Week 8 - March 9th - March 15th

Silverwood Park Residency with Seth Eberle and Anne Wendland – 5 hours

This week at Silverwood I assisted with two classes, one onsite program, and one outreach program. I had my second opportunity to help with SPARK, a monthly program for adults with memory loss and their caretakers. Seth used the same art project that was offered at NED, screen printing invasive plant species on to wood panel. We followed a similar structure though we did remove the marker/background decoration because SPARK is contained within a one-hour time frame and other activities are offered.

We were able to give more choices when it came to printing because we had a smaller group (due to social distancing recommendations, two care centers canceled). To keep clean up simple we only used one ink color per screen but with a small group, most people were able to select their plant and color. This was helpful because there was less creative liberty with this project.

The outreach program that I participated in was an ongoing collaboration with Hennepin Public Libraries. The activity was Melty, Muddy, Mucky Spring and featured a mud painting art project and a nature station about spring. This drop-in activity was a lot of fun to host. Kids were excited about the paint containing random bits of dirt and mud from outside and were interested in the textures that the paint created in the examples we brought in.

Anne brought in photographs by Andy Goldsworthy that they laminated and offered as inspiration for students that were stuck when given a blank canvas. It was great to see some of the kids use the photographs as a launching point for their painting. Students started with markers to create their design and then added the mud paint on top. We had five different colors of paint but the students realized that the marker colors would bleed through the paint to create new or more saturated colors. We also helped the kids mix paint as they applied it to their canvas.

Week 7 - March 2nd - March 8th

Silverwood Park Residency with Seth Eberle – 2.75 hours

On Sunday I taught a lesson at Silverwood Park. Each month the park has a free program for families called Ned the Naturalist. The two-hour program includes a puppet show, art activity, and nature walk. I led the first demonstration for the art activity and helped participants while they screen printed on to a wood panel.

The demo went well, it was a quick transition from the end of the puppet show to the demo so I was able to complete the demonstration while sitting on the floor surrounded by the kids that sat on a rug during the show. I felt a little discombobulated going into the demonstration because I did not do any rehearsing or extravagant planning but I did touch on the important points and people were audibly excited when I showed a screen pull. If I could change something I would have mentioned the gallery show by Margi Grill that the activity is in conjunction with since that would engage the activity with other happenings at Silverwood.

It was so much fun to help everyone screen print. We gave people the opportunity to decorate their wood panel with markers first at work tables and then invited them up to the screen-printing tables. We had three people to help with the screen-printing, Seth, myself and a teen volunteer. This worked out really well since there were about three screens/patterns that people preferred so we each had a station. We would lay down the ink and then have people pull the print themselves. Some of the younger kids had trouble applying enough pressure but we were able to give one on one support. I have screen printing experience and it was really great to give people more information about the process as well as talk to people that had previous printing experience.

We had a total of 63 people in the hall and 50 panels were made! After the first rush of people completed the activity and left to go on the nature walk, we had two families that came in. It was a great experience working with the smaller groups since I got to sit down with them while they decorated their panels.

Overall the lesson ran smoothly and I cannot think of something that I would outright change. Though I had Seth to help with questions about plants I wish I had a little bit more information about the invasive plant species that people were printing since I often forgot the names. I always remembered the golden tansy though!

Week 6 - February 24th - March 1st

I did not have hours in a residency this week so I kept myself busy making art! In my Installation and Performance class, I am working on a performance in which I am dressed as a sheet ghost (the classic children’s costume that is just a white sheet with eye holes cut into it). In conjunction with this, I have wanted to take photographs of myself as the ghost in a natural setting; I have also wanted to shoot large format film again since it has been a semester and I miss it. I went to Cedar Lake with a 4x5 field camera and shot in amongst the trees and on the lake. I haven’t had the chance to develop the film yet but I am looking forward to seeing the results. It was fulfilling to make something that wasn’t specifically for a class or client.

In Art and Community, we are wrapping up our first project in which we were tasked to explore the genre of socially engaged art by developing a community art project in a community that is important to us. I worked with my roommates and facilitated an event that aimed to bring us together in the space that we share. I am working on the final step of this project, the reflection, which includes a presentation that shares the information and skills that I have gained through the process with the class.

Below are a couple of behind the scenes photos that my partner took while we were shooting on the lake.

Week 5 - February 17th to February 23rd

Silverwood Park Residency with Seth Eberle – 4.25 Hours

This week I was at Silverwood Park on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, I met with Seth to discuss the lesson that I will be leading this semester at the park. Each month Silverwood hosts a free program for families called Ned the Naturalist which I will be assisting with next month. The day includes a puppet show, art activity, and nature walk. The art activity engages with the work installed in Silverwood’s gallery. In March artist Margi Grill will be exhibiting work that portrays invasive plant species on wood. For the activity, participants will be able to color and screenprint on coaster sized wood panels. On Thursday, Seth and I made screens and began setting them up with illustrations of invasive plants that grow in the park.

On Friday Silverwood held a class for homeschool students between ages seven and fourteen. The group of students goes on a field trip every Friday and Silverwood hosts them three times a year. The students learned wood carving this week in conjunction with a lesson about plant identification.

Seth started by letting the students know that the classroom environment had to remain calm to keep everyone safe, he played quiet classical music from his phone to help create this setting. Seth then did a demonstration for creating a garden marker by carving a long twig. He talked about knife safety during this demo before handing out the knives and letting students select a twig. He used this activity as the practice and warm-up before demonstrating how to carve simple figures by rounding the top of a stubbier stick. The students were asked to make four figures. When they decorated the carvings by painting or gluing felt to them, the students were asked to keep one attribute the same across the four pieces so that they could be used as game pieces to play tic-tac-toe. During a nature walk students were asked to pick plants and tell a partner about it using three different statements; I notice, I wonder, and it reminds me of.

