Week Fouteen

Silverwood Park - Seth Erlab and Chelsea Novotny - residency - 2.45 hours

Silverwood Park - Samantha Longley and Cora Williams - residency - 2 hours

Silverwood Park - Christa and Chelsea - residency - 1.75 hours

Silverwood Park - Anne Wendland - residency - 2.5 hours

With the Doodlebugs this week, with spring on the way, we were talking about eggs! We looked at different types of birds eggshells and talked about the differences. Seth brought in some chicken eggs and each student took a turn trying to break it by squeezing. He explained that if you apply pressure evenly, it won’t break. That’s how chickens (and other birds) can sit on eggs and not break them. After everyone had a chance to break the egg, Seth cracked it open. He then showed and discussed the different parts of the egg. Our art project to go along with this was to make a birds nest. Students made pinch pots that became birds nests thanks to the added bits of nature in the form of sticks and leaves.

There is a second session of doodlebugs so when we went outside, we collected new bit of nature for the next session to decorate their nests. If they wanted, there was some additional white clay offered so students could make eggs for their nest. Some made wide nests and fit up to seven eggs in their nest. Others made only one egg. We used that as an opportunity to talk about how many eggs different types of birds lay at a time. Doodlebugs were encouraged to leave their nests outside and see what happens to them in a week (all the materials were naturally biodegradable).

With the Green Beans, I had my first teaching! We were talking about rainbows. The day structure remained the same and I led the art making portion. We were doing a very basic marbling technique using shaving cream and paint. Cora read a Peppa Pig book where they went on an egg hunt. This was fitting as we were marbling little wooden eggs. I arrived at Silverwood early and did some test runs. We had to troubleshoot how to get the shaving cream off the egg as we were using washable paint. We hesitated to switch to dye as children tend to get super messy. Luckily we figured out a good method and everyone's egg got marbled. Teaching went really well! I was able to prepare all the trays with the shaving cream. They got to swirl their own paint. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the project. Afterwards we went outside with the rainbow parachute which is always a big hit with kids. It was a really fun day.

With Christa and Chelsea I was back at Legacy, their senior citizen outreach program. This week we had about six attendees. We were talking about feeder birds. There were photos and Chelsea played bird calls. The conversation was about what feeder birds they have seen and where. The art portion was making a suncatcher. We used tissue paper and plant material to decorate a pre cut template on contact paper. Most people required assistance with the contact paper. I worked mostly one on one which was easily done as Chelsea and Christa were accompanied by a Silverwood volunteer that day. It was a really nice and calm last Legacy session.

Saturday brought another one day workshop at Silverwood. It was called How Does Your Pollinator Garden Grow? There were about 15 people in attendance. Most were over 50 but there were two young girls (probably about ten) with their mother and one teenager with her mom. Only about seven people stayed for both parts of the workshop. Part one was a talk by a naturalist about native plants and pollinators. He went over various methods of introducing these plants to your garden. Most people who were in attendance had very specific questions about their property. It was less conceptual and introductory than I expected it to be. One couple had just purchased 50 acres and wanted to have good, hard information they could use. The guest speaker was amazing and had a really well laid out presentation.

The second part was led by Anne, an art educator from Silverwood. She led a ceramics project. People made garden stakes that were either decorative or informative with plants names. There were templates to cut out or cookie cutters to punch shapes out. Decoration included alphabet pasta for letters, pattern sheets and about 12 different colours of glaze. Anne did a demo and came around to help as needed. There was interest so she also showed how to mix glazes. I got to make a garden stake alongside everyone and it was a really fun project. Anne also made sure to explain upfront that they would not be leaving with their work. It had to get fired and then participants would be contacted to pick up their stakes. A few of the participants come to Silverwood’s open studio clay nights and asked Anne to leave some templates for them to make more. Everyone got to make about five stakes and had a lot of fun.

Next week brings my other teaching!

