First and foremost I just want to say how thankful I am that this class exists as a mandatory requirement for Theater students.
I learned so much this semester about art and activism and how to the two work with each other.
There where so many times during my time at Calarts and before I cam here where I would appreciate and experience artwork and performance having absolutely no idea that those where in fact form of activism.
I always thought that activism had to do with protests, stand ins, and things of that nature. I didn't realize the impact art had on activism nor that some art is solely for the purpose of activism and that we might overlook that aspect as I had done int he past.
My favorite moments of the class would probably include the "wind comes and blows" exercise. I immediately connected with a group that consisted of mostly strangers. I remember one of the statements that I made that stated "the wind comes and blows anyone who has lost all their grandparents". I, as a 20 year old, thought there may be one other person who would stand up because I felt that we where all too young to have lost all of our grandparents and because of that I felt a disassociation. Lo and behold a good handful of people that where very close to my age or even my age stood up and I was so shocked and my heart felt warm that I could share this loss with other people and I wasn't alone.
The other things that I greatly appreciated was the idea that I could stage my own activism through art. That Evelyn gave us the opportunity to make something and pitch something to the rest of the class-also that the rest of the class could respond with constructive notes.
I very very much appreciated the backbone that Evelyn introduced to us and kept reminding us about- the ways we can listen and pause and give back feedback that would aid the piece. That was really great, because I think often times we forget that we can just speaking without noticing that it is really not aiding the person we are speaking too or about.
I learned so much this semester about art and activism and how to the two work with each other.
There where so many times during my time at Calarts and before I cam here where I would appreciate and experience artwork and performance having absolutely no idea that those where in fact form of activism.
I always thought that activism had to do with protests, stand ins, and things of that nature. I didn't realize the impact art had on activism nor that some art is solely for the purpose of activism and that we might overlook that aspect as I had done int he past.
My favorite moments of the class would probably include the "wind comes and blows" exercise. I immediately connected with a group that consisted of mostly strangers. I remember one of the statements that I made that stated "the wind comes and blows anyone who has lost all their grandparents". I, as a 20 year old, thought there may be one other person who would stand up because I felt that we where all too young to have lost all of our grandparents and because of that I felt a disassociation. Lo and behold a good handful of people that where very close to my age or even my age stood up and I was so shocked and my heart felt warm that I could share this loss with other people and I wasn't alone.
The other things that I greatly appreciated was the idea that I could stage my own activism through art. That Evelyn gave us the opportunity to make something and pitch something to the rest of the class-also that the rest of the class could respond with constructive notes.
I very very much appreciated the backbone that Evelyn introduced to us and kept reminding us about- the ways we can listen and pause and give back feedback that would aid the piece. That was really great, because I think often times we forget that we can just speaking without noticing that it is really not aiding the person we are speaking too or about.
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