Professional Practices – Assistant Teaching – Week 5

The format for this week’s class was much the same as last week, the students beginning with quick 2-minute gesture drawings. Then some 4-minute drawings, after which they continued their drawings from the previous week. This drawing will be completed after 4 weeks total, the model’s pose and the lighting being consistent throughout. We have some nice drawings coming along so far, and I’m anxious to see them when they’re finished.
Last week, Ernie and I discussed my assignment to display some of the students’ best work on a wall in the AMF building. This was to be part of the preparation for our upcoming visit from the accreditation people, so I really wanted it to look good. I took some quick photos of each of the drawings that Ernie and I chose for the display, and did some mock-ups in Photoshop to try different arrangements. I also wrote a couple of paragraphs about the drawings and the class for which they were done, to accompany the drawings in the display. Taking measurements of the panel they were to be hung on proved essential in my preparation in terms of spacing everything correctly and fitting everything on the panel in an aesthetically effective way. For example, there happens to be a giant hole cut out of part of the panel, so I had to figure out how to cover that up. After settling on a suitable arrangement, I printed out my mock-up for use as a guide to hang the drawings.
Before pinning the drawings up, I checked in with Ernie to get his approval. I was especially concerned about the brief write-up, as I was less confident about hanging my words on the wall than I was my chosen arrangement and presentation of the students’ work. It was a good thing I decided to check with Ernie before I began hanging anything. Apparently the decision was made to display student work elsewhere in the building, the different classes shown together in the same room rather than spread out all over the building. This display will be put together by a couple of the faculty.
Ernie apologized to me for my work on this not being used, but I certainly don’t see it as done in vain. It was a great exercise for me, and I believe that the more practice I have with presentation, the better. I also had the opportunity to practice curating a show of someone else’s work, which I haven’t done before. Whether or not my display got put up is not really the point.
As for the written portion of my proposed display, it seemed to work alright. Ernie seemed to like it, didn’t have any changes to make, and asked if he could use it in the display that they will now be doing. So part of my work on this will be used after all. Curious that it ended up being the words…

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