Saturday, September 21, 2013

Heather Ridgeway's Improbable Beautiful


student art work


1. How long have you been a teaching artist?
28 yrs 
2. What discipline(s) do you teach?
Drawing, painting, mixed media, digital art, printmaking, ceramics, murals, ....
3. Describe the setting(s) in which you teach.
Currently 9-12 (high school) and an occasional teacher training, used to do integrated elementary.
4. Who shaped your initial thinking about teaching art?
 My art teachers through k-12
5. Describe the relationship between your personal art practice and your art teaching?

Teaching keeps me learning new things but makes it very difficult to become master of anything, though it forces process analysis, so I feel like I'm more aware if what I know...
6. How do you sustain your art while teaching?

My teaching is my art 
7. What training in the arts and/or education have you had?

Ak State certifications in MAT-K12 Art Ed & K-8 BA of Ed; internship in Set Design w/Perseverance Theater, IATSE backstage hand training; London City & Guild Certification in Architectural Restoration and Decorative Painting; numerous "Canvas" workshops, Community Schools classes, professional development etc....
8. What are the biggest challenges you face as a teaching artist?

Time management - consistent expectations and assessments that promote positive production, quality and growth for all
9. What are the unexpected rewards of being a teaching artist?
 Learning from my students
10. What advice do you have for other artists interested in teaching?

 Let your students teach you stuff, share your mistakes, etc
Please share one anecdote of a memorable Teaching Artist experience or your favorite resources for lessons.
The day a kid got up the nerve to approach me respectfully after class and tell me I made him uncomfortable when I rolled my eyes. I had no idea I was rolling my eyes!! 20 years later, that exchange shapes me daily.

Please share any upcoming events or shows you are involved in so we can find out more about your personal art practice
Heather's artwork


Saturday, September 7, 2013

Ryan Conarro’s Improbable Beautiful


http://tajournal.com/

1. How long have you been a teaching artist?
I've been a teaching artist since 2002.
2. What discipline(s) do you teach?
 I teach theatre.
3. Describe the setting(s) in which you teach.
(K-5, after school, university, community center, etc…)
 I've taught in all of the above settings. Most often, I teach in K-12 school settings in rural Alaska schools.
4. Who shaped your initial thinking about teaching art?
 My first teaching artist experiences after college were while I was a company member with Aquila Theatre Company-- members of that group helped me learn ways to teach Shakespeare that can be playful and accessible.
When I moved to Juneau, Alaska, I found two great mentors--the woman who then ran the high school theatre program, and another woman who designs programs and writes grants for rural arts projects. They've guided me, respectively, on good strategies for modeling performance for young people, and on navigating cross-cultural landscapes as an educator. They also both took risks with me, signing me on to projects that were beyond my past experience and which stretched me.
Before all that, I started getting involved in theatre in middle school, with a children's theatre in north Georgia. The director of that theatre was a big influence on me. She had a huge passion for making art at a high standard and making it accessible to kids and families.

5. Describe the relationship between your personal art practice and your art teaching?

I see the two as coexistent and feeding each other. There have been times when I've opted to accept a teaching gig over performing or directing a professional project. Among many other things, teaching theatre has helped me become more facile with articulating my processes and techniques as an actor and director.
6. How do you sustain your art while teaching?
 I seek out TA opportunities in which I can experiment artistically in ways that I couldn't or am not ready to do with adults. For example, in 2011-12 I did a year-long puppetry project with a school district. I wouldn't have felt comfortable telling adults I could teach them to build puppets--but I told the kids that! And we all learned together.
7. What training in the arts and/or education have you had?
 I went to undergrad at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for Drama and English. I also spent one summer back at NYU in their graduate program for Educational Theatre. I've participated in several summer Basic Arts Institutes for educators through the Alaska Arts Education Consortium. A lot of my learning has been by doing.
8. What are the biggest challenges you face as a teaching artist?
 I think my biggest challenges include finding consistent, adequate planning time with teachers. My dream gigs are those in which I really feel like I'm co-teaching with a teacher, that s/he is learning alongside me and I alongside him/her. But it doesn't often happen that way. Part of the reason it doesn't is because teachers have way too much on their plates to begin with.
Another challenge I face, in Alaska, is budget cuts. Two major programs I depended on have gone away this year, and so the arts education landscape is changing a bit. There are still plenty of opportunities here for me for school engagements (thankfully), but my rate of pay has dropped drastically, so I'm having to adjust my standard of living accordingly.
9. What are the unexpected rewards of being a teaching artist?
 I've lived in Juneau for 10 years now, and began doing school arts projects my first year here. One thing I couldn't have anticipated then is how well-connected I feel with the community because of the projects I've done. I know lots of parents. Many kids who were in high school have gone away to college and come back--or they never left--and now here they are, with jobs and kids sometimes, and they're my peers now. I love it.
10. What advice do you have for other artists interested in teaching?
 Do it!
Classroom management is key. Find/experiment with playful/artistic ways to create behavior routines with students. And don't be afraid of being a disciplinarian.
I think, for me, as long as I'm having fun, I can pretty much bet that the students are as well. And I always look for teachers who are interested in mentoring me and helping me improve my teaching practice.
*Bonus*
Please share one anecdote of a memorable Teaching Artist experience or your favorite resources for lessons.

 This website is not that impressive looking, but teachers consistently love it:
There's a helpful link for Reader's Theater. I've realized a lot of teachers don't really know what RT is, per se, and they're sort of sheepish about that. This website is a useful resource for those of them who want to do more RT--which is to say, to get their kids reading with fluency and motivation!
Please share any upcoming events or shows you are involved in so we can find out more about your personal art practice. Provide links to websites, event sites, etc.
 I'm currently involved with Theater Mitu's production "Juarez: A Documentary Mythology":
And I'll be leading the Drama section of the summer Arts Education Institute in Alaska:
I'm facilitating a residency now in Juneau, a joint puppetry project between Thunder Mountain High School and Glacier Valley Elementary. 
In October, I'll open a new performance installation at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center Gallery, "This Hour Forward."