THE PARTING PROGRAM

Post 12

With mother’s day approaching we needed something special for the art studio activities…my last big creative splash…still with no budget…hmmmmm…back to research.

I found a picture frame that with a few modifications I transformed into a three fold double sided mothers day card and picture frame in one. This card/frame could be decorated, and you could add your own photo. I made up a template that was photocopied on to A3 cartridge weight paper, that we were given from the council print shop. I also made up an instruction sheet for this activity. This activity was impressive!

Then, there was the paper flower on a stem, the stem being a promotional pencil that had been printed as a giveaway for a previous exhibition. My original prototype was made with a pin board pin. This was quickly abandoned as it was unsafe for kids, until I found some child safe wire in the art studio. I made a petal and leaf template and cut out many different coloured petals and leaves for the kids to construct bunches of flowers for their mum. Can you see the samples on the education managers desk among all her other bingie bits?

So sad to have to say goodbye, but it has been a wonderful experience. I started this internship without any understanding of education and public programs, and now see not just the relevance but I am left wondering if curators and educators should work closer together for both professionals to maximise the potential in delivery of the cultural experience - that is in the presentation, interpretation and education of fine art.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE CURATORS GONE?

Post 11

When I started at this centre there were two full time curators, as well as guest curators that would be employed on a contract basis for specific projects.

Within one month, both of the full time curators had left, leaving the centre with one contract curator who had been at the centre for approx 6 weeks. I don’t know what the long term plan is with employing curators, but contract curators does seem like a good work plan in that you can employ a specialist for each project that can provide their focused contacts and resources.

I was asked to write a student internship position description for education and public programs - well, I guess I know what is needed after 200 odd hours. Other letters I constructed were introductory letters to the head of the art department at local high school, introducing the next semester programs, and invitation to participate in special collaborations with local multi media educators. So education was not just about writing relevant programs, but also about audience development, and keeping in touch with the local school and other community groups to be able to meet their interests.

GALLERY GUIDE

Post 10

With the new exhibitions opening over the seven galleries, there was a demand for tours from various local community groups and school groups. I was asked to assist with the tours, so after following a tour with one of the curators, and doing my own research, I took an afternoon TAFE group through the galleries.

This was a huge learning opportunity for me to research and connect with the local exhibiting artists and communities, and the extra research did assist me to be able to program art activities that were more appropriate for this centre.

I never got to take another tour through, as the demand for tours for that exhibition soon died. I would have liked to do a few more after all the research I had done.

Some time was spent restocking the art studio with materials and activity sheets, and some cleaning up. The education manager was very kind to me as she mostly did the cleaning up.

I AM VERY VERY USEFUL!

Post 9

High schools would often contact the education manager wanting her to program a day’s excursion to the centre to hook in with the school syllabus. I would research specific local artists and their work to find a match in medium or theme as requested, so these artists would be employed to facilitate a workshop with the students. Depending on the facilitator the centre would charge the school a fee per head.

The education manager had a request from a local school for such an excursion for a class of 18 year 12 students. They wanted a tour of the gallery with a curator and 3 hour practical workshop with an artist. I don’t know how but I do know why I was asked to take this practical art class of 18 year 12 students. I have taught children art and craft classes previously, but I had never discussed this with anyone at this centre, and I do paint but again I had never discussed anything about my practice with anyone there either – for all they knew I painted houses! Anyway I thought it would be fun and good experience, and I knew I had a huge range of practice and knowledge to be able to engage them in something.

Having set up a still life with a variety of forms that males and females could both relate to, I structured the first half of the class with a series of drawing exercises to get their eye brain and hand talking to each other, and for me to see their skill level and concentration. The second half of the class I had planed to do one long detailed drawing, but clearly after the morning session, they did not have the focus for this. In the break I quickly scavenged for material through the art studio, and the office recycle bins, finding various papers and glue sticks. The afternoon was spent tearing up these different coloured and textured papers, and using the forms of the still life as a guide, they created collage works. I worked my way around the room demonstrating different paper techniques, and the results were fabulous – I know they liked it as these works they took home!