Week Thirteen

Cancelled: Silverwood Park - Samantha Longley and Cora Williams - residency - 2 hours

Silverwood Park - Seth Erlab and Chelsea Novotny - residency - 2.45 hours

Silverwood Park - Seth Erlab and Cora Williams - residency - 2 hours

Tuesday was my first session of Doodlebugs! Doodlebugs is similar to Green Beans but is the next age group up. Participants are 4-5 years old and unlike Green Beans, this is a drop off program. The program is two hours long but has the same basic schedule as Green Beans. We have explore time with clean up, circle time with question of the day, a nature lesson, a bathroom break, a snack break while a story is read, art time and then outside time.

For Doodlebugs this week we were talking about fish! We had a large stuffed animal fish which Seth used to have the kids identify parts of fish that make them different from humans. Seth clearly has a wealth of teaching experience and I was able to learn a lot from him. With children this age, it’s often difficult to get them to be quiet and pay attention. He had lots of good phrasing like asking if we could “turn our voices off”. Doodlebugs have a policy where the teachers say “there is a bubble in your mouth and it can’t be popped until a teacher points to you!” The kids responded really well to this. He also had a ‘tickle rainbow’ when he was leading a lesson on the rug. This is where everyone can gather around but if Seth can tickle you, you’re too close. Even language like “okay everyone sit on your pockets” was helpful to observe.

For the craft we did a basic metal embossing. Everyone got a sheet and a wooden ‘pencil’ that they used to draw fish. After they were finished creating their scene or school of fish, they could colour the scene. Some kids drew just fish, some added the environment, some added other sea creatures. Chelsea led this and did a demo of the technique and how she drew her fish.

For Green Beans this week, Sam was out and Seth came in to teach about ladybugs. He brought some live ladybugs! Our ladybug nature lesson was very basic and suited to the age group. We talked a lot about what ladybugs do when it’s cold. Later, when we went outside, we brought the live ladybugs so we could experiment and see what ladybugs do when their cold. The art portion was making a little ladybug finger puppet. It was mostly just assembly assisted by the adult accompanying the child. It wa nice to get to observe this lesson as one of my teachings will be with the Doodlebugs about ladybugs. The craft will be different but seeing the nature lesson was helpful for my own preparation.

Next week is my first teaching! It’ll be at Silverwood with Green Beans! Stay tuned to hear about my lesson on rainbows...

Week Twelve

Cancelled: Silverwood Park - Samantha Longley and Cora Williams - residency - 2 hours

Cancelled: Silverwood Park - Seth Erlab - residency - 6 hours

Minneapolis Institute of Art - residency - Elisabeth Callihan - 7 hours

Unfortunately this week, the April snowfall led to the Field Trip Friday at Silverwood being cancelled. We were going to be doing an activity with the pond which then got covered in ice and snow.

Madness at the MIA! Art in Bloom was this week! It was family day!

I was in the studio with one of the two art making activities that day. In the studio we were painting again with the tempera paint and canvas sheets. There were bouquets of fresh flowers on every table to serve as inspiration. Lots of participants painting the flowers they saw but some painted things that the flowers make them think of. There were paintings of their backyard, of somewhere they travelled with beautiful flowers or even a dragon eating flowers.

The activity was open for participants of any age. People really appreciated the quality of materials. We had several questions about what the ‘paper’ was. They were working on canvas sheets that came from a pad. Quite a few people asked where they could get them. At the end of the day, I had a child ask if he could have a few extra sheets because he doesn’t have art materials at home.

The studio doors close at 4:30 but people who are there are welcome to stay until 5pm. We had a few people who stayed right until five. I think this was a really good self led art project. It didn’t require a ton of clean up (there were some water spills). It could be as fast or time consuming as the participant wanted. Some came, painted a flower and were done in twenty minutes. Others stayed for an hour working on a piece.

It was a crazy day but really fun. I was in the studio the whole day but the other volunteers moved around every hour so I got a chance to meet a lot of new people and hear about everything going on. And any day you leave a teaching placement with a bouquet of flowers is a good day.

