I hope your semester went well, very well. I hope each felt success - even through hardship and failure there is success in overcoming obstacles and solving problems.
I feel sad that Peter is not returning next semester and will not be at our summer residency. However, I can only feel joy for the insight he has offered me and I can be grateful for the time shared.
I ask if you are willing to consider the questions posed by Peter in our last packet letter and through discussion in our first meeting (without an advisor or with a replacement) share our thoughts. I am interested in your answers to Pete's questions.
I would dearly love to see representations of the work you did over the last semester. I will be ready to share photos documenting my practicum if you're interested.
Looking forward,
Liz
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
How do I support the soldier and not the war?
How do I support the soldier and not the war? This was my question for my practicum. In italics is an excerpt from my practicum proposal:
The benefit of this project to collaborators is that it may serve to find common ground in opposing opinions regarding the current war; it may garner respect for the deceased soldiers’ effort and sacrifice; it may offer comfort through acknowledging grief and an opportunity to release regret; it will be a public visual aide demonstrating what the number 4000 (4962) looks like.
I have a 15 year long existing relationship with the FPUU community as friend and member of the congregation... Intellectually I may differ from some in my opinion regarding the current war. My intent to be neither for nor against the war, but to focus on the soldier is intended to relieve any tension that might become a barrier to recognizing the soldier.
People came forward to help with creating strips and writing names; some wrote a few, some wrote hundreds, I’m pretty sure one wrote thousands. I received help building the frame, contacting the Canton Citizen, and taking photographs.
I held a public event on Friday to write names, read names and tie rags onto the flag. Rev. Bill, opened with a prayer; congregation members, high school youth and family read, wrote and tied; and my husband made brownies to share. It was a special event.
I gave a homily in church Sunday, and folks shared their thoughts during fellowship hour. People thanked me "for sharing" the project, presenting the soldiers as individuals and making them “tangible”. I met friends, neighbors, strangers and new friends who shared the flag with questions and comments on Monday as Canton celebrated Memorial Day.
Unexpectedly, the events inspired another to create a document with photos of my Rag-Flag designed to email the message to others “especially veterans so that they can realize that there are people who do not support the war, however they do support our veterans and our armed services.”
I am grateful.
Peace,
Liz
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Vermont Legislature Legalizes Gay Marriage
Yesterday was a great day in Vermont: http://burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20090408/NEWS03/90408001.
What I thought you all might find interesting was that Mark Schulman, Goddard President, along with other state business leaders, signed a letter to lawmakers earlier in the week expressing "that allowing same-sex couples to marry in Vermont will create a better business climate in the state." [http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090407/NEWS01/904070338]
Optimistic sign of the times. When Vermont passed the civil union law back in the 90's, it really divided the state. "Take Back Vermont" signs were everywhere, and newspapers were filled with letters to the editor. This time around there was a lot less acrimony. Still loud voices on both sides, but the debate was civilized.
Hope everyone is well.
What I thought you all might find interesting was that Mark Schulman, Goddard President, along with other state business leaders, signed a letter to lawmakers earlier in the week expressing "that allowing same-sex couples to marry in Vermont will create a better business climate in the state." [http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090407/NEWS01/904070338]
Optimistic sign of the times. When Vermont passed the civil union law back in the 90's, it really divided the state. "Take Back Vermont" signs were everywhere, and newspapers were filled with letters to the editor. This time around there was a lot less acrimony. Still loud voices on both sides, but the debate was civilized.
Hope everyone is well.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
hate is not a Canton value
Incase you were wondering about the WBC protestors vs. the Canton High School Drama Club presentation of “The Laramie Project” (a play about the murder of Matthew Shepard) the students have chosen to wear this t-shirt in response to the planned protest. The words are inspired by a line in the play.
So, a happy surprise addition to my packet work; I learned the steps required to get words silk screened onto a t-shirt. The cotton T's will sell for $5.00 each. The theater kids are hoping to see a lot of white shirts on Mar 20th to show what they value.
Go Canton Bulldogs!
Work culture/ making a working context for ourselves
As I read Pete's preface letter, I thought about how different this program is from one at a residential school. I imagine we all had our reasons for choosing Goddard (and hoping Goddard chose us.) Mine was twofold; first, the description of the program really spoke to me. When I read it, I kept smiling, nodding my head, noticing kinship, feeling a strong pull and a connectedness generated by none of the other programs I researched. Another reason was pragmatic; I really like the work I do now and didn't want to leave it to go to school in a live- there full-time mode. I think the way I work now is helping me create a structure for going forward in the broad context of personal practice. I don't feel that my life is playing out in separate compartments, but rather more like different scenes on a revolving stage, scenes ultimately all connected in the one play.
For me, this personal practice is much like what Mary Catherine Bateson wrote about in Composing a Life. I feel like we are in fact creating our lives, the real composition, of which art-making is a specific expression, but always against the backdrop of our being. One of my favorite thinkers from earlier in my life is Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and a quote of his that has stayed with me for years is this: "The task before us now if we would not perish, is to build the earth." Building the earth means being the architects of our own lives, as well as paying attention to our connections with our planet and with all the creatures who inhabit it. What we learn, what we create, and most especially who we are I think is ultimately so we can be part of healing and of making whole.
So, thanks, Pete, for opening that door, and getting me thinking about why Goddard and how I can make the gifts of this time manifest and enduring in my life.
Good thought to you all; I do miss you.
Susan
Friday, February 27, 2009
Gablik, Meritocracy & Multiculturalism, Where do I stand?
