Making, Community and the Wish List Project
4. Connections: Teaching and Making Practice
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119 draw attention to it as a potential choice for future study of the visual arts. As the project formed part of my own PhD study, though, I was loath to force students in undergraduate classes I taught to partake in it. I needed voluntary participants whose work would not have to be assessed as part of a course I was teaching.
4.1. Participants
Having found a medium appropriate to the project and a site which welcomed and sought an artwork, I wondered what kind of artists might be the most appropriate to use for a project like this, in a space like the YMCA. The choice became obvious in dialogue with Clinton and Alison George about the space and whom it serves. I learned that the YMCA (2014/15) had been tasked with upgrading several its hostel facilities because the housing problem of university students in the town is so acute. Given the fact that I was a lecturer in the university, I felt happy that the Wish List Project in its small way would be part of an effort to alleviate the student housing problem, an acute nationwide problem which, as noted in Dr Blade Nzimande’s ministerial report, was resulting in “significant overuse and decay of existing infrastructure and utility services” (2012:14). In speaking to the Georges about their vision for the YMCA I learned that they wanted it to be a space that was comfortable, welcoming and a haven for the youth in Pietermaritzburg (personal communication). From our discussion it emerged that the most appropriate participants in the project would be young people in the community and with this in mind, I approached local schools to find out who might have the time and desire to participate in such a project.
4.2. Transformation from Single Author to Multiple Creators
I approached several local high schools in the Pietermaritzburg area. Shan Jacobs, art teacher at Epworth Girls’ School, felt that her 2016 Matric class group would be suitable participants in the project. At the time they had not yet embarked on the matric
curriculum but were laying the foundation for their final year. Their class projects were geared to developing critical thinking skills relating to visual interpretation. Epworth Art Department has its own press and the students had had some experience with relief printing, but this project would give the young artists an opportunity to work on a small
120 scale linocut project in a circular format, thus extending their practical experience with composition in this print medium, as well as increasing their familiarity and dexterity with the lino-cutting tools and press equipment. A new dimension would be added in that select hand colouring would be added to the black and white prints with watercolour paints after the print had been through the press a final time.
To introduce the project and place it in context I created a short presentation consisting of slides of my original two series of paintings and a worksheet, which could serve as a starting point for conversations about appropriate image making. In the first class I emphasised that the participants were “invited to design and produce a 16 cm diameter circular format motif (your special wish) which would sit inside a jewel-like decorative portal surround similar to the surrounds imaged in the small wish list painted series”
(Spencer planning and preparation worksheet 1, 2014). I highlighted that I had shown them my own wishes in order to discuss how wishes could be imaged, not in order to suggest the kinds of wishes they should select. In my presentation I noted that the participants had been shown the early painted works to situate the project and to give some insight into the use of image as a symbol but that they were being asked to work in their own personal style, and to seek out a wish of their own. In the slide presentation and following group discussions I emphasised that the like format, decorative surrounds and common media would bring cohesion to the project. They should, therefore, feel free to use marks and imagery that felt appropriate to their own art making. This first meeting was also an opportunity for me to share ideas about the cathartic potential of visual arts practice and storytelling with young participants. I told them that the starting point for the original series of painting had been a place of loss.
Their task was to image a wish that related to a personal desire that could also be applied to others. This required the young artists to reflect on how to situate a concept (for example, abundance or plenty) into an image that could be interpreted by others. We spoke about metaphor and its role in imaging. The following were among the wishes the students deemed personally significant but also applicable to others: the desire for more time, growth/freedom; unity/belonging; success/knowledge. At times the participants’
121 written terminology seemed a little obscure, but conversations in the class environment revealed that they were chiefly concerned with personal well-being and the mastery of skills. We used the written worksheets as prompts for dialogue about metaphor, themes and imagery.
As noted earlier, the class group was selected with care, as understanding the use of visual metaphor would be a really useful skill for these students as they headed towards matric and would be very valuable to the participants for several reasons: it could assist them in interpreting the work of other artists; it could deepen their understanding of their art history syllabus and the role metaphor plays in the work of much contemporary art;
and it could be useful in their own creative production in that they could approach their theme tasks in ways that were not necessarily literal. Visual literacy and interpreting of metaphor are, of course, aspects of the existing school syllabus. Ms Jacobs had already begun to familiarise the class with interpreting artworks and looking at images as
symbols. The class’s participation in the Wish List Project would reinforce these aspects of the curriculum. In addition, the philanthropic dimension of creating something for others was a call that the school was happy to take up: it was in line with their ethos of compassionate action. The school’s motto is “Fida, Humana, Fortis – Faith, Compassion, Courage” and its emphasis on involvement in the community and care “for all who live here” (http://www.epworth.co.za/), meant that there were close connections between the project’s motivations and the school’s broader humanitarian ideals.