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.