Week 4 - February 10th to February 16th

Silverwood Residency with Seth Eberle - 2 hours

This week I had my first experience in the classroom at Silverwood. I assisted Seth Eberle with the SPARK! program. SPARK is a monthly program for people with memory loss and their care partners.

The hour started with a poem read in a call and response style, and then moved into a talk about winter activities and the way the ways that some have derived from necessity. Snowshoeing and ice skating were originally for transportation, not recreation! We then moved into an art-making activity.

The activities for SPARK typically draw inspiration from the work on display in the gallery space at Silverwood. Right now, MCAD grad Kerri Mulcare has a show titled "Living | Mutable" up at Silverwood. One medium that Kerri uses is collage, so in SPARK, people made collages on jar lids. Seth did a short demo to explain the qualities of mod podge as most people had not worked with or heard of it before. I helped hand out materials that consisted mostly of cut-outs in heart, circle, and square shapes. Each paper shape had patterns or images from nature. During work time Seth and I chatted with the participants and helped them find shapes or colors they were looking for.

This was my first time working with adults (or anyone over the age of 11 for that matter) and I struggled at first with what to say and how to be helpful without being too pushy or taking over. I think I feel less qualified when I work with people older than me but that is just a personal reservation that I can get over with time and experience. After the activity, Seth led a discussion about one of Kerri's artworks that he brought into the classroom. A screen print of a swan. One thing I noticed that felt important in this program is that the questions were about what was directly in front of everyone, what they could see. (What is this? What should we name it?) Seth opened up a conversation and wrote responses on a whiteboard. He would not ask questions like what does this remind you of or where have you seen something like this because those types of questions can be difficult for people with memory loss.

Seth often ends the program with a sing-a-long but there were only six people in attendance due to the -20 degree windchill! Instead, we watched a live stream of swans on the Mississippi in Monticello Minnesota after the swan print prompted a discussion about swan wintering and migration.

Week 3 - February 3rd to February 9th

Silverwood Park Residency – 2.25 hours

Shadowing with Jan Elftmann – 3 hours

This week I attended Silverwood Park’s monthly staff meeting to meet more of the staff and get an inside look at some of the planning that is taking place. This month they had a guest speaker, Eric Ringgenberg from AuSM (Autism Society of Minnesota). It was a great opportunity to learn more about Autism and how educators can be inclusive of students that are on the spectrum. One thing that I took away from the training is the importance of outlining positive expectations; because people with autism spectrum disorder experience developmental delays, it can sometimes be difficult for them to infer what they should or are allowed to do when given what not to do (no running, don’t yell, etc.). I left the training with a lot of helpful information and a few free resources that I was unaware of.

Friday was my first opportunity to work in the classroom this semester. I assisted Jan Elftmann at the Science Museum of Minnesota. For two weeks the museum hosts a program called COMET during which elementary school students from the metro area are can partake in two weeklong classes at the museum. Jan taught a class called “Blow It Up” for 3rd-5th graders. On Friday students created two different rockets, one from a film canister and the other from a 20-ounce bottle.

The students learned about chemical reactions as they used Alka-Seltzer with water and vinegar with baking soda to create the carbon dioxide that propelled their rockets. Additionally, the students were learning about cooperation. They worked in pairs to create their “Ultimate Rockets” which included attaching straws to the 20-ounce bottle while it was balanced on its end. This task is near impossible without another person’s help. The students were also able to practice perseverance. When a rocket did not fire Jan gave the student the chance to try again, even if it took another two or three tries.

Through observation, I learned a couple of strategies for keeping students focused and (reasonably) neat when a project includes many messy materials. Jan regularly had students put items for future steps or from completed tasks into a paper bag with their name on it. This kept the group together and on task. It was an exciting day launching homemade rockets outside of the museum.

Week 2 - January 27th to February 2nd

Shadowing with Jan Elftmann – 1 hour

This week I was able to meet with Jan Elftmann at the Science Museum of Minnesota where she is an instructor. We discussed what opportunities I will have to reach my required hours for the shadowing. In the next two weeks, I am able to observe and assist Jan in a class for students visiting the museum called “Blow it Up”. We talked about some of the expectations for teaching at the museum including asking students questions about their process instead of leading them to the “correct” answer or the lesson’s expectations. Jan also toured me around the education classrooms and storage.

In addition to observing and assisting with classes, Jan invited me to other events that she is involved in. One is the tiny art car parade that takes place at the Art Shanty Projects on Lake Harriet, and the other an opening at the Art at 801 gallery.

Week 1

Silverwood Park Residency – 1.5 hours

This week I was able to meet with David Donovan, the Program Coordinator at Silverwood Park to discuss the schedule for my residency there this semester. I was able to meet some of the staff and tour the gallery and classroom spaces (as well as other park amenities including the café and event hall). This was my first visit to the park and it was a great experience to get acquainted with the wonderful area and people.

One of our goals was to set up my schedule. Though I will be assisting with several on and off-site programs, I was able to hear in-depth about two monthly programs that Silverwood offers. One of the educators that I met was Seth Eberle who I spoke with about SPARK! which is for people living with memory loss and their care partners, and Ned the Naturalist which is a free family event with a puppet show, art activity, and nature walk. I am excited to begin assisting with classes at Silverwood in the upcoming weeks!