'Life disruptions can focus the mind in ways that are beneficial to making good art. "Uncertainty is the essential, inevitable and all-pervasive companion to your desire to make art. And tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite to succeeding (Art & Fear, p. 21)." I hope that this strange period can be weathered with minimal stress and engender productive new perspectives. I can't sugar-coat a pandemic, but I do want to remind you that artists have always deepened the conversations around major shared experiences - perhaps this is an opportunity to put your training to such a use.' --Kyle McKenzie March 12th This post really changed my mind about the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Initially, I did not think that the Coronavirus would have any impact on my life. Right now I am consumed with thoughts of how it will change everything that I had planned over the next few months. 2020 was set to be a great year. I had trips planned to Jamaica, Chicago, and the Dominican Republic. We currently have tickets to 4 concerts this summer, but it doesn't look like any of those things will transpire..... I'm obsessively checking twitter, FB, reddit, and other social media for updates. On Wednesday night, when president Trump gave his evening address saying he was suspending all travel from Europe, I got really freaked out. When my university announced all on-campus classes canceled through May 1st, I got even more freaked out. I told my students on Thursday and Friday to take home their sketchbooks, as I did not know when I would see them again and I did not know what would happen after spring break (March 16-22). My school hasn't said much about what the rest of the school year looks like. The end of our school year was disrupted last year by a tornado which took out several neighborhoods and electricity around the city. We ended up canceling the last day of finals and I never felt like I had the closure I needed for the year to end. If we don't end up going back this year, it will feel extremely unfinished. While I do have some activities planned that students could theoretically do online....it isn't the same as making art in an art studio. And I don't expect that many of my students will actually do the work anyway. A lot of them will need to babysit siblings and can barely figure out how to upload an image into canvas.....but I did teach them how to do that at the very least.... And what if I get sick...what will my school district expect of me if we are supposed to conduct school 'online'....will I still be expected to report to my classroom each day? I brought home some supplies and bought some canvases yesterday. I'm hoping a wave of inspiration will hit me. But at this time, writing this blog is hard because I just can't focus and all the trivial stuff that I normally fill up this blog with seems frivolous and lame. This weekend we watched Contagion. It was a pretty scary reminder of how bad people can behave in the face of panic. At any rate, it seems like we might get quarantined and will need stuff to do. Here is a list of movies : Dawn of the Dead Shaun of the Dead The Crazies This is the End Zombieland (1 & 2) I am Legend World war Z 28 days later 28 weeks later Warmbodies Resident Evil (any of them) Bird Box The Happening
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Mrs. Mitchell
This is my 'slice of life' blog. Archives
March 2020
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