AM DISCO

Post 8

As this art centre has a theatre, performance spaces, rehearsal rooms and all the technical equipment to host professional show, the new director asked us to research and organise an under 5’s disco. Many hours were spent in contacting local child care centre’s, forwarding information, and re-calls to research the viability of an under 5’s disco. Starting with a list of 58 centers, 3 centers’ eventually booked to come the week before the event. Most centre’s liked the idea but could not come due to the expense of organising transport and getting permission form every child’s parents, as they couldn’t leave some children behind.

On the day of the disco many independent families arrived with children, so we had approx 40 kids. The café was open, the assisting staff had dressed up (see photos) so there was much excitement and buzz. In the disco room the tech manager had set up mirrored balls, DJ pit, masses of balloons that made it look more like a ball room (as in a kids ball room, not a formal dance hall ballroom). This was a great hit especially with the non-dancing boys - no salsa partners for me here!

I would love to be able to post images of the kids in their fancy costumes dancing and playing balloon games, but due to child protection laws I cannot use these images without written permission from their parents or guardians.

What does this have to do with the arts? Naturally the parents and children that arrived early roamed the seven galleries, purchased coffee, signed up to our mailing list, discovered our kids gallery and studio that is open every day at no cost. After the disco, some of the children and parents that had any energy left went to the art studio to do a craft activity. It’s getting heads through the door so it’s great to be able to offer many reasons to come to the centre, and to engage with the various forms of entertainment and education.

FIRE! FIRE!

Post 7

Just another day, researching childcare centers and their needs and wishes for excursions, then off goes the fire alarm. No one seems to fuss until the general manager came to our workstation and said there is a fire, please leave the building, the fire brigade is on its way. So off we go, and we didn’t even get our morning coffee! Two staff did go looking for a fire and found that one of the transformers attached to a video display had caused the fire. All the staff had a bonding session under the trees at the entrance for about an hour while we waited for the fire brigade to secure the site.

Back at our desks after coffee and lunch we hear that there was a snake in the pottery studio, just outside the main entrance. One of the potters had cornered the snake and had to wait for ‘wires’ to come and remove it.

Just when we thought it was OK to go back to work, the roof caved in, in one of the small rooms in the pottery studio. They say that all bad things happen in three’s, and this day was no exception!

To increasing audience visitation and income we developed a party plan for kids named ‘Arty Party’. This required contacting various performers from belly dancers to break dancers, clowns to bubble blowers, story tellers, craft makers, magicians drummers mime artist etc, etc,etc, to develop a resource list and costing for the parties. This also generated some interest from these various performers to hire the centres spaces for rehearsing, workshops and classes.

ART STUDIO TRASHED?

Post 6

Tuesday Morning I came to work to find the Education Manager looking very sad. She was heart broken that the art studio had been trashed over the weekend. There was an under 18’s party for 200 teens in the art center and the art studio had been used as a change room for the band and security. We couldn’t understand how over the over 18’s could be so childish. I offered to clean it up but the education manager wanted to leave the mess to show the director when he came in. Eventually a call came in from the weekend staff saying that the art studio had heaps of visitors on the Sunday, and they didn’t get a chance to follow up until the end of the day when they needed to close.

Yes, there was a mess with spilt glitter and wasted paper and materials in disarray, and Texas without lids – fortunately we didn’t have any paint out! Art works had fallen off the walls due to too little blu tac - not vandalism!

So the disappointment turned to glee knowing that the art studio had been in demand.

Turning concepts into reality was the biggest challenge, for example the director gave us the concept of creating ‘our world’, meaning that we would ask children to paint or draw images of how they see their world or how they would like their world to be in the future. These images would be cut out and glued to a huge globe over the next few months and would hang in the art studio. So, starting with the globe, it was decided to get a super large balloon and paper mache it. It took a few weeks to source and collect this balloon, then once at the center it didn’t fit through the door of the art studio. We let some air out to get it in, and then working on such a large scale the paper mache was so heavy that the balloon became deformed, and took ages to dry. More and more was added to it to try and get it round, and eventually the theatre manager did get to suspended it from the ceiling in the art studio.