Week Eleven

Silverwood Park - Samantha Longley and Cora Williams - residency - 2 hours

Back at Silverwood this week! It’s the start of the Green Beans program. This is Silverwoods preschool program. Children age 1-5 are with an adult for an hour long session. The format is first exploration time, reading time, a movement activity, art time, and the outdoors time. For the first week we were talking about spring and seeds. We played with seeds and did colouring of seed life cycle drawings for explore time. We read a book about seeds called A Seed is Sleepy. We did Seed Yoga where we pretended to be seeds sprouting into plants. We made a seed mosaic for our art activity and went on a short hike to find seeds like acorns out in the park.

It was a really fun day. It goes by super quickly. As someone who is a little nervous trying to wrangle a room full of ten preschoolers, it’s a big help having an adult with each child. We have the schedule on the board so everyone knows what we’re doing that day. Kids come in and happily engage in explore time without having to be told to. Once everyone has explore the room, we sat down on the rug to read the story. Before starting, we all introduced ourselves, teachers, adults and kids.

The seed mosaic was first demonstrated while everyone was still on the rug. Then everyone took a seat at the tables and got their materials. It was a simple project with only a few steps. The final step was to coat the mosaic with glue to ensure the seeds would stick. This was the only step that really required adult help. We had a full classroom, which was 10 kids.

I really like the structure of Green Beans. The same format is followed for DoodleBugs, the next age group up. I will be with both DoodleBugs and Green Beans this month in the mornings. My teaching will be at the end of April - one session with DoodleBugs on ladybugs and one session with Green Beans about rainbows.

Week Ten

Silverwood Park - Samantha Longley - residency - 2.5 hours

I had a great day at Silverwood this week! I was with a school program. River Tree School brought 14 kindergartners to learn about oak trees. Sam was the lead teacher and we also had an accompanying naturalist - Chelsea. We did a quick story time with a book about oak trees, made and decorated a paper bag book, and then went out on a hike in the park to look at trees and play games.

I really liked this structure of reading then making then getting out in nature. The kids seemed to really love it. Watching Chelsea and Sam work was really helpful. They got them to focus, be quiet when needed and used fun sounds and hand gestures to help them remember what they were learning. The craft was great, I love bookmaking and this was a great, simple task for them. They all really loved their books and were excited to take them home. The art focus was texture. We took rubbings of bark and leaves both in the classroom and out in the park.

We asked questions to establish what knowledge they came in with. We let them share some stories as kids that age tend to really want to. After the nature lesson and story, we asked what they learned. There were several moments where instead of asking them to raise their hands and share with the group, we had them share with a partner which for this age group seemed to work really well. Kids this age tend to feel like they never get to talk or share and get upset or sad about it. Having them share with a partner gave them all a chance to talk.

I’m really looking forward to working with Sam and Chelsea again soon! April will have me at Silverwood a lot - it’s going to be a good month at the park.

lesson outline, example journal, and stamps used to decorate

Week Nine

Silverwood Park - Christa - residency - 5 hours

Highpoint Center for Printmaking - Tyler Green - volunteer - 5 hours

Minneapolis Institute of Art - residency - Elisabeth Callihan - 6 hours

A busy, busy week! There were lots of special events at all my locations. First up… Silverwood.

Make and Mingle is a 21+ event that happens four times a year (for each equinox) at Silverwood. I’ve been hearing about it since I started there. The theme for spring was Birds. It was a drawing based event. I was running the blind contour drawing station. People were encouraged to come over as they wanted and do a blind contour drawing of a selection of taxidermied birds. We had a loon, coot, duck, heron, owl, and pheasant. Generally, people came over to look at the birds and from there I invited them to draw. Most immediately agreed, when some were hesitant, I showed examples of my blind contour drawings of the birds show it wasn’t about a beautiful finished realistic drawing. A few participants told me they had done blind contour before with their class as they were a teacher. It was a really fun event. There were many other stations. I stuck with blind contour all night and then assisted with take down. It was really fun to see adults with their friends engaging with art in a causal way. They were having fun and it really showed.

