Week Eleven : Dagaz (The Final Week)

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Dear Reader,

This is the last week of the practicum and I have to tell you how incredible it’s been. Regular reminders during this online class from the ever flowing river, Aki Shibata, supported by welcome peer discussion outside of class meetings. This semester has been the strangest end to the strangest year, though the support and integration of all sorts of artistic opportunities has flourished what the ideas of the future can hold.

I will remember this span of time during the most turbulent year in almost all of human history with a memory of recognizance and perseverance. What a ride, what a beautiful life.

Questions I asked myself :

• Do the swans know when their eggs will hatch?

• How does the world feel about the trees?

• Can we work together with the coming of the summer breeze?

Thank you for reading, endlessly

Week Ten : Berkana

Dear readers,

This week was a difficult one, for many reasons. Not a half an hour after the purchase of a non-refundable bus ticket, my brother calls me and tells me there is something wrong with the car’s coolant system on a Thursday night. The car that I was going to take back up to Minneapolis upon my arrival home is now decommissioned until I can get it into the shop… the following Thursday being the earliest available time slot.

This is a cosmic intervention telling me I need to spend time with my overheating brother. The one who has been driving this car for the past three weeks forgetting to add the compatible type of coolant.

Teaching moments arise when one let’s themselves learn from the cosmos pushing and pulling the fates of all of those intertwined. But these moments ONLY arise when we are paying attention to what is happening around us. Our awareness is directly linked to our ability to spread a positive influence in this world. As long as we are paying attention, we can lift each other up to the heavens.

Questions I asked myself :

- Do we have what it takes to wake up?

-How much wood could a wood-chuck chuck, if a wood-chuck could chuck wood?

Week Nine : Inguz

Dear Reader,

This was a prompt-less ArtBuddies week due to the students in school only recently getting back from a quarantine. This is acceptable, although I do hope I will receive a letter from my ArtBuddy soon!

In the meanwhile I’ll spend this week catching up on journals and getting prepared to shadow an art’s organization to better learn what I can do in the artistic world. How to better represent disenfranchised voices, and hold space for the world of art in their minds.

Questions I asked myself :

-When does a seed decide to fall?

-Does a seed look to the ground as it falls, or is it remembering the distance to the ground?

Week Eight : Odin

Dear Reader,

Week two prompt for ArtBuddies told us to write a short letter describing what we like to our ArtBuddies. My attempt was a letter full of rhythm and rhyme to invite multiple readings. My hope is that by introducing elements of language being used creatively, this will encourage more creativity in my buddies letters.

My goal with my ArtBuddies letters is to highlight the creative aspects of thinking about art in a non-traditional way. As though I’m giving my ArtBuddy the chance to be creative outside of a school setting, and beyond.

Questions I asked myself :

-How big is the sky?

-Can the leaves taste the breeze, or is flavor found in the roots?

Week Seven : Perthro

Dear Reader,

This week began with the ArtBuddies PenPal program. After receiving an email from our kind coordinator with our first weeks creative prompt, “write a short letter with a creative self portrait,” I got to thinking and wanted to make sure to include some big influences in my life. Film is a huge influence to how I think both critically and creatively. More specifically, Hayao Miyazaki and each of his animated films have informed a large part of my hopes and dreams for the future of the world, so I decided I’d attempt a self portrait with a sort of Ghibli spin on me. I made sure to include some stickers of some characters too as a little gift.

Revisiting some aspects of my own influences have reminded me of what I enjoy creating, and why. This is important in a creative practice because what informs the work informs the artist, And the more informed the artist, the more complete the picture will be.

Questions I asked myself:

-Are we always here before others make it there?

-Can creation be fun even when it’s difficult to participate?

Week Six : Ansuz

Dear Reader,

Contacting Learning Tree Yoga deemed to be a task of overcoming the self! It felt like a breakout from what I have been doing due to it being almost a solo dive. While I have behind me the status of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design along with the connection to ArtBuddies, this still brought me a level of anxiety that made me question if I even have the skill to pull it off. But I sent them an email anyway! I faced my fear, and even if they deny me or aren’t interested in planting new relationships during COVID-19, which is more than reasonable, I still can tell myself that I put myself out there.

What is upcoming is still soon to be enjoyed however with the making of the creative packets that will go to the houses of the ArtBuddies participants, along with the training introduction all of the ArtBuddies mentors will receive. I will also be a part of this training, though I do hope I’ll be able to put my own spin on some of the activities we can do…

Questions I asked myself :

- Does coffee actually taste good, or is this just a caffeinated day dream we tell ourselves?

