For my creative response to my internship at New Media Gallery, I created an I Spy page in the format of a print. This piece is both literal and symbolic and encompasses the essential parts of my internship.

I used the idea of a I Spy book because I felt that it went along with the gallery’s exhibition and also because I Spy books are for children just like how my program was designed for children. The exhibition I worked with was WITNESS  and it was focused on the idea of machine vision, surveillance, perceiving and being perceived. Hence, I included eyes, different ways of seeing, and googly eyes which were actually used in the art program that I developed. The nails are also a material that was used in the workshop. I had originally prepared the workshop for primary students using materials that were more crafty but there was a change in the age group and I had to change the materials to appeal to older students. Consequently, I added items like nails and wires and they represent my initial fear of working with intermediate students and later the relief I felt when they were very excited about my program. The three cups in the scene are a literal representation of the coffee and tea I drank throughout the internship to help me work through the rainy weather and exhaust. Lastly, the mop, keys, and chains are a symbolic representation of the community I saw in my internship. During my internship, I realized that so many different people were involved in creating this wonderful art space, not just artists or curators. There were cleaning staff, receptionists, technicians, and many more who worked together with artists to make everything happen. Everyone was connected like a chain, sturdy and united.

RESUME LINE

New Media Gallery- New Westminster, BC                           September 2016-December 2016

Arts Programming Intern

• Developed and executed an art program to help engage students with the gallery’s exhibition

• Worked in the capacity of a workshop leader and led 100 students through a 2 hour workshop

• Drafted event reviews, teacher’s guide booklets, and budget proposals

• Utilized scanning technology to archive artwork

Week 6: Nov.4, 2016 

Last Friday was the D-day of my workshop for Fraser River School.

When I arrived on site at 10:00am, I was notified that we were unable to use the theatre and projector for the workshop and had to use the studio spaces instead.

Honestly, I was disappointed because I had edited a video composed of 17 clip of monsters, robots, machines, people who have a special type of vision like Pale Man, Minions, Coraline, Sauron, Baymax, etc. It was to serve as a visual aid, running in the background as students work, to inspire them.

Nonetheless, I tried to look in a positive direction, thinking maybe the absence of the video would allow room for more creativity.

At 11:00am I started to set up all the materials and distributed them evenly into 16 groups.

Materials consisted of :

styrofoam balls, cones, crepe streamers, wire, nails, googly eyes, feathers, pipecleaners, bells, beads, clay, toothpicks, wooden dowels, buttons, string, paper parasols, egg cartons, boxes, glue, and scissors

I was worried that the Gr.6 and Gr.7’s would find the workshop and its materials as too “crafty” and boring. But to my surprise the students were really excited to do some hands-on work.

After all the groups received the gallery tour and finished their works, we had a time for presentations where groups volunteered to explain their pieces and sometimes even tell a fictional narrative about the creature. A lot of groups volunteered but due to time we were only able to hear a couple which was unfortunate.

Here are images of some of the works. The students really embraced the ideas of the exhibition and added their own personality to their works.  Some pieces completely blew my mind in terms of design and concept.

October 28, 2016 Week 5

Today, I drafted a budget proposal and went out to the dollar stores nearby to do some research on possible materials and their prices. I really enjoyed going out and working in a different environment. There were some obvious price differences for similar products and trying to account for a 100 students was challenging at first. Balancing my desire to buy all the cool craft supplies and trying to stay within the $100 range was way harder though.

Last week at our meeting, I was notified that my program would be presented to a group of Gr.6 & Gr.7’s from Fraser River Middle School instead of Gr.2’s. I had to alter the program slightly to match their age level and create a Pre-Activity worksheet and a Teacher’s Guide for the program.

The Teacher’s Guide consists of objectives, material, processes, schedules, pre and post activity instructions.

For the Pre-Activity, I created a personality quiz to help sort students into groups. I figured kids 12-13 years old would like something like personality tests found in magazines and thought that it would be a nice way to buy their interest.

So far, there have been minor shifts and changes in the internship which have required me to be flexible but it has been definitely manageable. I’m super excited to lead this workshop on Nov.4.

Partner Profile

Name: New Media Gallery

Type: Civic Gallery

Opened: September 14, 2014

Medium: New Media

Curators: Sarah Joyce & Gordon Duggan

Address: 777 Columbia St, New Westminster, BC V3M 5V2 (3rd Floor, Anvil Centre)

Phone: 604 875 1865

Email: contact@newmediagallery.ca

Website: http://www.newmediagallery.ca/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NWnmg

Hours: Monday: closed

Tuesday: 10am – 5pm

Wednesday: 10am – 5pm

Thursday: 10am – 8pm

Friday: 10am – 5pm

Saturday: 10am – 5pm

Sunday: 10am – 5pm

The one page handout and link to presentation is attached.

new-media-gallery-handout

http://prezi.com/tsudv4enl2_z/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

October 18, 2016 Week 4

I attended an event held at the Anvil Centre Theatre by the New Media Gallery in collaboration with DOXA Documentary Film Festival’s Motion Pictures Film Series, New West Film Fest, Momentum Youth Arts Movement, and the City of New Westminster.

Mediated Visions was a truly interesting night of film, art, technology and artist talks that addressed the interconnected nature of human society, culture, and technology.

The film presented was Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, a new film by Director Werner Herzog, that documents the beginnings of the internet to the ungraspable information we have floating around today through technology. It questions how our interaction with technology has changed our understanding and experience with notions of embodiment, public space, and the technologies.