Highpoint had Free Ink Day this weekend and needed extra hands. I miss being in a printshop, so I jumped at the chance and was there all day. I was mostly just support during the event. People of all ages were making water soluble monotypes. My two main roles were assisting with the flow of the press line which included helping people prepare their plates for printing and helping clean finished plates to be used by other participants. It was a really fun day with about 200 participants. The event at Highpoint really reminded me of how much I love interacting with people and keeping busy. I really enjoy the constantly flow of new faces. I don’t mind repeating the same instructions 100 times. Being that facilitator is something I’ve had a lot of experience doing. I’m used to (and enjoy) being adaptable, anticipating needs and searching for areas of confusion to fix. Being able to exercise that this weekend was really great.

Sunday I was at the MIA during their Rock the Cradle event. There are activities for kids and families all throughout the museum. I was in the studios, assisting with the painting activity there. We were using tempera paints so the tables were covered with brown paper. Easels with clips were set up as were cups with water and brushes. Aprons were available. A good lesson in materials mattering - we used sheet of canvas from canvas pads. Kids and adults were both so excited to be painting on real canvas, not just paper. As one kid put it “Canvas! Like the artists in the museum!” The activity was enjoyed by all. For most of the day I rotated around the studios, asking kids about their paintings, replacing dirty water, cleaning paint palettes. I spent some time at the introduction table, welcoming people, explaining the activity, and helping get materials. The studio manager was adamant about only one canvas per person which meant I had the unhappy task of telling some children that they could only make one painting. There were a lot of kids that came in, made a painting and were done but some really loved it and you could tell wanted to sit all day and paint. Toward the end of the day two of the other assistants were tearing canvas sheets out of the pads for another activity a different day in the studios. This made me uncomfortable to telling kids ‘no ‘ to another sheet because they could see the stack growing.

All in all a very eventful week.

Tuesday brings another Silverwood day!

My teaching will be at Silverwood with the Green Beans and Doodlebugs programs at the end of April. Those programs both begin next week. I’m so excited to be with all the little kiddos at the park!

Week Eight

Silverwood Park - Christa and Chelsea - residency - 1.75 hours

This week I was with Silverwood at their outreach program with the Legacy of St. Anthony, a residence for seniors. They have been going to Legacy for about five years now, once a month with a different talk and arts project.

This month was focused on maple syrup. The accompanying craft was a tunnel book watercolour project. As always with Legacy, we helped get everyone situated. We begin by introducing ourselves, the nature topic and the craft. As the watercolour background for the tunnel books need time to dry, we painted those first. We taped down the corners so no one had to hold the paper and paint and many of the seniors have arthritis or similar things that make it difficult to use their hands. We showed how to do a sunrise or sunset which involved talking about warm and cool colours.

Our group was about seven, with four at the front and three at the back. We had examples of the finished product set up at both ends of the table. I stationed myself at the back, with the group of three. I again wound up working mostly one on one which I really enjoy with seniors. As the assistant in the room, it’s easy to take on that role. I did the craft alongside the group at the back. We talked about the warm colours needed to make a sunrise. One lady I worked with kept asking me to just tell her what colours to use. I hesitated to direct someones art like that so I would instead ask what she thought would be best, what colour does she see i the sunrise, offered a few shades and let her pick.

While we let our backgrounds dry, we talked about maple syrup. Chelsea is a naturalist from Silverwood and an MCAD alum. She talked about the trees that produce syrup, how to get it, the process from tapping to bottling and the difference between processed fake syrup and natural syrup from the park. We talked about what we liked to put syrup on, the different techniques of tapping trees, how to keep squirrels from getting the syrup. After our discussion, everyone got to sample three different syrups, including one from the park. We then turned back to our craft. As Chelsea was finishing talking, Christa and I made sure there were enough folded end pieces for everyone. We folded some more and passed them out along with glue sticks.

