Public Pedagogy of Upstander Art

JUSTICE

A spoon a simple object, however for it was vital for survival during the Holocaust, because much of what was given to you for fluid intake was in containers that had many different types of bacteria encrusted along the rim. The spoon would allow for that person to bypass the bacteria and get somewhat healthy water. Also, even though a simple object, it was given by men to woman in return for sexual favors, so if you are were a woman during these terrible times in the concentration camps, do you keep true to yourself and respect yourself and not take that spoon or take it and survive?

My absolute favorite journalist and feminist, Gloria Steinem, mentions in the video, Holocaust Heroes Fierce Females by Linda Stein, that if we are out in a group which violence is normalized, we therefore think it is normal. Seems very relevant to current day America, which my collage work possesses. My collage is separated into two parts, on the left is present day and on the right is of the past. The positioning of the items we strategically placed, having the Nazi symbol in the center dividing the different times. Every time I see this symbol I feel cold, uneasy and not happy. I put that symbol under our President’s face, Donald Trump, who has a seemly regular smirk on his face. He is hiding behind this wall that he claims that he will build to keep immigrants and drugs out of the United States. I positioned the children in need, Syrian refugees on the left to the children during the Holocaust viewing what is happening on the other side of the wall, which is you, the viewer. I selected children that were looking at the camera, the engagement of eye contact is very important when seeing the pain in their eyes. There is no need for words.

Why…is located above the current children needing help. Why? Why do we not allow children and families in need to not be allowed in our country that which is supposed to be a melting pot and a safe place for all to come? Above the Holocaust children is the word, Help. They needed help and that was very evident in their bodies and facial expressions. The wall has graffiti on it, which I saw in a news article of a couple that had that spray painted on their garage in Tennessee, I recreated it in Photoshop. Alongside the “Make America White Again” is two versions of street art, a Muslim woman asking for peace and acceptance and the Holocaust prisoners on the right in bold, black and white. The two leaders on both sides, Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler are raising their arms allowing our eye to be brought back to the center of the collage.

I have many questions for our present day crisis. Why and can't we help? Does it have to be this way, as quoted by Anne Frank in her diary, "It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more"

- July 15, 1944

References:

Frank, Anne. Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl. Trans. B.M. Mooyaart. New York: Bantam, 1993.

Stein, L. (2016). Holocaust Heroes: Fierce Females – Tapestries and Sculptures by Linda Stein. Philadelphia: Old City Publishing, Inc.

ENVIRONMENT

After viewing Linda Stein’s Environment sculpture there was one word that came to my mind: constriction. Along with feeling a sense of tightness I also felt weight, the load of the objects and wood. The overall interruption as the viewer was the way the Holocaust victims felt constrained in the camps, the box acting as the fence. The feeling of the weight from the wood, being the weight that was felt on the hearts of all the victims. I associate the art made by Stein as a direct correlation from the feelings that were everywhere at the concentration camps among all the victims.

Not only did I feel the constrained emotion and heaviness while viewing the art but also in my encounter while playing the Twine interactive game. Being on the side of the boy who is speaking with his boyfriend, about coming out to his parents. Him being on the fence on whether or not he should, or just continue to allow his parents to think that he is studying with Jack. The boy who I played in the video game did come out to his parents, however his mom’s reaction was she wanted him to hide it from his father, however he did end up coming out to his father and in turn he got punched in the face and told he would be switching schools to be away from Jack. Being in his shoes and the feeling of that heaviness, unwanted, and pain I cannot imagine actually being internal. Able to emotionally feel the pain for this young male made me ingest even more of a sense of sorrow for people that feel as though they cannot be their genuine self and live a life of truth. There are stereotypes everywhere and it’s a shame it disturbs people’s emotions because some are just too narrow-minded.

In the TED talk video by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie she expresses her thoughts about the danger of a single story. Conveying to the audience that being narrow-minded can really change a perspective of a person, place or thing. She understood that throughout her life that people were living lives of a single story and in fact missing out on a lot. My personal experience of a bully happened in high school when I was a freshman. I began to get bullied by a very aggressive and angry young female because she stereotyped me as being a lesbian because I was majorly involved in art. This ruined my freshman year, I would pretend to be sick to not go to school, skip certain classes to avoid her and ended up getting a restraining over when death threats starting happening and she spray painted “Zena Licks Pussies” on the side of my parents barn for all to see in the neighborhood. I made my collage based on a this experience that I encountered as a youth, the environment of high school for me felt just like what Stein made me feel, tightness and heaviness. Freshman year also felt like the young boy trying to come out to his parents but not wanting too. I felt like I couldn’t tell my parents everything that was happening on a daily basis in high school because it brought too much pain and I wanted to hide it. Lastly, high school did make me realize that some people in this world are narrow-minded like what Adichie spoke about and I experienced this first hand.

