Process Piece

One of my favorite parts of being in a show is being backstage with my fellow artists.  It is a space of deep discussions, laughter, inside jokes, and almost missing cues. It’s amazing how close you can become to people while putting on layers of stage makeup.  

In Barney’s reading, he mentions that artwork is “of its place and of its time.” When I decided what process I wanted to capture for this piece, I wanted to do something that would be representative of the place and time I am in right now.  I chose to capture the process of getting ready for a show, something I’ve done many times, on the closing night of my show. I did this through a time lapse video recording on my phone. Already, just a few days removed, this piece stands out to me as truly capturing the place and time I was in.  I think this goes hand in hand with what Barney also says about authenticity.  If I were to give a similar assignment to my students, I think I would want to make sure that what they are documenting is something that they feel like is authentic to them. 

Barney also talks about how “artmaking is research.”  I like this view on artmaking for both English and Theatre classrooms, as students can further explore and “research” a topic by creating art surrounding it.  I think it is also important to follow the “explore collect reflect” model.  As I explored what I could document, I chose something that was important to me.  I then collected the images through a time lapse video.  After, I’ve found myself watching the time lapse many times, reflecting on this small piece of memory I’ve captured and the insight it is into my life at this time.