Is anyone else feeling the encroachment of the multiculturals upon their Ivory Tower as well? At core to Gablik’s introduction and to the pedagogical approach at Goddard is the importance of discourse and dialog. Gablik sees the way to invite or create community, facilitate and or diffuse conflict is through discourse, an open forum, and a sharing of ideas, where in ideally all points get heard, and none are excluded. However, what Gablik does to clearly promote the ideas and points of view that are sympathetic to her path is to include members in dialog, as a collective voice. In contrast to the views in her introduction, Gablik portrays Hilton Kramer as a lone voice, the voice of the ivory tower, the voice of conservative, white, privileged, colonialist, western civilization.
I am wondering if anyone is hearing the scathing tone of rhetorical exchange on both sides of the cultural conflict? Being sympathetic with the ideals of meritocracy, though not blind to the myth of it, I wanted to look further into this point in Gablik’s introduction where the conflict seemed to get heated. I looked up Meritocracy, Hilton Kramer and his art and cultural critic journal, The New Criterion. I am sensing extreme hostility here on both sides, TNC article elitist in its cynicism, and Gablik comes across to me as dismissive toward traditional western approaches to art.
So I just wanted to share a little bit of the conflict I found, looking further into this.
I looked up Meritocracy to get some idea about its definition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy
I also found this guy’s blog about the myth of Meritocracy quite interesting
http://ericstoller.com/blog/2007/07/01/the-meritocracy-myth/
Hilton Kramer & The New Criterion: I had to look up the blog out of curiosity and read an article or two to see what TNC is all about….I found this recent article over some comments Sean Penn made at the Academy Awards….I found the tone of the language and humor to be quite elitist and snooty, very scathing and cynical.
The New Criterion Blog
http://newcriterion.com/blogs.cfm
Feb 23, 2009 04:57 PM
Hollywood Commies
by James Bowman
Well, they don’t call them "progressives" for nothing, do they?. If you stayed up late enough last night, you must have heard Sean Penn at the Academy Awards ceremony putting his fine feelings on display as he accepted the award for Best Actor for his genuinely fine portrayal of the title character in Milk. He couldn’t resist telling his audience of many millions — which is also many millions more than have ever seen or will ever see Milk: "For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone."
Thanks for that, Sean. I’m sure the Academy appreciated it. And so, by the way, was he was sure the Academy appreciated it, as undoubtedly they did. You could tell because he had addressed his fellow thesps, who had just honored him and his film, as "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns." That’s not the sort of thing you say unless you can be pretty sure that nobody is going to have to draw a diagram for the benefit of the dimmer Academy members or media hangers-on of the irony intended by it. Clearly, Mr Penn’s purpose was a jokey reminder to the beautiful people of one of the articles of faith in the American entertainment industry, namely that there never were any genuine "commies" — that is, old-fashioned slang for communists — in America but only a lot of wicked Republicans and conservatives who once, a long time ago, engaged in a "witch hunt" to try to find them and succeeded only in ruining the careers of some moderate liberals like themselves.
And yet there was also what I can only suppose was an unintentional irony in his rather feeble joke. For one of the salient beliefs of the commies, if there had ever been any, would have been that history has a predictable, indeed inevitable, course, and that this course was scientifically certain to terminate in the final victory of the revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat and, ultimately, the socialist utopia where once there was nothing but rotten bourgeois society. Mr Penn’s appeal to the inevitability of the fact that his audience’s grandchildren’s progressivism will exactly correspond to his own was, in this sense at least, precisely a commie idea, albeit one that would have come as a considerable surprise to Marx, Lenin or Mao. Maybe, in today’s Hollywood, "commie" is as much a compliment to the correct opinions of one’s fellow progressives as "homo-loving" — or, indeed, sons-of-guns, who received their imprimatur from the late Joey Bishop.
More likely, Hollywood’s best and brightest now take progressive opinions on the subject of gay marriage — among others things — as much for granted as their own prerogative as leaders of fashion. Put the two things together and you have an effortless assumption of historical inevitability that owes less to Karl Marx than to the fawning treatment they routinely receive from the media. The dialectic is them! Bill Maher made the same assumption in introducing the award for Best Documentary with a shameless if ungrammatical plug for his own doc, Religulous, when he said: "Now as a producer and a star of my own documentary this year, the one about religion that didn’t get nominated. I know, it’s a touchy subject. But someday, we all have to confront the notion that our silly gods cost the world too greatly. But there I go, ruining the ending." Yeah, Das Kapital was full of spoilers too.
As I say, this kind of stuff is most likely simple ideological self-confidence, born of the cozy sense that everybody around you, more or less, shares your opinions about all the things that matter. You could see the same assumption in the words that someone gave poor Daniel Craig to read when he introduced the award for production design. In alluding to the nomination for Revolutionary Road, he praised that film’s designers for creating an image of "suburbia [in the 1950s] which looked like anything but the prison it was." That there might have been present a few ex-prisoners who didn’t see it that way at all was, clearly, a thought that never crossed his mind.
As it happened, on the same day they gave out the Academy Awards, a remarkable piece appeared in The New York Times titled "A Reconciliation on Gay Marriage" by David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch. The former is president of the Institute for American Values and author of The Future of Marriage; the latter is a guest scholar at the Brookings institution and author of Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America. The two men’s views on gay marriage itself are still directly opposed to each other, but they find that they can agree on civil unions so long as these come with "robust religious-conscience exceptions, which provide that religious organizations need not recognize same-sex unions against their will."
