Embedded Files
Pablo Picasso is famously quoted as saying,
“Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
Somewhere in the mire of adolescence, most of us become cognizant of the concepts of cool… and uncool. We discover self-consciousness.
But the challenge, as Picasso notes, is to stay creative. To keep being artistic and to keep telling stories. We must be brave so that our art can be a vessel for stories.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks beautifully about the importance of stories. In a moment of stunning simplicity, she reassures us that,
“Many stories matter.”
And so, as artists it is our job to continue storytelling, and continue developing our abilities to tell stories. And as educators, we must help create spaces in which our students can create stories.
This first work of art is a video featuring an “I Am” poem written by my friend and artistic colleague, Danielle Coles.
As a Black, female, disabled performer, Danielle has expressed that she sometimes feels like industry professionals see her as a way to put metaphorical checks in their diversity boxes.
She and I collaborated to create this video as a way to share a story of labelling and pseudo-inclusivity.
A way to iterate the true and important idea that all individuals are whole and complex and should not be grouped into “boxes.”
Learn more about Danielle here:
https://www.americantheatre.org/2021/03/26/15-theatre-workers-you-should-know/
This next work is the final monologue that I created for one of my Adelphi courses:
The Art of Teaching Shakespeare.
For this, “Lost Monologue,” each student in our course created a character who could plausibly fit into one of Shakespeare’s plays. Our newly created character would have a monologue, but it was important that their presence in the story not change the original narrative’s trajectory. I created a character named Lucy Quince. She is the
bossy,
flailing,
ridiculous
wife of Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
And I will forever be in love with her.
Page 1 of monologue
Page 1 of monologue
Page 2 of monologue
Page 2 of monologue
Similarly to the video project created with Danielle, it was invigorating to work on an original project. To practice being brave and creative is important for any artist. And so, I feel that working on original pieces is instrumental to my continued growth as an artist and educator.
I work to create safe spaces that foster truth and bravery and risk-taking for my students as well. With their permission, I hope to add a couple of short films to this electronic portfolio that my Film I and II students have created. I also hope to add images of my English students’ creative work as demonstrated through their poetry and fractured fairy tale stories.
It’s hard to be creative and brave in high school
and I am impressed with them on a daily basis.
I figure that if I am asking my students to share their own work, then I should stay in the practice of creating and sharing mine.
Creating is an art.
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