FIREFLY ILLUMINATIONS  

 

Artists-in-Residence

Carson Valley Children’s Aid

Helen Millard Children’s Gallery January 18–February 22, 2015

Reception: Thursday, February 12, 3:30–5:30 p.m.

WoodmereArtMuseum

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Firefly Illuminations An exhibition of visual and poetic narratives of inspiration

and hope The title Firefly Illuminations is a metaphor for the artists in this exhibition. Fireflies are delightful symbols of inspiration. Like the girls and their artwork, they shine from within, radiating inspiration and hope to the world around them. Firefly Illuminations shows how artmaking can serve as a creative and therapeutic outlet for adolescents and help children express their inner radiance in the face of adversity.

The title for this exhibition is inspired by several sources. They include a Native American story about how the firefly got his flashing light and learned to shine; the contemporary song Fireflies by Owl City; and the book Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezín.

The Native American story, recorded by author Jamie Sams, tells how the firefly got her blinking light. In this tale, Firefly was unhappy would let her light fade, earning her the name "Forgets to Twinkle." Firefly had an encounter with Coyote where she was swallowed up. While in Coyote's stomach, Firefly remembered she had always been afraid to shine like her sisters. Realizing this, she sent all her energy to her little body and began to light up.

The other main influence for this exhibition is the work of artist and teacher Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, who taught art to children in the most oppressive and traumatic of settings—the Terezín concentration camp during World War II. She encouraged her students to use art to transform the ugly and dehumanizing reality they

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witnessed and to see beauty around them. She nurtured her students creatively, aesthetically, and psychologically and used art to help them overcome their environment of desolation and despair.

About the Exhibition

Adolescent girls ages fifteen to eighteen participated in an expressive art class that used visual artmaking and creative writing to promote inner strength. At the beginning of the class, the girls learned about female artists' lives, viewed examples of their work, and selected artist pseudonyms to represent themselves. Each week the girls were provided a thematic focus for art instruction. They experimented with mixed media to create artwork on different themes including special times and special places, lost and found, and beauty and ugliness. The girls reflected on their experience through dialogue, written narratives and statements about their artwork, and poetry. The girls were encouraged to express their concerns and emotions with visual symbols and to voice their thoughts and feelings. This experience of artmaking and reflection helped each artist develop a stronger sense of self.

 

This exhibition has been co-curated by girls at Carson Valley Children’s Aid, pulling from artwork and writing that was created over the course of the past year. To be respectful of their identities, only each girl’s initials and her artist pseudonym are used with the work.  

   

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List of Female Artist Pseudonyms

J. C. M. a.k.a. Magdalena Abakanowicz

G.W a.k.a. Ruth Asawa

M.F. a.k.a. Judy Chicago

C.F. a.k.a. Lee Krasner

D.A. a.k.a. Eva Hesse

B.C. a.k.a. Audrey Flack

D.F. a.k.a. Artemisia Gentileschi

M.S. a.k.a. Lee Godie

M.S. a.k.a. Frida Kahlo

C.F. a.k.a. Lee Krasner

S.J. a.k.a. Elizabeth Layton

M.S. a.k.a. Miriam Shapiro M.A. a.k.a. Lorna Simpson M.J. a.k.a. Gunta Stölzl

Mary Cassatt

Georgia O'Keefe

Faith Ringgold

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Works in the Exhibition Female Artist Books Using prefabricated female art history collages, students learned about female artists. Students chose an artist whose life or artwork interested them as their pseudonym for this class and as the subject of their individual lotus flower artist book. The class also created a collaborative women artist book using all the female artists they collectively chose. Altered Composition Journals Students covered composition books with their favorite color. Each week during the first 5 minutes of class, students selected an image to add to the cover of their journal. After their journals were complete, they were laminated and embellished with ribbon and other found objects. During class, students used their journals to sketch ideas, write notes, and compose artist statements. Artists:

D.A. a.k.a. Eva Hesse

D.F. a.k.a. Artemisia Gentileschi

G.W a.k.a. Ruth Asawa

S.J. a.k.a. Elizabeth Layton

M.S. a.k.a. Lee Godie

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Making Special Collages

For this project, students completed “play sheets” in their journals where they collected images and ideas about special times, special people, and special places in their lives. They also viewed the story of Little Red Riding Hood from the book Picture This by the children's book artist Molly Bang and created a collage using geometric shapes and colored paper.

