This week, I managed to set up the schedules for when I'm going to do my residencies and the shadowing. I'm really glad I got it all figured out now.
The first one, the residency at Spectrum Artworks will start on Thursday February 16, and it will be from 1 to 4 PM. I had a volunteer orientation for it this Thursday morning, and found out many interesting things about what Resource (the company that Spectrum Artworks is a part of) does, and was surprised, since it was a lot more than I thought. One thing that I really liked, was hearing that no one who seeks support from them gets turned down. Also the fact that they don't heal people, but support them and help them heal themselves instead... It sounded amazing... I feel like I'll never want to leave once I my residency there begins. I wish I could start there a bit sooner, but at least the beginning of the semester should be less stressful now.
I also know what my basic schedule at Expo Elementary will be like. The residency will start March 13th at 8 am at Ulla Tervo-Desnick's (who will be my mentor there) room, and after that I'll be helping her around with the classes. The residency will be during the spring break since commuting there will be easier for me at that time. I'll have five days of actual time at the school, and the days will be from 8 am to 3.15 pm, with my last day being March 17th. I'm sure that my experience there will be great, since I'll be learning from a teacher who shares the background of being from Finland (Ulla Tervo-Desnick).
My teaching artist shadowing with Melodee Strong at Simpson Housing, will take place a lot later. The first few hours I'll do on April 13th, then I'll continue on April 14th, and May 4th will be my last day shadowing. This opportunity is also very exciting for me, since I've heard that Melodee Strong is a MCAD -graduate. It'll be great to see in person what an amazing artist and a teacher she became after going to school here. I bet it will be motivating!
Anyway, after this longer journal entry, there will probably be just some very short ones for awhile, since my my first residency starts so late.
Until then people!