Regarding the Group Critique Last Week

Last week we had a group critique which left me a little dumb struck, I'll admit. How this critique was supposed to be done was that we visit a student's studio, and while he or she remains silent, we observe their work for ten minutes, attempting to understand what exactly are they trying to do, and if they were perhaps successful. After that, the student responds to the comments, answering any questions made, and describing their work and process and little deeper for another ten minutes. Then I suppose the last ten minutes was supposed to be more of a helpful tip in steering them in the supposedly right direction. 

I have say that when I found out that this type of critique was going to happen this early in the game, I was a little confused. From what I can see with my work and the work of that majority of the MFA 1 and 2 students, they have not progressed far enough to help anyone to understand what is going on without any explanation at all. Once it came to be my turn I marveled at how the tutor and students seemed fixated on my process of drying the beads and transferring images as if that was the art, without feeling like I was able to tell them that it had nothing to do with the final product at all. 

On top of that, I found our tutor's "advice" to be derailing, unnecessarily aggressive and demotivating. I remember beginning to be surprised by her words when she told one of the students "It can't be as straightforward as that". Perhaps I am the only one who feels this way anymore, or perhaps its my cultural background or maybe I am a little old fashioned, but I have always felt that regardless of the extreme position that an artist might take: shocking, preachy, opinionated, it is far better than being passive. I had the feeling that this tutor was trying to confuse and derail the students rather than help develop their practice, which is what I had expected any art school was supposed to do. 

When it came to be my turn, my work was immediately attacked as not developed, confrontational, using bad materials, and was, essentially, "not art". By this time I was so surprised that by the 21st century post graduate tutors were even aloud to say something isn't art. I was asked, point blank, if I thought that my work was art, and I couldn't help but reply that yes I did. Afterwards I felt that I was being challenged or rebuked, and I knew that anything that I said about my work and process would be only defensive, and therefore decided to say the minimum of what was required of me. 

Right after the critique was finished, I couldn't help but feel boggled. I was so confused about what was said that I started to think about everything that was said to me in other critiques and tutorials in the past. I began to feel that I had been pushed and pulled in so many directions on how my work should be that I no longer felt I had a say in it anymore. I wanted to know, should I change everything or just ignore everyone for once and go with my gut instinct, regardless on how others may hate it. I decided to speak to another teacher at ECA, one that I hadn't spoken to since the beginning of my time there. I wanted fresh eyes, and fresh opinions. 

I am so glad that I did so. This teacher was able to understand what I was trying to accomplish and reassured me that my work was actually art. He told me that he knew that I didn't want to be regarded as the "bead girl" but an artist who had an interest in more social and anthropological concepts, the beads being a by-product. He told me that my instincts were correct in that I should do what I wanted to do. He then gave me some readings to perhaps help me with describing my work a little better to those who might not understand it as well, or who might not thing it is "art". I began to read Marcel Meuss' "The Gift" and will later read Michel DeCerteau's "Practice of Everyday Life". 

I can't express how relieved I was after such a tumultuous day. I finally received the help and encouragement that every student should receive at an institution. We attend school, regardless on what level we are at for professional help and guidance. I am sure we will receive our harsh criticism from the world once we finally embark into it. 

Medusa

The first piece created out of paper beads from my first workshop. It is an abstracted image of Medusa who was used as a symbol in early feminist literature. I chose her to symbolize the discussion that came out of the first workshop. They ended up talking about the condition of women these days in contemporary, developed nations like the UK, and if they have or haven’t fully gained equal rights.

Something Meaningful Greeting

Over the Christmas holiday I recorded myself greeting those who follow me on my facebook, twitter and tumblr accounts. Even though I have been talked out of working on these sights for my MFA, I am still going to nurture it and hopefully it will grow into something after the school year is completed.

Beginning of Work Shopping

I've begun to start work shopping. The first work shop was in my apartment in Edinburgh with several female doctorate students came, chit chatted and made beads. The second work shop was in Seattle with several mixed gender thirty somethings to early 60s.