It is an admirable idea to seek consensus and compromise on a highly divisive issue such as this, and I would support this one myself. But it still smacks to me just a little of the kind of moralization implicit in President Obama’s call to reduce the "politicization" of abortion. Less politics and more morality hardly seems like the way to greater civility to me. Though in principle it is a good thing to seek a break with the past and the hardened positions on both sides, those positions are the result of the Penn-like tactic of characterizing those on the other side not just as wrong or mistaken but as reactionary in the commie sense — that is, as barriers to inevitable progress who must be removed. If you’re one of the barriers, you may be excused for finding that a somewhat chilling prospect. You have been identified as being, in practice if not in name, evil — that is beyond the bounds of decency and not to be recognized as legitimate in your views by anyone who is decent. I do hope that Mr Rauch doesn’t end up being labeled as the gay equivalent of an Uncle Tom, but so long as the gays have champions like Mr Penn, I fear he may.
Here’s a clip from the Academy Award’s
2009 Oscar Sean Penn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XblfZSVV59c
Gus Van Sant’s, Milk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unu-9vM9VZw
If you’ve read through this post, I wonder if you are picking up some intense hostilities? What do you think of Meritocracy, a myth? Is affirmative action and multiculturalism corroding our traditional ideals and value structures, subjugating a system of reward based upon merit, rather rewarding people based upon their race, gender, religion, sexuality, etc.? Or has affirmative action simply served to remove barriers that allow people of multi culture to succeed based on their merit as well? After all, we of a free and progressive democratic nation all have equal opportunities now, right?
Personally, I am wondering how to navigate this Article and issue. I sincerely feel in no patronizing tone, Gablik’s introduction and interview with Ellen Dissanayaki is stimulating, expanding my own ideas and possibilities concerning art (which is her stated goal). Though her paper also serves to reinforce and identify what I am and what I am not. I am an artist, very interested in a classical education, in studying western traditions of art and spirituality, primarily pre-industrialized Europe, though I identify strongly with the romantic notion of the individual as artist and visionary. I am also white working class America, having lived a significant time in Maine, sheltered from any real multiculturalism. I am asking if anyone else is wondering how to engage with this material, how to respond to Gablik’s agenda. What are your thoughts?
I am wondering if anyone is hearing the scathing tone of rhetorical exchange on both sides of the cultural conflict? Being sympathetic with the ideals of meritocracy, though not blind to the myth of it, I wanted to look further into this point in Gablik’s introduction where the conflict seemed to get heated. I looked up Meritocracy, Hilton Kramer and his art and cultural critic journal, The New Criterion. I am sensing extreme hostility here on both sides, TNC article elitist in its cynicism, and Gablik comes across to me as dismissive toward traditional western approaches to art.
So I just wanted to share a little bit of the conflict I found, looking further into this.
I looked up Meritocracy to get some idea about its definition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy
I also found this guy’s blog about the myth of Meritocracy quite interesting
http://ericstoller.com/blog/2007/07/01/the-meritocracy-myth/
Hilton Kramer & The New Criterion: I had to look up the blog out of curiosity and read an article or two to see what TNC is all about….I found this recent article over some comments Sean Penn made at the Academy Awards….I found the tone of the language and humor to be quite elitist and snooty, very scathing and cynical.
The New Criterion Blog
http://newcriterion.com/blogs.cfm
Feb 23, 2009 04:57 PM
Hollywood Commies
by James Bowman
Well, they don’t call them "progressives" for nothing, do they?. If you stayed up late enough last night, you must have heard Sean Penn at the Academy Awards ceremony putting his fine feelings on display as he accepted the award for Best Actor for his genuinely fine portrayal of the title character in Milk. He couldn’t resist telling his audience of many millions — which is also many millions more than have ever seen or will ever see Milk: "For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone."
Thanks for that, Sean. I’m sure the Academy appreciated it. And so, by the way, was he was sure the Academy appreciated it, as undoubtedly they did. You could tell because he had addressed his fellow thesps, who had just honored him and his film, as "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns." That’s not the sort of thing you say unless you can be pretty sure that nobody is going to have to draw a diagram for the benefit of the dimmer Academy members or media hangers-on of the irony intended by it. Clearly, Mr Penn’s purpose was a jokey reminder to the beautiful people of one of the articles of faith in the American entertainment industry, namely that there never were any genuine "commies" — that is, old-fashioned slang for communists — in America but only a lot of wicked Republicans and conservatives who once, a long time ago, engaged in a "witch hunt" to try to find them and succeeded only in ruining the careers of some moderate liberals like themselves.
And yet there was also what I can only suppose was an unintentional irony in his rather feeble joke. For one of the salient beliefs of the commies, if there had ever been any, would have been that history has a predictable, indeed inevitable, course, and that this course was scientifically certain to terminate in the final victory of the revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat and, ultimately, the socialist utopia where once there was nothing but rotten bourgeois society. Mr Penn’s appeal to the inevitability of the fact that his audience’s grandchildren’s progressivism will exactly correspond to his own was, in this sense at least, precisely a commie idea, albeit one that would have come as a considerable surprise to Marx, Lenin or Mao. Maybe, in today’s Hollywood, "commie" is as much a compliment to the correct opinions of one’s fellow progressives as "homo-loving" — or, indeed, sons-of-guns, who received their imprimatur from the late Joey Bishop.
More likely, Hollywood’s best and brightest now take progressive opinions on the subject of gay marriage — among others things — as much for granted as their own prerogative as leaders of fashion. Put the two things together and you have an effortless assumption of historical inevitability that owes less to Karl Marx than to the fawning treatment they routinely receive from the media. The dialectic is them! Bill Maher made the same assumption in introducing the award for Best Documentary with a shameless if ungrammatical plug for his own doc, Religulous, when he said: "Now as a producer and a star of my own documentary this year, the one about religion that didn’t get nominated. I know, it’s a touchy subject. But someday, we all have to confront the notion that our silly gods cost the world too greatly. But there I go, ruining the ending." Yeah, Das Kapital was full of spoilers too.
