People do the coolest things . . .

I recently facilitated a creativity retreat for a local organization. We talked a little bit about what creativity is, and then everyone started in on collages. Only a few of the people in the room had made a collage in the past ten years - but look at what they did!


People are so creative . . . the people in this organization are constantly solving problems, but many of them don't see what they do as creative. Hopefully, this gave them another way of thinking about what they do.











There were close to 30 people in the workshop, and this is only a fraction of what they did! They got together in groups after making their collages, and then built stories using the images like pictures in a storyboard.

. . . And How I Learn to Teach Better

I'm excited about the chance to teach this August at the big mixed media art retreat in Arizona - Art Unraveled. And I'm really nervous. It's an amazing opportunity, and like anything new, there's a little bit of "Oh no, what if I mess this up?!"

When I gave a presentation on Creativity and Entrepreneurship a few weeks ago at the BizArt Conference in Everett, I went into it thinking I knew exactly what I was doing (After all, I'd done the presentation before, hadn't I?), and came away from it humbled.

Truth was, I'd never done that presentation for that group before, and I'd made assumptions that turned out to be false. While it certainly wasn't a disaster, I walked away from the session with a list of about a dozen ways that I could have done it better.

I've decided to be a little bit more proactive with the teaching at Art Unraveled. I posted a message on the group's listserve asking, in essence, for Tips for Newbie Teachers. And I hit the motherlode! I got great feedback from experienced teachers like Jacqueline Sullivan. I also got great advice from students on what makes a class successful. My favorite set, though, came from Susan, who is the official blog wrangler for her husband Don over at donmadden.blogspot.com. She is also an incredibly hysterical and straight-forward woman.

So, for all of you teachers out there, here's some really useful advice from the (adult) students' side of the desk:

Bridget asked for advice for newbie teachers.
As if I could not butt in on that...

For teachers?
You bet. As a certified elementary teacher who spent the worst year of her life teaching first grade I'm quite sure I can relate to your teaching situation. I did do a lot of training of adults in my later work careers, none of which involved them handing me a drawing and saying, "Here Teacher, I put my best booger on it for you."

1. Be early. Open the doors early.
We come early because we want our choice of the best seat.
If you are in the classroom we can talk to you because we aren't sure we have the right supplies, ideas, confidence, or whatever.

2. Be Very early and lock the doors and set everything up.
We paid for the time in your class and don't like to waste it setting up for you. After you are set up, open the doors early (see #1).
When we come in and start talking about the class, that's when you'll find out you left an important supply off the list. Don't panic. Improvise. Pivot. (see #7) We've all made the same mistake.

3. Intros around the room are nice but don't let them be more than Name-and-Where-I'm-From. It might be helpful for you to hear art experience, expectations, etc, but that's wasting paid-for class time. A show of hands can cover experience-related questions. If someone starts in with their biography, nip it in the bud by saying "I'd really like to hear more at our break time but let's continue our short introductions now." Which brings us to Item #4....

4. Have a definite announced break time half way through.
Don't use it to be time when everyone catches up on work, let it be time when you can walk away for at least 15 minutes to get a cup of coffee and there is a work flow stopping point. Now will be time when we all can finally chat with our table mates and assess what we are doing. And get our cup of coffee. When you come back from YOUR break you can deal with any problems.
Note: Nothing is more irritating that rushing off to the bathroom and coming back to find the teacher has spontaneously already started another demo.

5. Take a hard look at the way the tables are arranged in the room.
Do they really need to all face you in rows? Probably not, but habit makes people set them up that way.

Think about it: The people in the back usually can't see diddley-squat or hear well at all. That means they'll start talking among themselves because they feel separate from the front of the class. Now you have a class where there is disruptive mumbling going on. Not good. All because you didn't think about the table arrangement.

Try arranging them in a U-shape with your table at the top. Or in a V-shape (like diagonal parking!). Both of these set-ups let you be in the center and let you see more of what is going on. Even clusters of tables can be in a rough U-shape.If you do need to re-arrange the tables, it's ok to wait until enough people come in to help you move them (ignore #2 in this situation). Be aware that most people don't understand the table arrangement thing, they think they want to hide in old-fashioned row 3 so no one can see their work.

6. Try to divide supplies into at least two stations or more. And bring enough. If you have people lined and waiting behind more than 3-4 other people, then you've made a big mistake. Students did not pay to stand in line and wait for the one bottle of whatever you bought to be available. And saying "Come up to the table and pick out your favorite color" produces nothing but a feeding frenzy piranahas would be proud of.

