noticed that these artists struggled with part of the exercise I proposed, where they couldn’t look at their paper while they were drawing. But I was overjoyed that they all implemented a continuous line in their drawings. I should've prepared more responses before the lesson because I was quite repetitive with my feedback. Overall, I was happy that everyone did participate in the activity for the majority of the studio activity and they made some work! I definitely learned a lot from this experience and am excited to implement refined lesson planning in the future with my better grasp of what to expect!

MSS Week 2/1/21 - 2/7/21

I started off this week at MSS by joining a ‘One on One’ zoom meeting between a MSS Teaching Artist, Chloe Russell and one of her Illustration Artists on Monday, February 1st. We opened the video meeting with the Illustrator showing us the work they had created since our last meeting together. Both Chloe and I were stunned by the quantity of incredible work this illustrator had completed. The Illustrator also had some exciting news to share about one of their drawings being selected to be screen-printed and sold on a T-Shirt. The artist was so overjoyed and excited about this news that it was a bit difficult for them to focus on the lesson that Chloe had prepared for that day. This lesson involved creating a greeting card for someone special in the artist’s life. The artist had chosen to do a Birthday card for someone special in their life. To initiate the process of creation for this card, Chloe asked some questions to the artist to get a pool of reference images gathered to later harvest from for inspiration. These questions included things such as: what color should the card be, what imagery did you have in mind? What should the text say? Chloe then compiled these found images into a photoshop file while sharing her screen with me and that MSS Artist. This allowed the Artist to have a place to look to as a blueprint while beginning the sketch on the front of the Birthday Card. During this sketching phase Chloe also gave the Artist the reins to choose the music for ambiance during this Birthday card making. At the end of the meeting. The Artist showed Chloe and I their creation of a purple colored Birthday card with bubbly font wishing ‘Happy Birthday’, with a circular cake in the center that had an ‘86’ candle sticking out of the desert. I’m sure this person that the Illustrator made the card for will absolutely cherish this card!  

On Thursday this week, I joined the in-person Artist Group that AJ ran as Zoom guest. I noticed that usually there are about nine artists who join this class, but on Thursday there were only two who showed up. This made a great opportunity to get to spend more individual time with these two Artists. AJ introduced the lesson by defining the subject and then went into a brief presentation that gave an array of examples ranging from Frida Kahlo to Sidney Sherman, to her own phone ‘selfies’ and self-portrait drawing. She asked the Artists if they wanted their reference photographs of themselves to be printed out for them or to be made large on the computer monitor for them to reference from. When evaluating the Artists work AJ and I asked them to explain their work and ask why they chose to represent themselves the way they did. During these conversations, I had a wonderful time getting to know these class members more.

My Beginning Few Weeks With MSS

My Beginning Few Weeks With MSS

I started my Practicum placement with MSS on Monday, January 4th, 2021. Today being Sunday, January 31st I have now logged four weeks of observing classes and communicating with my host teachers, as well as beginning planning on leading my first lesson.  I am currently a part of two different class sessions, but have observed a total of three. I started by joining Analeise Jarvi-Beamer’s first group of artists on Thursday mornings which was a different group than the one she is teaching currently. This is due to the fact she was switched to a new location within MSS, and I have followed along with her. I have observed Chloe Russell’s zoom improv class for a couple of weeks in the afternoon on Thursdays. I unfortunately had to drop that class since the start of the semester at MCAD, due to my MCAD course schedule being too demanding. I also didn’t feel I could be of much service to Improv class students since I was not trained in that field. Along with the new group of artists with Analeise Jarvi-Beamer, I have also been helping with a “one on one” zoom session between Chloe Russell and an Illustrator/Children’s Book Artist. 

Being a part of the classes at MSS has been filling me with immense joy. One thing I really have enjoyed especially, has been listening to and taking note of what each of the MSS artists are like. I believe it is important to get to know who I am teaching, to build connections and get a better understanding of their needs for their own artistic journey. 

Here are some of the lovely facts I have learned about these individual artists . One loves posca pen markers, another is excellent at weaving, one imagines travelling by drawing urban-scapes with pencil of European cities he likes, and one has a lot of fun painting with the colors black and red! 

I am currently in the drafting process of my first lesson that I will be teaching to the Thursday morning artist group once I receive approval from my host artist. Since the majority of the artists I work with, work in the fields of drawing and painting, I thought it would be a fun exercise to do some continuous line drawing! This exercise trains the eye and hand to work together and for the artist to really focus on what they SEE! I remember learning continuous line drawing in my Drawing 1 class at MCAD and found that the practice of it really aided my drawing skills as a tool and I hope it offers the same to these artists or at least a fun experience of trying something new.