Artists and statements: Untitled J. C. M. a.k.a. Magdalena Abakanowicz My art work doesn't have a title. The design reminds me of my grandma who told me to put my head up. I said "no" because I was crying. She always said to look at other people. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to know that your eyes are the key to your heart. Now I look at everyone in their eyes - never look down because I can see if they are lying or love me. Untitled D.F. aka Artemisia Gentileschi My collage doesn't have a title. I picked the design because I like pink. What I like about my artwork is it has special memories on it. If I could change one thing about my art work it would be more realistic because I can't draw realistically. Daddy's lil Girl D.A. a.k.a. Eva Hesse The title of my artwork is Daddy's lil Girl. I picked the design because I love my dad very much. If I could change one thing about my art work it would be nothing because I like it just the way it is. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to see the love I put into it. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to feel love for their parents.

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Untitled M.A. a.k.a. Lorna Simpson I picked the design because I'm trapped in a maze. What I like about my artwork is it has different colors. If I could change one thing about my art work it would be nothing because it’s mine! When someone looks at my artwork I want them to think about my pain. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to see my crazy life. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to feel the hurt. Family Picnic G.W a.k.a. Ruth Asawa The title of my artwork is Family Picnic. I picked the design because I love my family. What I like about my artwork are the colors. If I could change one thing about my artwork it would be nothing because not everything is perfect even art. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to think: WOW, colorful, full of love. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to see my love for my family. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to feel warm and fuzzy. Pizza S.J. a.k.a. Elizabeth Layton

The title of my art work is Pizza. I picked the design because I love pizza. What I like about my art work is it looks real. If I could change one thing about my art work it would be nothing. When someone looks at my art work I want them to think: WOW she really likes pizza. When someone looks at my art work I want them to see nothing but pizza. When someone looks at my art work I want them to feel: I want to go get some pizza.

House M.S. a.k.a. Lee Godie

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Circle of Wholeness Mandala

After a group discussion about what students have lost and found in their lives, students learned about mandalas and circular designs from different cultures, such as Native American medicine wheels, the Aztec calendar, and Tibetan wheels. They viewed examples of work by artists who incorporate beads and found objects in their art work for inspiration. Each student artist selected a pre-drawn cardboard circle, created a boundary with colored beads and developed their composition. Eight to ten found objects and beads were selected to represent things they have lost or found. Symbolic objects and materials were incorporated to represent positive aspects of their lives. Artists and statements: Me M.A. a.k.a. Lorna Simpson The title of my artwork is Me. I picked the design because it's all about me. I love my family. What I like about my artwork is I put everything into it - my feelings and my imagination. If I could change one thing about my artwork it would be nothing because it's mine and nobody told me how to do it. When someone looks at my art work I want them to think that the colors express myself well. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to see that I tried to find everything. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to feel happy and confused. Untitled D.F. a.k.a. Artemisia Gentileschi My artwork is untitled. I picked the design because it's different and colorful. I love my family. What I like about my art work is it is colorful and about my life. If I could change one thing about my artwork it would be nothing because I like it the way it is. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to think it's interesting. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to see me and elements of my life. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to feel alright.

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My World G.W. a.k.a. Ruth Asawa The title of my artwork is My World. I picked the design because I like my life. What I like about my art work is it shows some adventures I had in my world. I put everything into it - my feelings and my imagination. If I could change one thing about my artwork it would be nothing because I wouldn't. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to think: WOW how fun. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to see my world with my family. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to feel happy and excited. Life M.S. a.k.a. Lee Godie The title of my artwork is Life. I picked the design because I liked how it looked. I love my family. What I like about my artwork is its mine and it expresses how I view things. If I could change one thing about my artwork it would be nothing because I like how it looks. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to think, see or feel whatever they would like.