7. We all mess up. But if you mess up what we are working on or if your process or technique isn't working right, don't try to bluff your way out and tell us it will look fine. Instead, admit the problem and work to improvise with us. As an artist and a teacher that's where you are supposed to be -- teaching us how to pivot out of pitfalls.

We are the ones who are stuck in the learning rut and don't know where to turn. Remember that often mistakes are the best learning experiences. And sometimes the most valuable lesson for a student is learning that YOUR process is what they don't ever want to do again. Don't take that personally, help them see that a learning step in their progress as an artist. And cross them off your Potential Competition List.

8. When someone in the class has a meltdown it probably isn't your fault. But assume responsibility and walk the person out of the room ("Let's step outside and talk privately about this") and see if you can (quickly) settle them down. Yes, you left the class and you are losing valuable time but nothing is worse than working at a table with a sobbing student. Same process with a person who is trying to dominate the class or is argumentative.

9. Be quick to give specific brand names of what you use but have a reason WHY you use that particular supply/brand. Sometimes students struggle needlessly only because the supply they are using is not appropriate. Try to watch for that and offer suggestions.

10. Loosen up and stop worrying about it all. You'll spend more time on preparation and early set-up than you ever planned on but the pay-back will be that the class will flow smoothly. You'll spend more energy than you thought you had but that's why you have to schedule in #4. And for any unforseen catastrophe, remember the phrase "Let's deal with that at the break. Now, moving on..."

11. Every teacher will have a disaster class at least once. This time it might be you. Don't pretend it didn't happen, instead, at the end of the class try to honestly assess it with the students and ask for their suggestions on how to improve the class. Then go to the bar, get a stiff drink, take it to your room, lock the door and beat your head against the wall.

Now, to print this out, tape it to my forehead, and prepare my stiff drinks!

Why I Teach

Printing with Junk!

I love to teach, and I teach about once a month, but I always forget to bring a camera . . . I taught a Basic Beading class yesterday at DIY Lounge, and while I remembered to bring my camera, I forgot to take a single picture . . .

Last month, I taught a class called Printing with Junk . . . I had no camera, but one of my students, Emily, did . . . so, instead of sharing yesterday's class with you, I'm going to share a class with you from a month ago! We used recycled materials - and junk - to make cool prints. Here's Emily, the smart lady with the camera:

She's holding a print she made with a recycled plastic bag.

And here's another student and her plastic bag print.

Here's a print I made using an old piece of styrofoam - I carved it with a hot knife.

Here's a student inking up a heat moldable foam stamp. In the foreground, you can see a cut foam stamp glued on a peanut butter jar lid.

These prints are made with a combination of plastic bag prints and cut foam prints.

This print is so fun - a bubble wrap print in yellow, mixed up with cut-foam-on-peanut-butter-jar-lid print.

And, here's me!

This class was a lot of fun . . . and I'll be doing it again on January 14th. Maybe I'll see you there - with your camera!

Night Lights, Big City: Long Day

Well, ok, it's a little city. Little enough that someone like me can be on TV - twice, no less! I started off the day today demonstrating a jewelry technique involving recycled bicycle inner tubes on local morning show AM Northwest. You can click here to watch the video or wait until tomorrow and I'll have a complete, step-by-step demo posted here on the blog! (My other five minutes of fame - demonstrating how to make memory magnets on the same show - can be viewed here, if this sort of thing amuses you!) And a big "Thank You" to Jen of DIY Lounge and Maria of collage for hooking me up with this sweet gig!

I ended the day on an equally arty note, this time with my Artmaking as Playful Prayer Class - we started in on shrines tonight, but I just had to give you a peek at what we did last week:


That's right! We made Guardian Night Lights with shrink plastic - the one above is kind of a fire dancer, and the one below, well, she's a successful and serene multi-tasker!


We started the class by talking a little about archetypes, and then dove into a writing exercise. I had folks draw two tarot cards (tarot decks are chock full of archetypes, by the way!): one for their Ally, and one for their Adversary. We did some writing about what we loved and feared in those figures - and it was pretty amazing what came out! And of course, I did the exercise too. My Adversary related to getting distracted by pursuing too many goals at one time - so I decided to embrace my Adversary, and turn her into a friend! Here, she is capable of doing the many things she loves, while still staying focused on the big picture and grounded in reality. A girl can dream, right?