I ended up switching high schools at the end of freshman year and it turned out to be the best thing ever, I met my husband. I met friends that enjoyed art like me and I was able to be taught by a teacher who inspired me to go to art school and become an art teacher myself. The most beautiful thing that happened from me switching schools from being bullied, the teacher that inspired me so much to go to art school was the position I filled when graduating college and I am still presently there as that teacher that made such an impact on my life. Life has made a full circle for me, I truly live by the saying, everything happens for a reason. If it weren’t for being bullied my life would be completely different, so I accept everything that has happened and being able to accept it and make art out of my experiences brings even more peace within my soul.

Environment- high school lockers.

Environment 1: Sketch of looking at my daily high school life. Lockers consist of my bully yelling FREAK at me, doing artwork and being "X" out because art is not cool, a locker that daily would have some horrible remark about me or art, last locker is a sketch of me feeling small with no voice. The floor of the high school I could not escape, she was always watching me and my every move. It was a hell hole.

Environment 2:

Sketch of my daily home life, bringing my locker and bullying life home. I sit and watch the lockers transform into my parents barn where my bully wrote nasty words about me that weren't true. The floor is filled with guns, she would call my house and threaten that she would kill me if I came to school, this is when my parents put a restraining order against her and I switched schools, the last locker says: BYE.

Environment 3:

Sketch of the happy ending that occured. I used all famous women in paintings, the woman on the floor represents me refreshed and looking to the future, her head is no longer down. Art is surrounding this individual and no negative anymore in her life, its pure happiness.

IDENTITY

The spoon and shell is a metaphor for power versus vulnerability. The explanation given by Linda Stein on the significance of the spoon is both sexual and needed for health purposes. Stein mentions that if Leah accepts the spoon from a Polish prisoner she will need to perform sexual acts, however if she passes she keeps the self respected she had prior to being offered that spoon. In the video, Holocaust Heroes: Fierce Females, you learn that she passes on the spoon and risks getting tuberculosis that festers around the brim of the water jug that is passed around. However that same Polish prisoner turns and passes the spoon to another female and she accepts it. This act of running away by Leah and the one woman accepting it shows the power that Leah had to pass and the vulnerability that the other woman had to take it from the prisoner. The question is then asked, what would you do? I sat and pondered on this question for a while, what would I do? Honestly I would pass on the spoon, I would raise the jug above my mouth and pour it into my mouth or risk getting a horrible disease. If I did get a disease and die at least I would die knowing I kept dignity and respect towards myself.

In reviewing the Spoon to Shell sculptural series by Linda Stein, a couple really caught my eye. In #818 and #819 both of the spoons are almost completely covered allowing the vulnerability of the shells to be viewed more and not the power. When I viewed these after watching the video I felt like those pieces were made with the intentions of showing women took the spoon willingly and because of that the power of self-respect was hidden. The most enjoyable in every aspect was #821. The texture of the spoon is that of a shell, intertwining the two metaphors together. The face that I saw on the bag also intrigued me; the face looks depressed and lonely in black. The other emotional relationship between art and material is that of the words “waiting” entangled in front of it. The feeling of constriction is once again viewed and felt physically by one simple word and one simple piece of fabric. It's amazing how pieces that look so similar in a series really do take on different meanings, this series was very emotional for the viewer to absorb. Stein did an excellent job at showing this emotion through each sculptural work she created.

In reviewing my work and the those of past students blogs, it seemed as though environment seemed to be very common amongst us all. Lends to the environment of the sculptural pieces that Stein created for the concentration camps and how the emotional aspect of it was able to be seen in view very easily. The piece I created about the lockers is a space, an environment that had more than just environment be a part of it. It encompassed justice, power and identity.

Lastly, Judy Chicago’s Portal Part 3, What About Men? I read through all the questions and answers that people posed and the one seemed to stand out for me was the question about, Changes in studio art courses and programs? I do perceive that men get treated a little differently within the classes, for example when I was in my undergraduate studies there were more man faculty members, because of this I felt as though the connection and relationship with the male students were stronger. I never had any issues with the faculty nor the students, just an observation that I was aware of from the very beginning of starting my journey in art. I then noticed that there was an abundance of females in my art education classes, so the different between studio art classes to required art education classes were very different. This is why I believe that I was able to pick up on the difference in the approach male faculty members had with the female students compared to the male students. Also, I felt that in my figure drawing classes that there was always more male models than female models, I do not know why this is however it really bothered me. In my opinion the female body is rendered so much more beautifully than the male body. I know numerous students would always ask when a female model would be available and the male faculty members always answered by saying non were available. I don’t know if this is true, however it seemed that the female role in my studio classes were lacking from the treatment of the professors and also in the figures. At least in the experience that I had I feel as though the college should have hired more female professors instead of mostly all male. In looking back out of the fourteen faculty members eleven were male professors, if that was changed I think the relationships, figure models and such would have a different end result.

References:

Stein, L, Spoon to Shell Series, 2015