We added trees with buckets hanging on taps to collect the syrup to the frames going on the tunnel book. The lady I helped asked me to do the gluing and she placed her chosen tree. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the final product. Another participant told me that all of the crafts she makes at the program get added to her cabin up north.

We cleaned up and were able to pass out the fired and finished clay birds from last month. It was really great getting to see the final product from that project. I really love coming to Legacy and can’t wait for next months program.

Next up is a special program with Silverwood - it only happens every equinox. Stay tuned...

Week Seven

Cancelled: MIA - residency - Elisabeth Callihan - 3 hours

Week Seven, better known as the week of scheduling conflicts.

Little Earth is partnering with MCAD to attend the Art in Community class this semester. So naturally, while they are downstairs at MCAD on Wednesday from 4-6 pm, I’m upstairs in class learning all about the wonderful world of infographics.

The MIA cancelled my prep day for Sunday’s family day. They’ve had a bit of silence lately, with me having to reach out and confirm hours. I still am looking forward to be in the studios again. A lot of great things go on in that space and I would love to see as much as possible.

Unfortunately, I had a family emergency and had to cancel Sunday at the MIA. It would have been Family Day meaning lots of visitors, lots of families, and of course, lots of kids. I’m scheduled to be there for next months family day so check back to see how that goes.

This coming week, I’ll be back with Silverwood at the Legacy of St. Anthony. I’m really looking forward to being with the seniors again and making art.

Week Six

Little Earth - Native Youth Arts Collective - Heidi - shadowing - 2.5 hours 2/27, 3.75 hours 2/28

This week I was with the Native Youth Arts Collective twice. I really enjoyed being able to see them work in two different environments.

Wednesday was a good introduction to the group. Courtney, Amebelle and I were at Little Earth joining in on one of their regular weekly meetings. We were really able to see the group dynamic and attitude. They aren’t a quiet group, freely conversing. They are engaged and really tuned into what’s going on.

Wednesday was about six members of the collective, including two new ones. They will be working with MCAD’s Art in Community class this semester which is being taught by visiting faculty member - Genevieve. She came in toward the end of the meeting and talked to the collective about the class and gave them examples of other projects to serve as inspiration. Right away, one member of the collective was very passionate about his photos and wanted to do something with that. Heidi immediately offered assistance in making prints of his photos. He seemed really excited about that. Another member of the collective seemed more hesitant and said she just didn’t understand what project she could do. I really enjoyed my Art in Community class and offered to explain was my project was. Courtney had participated in mine, remembered that and was able to support my explanation. The format of this youth arts collective reminds me of other teen art groups I’ve worked with before. I’ve always felt a little awkward working with teen groups because I’m usually closer in age to the teens than the other adult leaders or facilitators. It was nice to see how close the Native Youth Arts Collective is with each other and with their facilitators. I know that comes with years of continued connection. You can’t build community in a semester.

Something really valuable to come from this first meeting was being able to see how the program facilitators gave ownership to the members of the collective. There was a discussion around how to keep in contact and expectations for their meetings. These were not laid out by the facilitators but rather they asked the collective what they thought was important and how they would prefer to keep in contact. Giving ownership to the participants, especially to teens, is really important and easy to overlook. This is definitely something I will keep in mind when planning programs in my future.

Thursday I joined the Native Youth Arts Collective at the Walker Art Center. The Walker was open late for one of their Target Free Thursday Nights. This night was focused on INDIgenesis: Indigenous Filmmakers, Past and Present, a series of films and talks. Made during a previous Walker workshop, the Native Youth Arts Collective had their animations screened this night. There were various events, including the INDIgenesis film screening. The Native Youth Arts Collective was helping facilitate an art making activity with Maggie Thompson. We had an entirely different group from the collective - five in total. They have all been a part of the collective for years and it showed. They were very comfortable explaining the craft and helping others create. Maggie and I got to remain pretty hands off. One of the students really took to assisting people which is always so lovely to see. Participants in the art making activity ranged from families to young adults. The collective members were great at making, facilitating and being vocal in their need for breaks. There were easily over 75 participants by the time I left.

