Finding your power...

Growth can come in areas that you least expect. This week I was stretched and forced to grow. Isn't that what happens? As adults, we can get stuck in our old ways: what we've always done is what we continue to do. I'm not good at delegating jobs to other people. I'm not really sure why; it's just something I don't do. This week I came to a tipping point. Too many things to do and really not enough time. I had no choice but to delegate - so I did, and now it's out of my hands. Even as I write this I know that what makes me feel uncomfortable is that I am now powerless over this one delegated aspect. Gasp! What an awful feeling. This brings me into exactly what we've been doing in the classroom. It's always strange to me how interconnected things are.

Last week we learned about stereotypes and looked at the art of Keesic Douglas. He uses First Nations stereotypes in his art as a way to speak out and inform... I think. This week it seemed appropriate to take the exact opposite journey. We looked at art from artist Jerry Whitehead.

His art is highly identifiable. When we viewed his art, I had students answer the question: Who is Jerry Whitehead? They wrote their answers on the whiteboard and their guesses were largely right.
My students seemed really taken by his art. They liked the colors and the bold shapes. I had them use black construction paper and oil pastel to recreate their own piece in his style. With this activity I only asked them to recreate his style; I did not ask them to show their own identity. I thought we first needed to master his style before we tried to bring our own identity into the art. The student art turned out amazing, and the part that surprised me most was that some students took the style and made it about them. In their art you won't find First Nations powwow dancers, you'll find Filipinos among buildings, for example.

With the last two art projects, I had put up an inquiry question with a picture of the artist and their name. As our new Jerry Whitehead style art was being completed and tacked our board, a student came to me and said that I needed to get his picture up there and a question. She also had no plans of waiting for this to happen. She wanted it done now. I asked her what question we could explore. Really we are always exploring identity and how it influences art, but as art can, it allows us to bring in all kinds of other aspects. Her response echoed my thoughts: Is it okay for an artist to use stereotypes about their own culture? His art is a stark contrast to the message that Keesic Douglas gives. This is such a deep question, and one that will also take some cultural sensitivity as we explore it. I honestly don't know the answer because a simple answer is not what we are going to find or come to. I plan to bring in a few sub questions to get them thinking. Questions like: Does art create cultural pride? Can people learn about culture through art? I wasn't sure which artist we would explore next, but maybe I should let the students answer these questions by finding an artist and their art and using it to build a case. Inquiry is such a fluid process, and being open to going where a project naturally wants to go is hugely important.

During our non-art time I had my students watch several videos on poverty. All three of these videos can be found at saskatoonpoverty2possibility.ca. In summary, we watched as the coach of the Blades participated in the Food Bank Challenge, as well as a fast paced informational video, and a mini-documentary on a working poor family from the inner city of Saskatoon. I had the students record any statistics and information they learned from the videos as well as a reflection. We had a small discussion around poverty. This is a difficult topic to understand and it's very complex. We still have more work to do around the cycle of poverty, and from a health perspective, how hard it is to make healthy food choices on a limited budget. Some of my students admitted to me that they didn't like learning this information. It made them feel sad and helpless. I guess I really need them to understand that knowledge is power and now we can use our knowledge to look past our own biases and stereotypes. We can be more accepting and loving. We can all work towards a better world - whether it's in a small act of kindness or a larger act of protest. As well, we all need to decide for ourselves what our act of kindness will be. No one can chose it for us.

Yesterday we worked with the slam poetry artists. I think that everyone was feeling apprehensive about having our students write and perform poetry. We wondered how the artists would get the kids feeling confident enough to put their thoughts and ideas out there to each other. What our artists accomplished was fantastic and awe inspiring. Many of my students went up to the front and shared their poems - in front of the grade eights! (That's the more surprising part to me.) I was so proud of them, and the poems were fantastic! I have this problem with my eyes leaking when I'm proud of my students. Yes, some might call it weeping. I sat there wiping my eyes and deciding that I now need to wear water proof mascara during this project. Seeing the students empowered was so moving. I can't wait for their parents to see what I saw. They will be so proud!

So how does this all relate to my own powerless feeling as I delegated a job? Art and performance all have aspects of power. Taking back power, finding our own power, empowering others (in my case letting go of power/control) - they're all things that can be accomplished through the arts. Again I have to thank The Saskatchewan Arts Board and the TreatySmarts Grant for allowing us to have this opportunity to grow and find our power.

The creative fire...

Our school was fortunate to receive a TreatySmarts grant this year, and we are using this grant to explore identity and culture and how they influence art. The unit starts off with the front-end loading of the information pertaining to Treaties, and will culminate in a slam poetry night at the Broadway Theatre. Ideally our students will write poems that pertain to the FNIM content they learn in class and speak passionately for peace, tolerance, acceptance and understanding for all people.
Our first exploration into identity and art was an assignment on Ted Harrison. I chose the questions: Is it possible to express your identity through art? Basically students had to view Ted Harrison's art and then guess who he is. I asked guiding questions and recorded their ideas on the board. Later we read his bio and looked at pictures of him. We discovered that some of the assumptions we made about him were accurate, but some were not. We then moved into the creation phase. Students were instructed to copy Harrison's style and create a piece of art that expresses their identity. After their art was completed, they were to write a reflection on how their art does or does not represent them. The final part of the assignment was to write a 1-3 paragraph biography on Ted Harrison, and to write a similar autobiography in third person about themselves.

Surprisingly many students had troubles copying this style of art. Maybe it was the combination of trying to combine a style with their identity. When I asked this inquiry questions, I assumed that the answer would be yes, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe the answer is yes if you are given free reign, but when you must mimic someone else's style it becomes more difficult.

Today we started to explore stereotypes exposed through art. We found this thought provoking First Nations Artist, Keesic Douglas. His art tackles stereotypes though photography. A teacher candidate took the lead on this lesson and showed the students Douglas's art. We discussed the meaning of the word stereotype and tried to list the stereotypes expressed through the art. This lead to a lively discussion about stereotypes that we all face. Tomorrow we will have students create a collage of the stereotypes portrayed in the media. They will be allowed to cut words and photos out of magazines for this collage. The difficult part for them will be to find stereotypes that are specific to them. While they are working on their collages, I will have students come one at a time for a black and white photo shoot. Once their collage is complete, they will begin the work of recreating the style of Keesic Douglas. Their materials will be their own photo and a sharpie. They can use words and pictures to draw on their photo and expose the stereotypes they are subjected to. Keesic Douglas's work depicts the stereotypes that First Nations people face, and our art likely will not. We will need to do this with a measure of cultural sensitivity, but with the idea that tolerance and acceptance of ALL people is the our common goal.

Finally, we will put all of our work into zines. Zines, short for magazines, are self published mini magazines that target a small niche. As we work over the next few months, the students will each build their own zine with art, poetry, and reflection.

Next week we begin working with two slam poetry artists. They will help teach our students about slam poetry and eventually lead them through the creation of their own slam poems. Working with these artists, as well as the Mendel Art Gallery, would not be possible without the TreatySmarts Grant, and the Saskatchewan Arts Board. For this opportunity, I am grateful.
For those of you who don't know what a slam poem is, here is a video:



 Here is the assignment the students worked through:

   Identity Inquiry Project by