Expectations http://archive.cunyhumanitiesalliance.org/breathingthroughwriting/2017/03/19/assignment-1-expectation/
Rough Draft
Artist Statement
I had to draw the classroom in two perspectives. One from the teachers POV and the other from the students POV. There are pictures added that I couldn’t draw from the aid of Snapchat you may notice.
Who is your audience for this project? What do you want them to know before reading your piece?
I felt like my audience for this project is everyone because everybody talks in different ways and they shouldn’t feel like their speaking only falls under “improper English”. I want my audience to know that they shouldn’t be ashamed of how they speak and should embrace their culture.
What do you want them to learn from your piece?
In my drawing, it’s a classroom setting, so I want them to learn that even if they don’t know much about their culture or native language, that they should try to learn about their background.
Do you think they’ll be able to learn that? Why? Why not?
I feel like based on my drawing, they will be able to learn that because my drawing demonstrates black people appreciating their culture and white people being interested in it. Showing that will make people want to know about their culture more and find out about it. If other races are interested, that shows them that their culture is probably really cool and amazing.
What unique perspective did you bring to your analysis that someone else might not have?
I think something unique I brought from my perspective is that I made the drawing a living classroom with white and black students learning about something everyone knows about. I feel like everyone knows about slang, but the fact that there’s a class for it, in my head, I thought that would be so cool. Imaging someone teaching me about slang and they pronounce words would be an interesting class for me, so that’s another reason way I decided to drawing the picture like that. Besides the fact that Steven Willis makes it a lesson anyway.
What is the value of this perspective?
The value of my perspective is that it is different in the sense that other people just chose to write an analysis of Ebonics 101. Rather, I saw a whole vision of real you can make Steven’s poem. I felt like showing Steven as a teacher symbolized not just a teacher but a guide of how to acknowledge one’s culture and appreciate one’s background. I feel like sometimes it’s hard to understand your culture especially if you don’t know about it. So him being the teacher in my drawing is really a significant way of saying, “Learn about your culture”.
What did you learn through this project?
During the project, something I learned about drawing is that you gotta know your limitations and timing. I thought if I started on Saturday afternoon, that I would be finished by Sunday afternoon. Also, each time I examined the poem I learned something new about like back in the days. Like for example I didn’t know about the Mason Dixon border line.
What did you not learn?
There’s nothing I didn’t learn. I actually feel that I’ve learned a lot. I learned about myself and how I draw, I learned more about timing and pacing of an assignment and I learned that I want to start drawing more to enhance my skills.
What would you still like to learn?
Something I would still like to learn about spoken word poems is the process of them rehearsing the poem. They have so much body language and different tones and inflections. I want to know who helps them practice and where do they get these specific choices from.
What, if any, role did class discussions and your peers play in your project?
The classroom discussions helped me figure out a way of analyzing the poems. At first, I was like what do I even say about this and then the class and you Jennifer would give me a sense of what to think about when watching the videos. Also, my peer evaluation really helped me develop my idea even more. When Maria gave me specific things I could add to the picture that’s what made me figure out exactly how I was gonna draw it.
How has your thinking changed about poetry (if it has) since working on this project?
I was never good at poetry since elementary school and I feel like I’m still not good at it. I feel like I’m better at analyzing poetry than actually creating it. Also, I think I love watching spoken word poetry performances too.
If you had another week to work on your project, what would you do with it? How would you change it?
I feel like I would gather more ideas from my peers and enhance it or I would’ve gotten someone who’s actually an artist to draw my ideas out for me( if that counts). Also, if I had another week instead of just a drawing I would write out a scene with dialogue to go with it or a short story too. I had so many ideas for this project I wish it was just one big project so that I can incorporate all of my ideas.
The last thing you want to tell your audience before they dive into your project is… I want you guys to know that I’m usually only use to drawing one person on a page so this was a challenge for me. I usually just draw people to draw clothes because I like fashion but doing this made me realize that I actually can draw a bit and that I will start drawing more.
Sent from my iPhone