I’d really like to see more of their partnership with the Walker Art Center. I have a particular interest in museum work and museums definitely lack teen participation and representation of communities of colour. I’d love to see more ways the Native Youth Arts Collective can be involved.  

example of the weaving activity - stills from the featured films woven with ribbon or filmstrips

Week Five February 18-24

Cancelled Hours:

2/8 6.5 hours at Silverwood, cancelled due to weather

2/19 6.5 hours at MIA

2/20 2 hours with Little Earth, cancelled due to weather

MIA - Krista and Angela - residency - 4.5 hours

Little Earth - Heidi - shadowing - 0.5 hours

This week I was able to meet with Heidi from Little Earth and the other two MCAD students shadowing there this semester. Heidi explained to us what this semester would look like, who the group is, her background and asked for our ideas of how to best engage and connect with the students. Unfortunately our meeting was with Little Earth that night was cancelled due to the weather but I’ll get to be with them twice this coming week.

This week also brought my first experience at the MIA. It was Third Thursday at the museum. As it is Black History Month, the theme was Afrofuturism. I was in the studios assisting the visiting artists with their projects. There was a collaborative art activity led by Donald Thomas, and zine-making with the Million Artists Movement. I primarily worked with Donald. His art activity was based around Affirmation Mirrors. He created two site specific installs of weaving around a mirror. Visitors were encouraged to write an affirmation or gratitude and hang it on the wall. They were welcome to speak them aloud in the mirror as well.

I’ll be honest, I felt awkward when I first got there. My contact directed me to the studios and said she wouldn’t be around much and I should help out there. I got to the studios and the zine making activity was 95% set up. No one was there to introduce me and those in the studio clearly had no idea I was going to be there. I had to step up and explain that I was an MCAD student and a teaching artist and just here to help in any way I could. I didn’t have an ID, no visitor badge, no previous meeting with the studio manager. It was awkward and I almost felt like I didn’t belong. But I reminded myself I’ve been in museum studio spaces like this before and that above all I was there to help and learn.

Donald didn’t ask for help, I made my way over to his side of the studios and asked if he needed any help. He was appreciative and took time to connect with me and explain the project so I could finish setup while he worked on the weavings. He was a very open, relaxed person t be working with. Even once the activity was open, he remained hands off, saying that if was self-directed. I noticed as people walked into the space they had little to no idea what was going on and wanted some direction. I was able to step in a explain the activity and answer questions. Despite my lack of identification as an employee or visiting employee, people seemed to recognise that I was there to help.

Once they knew what was going on, people got really into the activity. Donald’s manner seemed to seep into every part of the room. The space felt very open, relaxed, accepting and non-judgmental. People tended to sit for a while, writing multiple affirmations and discussing with the people they came in with. I was able to share with Donald my personal experience with the activity and his work which was a reflection he really appreciated. We discussed other possible implementations of his work. It was a really amazing workshop.

The zine making activity was really popular. It was constantly busy and had people staying and working for up to an hour and half. While both were fairly self directed, the zine making activity required a bit more explanation from the artist. While I really admire Donald’s approach to just let people go and work on their own (these were adults after all), most people seemed to be looking for a little more direction especially when they first walk in. He had plenty of sheets explaining the activity, but they weren’t noticed until you sat down at a table. It’s good to note that adults sometimes need more invitation than the children I’m used to that are happy to just run in and play with whatever they can get their hands on. Adults, especially in a museum, tend to be more hands off and need to be reminded that play is allowed and good in this creative space.