As I say, this kind of stuff is most likely simple ideological self-confidence, born of the cozy sense that everybody around you, more or less, shares your opinions about all the things that matter. You could see the same assumption in the words that someone gave poor Daniel Craig to read when he introduced the award for production design. In alluding to the nomination for Revolutionary Road, he praised that film’s designers for creating an image of "suburbia [in the 1950s] which looked like anything but the prison it was." That there might have been present a few ex-prisoners who didn’t see it that way at all was, clearly, a thought that never crossed his mind.
As it happened, on the same day they gave out the Academy Awards, a remarkable piece appeared in The New York Times titled "A Reconciliation on Gay Marriage" by David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch. The former is president of the Institute for American Values and author of The Future of Marriage; the latter is a guest scholar at the Brookings institution and author of Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America. The two men’s views on gay marriage itself are still directly opposed to each other, but they find that they can agree on civil unions so long as these come with "robust religious-conscience exceptions, which provide that religious organizations need not recognize same-sex unions against their will."
It is an admirable idea to seek consensus and compromise on a highly divisive issue such as this, and I would support this one myself. But it still smacks to me just a little of the kind of moralization implicit in President Obama’s call to reduce the "politicization" of abortion. Less politics and more morality hardly seems like the way to greater civility to me. Though in principle it is a good thing to seek a break with the past and the hardened positions on both sides, those positions are the result of the Penn-like tactic of characterizing those on the other side not just as wrong or mistaken but as reactionary in the commie sense — that is, as barriers to inevitable progress who must be removed. If you’re one of the barriers, you may be excused for finding that a somewhat chilling prospect. You have been identified as being, in practice if not in name, evil — that is beyond the bounds of decency and not to be recognized as legitimate in your views by anyone who is decent. I do hope that Mr Rauch doesn’t end up being labeled as the gay equivalent of an Uncle Tom, but so long as the gays have champions like Mr Penn, I fear he may.
Here’s a clip from the Academy Award’s
2009 Oscar Sean Penn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XblfZSVV59c
Gus Van Sant’s, Milk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unu-9vM9VZw
If you’ve read through this post, I wonder if you are picking up some intense hostilities? What do you think of Meritocracy, a myth? Is affirmative action and multiculturalism corroding our traditional ideals and value structures, subjugating a system of reward based upon merit, rather rewarding people based upon their race, gender, religion, sexuality, etc.? Or has affirmative action simply served to remove barriers that allow people of multi culture to succeed based on their merit as well? After all, we of a free and progressive democratic nation all have equal opportunities now, right?
Personally, I am wondering how to navigate this Article and issue. I sincerely feel in no patronizing tone, Gablik’s introduction and interview with Ellen Dissanayaki is stimulating, expanding my own ideas and possibilities concerning art (which is her stated goal). Though her paper also serves to reinforce and identify what I am and what I am not. I am an artist, very interested in a classical education, in studying western traditions of art and spirituality, primarily pre-industrialized Europe, though I identify strongly with the romantic notion of the individual as artist and visionary. I am also white working class America, having lived a significant time in Maine, sheltered from any real multiculturalism. I am asking if anyone else is wondering how to engage with this material, how to respond to Gablik’s agenda. What are your thoughts?
Thursday, February 26, 2009
packet one / advising notes
Hi folks,
With the packet one deadline looming, I wanted to again share my advising notes and remind you to paraphrase your semester goals (as I outline in my notes).
Let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to receiving your packets!
cheers, Pete
Advising Philosophy | Packet Notes, Winter 2009 • Peter Hocking
Mailing Address: 16 Clarke Lane, Providence, RI 02906
Home: 401/272-7248 Cell: 401-413-2075
Email: clarkelane@mac.com, peter.hocking@goddard.edu, phocking@gmail.com
Send digital packets to: clarkelane@mac.com. If you are using specialized digital tools, please contact me in advance to be certain that our file formats are compatible.
General Expectations
You’ve chosen to pursue graduate school for reasons that are distinct to you. I will make every effort to work with you to insure that your studies address your purposes. In order for this to work, you must make every effort to be clear about your goals and intentions. In working with you, I also have goals and intentions. Unless you tell me otherwise, they will inform they way I work with you. My general expectations are:
* You’ve enrolled in graduate school to engage with new ideas and perspectives, not simply to have your current skills, experience, and point-of-view affirmed.
* You are passionate about developing your personal practice.
* You understand that engaging the program’s degree criteria is of central importance in developing your curricular plans.
* You understand that this is not a studio-based MFA program and that our program equally balances theory and practice.
While I believe that an MFA degree can be applied to many contexts, I also am aware that holding this degree will allow you to teach in a college or university. As much as I believe I need to be able to listen and engage with your interests, I believe that I have a responsibility to your potential, future students to help you be able to engage with their passions. Your ability to engage in critical discourse, to engage with work, forms, and ideas that are different from your own interests will prepare you to work with the diversity of students you may encounter. My questions and suggestions to look broadly at contemporary practice and theory will never be intended to vex you; they will be in service to helping your develop your intellectual, critical, and creative vocabulary.
Packet Guidelines
Packets are an opportunity to build discourse and conversation between a student and advisor. In my experience, packets:
* Build a conversation between a student and an advisor that’s focused on advancing a student’s practice and engagement with the degree criteria.
* Provide a context to engage with discourse, that is the larger contextual conversations that inform ideas, art movements and other intellectual traditions.
* Allow students to document their graduate work, reflecting the (minimum) 26 hours per week that they are devoting to their studies.
