6.19.2014

Create your story workshop with The Collins Center

So aside from the interviews I've been doing for the past two weeks, I've been prepping for the public art piece (I begin tomorrow) and also prepping for the workshop I gave tonight.

I'm not great at teaching, in fact, I'd say I'm kind of terrible at it.  I also get really nervous around speaking to groups of people, even if it's a small intimate group.  So the workshop started a bit rough, but I picked up and the workshop turned out to be a lot of fun.  Only women were present, and we spent the first hour and half learning about carving linoleum blocks, drawing and carving.  Everyone got to choose the aspect of their own experience they wanted to focus on, whether negative or positive, literal object or abstract idea, and chose/draw an image that they felt represented that.  I was really impressed by a lot of the work and the lack of fear approaching the carving.  The best part, by far, was the way everyone dived into mixing up all the mediums after their initial print.  One woman in particular made use of every other material she could get her hands on, without any direction, including strings, tissue paper, markers, and other sheets of color paper.

Everyone seemed to have a great time and went home with multiple pieces.  It was a lovely and moving experience (and everyone even helped me clean up).

I'll get better at workshops eventually, I hope, and also at teaching.

I am so grateful to The Collins Center, Larkin Arts, and (of course) the Old Furnace Arts Residency for making this possible for me.



















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