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– Their group canvas has a personality all its own –
1 – What insights did you gain about trust, yourself, your classmates, and your instructors?
2 – How has this affected our approach to art? and to life?
3 – What was your favorite part of the workshop and why?
4 -What was your least favorite part of the workshop and why?
5 – What would you change about the workshop and why?
The 5 questions Leslie posed her class after the workshop
1 – What insights did you gain about trust, yourself, your classmates, and your instructors?
1 – In this class, we have to learn how to trust ourselves with our art. I learned that we have to just paint what we feel instead of overanalyzing things. I learned that my classmates all have very different styles. I learned that it is important to trust our instructors.
2 -I learned that with my classmates, everyone went in a total different direction then everybody else. It was cool to see what other peoples brains think to produce. With my instructor, Michael I learned what total options you can have and not to limit yourself.
3 -I gained insight to myself, as to how more expressive and open I should be. I want to achieve that in every possible aspect of my daily life and really be able to trust others around me on the surface first, then decide to continue that trust on a deeper level. My classmates – this opened my eyes to see the talent and ability that the people around me possess so I can be influenced by them. This gained me insight to my instructors by showing me more that they are guidance and are here to help and give influence to what they have to offer me.
4 – I kinda have more trust in what I’m doing. That I wouldn’t mess up and I trust everyone for the most part.
5 – I think I gained some insight not only about myself but about my classmates as well. About myself – I learned that I sometimes over think things. I learned that sometimes I need to just go with what I am feeling. About my classmates -I learned that we all are much more similar than I originally thought, which for me is a comforting realization, and also somewhat unsettling.
6 – When we were outside on the grass with our eyes closed we had to trust who ever was leading us because we were all blind, when painting you had to trust yourself to just let go and paint whatever came to mind first, you had to trust your classmates when they wanted to add something to your painting because it could make it better and your teachers because they know more because they have lived longer and you had to trust their opinions.
7 – I gained a lot of insight into trusting my self, feelings, senses, etc. to improve my art, but not limited only to art but in all aspects of life. I gained That I should trust my classmates & instructors when they give constructive Ideas for improvement in my art on critique days.
8 – I learned that I can trust classmates that I don’t know that well. They as well did the same thing. When we were outside, they trusted me to walk them around the grassy knoll, even though I had no clue where I was going.
9 – I learned to trust myself more and learned to be more carefree around people.
10 – What I learned about trust is that people are willing to hand out trust so easily when asked. Could be a good or a bad thing. Something that I found out about myself is that I don’t have to plan everything out for it to come out good – if not new. It was clear that some people stuck to their own style of art and didn’t experiment.
2 – How has this affected your approach to art? To life?
1 – This has affected my approach to art because it’s easier for me to let loose and paint. It has affected my approach to life because you have to trust your peers and teachers.
2 – I think that I know how to get into the zone with an approach. Also, I think that it has made me come out of my shell as an artist and not hold back.
3 – This workshop has changed the way I look upon art, by showing me that there are deeper expressions in a piece then what I generally see. This workshop has changed my way of approaching life because it made me realize that life is short and the people around you influence who you are as a person and the biggest gift you can give to them is showing who you are to them as well as the ability to give and show more expression throughout my life. Thank you for this amazing experience, it was a huge change.
4 – It makes me happy of what I can do and gives me a little more of a look at it.
5 – I now know that when it comes to my art, backgrounds are just as important and i have a feeling that I should just go for it. On a larger scale I learned to just become more aware of the little things that affect us in life.
6 – It definitely made me see that art doesn’t stay the same, it’s constantly changing, when you add something or take something away. It definitely changed my point of view on life. You’ll get messy dirty, and some stains might never wash out but that’s only because they’ve become a part of you and as long as you keep changing so will your point of view.
7 – This workshop for what I was a part of has showed me whenever I am doing art projects; I have to feel what I am drawing through by thought as what it stands for rather than visually. I should trust my feelings in life rather than following what accepted by society, such as terrorism as a good or bad thing.
8 – This has expanded my view on life. Michael’s “words of wisdom” really made me think differently & I’m now thinking “clearly”. Sometimes I feel like I’m holding back & I don’t know why. Now I’m just going to go with what I feel.
9 – It has made me feel like I can do more with my art and put more emotion into it as I can do with my life.
10 – I already mentioned how this affected my look at art but the question of life I’m still not sure about. This may take a while for me to realize.
3 – What was your favorite part of the workshop and why?