M.J. a.k.a. Gunta Stölzl

I picked this design because it is about my life. I used the materials because they seemed a part of me. What I like about my artwork is the beauty. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to think about my life. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to my past, I want them to feel inspired.

B.C. a.k.a. Audrey Flack

I picked this design because it stands for my dad. What I like about my artwork is that it describes my dad. If I could change one thing about my art work, I would have liked more time to create. When others look at my artwork I want them to think about how fathers are good. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to feel loved.

C.F. a.k.a. Lee Krasner

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I picked this design because I remember my childhood. I used materials to symbolize my diary, girlfriend, and little sister. What I like about my artwork is that it shows a part of my. When someone looks at my artwork, I want them to think about how my childhood was, see how much hard work I put into the artwork, and I want them to feel like they can understand my life.

M.F. a.k.a. Judy Chicago

I picked this design because it represents my birthday, my favorite aunt who died, my favorite color and my ex-best friend who broke her arm. That’s what the broken candle stands for. The stones represent me lying on the beach and finding stones. I chose the materials because blue is another one of my favorite colors, I love stones, the pink barrettes remind me of when I was younger, and the candles are for my birthday. What I like about my artwork is the way I made a design out of my feelings. One thing I would like to change is that my aunt died. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to think that I’m a creative person. I want them to feel how I’m feeling. I want them to see how I took everything I love and made it into a mandala.

M.S. a.k.a. Frida Kahlo

I picked this design because it represents the most important people to me. I used the materials because they represent what those people are like. What I like about my artwork is that it will be something I keep always, to remind me of them. When someone looks at my artwork I want them to know that those people are important to me. I want them to see that I can find a creative way to describe the people I love.

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Portraits of Beauty/Ugliness

After looking at examples of artwork by their female artists and completing a beauty/ugliness play sheet in their journals, students discussed examples of these themes in art and life. Each student selected her own content, process, and materials to create an individual portrait.

Artists and statements:

Crocheted Blanket M.S. aka Lee Godie The title of my art work is Crocheted Blanket. I picked the design because I liked all the different colors and shades of colors. What I like about my artwork is after I created it I felt proud, accomplished and happy. All Beautiful D.F. a.k.a. Artemisia Gentileschi My artwork is titled All Beautiful. I picked the design I wanted to show two extreme seasons: spring and winter. There is beauty all around just open your eyes. This is the first time I have ever done a painting.

My Book G.W a.k.a. Ruth Asawa

The title of my piece is My Book. Books capture you into the moment of reading and take you into another place. Books bring you into another world - one different than your own and one you want to be in. You get trapped - caught up - like I have shown in my altered book.

Untitled M.S. a.k.a. Miriam Shapiro I don't have a title for my picture. I picked the design because I wanted to use colors I didn't like with pictures on the ugly side and

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colors and pictures I like on the other side. What I like is the side on the right. Can you find the "V" in the L O V E? I can. Beautiful and Ugly T.J. aka Artemisia Gentileschi My pictures are titled Beautiful and Ugly. After a meeting with my family, I did this picture. I was so mad and frustrated. The ugly picture is of a barren tree and fire burning up. It helped me get my anger out. Next, I drew the beautiful picture with a rainbow. After the storm comes the calm. It's calm and beautiful. Open your eyes D.F. a.k.a. Artemisia Gentileschi Music and Germs G.W a.k.a. Ruth Asawa Skulls C.F. a.k.a. Lee Krasner

Sunrise/Sunset M.M. a.k.a. Judy Chicago

Torn Paper Landscapes

Students visited Woodmere Art Museum and took inspiration from landscape paintings on view by artists Walter Elmer Schofield and Deena Gu. The museum’s galleries provided a creative environment for artmaking outside of the usual school setting. Students created horizon lines for their own landscape by tearing and layering colored construction paper. They were encouraged to create their own imagined spaces with patterns, lines, structures, and figures added with oil pastels.

