Click on this link to view my students’ work on cultural identity and white privilege. This is a very small sample of the work they have produced between 2005-2012. Unfortunately some of the work is anonymous because the documentation did not include the student artist’s name.
All of the work was produced in my Cultural Identity and Art class at the University of Washington Tacoma.
But giving talks is. After a year that has featured speaking at several local colleges and universities, as well as some schools further afield (University of Victoria, BC), I am about to leave on a two week adventure, giving talks at Laney College (Oakland, CA), Bioneers Conference (San Rafael, CA), Oslo, Norway (Gentle Actions Conference) and possibly at Pratt (Brooklyn, NY). A busy time. More details can be found on the artsforchange.org website.
An article on my work from UW news:
http://uwnews.org/uweek/article.aspx?id=48663
A review of the book from Community Arts Network:
http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2009/04/book_review_art_1.php
From a former student:
I have just completed your eminently readable book. It was not my plan
to read it in a day, but other than going to the dedication of the Peace
Pole at 30th and Starr this morning and following that up with a 2 mile
walk with a female friend who was a college professor back east, I had
the whole day open. I was captured and just read on. Not usual for me.
I am a great believer in the power of stories and I must say that your
book is a story about you (and your dreams), your approach to teaching
and the diverse students who have been in your classes. I may qualify as
your oldest student and was honored to get a brief mention on page 91! I
will have to tell David that he is on the same page.
I was certainly aware that you were “teaching outside the frame” and I
may have confided to David at the time – “I wonder what the trustees of
UW would think if they knew what was going on in her class.” That takes a
lot of guts and is the refreshing part of your approach.
The word educate is derived from the Latin educo – to lead out. It seems
that a lot of education is more about filling up than leading out.
Education is supposed to teach us to think and there is no question that
your interdisciplinary arts program does that.
I am now 84 and have never felt more concern for the future of our
society and planet than right now. I am inspired to continue using the
artistic and other talents I have at my disposable to create a better
world. Reading your book has me fired up again.
I will want to buy another book and send it to my son Scott who teaches
art at a community college in Massachusetts. I was going to mail him
this one but I want to keep it for myself.
Well done,
B
I’m so glad that you’ve arrived at the Arts for Change blog. We hope to have some provocative and useful conversations here. We are almost ready to begin. My first copies of the book are sitting in boxes in my office and at the publisher’s office as well. As soon as you get your order in and read it, we can have a some conversations about what you’ve read. Have fun with it!
