A conversation about lessons learned during Jennifer Rice's one year as an Americorps VISTA at New Urban Arts. She was a student in our programs for three years, a VISTA for one year, and is now an artist mentor.
TD:
Looking back one year ago, why did you want to do a year of service as an Americorps VISTA at New Urban Arts?
JR:
When I applied, the first thing on my mind was the reason I learned so much here... service-learning. I wanted to work here because I wanted new students to know about service-learning. I also wanted them to know how they are in charge of their learning process when they are here.
TD:
What role did you see yourself playing in helping students know about how they are in charge of their learning process here? Do you feel you were successful in doing that?
JR:
I knew that I would be with the students everyday when they came in to the studio. At that time that was all I knew. I had no idea how exactly I was going to teach them about what service learning means. But the first thing I did was to start building relationships with every single student. I learned about them, their environment, their personalities, when to give them space, when I can be in their face... This was important to me because I wasn't able to talk to them about teaching art until they were comfortable talking about their art...and it took me all year. In my eyes, I found this year successful because I got the students interested in teaching what they know.
TD:
One question that you have identified is very important to me, the balance between building relationships/giving students space and getting in their face. Can you describe moments this year when you were in students' faces? Challenging them? How did they respond? And, when did you know it was the right time to begin challenging them? Examples?
JR:
My first example would be at the beginning of the year, I had my cousins come to the studio because I knew what goes on in their home, their home environment is very closed and our family is very close minded and I just wanted them to leave it for even a couple of hours to be here to learn about creative practice... They hate to be challenged but they let me because they love me. So, their first day I asked them lots of questions and learned about how they like to learn, stuff like that. So I had them join JJ's group because he was running a project his first day and that's what they liked. So that was easy because I had a prior relationship with these students.
Majority of the time, I started my relationships with the students very carefully. I needed to understand what their personalities were like so that I would know how to approach each student. Some students are extremely outgoing and I can talk to them whenever I feel like it.
With one student, I knew I had to be very careful and somewhat reserved. When I first started talking to her she was so shy almost like she didn't want to talk to me. Eventually she was a little more comfortable around the studio, and could start asking her questions like what are you interested in doing today? Our first project was painting a table...we started off with random projects.
Eventually I got her to join mentoring groups with people....and she takes the initiative to tell mentors what she wants to do....sometimes....but she is now comfortable introducing herself to new students...helping around the studio, and joining other mentoring groups on her own. She still needs lots of encouragement, but you have to wait for a day when she wants to learn new things and that's usually a day you take advantage of because she has so many ideas but you have to use that specific day to inspire her to talk about them and bring them to life.
TD:
What are some of the most important lessons you learned this year that you will take with you moving forward?
JR:
I learned a lot about helping people set goals for themselves. I learned about helping people to reflect on their work and look back so they can see how much they have learned. This is important to me because I think that when I can help people set goals and reflect on their work at the end it helps them appreciate the work they do.
TD:
What questions do you have for me?
JR:
How do you think my experiences here in the studio are relevant to the world? How were your experiences relevant to the world? Is the studio the only way we have to help our students?
TD:
I think your change, your growth, is very relevant to the world. It's hard not to look at you now and think of when I first met you. You handled the transition from student to staff person so well, with such maturity. You communicate so well with students, artist mentors, and staff. The change that you have had the courage to bring into your life is quite inspiring. You have become a leader in ways that I never imagined. In terms of my experiences, I hope the changes I have experienced are also relevant and inspiring to others.
JR:
Is new urban arts supposed to fit somewhere in the world?
TD:
Tough question. I think one of the challenges of New Urban Arts is that it doesn't fit. That in many ways, it's trying to carve out a place in the world for itself. Undoubtedly, there are other places like it that have existed long before it, but in other ways, there is nothing else like New Urban Arts. It's hard to describe what it is. Is it an arts studio? A learning community? An after-school program? A web of relationships? An artistic practice or approach? A non-profit organization? It's ambiguous. And, I think, part of the reason that it remains ambiguous is because it changes all the time: physically, who participates, what we produce, etc. And, by remaining ambiguous, there is not one thing that we set out to be or accomplish. I think it keeps us fresh, feeling like we are exploring and taking risks. It can feel lonely though sometimes. Where do you want it to fit?
JR:
Not really sure but I just know I like to use art to train people to think and I'm not sure how that can fit into the world.
TD:
What does train people to think mean? How do you want people to "think?"
JR:
Well I have been reflecting for a couple of weeks now. I haven't written anything down but I know that since I have been here, working on all different kinds of art projects and participating in community service...somehow did train me to think.
I find myself coming up with different ways I can help people or different ways to present art work, or different ways I can get people to talk about their artwork. Everything that people get themselves involved with in the studio makes them think about how they can do stuff more creatively or on some kind of larger scale... At New Urban Arts, people can look around the studio and see how different approaches, ideas and media might be possible for them.
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