Journal Entry – Friday February 6 2015

Journal Entry – Friday February 6 2015 

An interim journal entry during independent study time in order to gather my thoughts on

research so far ….

Greetings from Chance, Deal Island on the Delmarva Peninsula – Maryland’s Eastern Shore

of the Chesapeake Bay.

My partner & the kitty & I are here for an artist retreat at Chance House / John Cage

Memorial Park for the months of January & February.

My focus here is to do my research in a calm environment with no distractions … & it is

indeed about as rural & remote as one can get while staying within the realm of civilization!

 

Transart Winter Residency 

My experience at the Winter Residency in NYC was a positive one.

I still feel that I am absorbing & learning a lot about the art of deep critical thinking &

discussion, so I am sometimes hesitant to blurt out my initial responses during the

discussion times – however, I did contribute as much as possible – both in the group

structure & in personal conversations. What is very reassuring to me is the honesty in the

presentation of each artist – of who they are, what they are doing, what they feel their

challenges & struggles are. Also reassuring is the honesty of faculty & peers in their

responses & in the supportive manner that feedback is given.

My own presentation was really fun! I conducted a mini-workshop on some of my

movement exercises, culminating in a little “Attack of the Killer Stripey Tubes” experiment

(images shown are by Gwen Charles & Stephanie Reid)

The response to my work was very positive. What came out of the discussion, however,

was the importance of expanding my knowledge of other movement practitioners who

have / are exploring & developing movement methods with similar purposes, philosophies

& / or physical traits.

 

 

 

Focus of research since the residency 

For the first few days, my main focus of research was on financial aid!

I have scoured the internet for every possible avenue of funding I could find for

scholarships & grants to fund a low residency MFA, performance based or otherwise, at a

non USA accredited institution. After spending the better part of a week on this, I passed

the ball over to my TI peers & then to administration …. I’m still not sure if anything of value

has been uncovered yet!

So … next I began to look at my project proposal to ask the questions:

“What did I say I was going to do?” & “What do I not know that I need to know in order to accomplish that?” 

Educational / Academic concepts & terminology: 

Firstly, it became apparent that, if I am creating a pedagogy for anything at all, it might be

useful to look at the system it is most likely to be presented in. Subsequently, I studied

many definitions & examples of curriculum, course design, syllabus, lesson planning,

pedagogical methods & related articles. Eventually a clearer understanding began to form

in my mind as to what an educational structure is, the components that are woven together

to create its fabric, the vocabulary & terminology necessary for clear communication within

that structure, the expectations of the roles of “teacher” & “student”, “objectives” &

“outcomes” – as well as many opinions from those who feel the structure is outdated &

unnecessary. All good to know!

Some links to sites & documents I found useful:

 

http://www.fctl.ucf.edu/TeachingAndLearningResources/SelectedPedagogies/TeachingMethods/  (Teaching Methods - from the University of Central Florida) 

https://creativebecoming.wordpress.com/tag/critical-pedagogy/ 
(blog by Belinda Allen – PhD student & artist at University of New South Wales) 

http://infed.org/mobi/curriculum-theory-and-practice/  (article by Mark K Smith) 

http://www.ascd.org/publications/curriculum-handbook/398/chapters/Thinking-About-Curriculum.aspx   (informational curriculum handbook) 

http://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf 
(step by step guide to Integrated Course Design by Dee Fink) 

http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/designing-your-course/writing-a-syllabus.html
(helpful syllabus details & suggestions – from Cornell University) 

https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/death-syllabus 
(great rant article by Mano Singham) 

http://www.crlt.umich.edu/gsis/p2_5 
(clear advice for lesson-planning & teaching in general – from the University of Michigan)

Two quotes I like from the article by Mark K Smith: 

“I believe there is a tendency, recurrent enough to suggest that it may be endemic in the approach, for academics in education to use the objectives model as a stick with which to beat teachers.  ‘What are your objectives?’ is more often asked in a tone of challenge than one of interested and helpful inquiry.  The demand for objectives is a demand for justification rather than a description of ends… It is not about curriculum design, but rather an expression of irritation in the problems of accountability in education.“ (Stenhouse 1974: 77)
…… 

What is being suggested here is that when informal educators take on the language of curriculum they are crossing the boundary between their chosen specialism and the domain of formal education…….. But we should not fall into the trap of thinking that to be educators we have to adopt curriculum theory and practice. 

I also did some searching to find syllabi for Performance Art courses taught within the

University / College system.

This search is still on going. 


Movement / Performance methods & practitioners: 
I am now currently researching the information mentioned earlier … artists who have developed movement, performance & pedagogical methods. 

Among them are: Tadaki Suzuki, Anne Bogart, Phillip Zarrilli, Michael Chekhov, Michizo Noguchi, Guillermo Gomez Pena, Meredith Monk.

And will be continuing on to research the following (some of whom I’m already familiar with) ……. 

Tatsumi Hijikata, Kazuo Ohno, Min Tanaka, Mary Wigman, Isadora Duncan, Rudolf Von Laban, Nancy Stark-Smith, Anna Halprin, Marina Abramovic, Yvonne Reiner, Trisha Brown. 

I’m also interested in other methods of bodywork, meditation, martial arts & “organic” approaches to the body and movement.

Next …

What else did I say I was going to do? 

“A comprehensive study of the chronological history of performance art.” 

Ah yes – well I have been doing that. 

“A study of contemporaries writing about their own practice.” 

Um .. OK, I’d better get onto that one then! 

“Interviews with individuals who are currently teaching performance art.” 

I have been thinking about this … & beginning to compose a set of relevant questions.

What else? 

I need to “flesh out” the first area of study I’ve set out to include in my

pedagogy – that of “Definition, History & Context”. 

I need to have at my finger-tips passages & quotes, images & video links etc… all ready in a format that can be dropped into Power Point or clearly displayed in some way.

I also need to create a sample syllabus & course design. 

… OK – this is all do-able!

 

But …

I also need to write a paper – to compose a piece of writing that clearly & elegantly ties all these threads together. I said I would “compare and contrast methods of creating work, pedagogy and instruction” using examples of key artists from the eras of the ‘20s, ‘60s & ‘80s – (perhaps I’ll revise that source list slightly.)

Yikes!