1 – My favorite part was painting on the big canvas because it mixed all of our art together.
2 – My favorite part was being on the grass with my eyes closed. It was peaceful.
3 – I would have to say my favorite part was both the talk and description about the workshop at the start of the day. As well as the large oil canvas that was worked on through out the day. I enjoyed the “ lecture ” because it gave me more insight of how to get into my emotions and learn about the process of the workshop and how it affected others. I enjoyed the oil painting because it brought a sense of communityand togetherness.
4 – My favorite part was when we were in the grass preparing to paint, because it really took everything of your mind, I laughed because I laugh when I’m freaked out.
5 – My favorite part was when everyone was painting their first canvas. I think I liked this part best, because right after you brought us back inside, everyone seemed to be inspired, including myself.
6 – I really liked doing the oil painting. It was really fun because it kept changing throughout the four hours we were in class. It was really fun to see what people added and took away from it.
7 – My favorite part of the workshop on Sunday was the activity that we did right away; laying on the lawn in front of the classroom with my eyes closed, then moving around with my eyes closed. Because I relied on thoughts to move me around more then my eyes.
8 – My favorite part of the whole workshop was the beginning where we had to lay on the grass. The things that we had to do were quite interesting. Having our eyes closed made everything seem unfamiliar, even though we’reall so used to the grassy knoll & we are familiar with our surroundings.I feel like this part of the workshop made everyone closer in some way or another. We had to trust each other and that’s what everyone did.
9 – My favorite part was painitng my emotions because it felt like a release.
10 – My favorite part was when we laid down and moved around outside. It was interesting having someone else control my movements, funny at times
4 – What was your least favorite part of the workshop and why?
1 – My least favorite part was cleaning because the tables were gross.
2 – My least favorite part was leaving because I really enjoyed it.
3 – The least enjoyable experience for me personally was when all of our eyes were closed. Then we were brought back into the classroom and when we first opened our eyes we saw a giant white canvas. This was not exactly the high point because it gave no inspiration and sinceour eyes were closed and the first thing we saw was a white canvas,the vivid blankness and bright hurt my tender eyes when they opened.
4 – My least part was also the grass because i did get freaked out a bit, but I did calm down after a while.
5 -My least favorite part was coming up with an idea for my first canvas. By then I felt pretty exhausted and it was difficult for me to think of something.
6 – My least favorite part was getting oil paint all over the place. It was very hard to wash out.
7 – My least favorite part was when I was brought back into the room to begin using the acrylics on the canvas boards. I couldn’t catch onto an idea of what to draw, so the first canvas I did wasn’t that satisfying to me. Another least favorite part was when I was getting into my second canvas I had to leave and wasn’t able to enjoy the rest of the workshop and do more painting with acrylics.
8 -My least favorite part of the workshop would have to be when Michael would photograph us in front of the room with our finished canvas. At first I didn’t like it because everyone would stare at you when you’d walk up to the front of the room. As the workshop went on, I didn’t care any more though. Throughout your life there are times when you just have to do things whether you like it or not.
9 – My least favorite part was laying out in the sun, because I felt like I was going to get a sun burn.
10 -I didn’t like it when I finished a piece and I didn’t like it and wished I could start over. Out of all that I did I only liked 1 1/2 of my pieces.
5 – What would you change about the workshop and why?
1 – I would change the food because I was still hungry after we ate.
2 – Cleaning self-explanatory and I also would have more people doing it.
3 – I would change mainly two things, one being the blank canvas when the participants were to open their eyes for the first time again and in the beginning of the workshop during the lecture. I would have loved to hear how this workshop changed other artists designs as well.
4 – I would have made us wear blindfolds and maybe have put all the tables together while we worked.
5 – I would probably change it so we had to do three canvas boards instead of four. I felt a little pressure knowing that I had to complete four canvas boards.
6 – I wouldn’t change anything. The whole experience was very enjoyable for me, just the way it was.
7 – I would. i would not change anything of the workshop from what i was able to experience i won’t let other stuff stop me from enjoying art experience like this one.
8 – If I could change anything, I’d have to be working outside rather than inside. I think it would be less messy since you don’t have to clean up as much. Working outside would be better because you get ideas from nature, and you get a calm feeling when you work inside you feel enclosed.
9 – If there’s a place in time that there is less sun, so it doesn’t feel like you’re baking yourself in the sun.
10 – Have a wider variety of tools to be used such as markers, inks, etc. I felt limited with only oil and acrylic. I wouldn’t have run out of ideas.