If you want to do this at home, you can pick up shrink plastic at just about any art store (I, of course, get mine at collage - gotta support those small, local art stores!); I got the night light blanks from the kyle designs wholesale section!

Yes, I'm feeling a bit obsessed with shrink plastic lately . . . Maybe CraftyPod could do a show on it . . . if they haven't already!

Pattern-Making Process: Stuffed Misfit

I'm going to be hosting a Stuffed Misfit Stitchathon* at CubeSpace here in Portland on Saturday, February 9th from 1-4. Suzi Mayer will be there, too, guiding participants in the creation of hats from felted sweaters. It's a re-use-a-palooza for all the misfit garments, the shrunken sweaters, the mateless gloves, the single socks that you've doubtless removed from your closet in a resolute frenzy of New Year's clutter-clearing. For $5, we supply what you need to make a hat or your very own Stuffed Misfit. Bringing your own shrunken sweater or singleton socks is highly encouraged; I'll have needles, thread, buttons, stuffing, etc. for the Stuffed Misfits.

I'm excited to do this, especially since I didn't have the New Year's Day Stuffed Misfits party I had been loosely planning (see "ennui"). And, since I'm also way behind on doing a January craft project DEMO! (rationalizations: post-holiday ennui and nasty post-ennui energy-zapping head cold) and want to have some kind of original pattern or guide to provide at the Stuffed Misfit Stitchathon and promised to do a drawing a day during January and really just wanted to make a Stuffed Misfit tonight while watching episodes of "The Closer", I thought I'd do a multiple-goal, one project kind of a thing.**

Meet Mr. Misfit in Progress:

Now, I tend to work pretty intuitively. I put stuff together, poke holes, add things on . . . I rarely work from patterns - or if I do, I use them primarily as a starting point. I use books for inspiration and to learn new, very specific techniques.

Mr. Misfit in Progress (he doesn't have a name yet, just an initial sense of maleness) began as an old sock and a cheap-o stretchy glove. Cutting, stitching, and stuffing ensued. There is still stitching - and possibly cutting and stuffing - to be done.

But it doesn't always work in a classroom setting to say, "Ok, just kind of cut things off until it looks right and then stitch it up and stuff it and stitch some more." I try to provide some basic techniques, and then encourage people to run wild. My thinking here is that I'll create this little creature intuitively, but will draw the pattern as I go along so that people have a starting point and can see how I've blended the techniques that I've picked up from different places.

Here's the pattern drawing so far, which I think subconsciously borrows pretty heavily from John Murphy's pattern style, minus the legibility:

Uh-huh. So, it's the first draft. I think it could benefit from some words. It's tough for me to break down what I'm doing into freeze frames, especially when it's still under development. It's a good exercise, though, because it's really forcing me to think about the construction and alternative ways of putting it together . . .

With any luck, I'll get it finished and up on the blog tomorrow. That way, I can post it as a finished drawing, and as a DEMO! and use it in the workshop on February 9th! Multi-tasking - it's all part of my process.

Footnotes:

* "Stuffed Misfit Stitchathon" is not the name under which CubeSpace will be promoting this event, as I just came up with it a few minutes ago. However, it's catchier than my original title (" Make Your Own Stuffed Misfit: Soft Monsters from Stranded Socks and Odd Gloves with Bridget Benton") so I'm going with it.

** Figuring out how to do exactly what you want while still meeting your personal goals and satisfying the obligations, needs and requirements of those within your chosen environment is a very particular application of creative skill, one that is present in abundance in young children, college students, lawyers, and professional mediators. I consider it a critical life skill, though when coupled with self-delusion, lies, and/or statistics (as it too often is in the case of college students and lawyers) it can get pretty ugly.

Wordwear Workshop: On Tag Team Teaching

At the beginning of December, Gretchin and I taught The Strong Silent Type: Creating Your Own Wordwear at Scarlet Star Studios. The workshop was based on Gretchin's development of wonderful metal tag jewelry featuring meaningful phrases, jewelry she called wordwear. After a few conversations with her, I started doing some word tag jewelry of my own, using different techniques. Finally, we came together and developed a class that brought the best of both our worlds together. I'm certainly not the first to blog about it - Gretchin put a few words in on her blog, as did one of the participants, Dayna. And I've got samples of finished jewelry posted on my website.