I hope I get to return to the MIA Studio space. I can’t wait to see what else goes on there.

the studio space all set up for the affirmation mirror activity

Donald encouraging a visitor to speak their affirmation aloud

Week Four February 11-17

Silverwood Park - Christa Von Wald and Alyssa Riggs - residency - 1.75 hours

This week I was with Silverwood Park at one of their outreach programs. They have a partnership with The Legacy of St. Anthony, an assisted living facility for seniors. They have been going to Legacy for about five years now, once a month with a different talk and arts project. This month was focused on owls. Alyssa Riggs is a naturalist from Silverwood that began by speaking about owls. She explained that February is when baby owlets are being born which is why we’re talking about owl even though birth in nature is associated with spring. It was really wonderful to get to watch her talk about this outside of the context of the park. She had visuals in the form of printed (laminated) photos, feathers that could be touched and handled and a taxidermy owl and she played owl calls. The variety was good for those with limitations of different senses.

The arts portion was handled by Christa. They were making bird tiles. Everyone got a piece of clay pre-cut into the shape of a bird. They then picked pre-cut shapes like flowers and hearts to press into the wet clay. Christa, Alyssa and I walked around with a rolling pin to make sure everything was set into the clay once they were ready. Then they have a variety of colours to choose from to paint their tile any way they liked. Once done, we collected to tiles and Christa took them back to Silverwood to fire them in their kiln. So, not an immediate product but no one seemed to mind. Christa had an example of a finished bird tile to show them what they were making and she made one alongside everyone to demonstrate.

I have never worked exclusively with senior citizens before and was a bit nervous. The facility itself was really nice and all the employees there were lovely and very helpful. They kept us informed of people coming in, they gathered more people for us and helped get those with walkers or in wheelchairs situated. They also pointed out to us which participants were very hard of hearing which was good for us to be aware of. Alyssa and Christa accommodated for that by speaking instructions or doing demonstrations twice, once at the front and again at the back by those hard of hearing. They spoke louder and more slowly than they would normally. They gave space for participants to tell stories about times they’ve heard or seen owls.

There were nine participants which they said was their average attendance. The program is only an hour so the arts portion has to have minimal set up and clean up. Set up went quickly and clean up even faster. Some participants needed help writing their name on the back of the tile which was the only time one of us stepped in to hands on assist or simply do it for them. I wound up spending a lot of time working one on one with one participant. She was really lovely and eager to do some art. At the end she thanked more for being so attentive to her. Some participants were seeking a little more help and attention and others just wanted to go for it.

This experience definitely sparked some interest in me for connecting with senior communities. I’m looking forward to going back to Legacy each month this semester.

Week Three February 4-10

Silverwood Park - Christa Von Wald - residency - 3.5

This week I was at Silverwood Park for their first ever weaving workshop. Christa Von Wald led the workshop and has been at Silverwood for several years now. I’ll be working with here for a few of my events at Silverwood. She was also a former students of Lynda so it was really great to connect with her and see her teaching style.

I’ve never done weaving before but I got a chance to try my hand at it. It was really meditative and enjoyable; I understand why all of our students asked for a part two. Despite the rough weather we had full attendance! The program was open to anyone over the age of 16. We had 8 female students ranging from late twenties to mid sixties. Most people came with a friend and had attended other programs at Silverwood. No one had a lot of experience but they all had previous exposure to weaving and were interested in picking it up as a hobby or art form. Our class was only two hours and everyone wanted to keep going.

I arrived an hour early to help Christa set up. Each student got a loom (made locally!), two needles, several types and colours of yarn and a few handouts. I really like how Christa designed these; they were clear, brief and helpful references they actually wanted to keep. The first handout had a list of the materials they got to keep (like their loom and needles) and a simple description of the different types of stitches they would be learning. It also had pictures of finished examples. The second handout was a list of references and resources with everything from artists that can serve as inspirations, online tutorials and places to get yarn.