Artists:

G.W. a.k.a. Ruth Asawa

D.F. a.k.a. Artemisia Gentileschi S.J. a.k.a. Elizabeth Layton

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M.A. a.k.a. Lorna Simpson

Poetry

At the end of the each semester, students reflected on what they had learned and how they had grown by writing free prose or structured poems. To complete an I am poem, students identified favorite things they liked to see, hear, smell, taste and touch and filled in the blanks of the I am poem template.

Free Prose poems

WHO AM I?  

by C.F. a.k.a. Lee Krasner

Am I the shadow that follows you? Are you waiting on me to say something? Do you just want me to be the darkness or

Am I the light? Am I the beat behind your heart or

Just a sound that’s there? Am I the part of your eyes you use or

The part of the eye no one pays attention to? Am I the best part of the teddy bear or

Just the stuff inside? Am I the best part of the shooting star or

Just the flame behind it? Am I that person you could call your friend or

Am I a foe? Please for the last time, Can you tell me who I am?

Wait! Do you even know who I am?

*this poem is featured on the video on the iPad in the gallery

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GONE

by B.C. a.k.a. Audrey Flack

Trying not to care is pretty difficult, When you care so much.

Wish I gathered all my tears that you are gone and never coming back us.

I adored you; you ignored us. But every day I think of you.

I think of the lust you had for drugs. You killed our family. You killed my life.

But still I stood there and loved you. Despite that you weren't there

since I was maybe three. You were right.

Maybe. I would be the little girl who loved to fly a kite.

Maybe.

HERE AND THERE  

by M.J. a.k.a. Gunta Stölzl   

Here and there My heart My pain

Should not go My heart My pain

Where did it go? Somewhere outta space,

maybe near Mars? Wherever you are

Whether it far or near Anywhere

Do you care about the wholeness in my heart when we are miles apart?

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RISE ABOVE PROCEED

by M.S. a.k.a. Frida Kahlo

Although my life has been complicated, I believe

One day I will accomplish what I want to be. I won’t let my past hold me back because

I love me. If I fall, I will step up even higher than before.

I will climb to top. I will overcome the hardest obstacles.

I will always me. I will always take the next step further.

[She will rise above proceed]

*this poem is featured on the iPad in the gallery

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I am poems

I am…a poem

By G. W. a.k.a. Ruth Asawa

I am the sound of loud rock music.

I am the sight of underwater life – jellyfish and coral.

I am the taste of blue raspberry cotton candy.

I am the touch of white sand

in my fingers and hair.

I am unique.

I am Me

By D.F. a.k.a. Artemisia Gentileschi

I am the sight of peace and harmony I am the smell of coffee mixed with cigarettes

I am the sound of the soothing voice of Mariah Carey

I am the taste of semi-sweet chocolate chips I am the touch of a white rose I am me, something they can’t be

   

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Reflections

Several of the girls explained how participating in this art class has helped them.

Audrey Flack: “It was nice sharing art and our stories with peers. Someone else’s story could be your own. Somebody’s’ story can be different but you never know until they express their feelings and themselves freely.”

Gunta Stolzl: “I learned that everything may not be my fault. I got it out, my heart healed.”

Judy Chicago: “I expressed feelings by writing, doing art…expressing myself. I grew by letting my feelings out.”

Frida Kahlo: “I learned to express myself, instead of holding everything in. I learned to let it out.”

Lee Krasner: “This class taught me not to be scared of my own shadow and at the end of the day there will be light and I can see my own reflection.”

The girls became aware of themselves in relation to others. They gained awareness through art of their shadow sides and their light, and as they did, they were transformed in the process.

This approach to art education is transformational art pedagogy. It is a feminist approach to that occurs in the context of mutual respect, cooperation, and caring for the self and others. It is a strengths-based approach that empowers students and promotes change by combining art, education and therapeutic elements. By utilizing culturally responsive teaching practice based on empathy, normalizing distress and engaging the senses, it promotes student empowerment.