-I wonder what the worms discuss at their wormy tables?

thanks for reading

Week Five : Mannaz

Dear Reader,

This week was spent on participating in my own artistic practice. As a teaching artist we combine what we feel in our souls with how we communicate with the ones we teach. We integrate a special form of art, our own, with the voices we use to lift the souls that look up to us for guidance. In order to maintain any language we must practice it as often as we can, interacting with others that share the common tongue in order to ameliorate the practice towards self realization. In this we discover our unique voice as artists, and as we harmonize with this voice we reveal deeper and more personal connections that solidify our passions. This strengthens the messages we teach in the classroom. This gives context for the students listening. This provides reason to pay attention to the lesson.

This however did not pull me completely away from my responsibilities with the ArtBuddies team. I did some more brainstorming, re-working my idea for a workbook into a series of short videos that can be shared across multiple platforms that depict possible artistic solutions to boredom or even a creative block. The issue now is to figure out when to film these videos…

Questions I asked myself :

- Do the trees listen for the birds to let them know when spring is here?

-Is flexibility the lack of a ‘back-bone’ or is it instead the perseverance of self that represents the bending that we associate with a reed in the wind?

-Where do taxes go?

thank you for reading

Week Four: Fehu

Dear reader,

This week was much calmer than the last, but it did not lack in blooms. Even in the winter some flowers of inspiration can sprout and they hold bright color and light smiles. These flowers look like paintings on easels and poster-board cut outs of the kids and mentors that participated in the ArtBuddies Costume Design Workshop.

I plan on contacting a Yoga Studio, “Learning Tree Yoga,” to see if they would be interested in a partnership of sorts. It just seems too uncanny not to reach out after coming up with a “Yoga Tree,” lesson plan. Isn’t that just improbable?

Questions I asked myself :

-How will I communicate what I am passionate about, without stifling the passions of those around me?

-What does balance mean for me?

-Are we as connected as we believe to be? (yes)

thank you for reading

Week Three: Isa

Dear reader,

I ended up not being able to visit the supply closet this week due to returning students that are participating in ‘in person learning’ at the Whittier Elementary. Not to say I didn’t feel anything upon learning this, but the world is an ever changing entity and I’ve come to respect this aspect of life during Covid-19.

With this change in plans, I decided to shift gears and try to come up with a sort of work book of nature related lessons that could be completed by little humans half my age. Sometimes even younger! In order to accomplish this, through the backwards planning model, imagining the perspectives of deer, raccoons, squirrels, owls, foxes, eagles, dogs, and cats can help quite a lot.

Questions I asked myself:

- What would a bird looking through my window see?

-How does ice freeze, and how does the water feel about it?

thank you for reading

Week two : Othila

Dear reader,

Week two is up to me, and I’ve stepped up to the plate. I found a local T-Shirt printer, I’ve made a poster, I made a list of potential sponsors, and my lesson plan is even worked out.

Well what’s next?

They wanted color for the poster, so I’ll bring color to catch the eye even more. If i have any other ideas for lesson plans then they’d enjoy hearing them. I was asked to keep a look out for more potential sponsors and also work on organizing the supply closet that the Art Buddies costume designers work out of. From exploring the city for interesting looking businesses to sponsor the local arts, and actively exploring ideas that would be captivating for a younger audience has my brain feeling a decade younger. Wide eyes and hopeful endeavors make up the cornerstone for childlike discovery.

Questions I asked myself :

-Would my peers in the classes here be interested in volunteering?

-When are seeds worth saving?

thank you for reading

Week One : Wunjo

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Dear reader,

It was a joyous introduction into this online class on the first Monday morning of the 2021 spring semester.. Meeting everyone, going “around the room” to share pertinent pronouns and short about me’s. I always imagined these moments filled with wishes. We are all excited to continue our journey into the world of teaching artists, giving each other encouragements and what makes us passionate about why we teach.

We teach in order to help who we meet if only just a teeny bit.

I am greeted to the Art Buddies program that offer both a PenPal program, and a Costume Design program with students between the ages of 8-11 in the Twin Cities area. “Art Buddies pairs kind adults with children from the Twin Cities highest needs schools for creative one to one mentorship programs.”

I was asked to research places that Art Buddies could contact in order to ask for some sponsorships, create an eye-catching poster that could go up in the community to attract both students and volunteers, and to create lesson plans for the (hopefully) outside program this coming summer. And if there are any local T-Shirt makers that are affordable.

Questions I asked myself :

-How to reach a population without relying on a single strategy?

-What kind of business would I, as a kid, find interesting to see as a sponsor?

-Is there enough water for my roots?

thank you for reading