The first group ended up talking mainly about women'd rights and feminism. They ended up enjoying themselves greatly and lingered for quite a while. Later several of the girls asked if I was going to make another workshop so they could do it again. The second group ended up talking about family, how to take care of children, issues, and ideals. Several people have asked if they can continue making beads and send them to me here in Edinburgh.

A Brief Overview on Paper Beads

          During my short time in paper bead making, I have found out many interesting things about these little objects that lead me to believe that they contain a great deal of meaning. The first time I had heard of these beads was when I traveled to Goma, an eastern city of The Democratic Republic of the Congo. I visited a center for children who had undergone a great deal of trauma one way or another. The center was called The New Hope Center. It was a home for children who lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, or who witnessed their entire village slaughtered by rebel armies or other unimaginable things.

            For them, making paper bead jewelry was a form of therapy to be able to help them through the fact that they had been through horrors no one should endure. The center would then ship the jewelry out to western countries in hopes of selling them and making money to help pay for these children’s tuition. I then later saw the beads sold all over Uganda in touristy places. I found out later that paper bead making is quite popular in Uganda, and is usually connected to social entrepreneurial programs in hopes to help impoverished women up on their feet. Other such programs are also located in nations such as Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa.

            I myself made almost two thousand beads, and I was impressed after such a number was completed, that women make as many as they possibly can as a living. However, I realized that in order to make a profit from making paper bead jewelry, one would have to make thousands of beads daily. The reason for this is because even though two thousand beads is an impressive number, it really doesn’t make enough to create the number of necklaces or earrings, which would be then sold at a nominal price. As someone who is not in the least professional in bead making, I have only been able to make one hundred beads in a period of many hours. Although the process of making beads is easy and cheap, after the five hundredth bead, my fingers would become raw and painful to the touch, until finally the one-thousandth bead would give the calluses I needed to carry on.

            In the West, in places like the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, beads have begun a renewed interested because of the influx of paper bead jewelry coming in from Africa. However, due to ignorance, these beads have become eroticized and are widely considered a quaint item to help shabby clothes become bright and give an “African” flavor. Ironically the tradition of paper bead making came from the United Kingdom in the late nineteenth century. Using fair trade, many stores such as Walmart and Wholefoods have sold this jewelry advertising them as “you can empower you wardrobe by empowering a woman who made these beads.” Giving the buyer a sense of good will and charitable giving.

            For me, paper beads walk a fine line between being exploitative or of being full of meaning. Without the western market to buy paper bead the women in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, ect. would be back to nothing, trying to find another way of supporting themselves or their families. Paper bead making has become many things to many people, a way of income, a therapy, or merely just a fun pastime. I believe, as touchy as they can be, they should remain what they are right now, a little help to those who need it, until something better might come along. 

Sculpture Court

Tuesday the 4th of December, I moved my studio to the Sculpture Court in hopes that people might come up to me and I would teach them how to make paper beads. I decided to cover myself with an apron to signify placing a work place into a location specified for displaying things. I then bought candy to perhaps lure people to come up to me. I think that this would have been far more successful had I not been in the Sculpture Court. I might choose to do this again outside of the University of Edinburgh Library or in some sort of non artistic location so that people might be more curious about what I am doing. I did get people to come up to me and write something in the bead that they made. However, being that everyone was stressed for time because of the end of the semester, I wasn't able to get as many people to come up to me, try as I might. This Sunday I am going to have my first get together teaching a handful of people how to make beads. I hope to have more of these types of events next semester.

Loads of Beads

This semester I have somehow managed to make 1,737 beads. 1,208 of those beads are blank and covered in a general adhesive. 502 are also blank but covered in GAC 800. 22 of the beads have something meaningful printed in them from one of my social networking sites and the rest was from sitting in the sculpture court, and also has something meaningful written in them.