Adelphi Portfolio
Teaching portfolio and about me as an educator
Module 1:
Module 2:
Research Projects: Adelphi University
Dear future art students:
I am researching an object that I use quite frequently in my arts practice. The object I am researching is the sketchbook/journal and how it affects the lives and practices of musicians and artists.
Rather than investigate a specific sketchbook, I was looking at my own sketchbooks and thinking about my past and the practice of sketching and keeping a journal.
1. What is it? Sketchbooks and journals
2. How do you know? I know about sketchbooks and journals because they are common everyday objects.
3. How big is it?/What is it made of? My sketchbooks are made of various materials. One sketchbook I have is 9x12” and spiral bound. It is hardcover and black. The material for the hard cover is likely made out of some sort of cardboard covered in black material (maybe some kind of plastic?)
4. In continuing my research I went to my the “experts”: my friends who are artists, musicians, and writers. I asked them about their relationship to sketchbooks and journals. I also asked them when they thought that sketchbooks and journals became prevalent in people’s lives.
N., my writer friend: “This is a total guess but I think sketchbooks/journals started to happen when people got access to paper? Like it seems like there’s always been a human urge to record stuff, and accessible paper and other materials is probably what led to journaling.”
C., my artist friend: “I don’t know about sketchbook origin historically but I started drawing and writing in them in middle school. I have a hard time getting rid of old ones, and I think they serve a similar purpose to journals except they relay visual memories and are even better to look at many years later because you can track your growth and take note of ideas that still stich with you.”
M, my artist friend: “I’ve always used my sketchbook to put ideas down before I forget. And then as a way to work them out further, to see if they’ll ever work as more finalized works.”
M, my artist and musician friend: “I like to use journals for writing down things that I want to remember later like poems, grocery lists, lists of songs, random sketches, lyrics to potential songs…”
J, my musician friend: “I used to use sketchbooks a lot in high school to draw drawings, and I haven’t really used them much of my adult life. But, on this big cross-country trip I’ve been journaling everyday whatever I’ve done the previous day, which has been super cool. I filled my first journal in my entire life. I had to buy a new journal! It was like very…I felt very accomplished, very indie-folk rock.”
Having a group conversation about sketchbooks and their origins with a group of friends, J, J, J, D, M, M (initials of friends):
We investigated the following thoughts about the origins of sketchbooks:
-Is the sketchbook brand “moleskins” French?
-The invention of papyrus was probably the first iteration of making sketchbooks
-But wasn’t papyrus expensive?
-Hieroglyphics (Egyptians), or pictographs (Native Americans) were early ways to write/ early written languages.
-Alexandria Library in Egypt? Was it Egypt? Had a lot of scrolls and books
-Earliest forms of paper were probably easier to have in scrolls rather than bound in books.
-Phones nowadays have an app called “notes” where it’s easy to jot down things that you normally (pre-cell phones) had to jot down in a real notebook with pen and paper.
-There are such things such as paperless notebooks that exist where it is light like paper (unlike writing with a tablet) and has your own handwriting? (None of us knew a ton about this, a few of us had had targeted advertisements about this product before on Instagram or Facebook).
5. My conclusion is that sketchbooks help artists in their own studio practice or artistic and musical research to turn inward and investigate what they want to work on. It is a wonderful tool!
Below are images of pages from my sketchbooks:
Module 3:
Recipe for creating artwork:
Ingredients:
50 tbsp inky pens
3 cups notebooks that are unruled
2 dashes enthusiasm
1 dash morning decaf coffee
3 cups walking and thinking
1 cup podcasts
½ cup taking pictures of objects and houses
3 tbsp stirred house paint
2 cups crayons
2 cups colored pencils
3 cups hot press paper
1 cup pencil shavings
2 tbsp good night’s sleep.
Directions:
Put your apron on and make sure your brushes are clean and lint-free. Preheat your mind by doodling for an hour.
Combine the inky pens with the colored pencils heat. Then, stir the mixture once it gets to a boil and let it sit. Chop up the podcasts and add your dashes of enthusiasm. Put into a big bowl and cover with olive oil. Roll out the dough of 3 cups walking and thinking. Combine ½ cup taking pictures of objects and houses with your 1 dash morning decaf coffee, 1 cup podcasts, and 3 cups notebooks that are unruled. Let the dough sit. Boil some water. Add your hot press paper to the water. Soak, and smush it into a pulp. Mix in your crayons and melt.
Sprinkle some pencil shavings onto the dough of the 3 cups walking and thinking. Let rise overnight with a clean cotton rag on top. Make sure to chew the 2 tbsp good night’s sleep and then add to your ½ cup taking pictures of objects and houses, 1 dash morning decaf coffee, 1 cup podcasts and 3 cups notebooks that re unruled. Stir.
Combine the two doughs once the 3 cups walking and thinking has risen. Add the inky pens and colored pencil mixture. Add your chopped podcasts and dashes of enthusiasm. You are ready to eat.
artist mission statement
artist mission statement
Module 4: artist mission statement
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso
Images of my artwork (top two) and my students’ work (bottom two) throughout the years:
Below is an illustration of teaching that inspires me. This image is from an illustration by “Visual Journalist” LA Johnson, NPR. She interviewed and learned about an art teacher, Jimi Herd, about his teaching philosophies.
