VA 505

It is interesting this searching, it has proven to me how badly we can pigeon hole ourselves. In fact this whole process of a creative generation and search for information has shown me how much creativity I was lacking in my previous searching/ researching. Last week I found an interesting link between the Goddess of memory and her posterity the 9 Muses of creativity. I would have never made the connection otherwise. After seeing this very idealized side of learning, memory, creativity and the educational institution this weeks search has left me confronted and aware of my own naivety. Leaving me to once again reflect upon my position as a student and Art educator. There is a large amount of history in this week's search, but to get to the point, there was a common thread among all the searching, the Powell Memorandum . The memo can be deducted to the question I have written below: How do you destroy and privatize a social service? 1. Defund it- take all of the governmenta...

I first want to restate my initial opinion before searching the subject and related areas. ** I know that learning, memory and education have a strained, dysfunctional relationship. But how do each of the variables contribute to the equation and then how does the student react and experience it? I realize I make the classic complaints about educational institutions from a student and teacher perspective. I believe current education lacks sensitivity to the student and their interests. It doesn't inspire a want to learn deeply and kills creativity while making it almost impossible to learn. But again, I find myself here. Within an institution, trying to learn. ******* I gave myself necessary time to decant everything I watched and read. I opened up my search beyond the blind sides I had created for myself last week that proved unfruitful. As predicted it would take me into some places, that I thought I wanted to avoid for fear of getting off track and far from the path of whe...

Upon discussing how we learn art and the state of art colleges that have amalgamated with universities, it was then that I was able to assess my unique situation as not only being a student but an educator in this environment. My reflection was 2 fold: 1. How am I learning what I am learning or want to learn? 2. Am I facilitating my students' learning? I thought of the initial link I made between learning and memory and found this: "Learning and memory  are closely related concepts. Learning is the acquisition of skill or knowledge, while memory is the expression of what you’ve acquired. Another difference is the speed with which the two things happen. If you acquire the new skill or knowledge slowly and laboriously, that’s learning. If acquisition occurs instantly, that’s making a memory" - American Psychology Association. To put this in my art practice, learning could be a skill, life experience, thought etc. While memory is the artistic expression  of drawing ...

I can't remember a time in life when I wasn't learning. What is mean by learning, is this need to learn something more or something new. I thought about what has driven me to all the places I have found myself over the past 10 years and it has always been dependent on learning. I am no longer interested or enamored by the educational institution, or rather what education has become. But I find myself exploring art and my art practice within in an educational institution. This MA at Sabanci isn't my first, but it is in a drastically different environment and context than the previous MA. I am attempting to continue learning about the complexities of myself and my art. hoping that I can find the support to do so within an educational framework. Perhaps I feel education at all levels has become hostile to those truly wanting to pursue learning. Perhaps education is the wrong place to put oneself if they truly want to learn. Yet, ironically I find myself here, with the uncann...