* Provide a forum to discuss new directions in one’s work, to take intellectual and artistic risks, and to constructively work through questions or obstacles that might exist in one’s practice.
Packets can take many forms. I will be flexible in working with the form that you develop, as long as it documents your work well and engages critically with the conversation that emerges. A standard packet includes a cover letter (or email), other writing, and documentation of practice. An extended cover letter and documentation of practice is also a good way to approach it. However, you might want to use video, audio or Internet-based forms of documentation – like a website. In cases of alternative modes of documentation /presentation, I ask that you provide a cover letter / email that explains how I should approach the material.
I believe that referring to the degree criteria in the outline of one's packet can help you more quickly and effectively advance in your degree work. By building packet sections that refer to criterion like "context, practice, theory, social engagement, process, and new directions," students can begin to develop their approach to the central questions of the program. While this isn't entirely necessary and people will come to these questions in a variety of ways, I believe that a packet structure like this can both develop habits of thinking and unpack new understanding of these critical dimensions of art practice. This is a suggestion, not a requirement.
Regardless of the table of contents you develop for yourself, each packet normally includes these elements:
· Cover letter: What’s up? In general, please let me know how your work is proceeding and outline any concerns you might have. What have you been doing, seeing, reading, or engaging? What insistent questions have emerged? Are there technical breakthroughs or obstacles that you face? Are you seeking resources to help you move forward? What’s been the focus of your creative work? How are you feeling about the progress you’ve made? Please do not assume that I can (or will) contextualize your work. Use the cover letter to guide me toward your current context.
· Other Writing: This might include journal entries, critical writing, and annotations of reading.
Annotations: To my mind, an annotation has three sentences: 1.) an overview of the work that is essentially descriptive, 2.) an analytical sentence that expresses your reading of the work, and 3.) a reference to how the work is relevant to your own practice. For example, the following book was part of some research for a writing project and this is how I annotated it in bibliographic form:
Krahulik, Karen Christel, Provincetown: From Pilgrim Landing to Gay Resort, New York University Press, New York: 2005.
Using oral history and archival material, Krahulik analyzes the social, economic, political and cultural development of Provincetown, MA. The work well-maps the conflicts between Yankees and the Portuguese, conservatives and sexual/gender transgressive culture; I was sometimes left wondering the line between her analysis and the lived experience of the narrators. The work is helpful in the narrative construction of the Biological Father project and provides a broader context to my own memories of 1970s Provincetown -- especially relating to an emerging queer economy and the place of Lesbians in it; the synergy between Portuguese immigrants and queer visitors / settlers. (pch: September 05)·
Documentation of Practice: This substantive section of the packet can include works in progress, process work, finished work, and experimentation. All work should arrive with basic annotation (e.g., size, medium, duration) and a brief statement that provides context for the work. Documentations may take the form of JPEG / photographic files, audio clips, video, sketches, Internet-based work, etc. Do not send original work unless we have agreed upon it in advance. Please label the work so I know what it is. In the case of visual work, this should include a reference to the size of the original work, the media and any other relevant information.
The average packet contains 8-15 pages of critical writing and documentation. Please do not regularly send packets that are more than 20 pages. If you are doing process writing that is beyond 20 pages, feel free to include it – and provide a reference to the critical areas where you would like me to focus. If you are engaged in a writing practice, indicate that your writing is part of the documentation section of the packet.
First packet
At the beginning of the first packet, in your cover letter, please:
· Paraphrase your study plan goals – especially pay attention to how your thinking about your goals may have changed since submitting your study plan at the residency. Are there things that have captured your imagination and taken greater priority? Are there goals that have receded in their importance? For students compiling their portfolio, has your outline changed?
· Briefly describe the nature and trajectory of your practice – In a paragraph, help me to understand the media in which you work, the experimentation you have undertaken, the forms in which you’re currently working.
· Articulate the kind of feedback that will be helpful to you in the coming semester and in this packet in particular – Are you looking for a conversation about ideas? Do you want me to look closely at and comment on the products you are making? Do you want help contextualizing your ideas and work? Would you like me to be nurturing of experimentation? Do you want direct feedback on your accomplishments and gaps? Are there particular kinds of resources to which I might refer you? Is there a kind of feedback that I might not imagine but you might want?
Subsequent Packets
Please reiterate the kind of feedback that you might like – especially if it is specific to the work you are including.
Submission of Packets
Packets are due on the day of the printed schedule. I believe that keeping to the packet schedule is the best way for our conversation to cohere and ask that you make every effort to meet the deadline. If unforeseen circumstances require that you submit a packet later than the deadline, I appreciate as much notice as possible. If a packet arrives more than a week past deadline, I will not guarantee that I can respond to you before the next packet response period.
Discussion Board
I will set up a discussion list for our Advising Group. This provides a central place for us to communicate, share our practice, experimentation, questions, and ideas within a peer community.
With the packet one deadline looming, I wanted to again share my advising notes and remind you to paraphrase your semester goals (as I outline in my notes).
Let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to receiving your packets!
cheers, Pete
Advising Philosophy | Packet Notes, Winter 2009 • Peter Hocking
Mailing Address: 16 Clarke Lane, Providence, RI 02906
Home: 401/272-7248 Cell: 401-413-2075
Email: clarkelane@mac.com, peter.hocking@goddard.edu, phocking@gmail.com
Send digital packets to: clarkelane@mac.com. If you are using specialized digital tools, please contact me in advance to be certain that our file formats are compatible.