This is a shot from the workshop - it shows how gloriously chaotic the workspace gets and how intensely everyone focuses on their individual projects. I love it!

And I loved teaching with Gretchin. We had several great conversations about our theories of teaching and how to structure the class - each of us focusing on the things that we do best. Gretchin started the workshop with some writing exercises, helping everyone find their own words - something I wouldn't have done if I'd been teaching the class alone. When it came time to demonstrate, I did my big letters, pounded deep, and ornamented with lots of extra bling, colors, and beads - bringing in all sorts of jewelry-making know-how. And then Gretchin showed everyone how to use tiny letters for a neat, precise, clean look well-spaced on the tag. And by teaching both methods, Gretchin and I (as well as our students) learned a lot of new things!

Including the fact that Gretchin and I had each developed our own ways of doing wordwear based a lot on our own personal styles - I do a lot of big, bold, loose art, mixing media - always with an eye towards the emotional impact of the whole. Gretchin has worked as a calligrapher and poet, and all that attention to detail and spacing as well as an incredible respect for the words themselves has informed her way of working much smaller and cleaner, with a focus on the words themselves.

And it was marvelous to see the students experiment with both styles, to see them have so many options to explore. To see how some reveled in my style of unbridled enthusiasm and experimentation, and to see how others felt so at home with Gretchin's introspective calm and gentle precision. And some who happily rode the wave of both.

And this is one of the biggest challenges of teaching. To stay true to your own style while accommodating the needs and styles of as many students as possible.

On a very different note, the Sweetie and I went and saw Enchanted yesterday. Very fun - especially the whole singing in Central Park scene - it was like seeing one of my private fantasies played out on the big screen. Grin.

On being a Teacher . . .

I turned in my application for Art & Soul yesterday . . . my application to teach at the Portland event in '08.

One of the biggest challenges is coming up truly new techniques, new projects, or new ways of combining techniques and projects in such a way that they are appealing to students - students, who, in many cases are traveling across the country (or even from another country) to attend. As a "beginning" teacher (I've taught off and on since I was in college, but I only dove into it fully in 2004 with the debut of my Artmaking as Playful Prayer classes), I don't have the advantage of a fanatical following who've been seeing my work in magazines and books for years . . . and, frankly, I'm not sure that I want a fanatical following . . . Meaning, at this point, most people have to be willing to take a risk to take a class with me. There has to be something in the work or the sample or the description that inspires them or grabs them by surprise. And I have to convince the judges who select the lineup of classes that I am worth the time. Judges who are described in the application as "a group of menopausal women," women who, for the most part, make their living by being able to determine what people exploring mixed media want to learn.

No pressure.

So, I've been sweating over this application for a month. The class I wanted to offer, the one I thought would be the most unique, had to do with hats. And every sample I tried came out crappy. (Inner voice: "Defer judgment, Bridget. Those hats were learning experiences.") Ah, yes . . . I'm probably not ready to teach that one yet . . . I really need to get the technique down better, refine it. The thing is, I love teaching. Some days I'm tired or I don't do as good a job as other days, but I really like creating an environment where people can play, experiment, be exposed to new ideas and techniques, and gain some confidence with their own artmaking. And, with very few exceptions, I walk away from teaching a class having learned something new.

I also know that I consider a class worth my time if I am able to do at least one of the following:
a) learn even one new technique
b) gain confidence in working with a technique
c) have a personal insight or push a personal edge or grow
d) have an experience that engages me in making something from my heart.
And I design my classes to provide the potential for these kinds of experiences. Note that nowhere in there do I say that I have to complete something, or even make something I like. I try to keep in mind that this is a priority for a lot of people, but it's still a challenge.

And I guess I'm writing this in part because I got so distracted by trying to make "a product" or a "sample" that might inspire students to want to learn from me (or become part of my fanatical following or make work just like mine) that I forgot the whole reason why I teach and even make art in the first place. Nowhere on the application was there space for "teaching philosophy" or "what you do to engage students."

That said, I felt really good about the way this sample came together:


I was totally engaged in making it, it felt completely fun, and I got to pull all kinds of techniques out of my hat - self-taught, learned from others, gleaned from books, and discovered - and mix them up in a very satisfying way that was personally meaningful.

That, of course, leads us into what it is to be an artist. And then what it is to be a teaching artist, which is a different animal altogether. So, you'll just have to come back tomorrow.