Sean Bodley

What did art do for you?

Art gives me hope in the human race.  I think that art is important for the survival of humans.  This all comes back to education at an early age, where we are the most flexible with our minds.   I don’t think that art is the greatest thing in the world, but I do think that it fosters a beautiful type of creative problem solving.  When a civilizaiton runs into a problem and has limited resources, creativity allows us to side-step our initial restrictions.  Encouraging creative problem solving, especially in children, it is a huge benefit to us all.

Creative problem solving is important to me because I am able to make a living in a field like nothing else.  I love making art and it is a part of my being. Making art has helped me teach myself many “non-art” things, like how to garden, making computers, and how to start a business.  One of my past art instructors explained to us how artists are often a jack-of-all-trades.  In todays dynamic market it seems like everyone has at least two jobs.  Creative problem solving has allowed me to diversify my knowledge and skills.

Introduction to art at an early age expanded my expectations for what reality could be. I’m grateful for my early childhood experiences with art.  Those times encouraged a lot of abstract thinking.  I think art can help save the human race by broadening it’s perspective on reality.  A wider perspective allows us to do much more with much less. Considering the issues that face us in our future, I’m glad that art has fostered millions of creative problem solvers to aid us on our path.  That is the main thing art does for me, allows me joyful survival through my craft, and hope that we can preserve that for our people’s children.

http://www.seanbodley.com

Jesse Graves

What Did Art Do For You?

Art is a significant part of my life and is why I am employed. Contrary to popular belief, there are many professions in the arts.  Aside from leading to jobs, a quality art education, and other exposure to art, is going to benefit everyone in numerous ways.

 Art has taught me to view the world through a critical lens and to explore diverse perspectives.  I will not be persuaded by advertisements to buy unhealthy foods, a product I do not need, or buy into unethical ideologies. Advertisements and flashy graphics do not work on me because I know how to create them. I want to teach students how to create and understand visual media too, so that they can navigate our visual culture and be able to make informed decisions, rather than impulsive ones. Through art, I teach children creative thinking skills, problem solving, how to interpret visual media; I introduce students to symbolism, metaphor, satire; I give them self-confidence, a sense of accomplishment, and purpose.  It is empowering to have the skills to express ideas and opinions.  My students develop a love for learning, because they are having a great time in the process.

Much of learning in schools is centered on absorbing knowledge.  The arts provide students with experiential learning and the opportunity to discover multiple solutions to a problem.  I do not want to see children educated to just be good workers, to shut-up, sit still, and memorize the right answer.  I want students to love learning, love sharing ideas, and love life.  I am fortunate to have had amazing teachers that either incorporated artistic components into their curriculums or, in the case of my art and theater teachers, centered their curriculum on creating.  In middle school, I had an English teacher that introduced my class to Shakespeare by directing us in a school play.  Shakespeare seems boring and difficult until you get to get on stage and perform it, or build scenes and props to help tell the story.   Then it’s a blast! I would have never understood or cared to understand Shakespeare if I had been forced to absorb it and had not had the opportunity to create it.  The same can be said for visual art.  If my only exposure was looking at some slides of abstract expressionist paintings, than I would not be interested in visual art.  Luckily, I grew up in a family that made and grew things, and I have always felt empowered to create rather than just consume.  My art teachers challenged me to express complex ideas and messages.  They challenged me to be a researcher and to support my art through my words.

I do not know what kind of person I would be without the exposure to art that I have had.  I do not think that I would be as happy as I am, and I do not think I would be able to share knowledge in the meaningful way that I do.  I hope that throughout my life I will continue to share the knowledge I have gained.  I also hope that more people will see the value in a quality art education, and support the arts, so that more people can find happiness and purpose in their lives.

Jesse Graves

Interdisciplinary Artist

Art Educator

Website Release Party!

Come join us for our website release party and art teacher example show on March 30th 6-10 and the Jazz gallery.  There will be food, drinks, a photobooth and more.  After March 30th we will begin making weekly posts of individuals responding to the question: What Did Art Do For You?

Jason Ludtke

What did Art do for me?

From a very early age I was pushed into Art making and appreciating by my parents and family. It is something that has been with me as long as I can remember. Through my school years and into college, Art was my focus and something I knew that I wanted to pursue as a career as an Artist and Art Educator. Through the course of my life, Art making has been one of the most consistent and important things that I do.

As a teacher and life long student, I have found that Art in the classroom setting is an invaluable and foundational element in a student’s holistic educational experience. By giving students opportunities to learn through doing, students’ understanding is anchored to the activity and personal attachment they put into their work. Working through a Visual Art lens lets us as students examine the most important parts of our cultures past and present and from a perspective that most often appreciates and celebrates rather than judges and denies. As a teacher it is an incredible experience to work with students as they reveal these realities to themselves. As well as introducing new concepts and histories, Art education can practically apply and reinforce concepts learned across the common core curriculum.

Cross Curricular Visual Arts lessons are a concept that I firmly believe in and currently practice in my own classroom. Through well-developed curriculum, students can apply and practice math, reading and writing skills, examine sciences and cultivate a more tangible understanding of our history in a way that makes these concepts real and approachable. Art can teach students not only how to make something but to advocate for or against it and to create and examine a personal meaning behind it. Art can teach us as students and teachers to appreciate and develop one of the most fascinating and important aspects of humanity, our own imagination and creativity.

I have always known that I would practice what I teach and I practice my own Art-making each and every day and work to exhibit the work that I make. My own Art has taken on many forms over the years and I have recently found an area working with Graphic Narratives where I am creating frequently and in a way that feels like the most honest Art I can make. Constructing graphic narratives appeals to me in that it gives me the ability to tell stories in a number of ways, the incredible possibilities the medium possesses and the ease of accessibility to those who wish to share the work I have created.

What visual Art has done for me is show me how to challenge myself creatively, how I learn and how I teach. Art has shown me how to work with others as a community toward a common goal and to advocate and craft something you love. Art has shown me that the realization of possibility is almost as dizzying as the stroke of inspiration. If you’re going to make something, make it true.

Cover of COLOSSAL part 2: Illumine by Jason Ludtke