 

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About Dr. Lisa Kay

Dr. Lisa Kay,ATR-BC, Assistant Professor, Department of Art Education and Community Arts Practices, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, earned an Ed.D. from Northern Illinois University, an M.A. in Art Therapy, and a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from the University of Memphis. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate art education at Tyler, Dr. Kay has taught art therapy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2011-12, she was awarded a Fulbright Interdisciplinary Research/Teaching Fellowship in Hungary that combined art therapy, art education, and arts-based qualitative research.

As a part of her Fulbright, she conducted a cross-cultural pilot study of drawings created by adolescents responding to "beauty and ugliness" and studied the extensive archive at the Jewish Museum in Prague of child and adolescent art created under the guidance of Bauhaus-trained artist and designer Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, renowned for her work with children at Terezín concentration camp.

A board-certified art therapist, Dr. Kay's research and publications concern the intersections and collaborations between contemporary art education and school art therapy with special attention to students with special needs, symbols and metaphors of beauty and ugliness in adolescents’ drawings, and the use of creative arts and visual imagery as qualitative research methods. She was the recipient of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) 2014 Women’s Caucus Mary Rouse Award for her significant contributions to the art education profession.

Dr. Kay is also a professional artist who has exhibited both in the United States and in Europe. Her scholarly, practical and aesthetic sensibilities are the threads of the tapestry of her life. Her interest in narrative story telling - that encourages personal reflection, self-knowledge, and healing in the context of making art - is evidenced in her scholarly publications, in her devotion to art education and school art therapy, her selection of focus for her Fulbright, and, certainly, in her own art.

Lisa Kay uses art as a tool in research and considers teaching as part of her art practice. Her research practice involves creating mixed media works (on heavy stock 4” x 6” rag paper) whose images are evocative of the situation described in the

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accompanying text that appears on the verso. These works, then, serve both as art and academic analysis or documentation.

She is on the Board of the Arts and Quality of Living Research Center, Boyer School of Music, Temple and NAEA Women's Caucus Board as Research Coordinator.

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About the Collaboration

Dr. Kay's interest in collaboration stems from her work as an art therapist in hospitals and special education settings and as an art education researcher in alternative schools where she worked collaboratively with many professionals including special educators, occupational therapists, speech therapists, recreational therapists, social workers, and psychiatrists. Collaborating with other disciplines offers a powerful, alternative way to understand, engage, and serve the needs of challenging students. Denise Wolf, CVCA Therapist adds that "when art educators and art therapists collaborate, working towards the same goal, there are many points of intersection, often creating something novel that none of the individual parties could have imagined." Collaboration between art teachers and art therapists at CVCA provided unique insights and teaching strategies useful for all students.

This collaborative partnership between an art therapist and art educator in an alternative school has helped the school’s art teacher think more critically about what is of value in the K-12 art classroom: student agency, autonomy, and resilience. Bill Gerhard explains:

"I am always thinking about what counts as an art experience in my classroom, and to what degree the assessment of that experience matters, especially when a student creates and meets his or her own criteria of success that may or may not align with a predetermined standard meant to please everyone in general but no one in particular. The mechanics and histories can and should be taught as much as possible. However, it is the perseverance and pride young people have in their work, their own discoveries that excite me as an artist and teacher. Meaning comes in so many different ways; in my classroom I try my best not to be ideological but instead to present different ways of thinking; to give them the space they need to mature and form their own view of the world. It is not necessarily about art but is ultimately about forming healthy and consistent relationships that might not exist elsewhere." Charlotte Anderson, Clinical Director at CVCA, explains that "building connections and collaborations between clinical and school personnel is clearly a best practice for schools working with high needs children…a child's academic struggles are not limited to learning problems, but rather connect directly to issues of self-esteem, mental health, and past trauma (among others). Art education and art therapy are areas where these issues can be accessed in school, where children can find

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support and healing within the structure of an academic program. Similarly, therapists can offer important support for teachers as they work together to strengthen and support the child's academic and behavioral progress."