The Something or Other of Memory 

Within this piece are snippets of memories that I gave it, small pieces, and stories of my past. All moments relate to who I was as an educator, how I developed, and how I became the educator I currently am. I incorporated my actual art journals to show my learning, this growth of where I currently am as an educator and then layered again these pieces of my past but also flowers to show my future growth and how I hope to continue to learn and grow based on my new experiences and also what I have learned so far as a teacher and as an educator. One of the most rewarding moments this semester taught me to sharpen my skills with not only technology and embracing new projects myself, but also collaboration and thoughtful meaningful lesson planning. This was only heightened by the contrast of our service learning, which was more relaxed but just as valuable and both acted to teach me valuable lessons on choice-based methods of teaching, how and when to incorporate them, and ways that I can use both formal and informal methods of teaching when looking and teaching my students about art and art history. Each week I had a memory or a thought that popped into my head for what I could connect with in my past to what we were learning in class, and each of those experiences drove the creation of my final piece, the final piece though I wanted to focus on the present and the future since I had spent so much time analyzing my past and thinking about where I wanted to be in the future, so I visualized symbols and focused on that which is what led to the final piece as it is currently. I composed the artwork in layers to show my growth and the many constant and changing layers of myself and my learning. I also have it radiating outward from myself to show this growth and development from my past to my present to hopefully my future. I used different types of paint- spray, watercolors, acrylics, flow paints, gouaches, and pens. As well as collaged images and text, markers, colored pencils, pens, crayons, stamps, and inks to create this piece and these are what I will continue to use in the final piece. I used these because these are the materials I naturally gravitate toward when making my art. I feel as though they symbolize the foundation of who I am as an artist and as an educator, and where I come from. I often say that every brick of your past is the foundation of who you are, you can not kick it out and expect everything to remain standing. Two-dimensional work is where I began but it is not necessarily where I am always comfortable, I tend to enjoy photography and fiber creation even more nowadays, but since I spent so much of my time looking at the past when creating this piece it seemed right to acknowledge that history of my education journey. The most fun part of this process was the actual making of it, watching it evolve and change each week as I did, layering and growing into something new and different. That being said it was hard for me to think about some aspects of my past, some things got very personal for me and I often discussed memories that made me uncomfortable or I hadn’t shared, or shared a memory that seemed less tough because some of them brought me to tears. It was a vulnerable and tough process to analyze these pieces of my past and how they brought me to this moment.  But I am so very glad that I went through it and looking at my final piece it is so interesting to see it as a whole finished piece and I have been developing this all semester long. What this taught me is several things, one is that you could probably create the same piece of art forever, it is only ever finished when you say that it is. And secondly, that art can grow and change with you, there is always room for improvement and room for growth and change in the same piece. Even within this piece, I changed materials, subject, and style based on how I was feeling, or even what sort of aesthetic I was vibing with at that moment. This is something I want to remember as a teacher, let your students experiment and let them just create to create. They are allowed to change and grow just like me I hope they do, and I hope I give them the space and support they need to grow and develop as artists even if it is not always my cup of tea, I can still appreciate the time, effort, and thought it took to make something. And those are the fundamentals of any great art.