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Read more about Making and Being

Making and Being

(2 reviews)

Susan Jahoda, University of Massachussetts-Amherst

Caroline Woolard, University of Hartford

Copyright Year: 2019

Publisher: Pioneer Works Press

Language: English

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CC BY-SA

Reviews

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Reviewed by Joshua Hart, Associate Professor, Studio Foundation, Massachusetts College of Art and Design on 12/15/22

This text offers a holistic approach to a studio arts practice. What might be taken for granted in the development of any project (materials, time, space, support, non-physical resources) are taken here as aspects of the work of developing the... read more

Reviewed by Yong Huang, Assistant Professor, Bowling Green State University on 5/5/22

The book is clearly structured and articulated and easy to follow. read more

Table of Contents

  • Part 1: Entry Points
  • Part 2: Spaces of Learning
    • Chapter 1: Why Now
    • Chapter 2: Spaces of Learning
    • Chapter 3: Who Do You Honor?
    • Chapter 4: Teacher/Facilitator Guides (The First Five Weeks)
  • Part 3: Capacities
    • Chapter 5: Capacities
    • Chapter 6: How Are You in the World and How Is the World in You?
  • Part 4: The Lifecycle Framework
    • Chapter 7: Lifecycle Phases and Framework
    • Chapter 8: Understanding the Lifecycle Framework from Multiple Perspectives
    • Chapter 9: Support
    • Chapter 10: Source
    • Chapter 11: Depart
    • Chapter 12: Transfer
    • Chapter 13: Labor
    • Chapter 14: Narrate
    • Chapter 15: Encounter
    • Chapter 16: Tools
    • Chapter 17: Copyright
    • Chapter 18: Acquire
  • Part 5: To Be Continued
    • Chapter 19: Imaging the Future
    • Chapter 20: How We Work

 

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About the Book

Making and Being offers a framework for teaching art that emphasizes contemplation, collaboration, and political economy. Authors Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard, two visual arts educators and members of the collective BFAMFAPhD*, share ideas and teaching strategies that they have adapted to spaces of learning which range widely, from self-organized workshops for professional artists to Foundations BFA and MFA thesis classes. This hands-on guide includes activities, worksheets, and assignments and is a critical resource for artists and art educators today. Making and Being is a book, a series of videos, a deck of cards, and an interactive website with freely downloadable content (click on links below to download worksheets, activities, and chapters as PDFs and editable Google Docs).

*BFAMFAPhD is a collective that formed in 2012 to make art, reports, and teaching tools to advocate for cultural equity in the United States. The work of the collective is to bring people together to analyze and reimagine relationships of power in the arts. BFAMFAPhD core members are: Susan Jahoda, Emilio Martínez Poppe, Agnes Szanyi, Emily Tareila, Vicky Virgin, and Caroline Woolard.

We wrote this book for those of you who want a holistic art education that includes how to be both more fully present with yourself and with others. The term holistic means that the parts of any given system are intimately interconnected; that they are understandable only in relation to the whole system. How can you talk about making a new project without talking about labor conditions? How can you talk about labor conditions without talking about payment? It’s time to address your artistic labor, your budgets your storage units, your gifts, and your well-being.

 

About the Contributors

Authors

Susan Jahoda is an artist, educator and organizer whose work includes video, photography, text, performance, installation and research-based collaborative projects, and a core member of the New York–based collectives BFAMFAPhD and the Pedagogy Group. She is currently a Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and resides in New York City.

Caroline Woolard is an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the Hartford Art School, CT. Woolard employs sculpture, installation and online networks to study the pleasures and pains of interdependence. She is the 2018–20 inaugural Walentas Fellow for Women Leaders in the Arts at Moore College of Art and Design.

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