Arts Learning

Artists left the workshop week with a deepened experience and appreciate of photography, drawing, and botany. Through this interdisciplinary teaching and learning approach, the students gained increased insight into their ability to look and observe as a critical basis for the visual arts. It isn't often that these three disciplines come together to teach, and the students all responded exuberantly to the breadth of perspectives and lenses. They came away with new ideas and ways to approach process and product, as well as a raised awareness and consciousness of their own process of art-making. They gained new approaches and skill sets: how to use certain tools and new materials. Most importantly, they were reinvigorated and rejuvenated as artists, leaving with renewed courage and inspiration. This was evidenced in the feedback surveys they filled out, as well as through an evaluation/discussion on the final evening of the workshop. 2: It is rare that artists are able to be in residence and receive instruction without having to pay for the opportunity. This issue of too-high workshop fees was the participation barrier that we identified and intended to address. Thanks to the generosity provided by this grant, artists were able to receive lodging, two dinners, and weeklong instruction for a nominal fee. The feedback from everyone who attended, whether staying onsite, receiving instruction and meals only, or instruction and meal scholarship, was that the low cost of the workshop singlehandedly enabled their participation.