General Expectations
You’ve chosen to pursue graduate school for reasons that are distinct to you. I will make every effort to work with you to insure that your studies address your purposes. In order for this to work, you must make every effort to be clear about your goals and intentions. In working with you, I also have goals and intentions. Unless you tell me otherwise, they will inform they way I work with you. My general expectations are:
* You’ve enrolled in graduate school to engage with new ideas and perspectives, not simply to have your current skills, experience, and point-of-view affirmed.
* You are passionate about developing your personal practice.
* You understand that engaging the program’s degree criteria is of central importance in developing your curricular plans.
* You understand that this is not a studio-based MFA program and that our program equally balances theory and practice.
While I believe that an MFA degree can be applied to many contexts, I also am aware that holding this degree will allow you to teach in a college or university. As much as I believe I need to be able to listen and engage with your interests, I believe that I have a responsibility to your potential, future students to help you be able to engage with their passions. Your ability to engage in critical discourse, to engage with work, forms, and ideas that are different from your own interests will prepare you to work with the diversity of students you may encounter. My questions and suggestions to look broadly at contemporary practice and theory will never be intended to vex you; they will be in service to helping your develop your intellectual, critical, and creative vocabulary.
Packet Guidelines
Packets are an opportunity to build discourse and conversation between a student and advisor. In my experience, packets:
* Build a conversation between a student and an advisor that’s focused on advancing a student’s practice and engagement with the degree criteria.
* Provide a context to engage with discourse, that is the larger contextual conversations that inform ideas, art movements and other intellectual traditions.
* Allow students to document their graduate work, reflecting the (minimum) 26 hours per week that they are devoting to their studies.
* Provide a forum to discuss new directions in one’s work, to take intellectual and artistic risks, and to constructively work through questions or obstacles that might exist in one’s practice.
Packets can take many forms. I will be flexible in working with the form that you develop, as long as it documents your work well and engages critically with the conversation that emerges. A standard packet includes a cover letter (or email), other writing, and documentation of practice. An extended cover letter and documentation of practice is also a good way to approach it. However, you might want to use video, audio or Internet-based forms of documentation – like a website. In cases of alternative modes of documentation /presentation, I ask that you provide a cover letter / email that explains how I should approach the material.
I believe that referring to the degree criteria in the outline of one's packet can help you more quickly and effectively advance in your degree work. By building packet sections that refer to criterion like "context, practice, theory, social engagement, process, and new directions," students can begin to develop their approach to the central questions of the program. While this isn't entirely necessary and people will come to these questions in a variety of ways, I believe that a packet structure like this can both develop habits of thinking and unpack new understanding of these critical dimensions of art practice. This is a suggestion, not a requirement.
Regardless of the table of contents you develop for yourself, each packet normally includes these elements:
· Cover letter: What’s up? In general, please let me know how your work is proceeding and outline any concerns you might have. What have you been doing, seeing, reading, or engaging? What insistent questions have emerged? Are there technical breakthroughs or obstacles that you face? Are you seeking resources to help you move forward? What’s been the focus of your creative work? How are you feeling about the progress you’ve made? Please do not assume that I can (or will) contextualize your work. Use the cover letter to guide me toward your current context.
· Other Writing: This might include journal entries, critical writing, and annotations of reading.
Annotations: To my mind, an annotation has three sentences: 1.) an overview of the work that is essentially descriptive, 2.) an analytical sentence that expresses your reading of the work, and 3.) a reference to how the work is relevant to your own practice. For example, the following book was part of some research for a writing project and this is how I annotated it in bibliographic form:
Krahulik, Karen Christel, Provincetown: From Pilgrim Landing to Gay Resort, New York University Press, New York: 2005.
Using oral history and archival material, Krahulik analyzes the social, economic, political and cultural development of Provincetown, MA. The work well-maps the conflicts between Yankees and the Portuguese, conservatives and sexual/gender transgressive culture; I was sometimes left wondering the line between her analysis and the lived experience of the narrators. The work is helpful in the narrative construction of the Biological Father project and provides a broader context to my own memories of 1970s Provincetown -- especially relating to an emerging queer economy and the place of Lesbians in it; the synergy between Portuguese immigrants and queer visitors / settlers. (pch: September 05)·
Documentation of Practice: This substantive section of the packet can include works in progress, process work, finished work, and experimentation. All work should arrive with basic annotation (e.g., size, medium, duration) and a brief statement that provides context for the work. Documentations may take the form of JPEG / photographic files, audio clips, video, sketches, Internet-based work, etc. Do not send original work unless we have agreed upon it in advance. Please label the work so I know what it is. In the case of visual work, this should include a reference to the size of the original work, the media and any other relevant information.
The average packet contains 8-15 pages of critical writing and documentation. Please do not regularly send packets that are more than 20 pages. If you are doing process writing that is beyond 20 pages, feel free to include it – and provide a reference to the critical areas where you would like me to focus. If you are engaged in a writing practice, indicate that your writing is part of the documentation section of the packet.
First packet
At the beginning of the first packet, in your cover letter, please:
· Paraphrase your study plan goals – especially pay attention to how your thinking about your goals may have changed since submitting your study plan at the residency. Are there things that have captured your imagination and taken greater priority? Are there goals that have receded in their importance? For students compiling their portfolio, has your outline changed?
· Briefly describe the nature and trajectory of your practice – In a paragraph, help me to understand the media in which you work, the experimentation you have undertaken, the forms in which you’re currently working.
· Articulate the kind of feedback that will be helpful to you in the coming semester and in this packet in particular – Are you looking for a conversation about ideas? Do you want me to look closely at and comment on the products you are making? Do you want help contextualizing your ideas and work? Would you like me to be nurturing of experimentation? Do you want direct feedback on your accomplishments and gaps? Are there particular kinds of resources to which I might refer you? Is there a kind of feedback that I might not imagine but you might want?
