Tyree Guyton

In the heart of Detroit's downtown neighborhood, Tyree Guyton is making an outdoor gallery space from the rubble of urban struggle and poverty.  He is often seen as an activist, a painter and sculptor on a mission to bring lasting change, and to help heal a neighborhood that has been gripped by drug trafficking, gang violence, and crime.  He uses houses, buildings and streets that are a part of the neighborhood landscape as his canvas, often using a circle and "dot" motif to symbolize the connectedness of all individuals and the connectedness of life. Bright colors are used to symbolize the bright possibility that exists in all things throughout life, all human beings living anywhere. As a Detroit based artist it is his goal to illuminate the problems that face poverty stricken neighborhoods like the ones he works in, but more importantly to make these spaces culturally rich and revitalized so that crime, violence and poverty become a thing of the past. He often uses metaphor in his work.  The Dot, in particular, in the Heidelberg Project represents the universal nature of all the things, like a circle without a beginning and an end.  He believes we are all connected by the same dreams and goals. He is a great example of how art can be community based.

http://cdn.lifeandtimes.com/uploads/2013/02/tyreegunton2.jpeg

Here is a link to a pretty in depth look at the case of Steve Kurtz, including an interview with the artist about his practice at the end of the article. This case for me, is an interesting study about how contexts can change meaning, and the fuzzy boundary between art practice, and actual scientific practice. Enjoy! 

http://lightresearch.net/interviews/kurtz/kurtz.pdf

I just finished reading an article by Julia Marshall called Five Ways to Integrate: Using Strategies from Contemporary Art. This article was very interesting to me in that the author suggests that integrating these strategies into the art classroom will also integrate other disciplines like science, language arts, anthropology, etc. I loved the way she describes the different strategies and how they might be applied in a classroom setting, even going so far as to share which strategies are most appropriate for different grade levels. She postulates that Mimicry, or using the tools and processes of a particular discipline to make art, is the most radical of the five. And I believe that this is true as well. I think about the case of Steve Kurtz, an artist that heavily employs scientific processes in his work, and how his art practice led to his investigation by the FBI and prosecution by the Dept. of Justice. I encourage you to look up his story, which is discussed in the documentary "Strange Culture" by Lynn Hershman-Leeson. The implications of the case raise so many questions about the responsible use of mimicry as an art strategy. This is an important article for understanding how art educators can remain relevant, an increasing concern in the field of art education. Often art teachers are pressured to teach "the core," (math, language arts, sciences), but Marshall is suggesting that we can use these strategies to serve art and to serve educational goals.  This is one of those articles that I will incorporate into my future practice as a teacher, the kind of ideas that will shape my thoughts about learning. 

Hello, and welcome! Grab a mug of cocoa, a favorite pillow, curl up in a comfortable chair or sofa and let me share with you a little bit about me, what interests me, my journey to becoming an art teacher, and along the way, some tips and tricks for bringing art and creativity into all areas of life.

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Christina Stephenson. I am married to Duane, my wonderful hubby, and we celebrated our first wedding anniversary in June of this year. He is the macaroni to my cheese, and the first person I want to wake up to in the mornings. 

My hubby taught silly me to drive, at age 26 if you can believe that, and I passed my driver's test this month. I can't tell you how patient this man has been driving me here and there for all those months. <3

I am currently working on my art education degree at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI. I am really looking forward to teaching art! As a future art educator, much of this blog will include my thoughts on fostering creativity, visual arts education, and projects that I am currently working on in class and on my own. I am always on the lookout for fun DIY crafts and projects, so, seeing as we are coming into the month of October pretty soon, if you have any projects to share, let me know!

Julia Marshall's Article "Thinking Outside the Box: Creativity and Inquiry in Art Practice"

I just read Julia Marshall's article on thinking outside the box.  She presents 4 steps in creative thinking: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification.  While these are a great logical way of breaking down the steps of creative thinking, I believe that thinking outside the box is about expanding on information that is already there.  This can mean mining history to make connections between what you are doing now.  I guess that for me, this is the best way that I know how to think outside the box. As an illustrator, when I am trying to solve a compositional challenge, I like to look to illustrator's work who have come before me like, Charles Gibson, Lisbeth Zwerger, or Sterling Hundley for inspiration.  When I can apply what I have learned in new ways, then I feel as though I have entered that radiant territory of "thinking outside the box."

Thinking outside the box can include:
1. Researching and making connections between the past and present
2. Investigating materials and thinking about new ways of applying them (for example, the artist who   might paint with coffee grounds)
3. Revisiting questions of inquiry and materials over and over again to create new connections that are informed by new information