It was a really nice group to be with. They weren’t shy and asked for things to be repeated or for one and one help. Simples demonstration was followed up with individual help and advice. Christa was really wonderful and patient with everyone. Students helped each other readily which was really nice to see. The first hour had to be pretty structured as Christa needed to show everyone how to start and teach the different kinds of stitch. Once everyone felt good about that it was free time for them to work asking for assistance as needed. Everyone seemed to agree that they would have loved to spend more than two hours doing this and wanted a whole afternoon to just stitch away.

I don’t have a ton of experience with teaching adults. A big fear of mine with teaching adults is that I won’t be taken seriously. It was nice to see adults in their sixties take a young teacher seriously, treat her with respect and value her advice and instruction. Watching Christa handle one on ones with such patience and kind words was really nice to see. I’m used to kids and would hate to come off as patronizing to an older adult. Seeing how she was able to help but remain hands off is a great lesson I hope to emulate.

I loved the weaving workshop and am really excited to work with Christa again. She leads the senior program I’ll be involved with so by the end of the semester I’ll have a wealth of knowledge and observation of how to work with adults.

I was supposed to be with a homeschooled group on Friday at Silverwood. We were going to do some activities, read some books and go ice fishing. But the weather had other plans. The sponsor decided to cancel the event which was probably for the best. I didn’t want to sit outside ice fishing for an hour in that bitter cold, I’m sure the kids didn’t either. Hopefully I’ll get to another Field Trip Day at Silverwood.

Student’s set up

My practice weaving for demonstrations

Week Two - January - February 3

I’m really looking forward to this upcoming week. I’ll begin at Silverwood Park on Monday. What I like best about my placement at Silverwood is that it gives me a lot of opportunity to work with different program types. Monday is a pretty standard program at the park. Participants had to register in advance. It looks like it’ll be a good sized group for a first day - on the smaller side. This program will be a weaving workshop.

I’ll be at Silverwood on Friday as well. It’s field trip day! Two homeschool groups will come in. We’ll do some activities indoors and go ice fishing. I’ve never been on a frozen lake and definitely never tried ice fishing. I wonder, with this being Minnesota, how many of these kids will have familiarity with ice fishing or have done it before.

While Alyssa Baguss is my primary contact at Silverwood, she set me up with each individual artist/naturalist/teacher that runs each project I’m interested in. There’s been a lot of introductory emails and plans for future contact. I’m helping with as much set up and prep as possible, but I think I’ll get to witness and assist with a lot more planning sessions with my placement at MIA.

I also got in contact with Little Earth this week and am excited to set my shadowing schedule with them. It’s been a weird week with the crazy weather, but I’m excited to go to the park this week!

Week 1: January 21-26

This semester for my teaching artist practicum experience I’ll be at Silverwood Park and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. My previous teaching experiences have been in arts classrooms so I’m really looking forward to seeing how the public is drawn into programs and how art is presented to people that don’t consider themselves artists. Silverwood Park let me pick and choose from their amazing array of programs. I would really love to get a feel for different age groups through all my experiences. At Silverwood I will be with their youngest and oldest groups! I will be with preschoolers and their parent in April and once a month, I will be with one of their many senior programs. Having never worked with artists that young or old, I’m excited to see their approach. I’ll also get a chance to see some of their more public events.

At MIA, I’ll be with their teens and young adults. I’m still working on my schedule with them but I’m hoping to see as much of the behind the scenes and planning as possible. I have a big interest in museum work. Being in the education center of a museum was one of my first jobs ever as a high schooler. I plan on working in museums in my career.

I’m also doing a shadowing with Little Earth. They have been working with the Walker Art Center, talking about representation, inclusion and accessibility of museums. This is an area of particular interest for me. I’m very curious about how an institution is working with a community and am really looking forward to being a part of those conversations. I think it will be something I take forward with me in my career.

My first event with Silverwood Park is Monday, Feb. 4th. Stay tuned for how that goes…