Subsequent Packets
Please reiterate the kind of feedback that you might like – especially if it is specific to the work you are including.
Submission of Packets
Packets are due on the day of the printed schedule. I believe that keeping to the packet schedule is the best way for our conversation to cohere and ask that you make every effort to meet the deadline. If unforeseen circumstances require that you submit a packet later than the deadline, I appreciate as much notice as possible. If a packet arrives more than a week past deadline, I will not guarantee that I can respond to you before the next packet response period.
Discussion Board
I will set up a discussion list for our Advising Group. This provides a central place for us to communicate, share our practice, experimentation, questions, and ideas within a peer community.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
"Not Today, Fred"
Liz --
I found this on Wikipedia; if you haven't seen it yet, I hope it may give you some ideas...
In my experience, seems this type of group thrives on confrontational response, unless it is incredibly overwhelming (note the posting in Wiki as well.) A simple refusal by the community to allow this group to function within its boundaries is probably the best bet -- nothing extraordinary, nothing that will give them the media attention they love, but quiet, simple refusal. Optionally, lining the streets with the signs stating the slogan "Not Today, Fred" or similar acts (maybe get the school involved as an example of passive resistance and community action) will possibly be effective as well. And don't forget the Patriot Guard, though this is somewhat out of their usual. They were very effective in this area (Southern MN) when the WBC was to protest at some the military funerals a few years ago. Please, keep me updated on what you decide, but please, try to get the community, and especially the students, involved in defending themselves in a dignified manner against those who spread the seeds of hate.
I found this on Wikipedia; if you haven't seen it yet, I hope it may give you some ideas...
In my experience, seems this type of group thrives on confrontational response, unless it is incredibly overwhelming (note the posting in Wiki as well.) A simple refusal by the community to allow this group to function within its boundaries is probably the best bet -- nothing extraordinary, nothing that will give them the media attention they love, but quiet, simple refusal. Optionally, lining the streets with the signs stating the slogan "Not Today, Fred" or similar acts (maybe get the school involved as an example of passive resistance and community action) will possibly be effective as well. And don't forget the Patriot Guard, though this is somewhat out of their usual. They were very effective in this area (Southern MN) when the WBC was to protest at some the military funerals a few years ago. Please, keep me updated on what you decide, but please, try to get the community, and especially the students, involved in defending themselves in a dignified manner against those who spread the seeds of hate.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
"The Laramie Project" in Canton
Hello People,
The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) with Rev. Fred Phelps is coming to Canton on Friday March 20th to protest the "Laramie Project" at 900 Washington Street from 1:40 to 2:30 PM. They plan to be in front of Canton High School when the students are exiting. The play opens later that evening at 7:00 PM. My daughter is in this play.
What do you know about this WBC? I have only just learned of their existence. At the risk of lending credibility to this foolish and offensive diatribe, I invite you to Google WBC and check "The Picket Schedule?" posted. Canton is in good company with The State House, the Israel, Brazil, Peru & Mexico Consulates General and Harvard University.
I am not sure what I want to do about this, but I am sure I want to do something. I feel that when this kind of voice is heard silence becomes support. I am confident this person wants to stir trouble and I am confident I don't want that trouble started with or against our high school students.
I cannot lay dormant and allow my children to think this is acceptable or to be tolerated. I am trying to decide what action I might take - if any. I am bringing this to your attention because I am wondering if others feel similar. Agree, disagree or indifferent, I am interested in your response.
Respectfully,
Liz
The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) with Rev. Fred Phelps is coming to Canton on Friday March 20th to protest the "Laramie Project" at 900 Washington Street from 1:40 to 2:30 PM. They plan to be in front of Canton High School when the students are exiting. The play opens later that evening at 7:00 PM. My daughter is in this play.
What do you know about this WBC? I have only just learned of their existence. At the risk of lending credibility to this foolish and offensive diatribe, I invite you to Google WBC and check "The Picket Schedule?" posted. Canton is in good company with The State House, the Israel, Brazil, Peru & Mexico Consulates General and Harvard University.
I am not sure what I want to do about this, but I am sure I want to do something. I feel that when this kind of voice is heard silence becomes support. I am confident this person wants to stir trouble and I am confident I don't want that trouble started with or against our high school students.
I cannot lay dormant and allow my children to think this is acceptable or to be tolerated. I am trying to decide what action I might take - if any. I am bringing this to your attention because I am wondering if others feel similar. Agree, disagree or indifferent, I am interested in your response.
Respectfully,
Liz
Monday, February 23, 2009
when is the spring coming
so. first- when did they start putting the official spring-groundhog in a cage instead of leaving him to his own devices in his own cozy DEN? second- when did they start dragging him out- thus scaring him enough so that he would, of course, immediately run back into his den (cage) thus making winter last longer? serves the mayor right for getting bitten this year. geeez. i am thoroughly sick of winter. this all is pertinent to the MFA-IA program because i wish i could be outside more- biking to work in less snow and on top of less ice- and therefore also taking numerous bike rides with my kid (her favorite thing)- which would be more inspirational than looking wistfully at my bike and having theia ask me 18 times a day whether it is warm enough to go biking yet. to which my answer must always be that we can't go biking when it's icy because it's dangerous. and really this whole spiel does fit into my semester plan because- i am truly truly missing the part of my day that includes a meditational/calming/whatever ride and gets my head geared up for the thinking and the making of the rest of it. it reminds me of kneading bread or clay or annealing (relaxing the crystal structure of) metal. getting the molecules of the bread dough, clay, or silver lined up and ready for processing (baking, soldering, hammering, throwing...). so: what do you do when the gym is way too public for the likes of me, and the open trails are too icy, and home gym equipment means that a place in one's apartment must be made for said equipment...? any thoughts? i really need to anneal my brain.