Later on, the evening continued on with two short artist talks from Adam Basanta, award-winning composer, musician and installation artist who exhibits worldwide, and Mazdak Gharibnavaz, Grassroots Development Officer at OpenMedia. Basanta talked about the “various levels of witnessing- personal, interconnected, disconnected, a type of re-enacted cinematic moment and the recursive, circularity and humour that can be described in each of these moments through a discussion of his work ‘A Truly Magical Moment.’ Gharibnavaz, a passionate believer in the power of the Internet, addressed the upcoming challenges of the 21st century and the fight for a free and open Internet.” (New Media Gallery)

October 14, 2016 Week 3

Week 3 was all about brainstorming ideas for an arts program relating to the exhibition, WITNESS, that could be adaptable to all ages of children and teens.

Please excuse my chicken scratch but essentially, these were the sketches and ideas I developed during my day at the gallery.

I had to reference and include the Core Competencies (Communication, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Positive Personal/Cultural Identity, Personal Awareness & Responsibility, Social Responsibility) outlined by the B.C. Education Curriculum and marry it to the core ideas of the exhibition (surveillance, witness, perceiving and being perceived, machine vision, technological connections).

Some ideas were

1. Still life drawings through the view of different objects -> camera, magnifying glass, CCTV, reflection, naked eye, etc
2. Working in pairs, where one person “witnesses the exhibition” and the other person creates a multimedia collage art from the partner’s verbal description. Later they create a fiction narrative based on the final product. Idea of witnessing art and turning it into knowledge.
3. Taking a small frame into the gallery and “framing” a scene, drawing it, and creating a collage. Learn that everyone has a different perception of space.
4. Creating a 3d sculpture of a creature/robot/machine that watches, surveils, and observes something. Developing ideas of what it is created to watch or not watch, etc. Creating a fictional narrative and sharing it.
5. Machine vs. Humans -> Observing an arranged still life for 2~5mins, then in pairs or groups drawing/painting/collaging the still life from memory. (most likely for a pre-activity)
6. Surveillance Scene -> Create a Surveillance holes on the window where kids will watch the city and pedestrians and create work from the scenes.
7. Partner Portraits -> Partnering up and describing each other’s face. Then, drawing a self-portrait from someone else’s perspective/gaze.

Sarah, Kristina, and I got most excited about #4 and decided to develop it up as a program for the Grade 2’s coming in from Fraser Valley Elementary.

October 6, 2016 Week 2 

I attended an artist talk held at the New Media Gallery and did a collage and write up about the event for potential social media posts.

On Thursday, October 7th, New Media Gallery held “For Your Eyes Only,” a Fresh Talk event. Kristina Fiedrich, arts programmer, and Carolina Bergonzoni, dancer and philosopher, collaborated together to create a stimulating evening surrounding the exhibition, WITNESS. The two artists discussed ideas about our perception of objects, our interaction with spaces we see, and how we are seen through interesting drawing activities and heart-racing kinetic exercises. Kristina led participants to pair up and draw a map of their eye movements across each other’s face and also create blind contour drawings, challenging the visual memory and its coordination with the hand. Carolina guided participants into kinetic exercises involving mapping their movement throughout the gallery and switching maps with someone else, encouraging a new perception of the space. Later on, participants again paired up and took part in an intimate activity where they had to connect with their partner’s eyes and hold connection as they explored the space together as one entity. The night was filled with fun yet thought-provoking witnessing, observing, and moving in exploring the exhibition, WITNESS.

1.Visual recording of eye Movement

2. Drawing blind from memory + Drawing from memory

3. Blind Contour Drawing

4. Blind Contour Drawing

These were my drawings from the evening.

[OBJECTIVE]

To develop an art program adaptable to all ages of children and youth, linked to the gallery’s current exhibition Witness. In the process, I will be participating in workshops, writing proposals with budgets, attending artist events, and doing a final presentation of the program.

[PERSONAL GOALS]

-Getting comfortable working with a lot of flexibility

-Research and further understanding of different learning models

-Research and further understanding of the theory of the gaze and the current exhibition

-Networking, supporting artists

[SKILLS NEEDED]

-Research skills

-Programming Skills

-Presentation Skills

[SOLUTIONS]

My research for learning models will mainly take place through observation of the different models in practical application and research of the theories and artists behind the exhibition will happen online through scholarly essays, personal websites, as well as through conversations with the gallery curator. As for programming skills, although I have never created a program in connection with an exhibition, I have experience creating daily lesson plans through my volunteer work with Gr.3 students and have also organized summer camp programs which have probably provided me with a base in developing a curriculum. I will be working closely with Kristina and receiving feedback from Sarah which will guide me in creating a better program. Presentation skills will be improved through practice and participation in workshops throughout the internship. All in all, I am going to start a sketchbook/journal to record my research, design programs, and note inspiration in order to improve all the skills above.

[IMPORTANT DATES]

Sept.30- First Meeting

Oct.6- Fresh Talk Series (Kristina Fiedrich as speaker)

Oct.7- Gallery Tour/ Exhibition & Artist Research

Oct.14- Program Development

Oct.18- Mediated Visions (evening event, DOXA film screening)

Oct.21- Program Development

Oct.28- Program Development

Nov.4- School Group (GR.2) Workshop

Nov.6- End of Exhibition

Nov.18? TBA- Final presentation of program

*Schedule subject to change*

[NOTES]

I will be on site at the gallery every Friday and hours will differ each week. I will also be attending various artist events as a part of my internship which will fulfill my goals in terms of networking and support. My direct supervisor is Kristina who is in charge of developing and running all the programs in the gallery and the city of New Westminster and I will also be brainstorming and sharing ideas with Sarah, the gallery’s curator. I will be receiving feedback from both Kristina and Sarah along the way and also through a final presentation at the end of the internship. Communication will happen via email as often as needed. Things will probably change and be added as the project moves forward.