also. speaking of brains- i Really enjoyed the Buddha Mind in Art handout courtesy of Peter. thanks. i am happily waiting for the library to send me the full text in the mail. i'll write more later on the resource/annotation part of it to be added to our 'advising resource list' later after i read more from it...until then- maybe ask peter.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Eating an Elephant
Hi all,
I'm heading to Portland, Maine tonight to see an exhibit there, and then in three weeks I'm going to Houston to see other museums. My question: Do any of you have good strategies for maintaining museum stamina? Often when I go to a big museum, I spend a lot of time in the first couple galleries, careful not to miss anything. But after an hour or two, I'm done and I find myself skimming over the rest. I've tried going to websites first, and plotting out my visit so that I see the "important" things while I'm still fresh, but sometimes it's the accidental encounters that leave the biggest impression.
Just wondering if you had any tips.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Warmly,
Karen
I'm heading to Portland, Maine tonight to see an exhibit there, and then in three weeks I'm going to Houston to see other museums. My question: Do any of you have good strategies for maintaining museum stamina? Often when I go to a big museum, I spend a lot of time in the first couple galleries, careful not to miss anything. But after an hour or two, I'm done and I find myself skimming over the rest. I've tried going to websites first, and plotting out my visit so that I see the "important" things while I'm still fresh, but sometimes it's the accidental encounters that leave the biggest impression.
Just wondering if you had any tips.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Warmly,
Karen
Hello Friends
Hello Friemds,
Just catching up with this blog. Returning to a busy life and adding to my workload doesn't open much time for creating new art, but the mind contiues to explore ideas. Having just completed an exercise walk, in this moment, I can only think of "thin" as a weight loss goal.
Later soon,
Liz
Just catching up with this blog. Returning to a busy life and adding to my workload doesn't open much time for creating new art, but the mind contiues to explore ideas. Having just completed an exercise walk, in this moment, I can only think of "thin" as a weight loss goal.
Later soon,
Liz
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Hi to everyone:
I thought I had posted another message, but it has been held hostage in cyber-space (or more likely, I did it wrong.) Karen, I may very well call on your IT experience more than once this semester.
I'm thinking a lot about thin times as they relate for me to art-making being not at all separated from the whole of life. I've been studying Jo Spence, so her work is on my mind (thanks, Peter), and also paying attention to creative process,, and how it works in and for me. The boundaries are permeable, by which I mean an every day occurence, a phrase in a book, a chance conversation may spark an idea that then gets translated into an art piece.
Wishing you a peaceful day,
Susan
I thought I had posted another message, but it has been held hostage in cyber-space (or more likely, I did it wrong.) Karen, I may very well call on your IT experience more than once this semester.
I'm thinking a lot about thin times as they relate for me to art-making being not at all separated from the whole of life. I've been studying Jo Spence, so her work is on my mind (thanks, Peter), and also paying attention to creative process,, and how it works in and for me. The boundaries are permeable, by which I mean an every day occurence, a phrase in a book, a chance conversation may spark an idea that then gets translated into an art piece.
Wishing you a peaceful day,
Susan
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
On board
Hi to all,
Thanks to Peter's patience with my work email system being uncooperative, I am now on board.
I miss our morning meetings, but continue to enjoy thin times and thin places.
Susan
Thanks to Peter's patience with my work email system being uncooperative, I am now on board.
I miss our morning meetings, but continue to enjoy thin times and thin places.
Susan
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
craft in america
Over the past weekend I was fortunate to run across a broadcast of the PBS series, Craft in America. I found it to be a very good overview of the traditions, practices, and concerns that define contemporary craft movements in the US.
Personally, I have a very hard time with the old art v. craft arguments (that were very much alive during my education and, I fear, are still lurking around today). As you probably remember from our conversations that the residency, I'm a believer in Ellen Dissanayake's notion that humans are "hard wired" for aesthetic experiences and those experiences are concerned with "making special that which is important." For me, I don't think that form matters nearly as much as intention.
In any case, given the range of practices and concerns in our group, I thought some of you would find this series useful in connecting with some new practitioners.
cheers, Pete
Personally, I have a very hard time with the old art v. craft arguments (that were very much alive during my education and, I fear, are still lurking around today). As you probably remember from our conversations that the residency, I'm a believer in Ellen Dissanayake's notion that humans are "hard wired" for aesthetic experiences and those experiences are concerned with "making special that which is important." For me, I don't think that form matters nearly as much as intention.
In any case, given the range of practices and concerns in our group, I thought some of you would find this series useful in connecting with some new practitioners.
cheers, Pete
Welcome
Hi folks,
I've set up this blog as a means for us staying in touch as an advising group. As you can see, I've given a nod to Susan's thinking in titling it (I hope you don't mind, Susan!) because I think that these kinds of communication do create a kind of liminal space.
I want to reiterate that I don't have explicit expectations for how we use this site -- but I do hope that we use it to share resources and insights. And, perhaps, it can be a means for us to continue our conversation.
cheers, Pete
I've set up this blog as a means for us staying in touch as an advising group. As you can see, I've given a nod to Susan's thinking in titling it (I hope you don't mind, Susan!) because I think that these kinds of communication do create a kind of liminal space.
I want to reiterate that I don't have explicit expectations for how we use this site -- but I do hope that we use it to share resources and insights. And, perhaps, it can be a means for us to continue our conversation.
cheers, Pete
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