So now Saturdays are going to be a day with no excuse to do roots yoga and then meditation. It is waking up earlier,as I said in the last post not so happy but it is necessary! Today the mantra throughout the yoga session was about planting a seed and blooming throughout the many seasons. It relates to life and the many transitions. Thinking of that tough ass flower that grows through the cement. When it gets tough we just push through. I am learning that the goal is to push through with ease. When the going gets tough to approach it with calm instead of anxiety.. all a process.
After class I was inspired to clear the clutter of my house, watch a tutorial on how to start an online course, order a book that will help enhance my own creative flow and most importantly to have some fun and enjoy the people in my life! Explore... Express...Expand
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I took 2 classes this Am: yoga and meditation. I so love sleeping late! I could have slept late but I woke up early and was inspired by seeing a video of a 98 year old woman that has been doing yoga for 75 years and another video of a man who did Ninja warrior with an amputated leg.. I thought " Hollis what the hell is your excuse?" Get the hell out of bed and take the yoga class that you keep saying you are going to be consistent with and have found multiple excuses or let life get in the way to stop it from happening. So proud that I showed up and did it! While doing meditation thoughts came to me, don't know if I was supposed to be thinking but it was good. This is what kept coming up; the word awareness. The mission of my new company I Am Creative is to create awareness, whatever that means to each individual. An awareness that you enjoy an activity, an awareness that you feel like you could like it better if you had more exposure or more experiences, an awareness that you might not find one medium to be your best outlet but want to explore another. In my mind it just confirmed the thought to create a safe space to allow awareness to happen and whatever comes out of that is all for growth and enlightenment. Don't mean to sound all preachy just realizing I guess as I will turn 50 this year and all that is going on in our world life is short and we need to spend time living! A quote that I heard once "Life is the messy bits". My own goal for myself and to assist others is to EXPLORE, EXPRESS AND EXPAND. Please share your enlightenments.... When we lived in NYC in Queens I worked for an organization named Studio In a School based out of Manhattan. Amazing organization that sends teaching artists into various schools and settings to work with the students, teachers and parents. I really loved their approach and learned so much about the true idea that it takes a village from the support of the family and teachers to work with the kids. Seems basic I know but this leads me to a story with one 5 year old boy in kindergarten. My residency was for one year in a rough section of Brooklyn.
I still think about this incident and wonder how this boy is doing to this day. The quick overview is that the project we were working on was creating collage with paper. They were cutting and attaching to a background piece of paper. The lesson was about using various lines to make shapes and create a composition. The 45 min lesson was set up as an intro/demo, hands on time and sharing to wrap it up. A child could come up in front of the class or stand where they were and show what they created and say something that they liked about it. The class could then respond with either a positive comment or a question. On this particular day when sharing this boy who never spoke slightly raised his hand that he wanted to share. I was so excited internally but of course did not show the shock. At this point I should mention the horrible classroom teacher that they had in the classroom. He was in the school system for a long time, seemed burnt out. He was a very tall man with a loud intimidating voice. He oozed the fact that he did not like his jobs or kids really. So when this boy raised his hand the teacher, I will never forget this, said " You want to talk , You want to talk,You never want to talk". At this point the boys posture turned in completely and he shut down of course. The teacher then said " Fine talk". Of course you know he did not. At that moment at my age and experience I felt like I could not confront the teacher in his space, it was his room, so I moved on to other children. When I wrapped up I went up to the boy and asked what he wanted to say. He replied " I used the color blue". It was that simple. He was excited about what he created and he chose his color with intention. I still think about that boy and hope that being in a classroom for a year with that man did not squash him. I hope for him that he was able to find his voice and express himself in whatever way that meant for him, hopefully for the power of good. Don't even remember this little boys name but I still see the layout of the room and where he was sitting in it. These moments have various effects from the different perspectives and some may not think twice. All this time later I send love wherever this boy may be now. Words have meaning! So... my passion is to try and help people find their expression. Since I am an "Art Teacher" in a school setting I work with various supplies to motivate. There is always the challenge from the student that says " I don't want to be here, why am I here"? It is not my choice who is in my class they are placed there for credit. It is my job to help to inspire and motivate. At this point our school does not have choice electives, hope that happens soon. It is such an incredible feeling when you can take the student that does not want to be there, because they have no idea how to express themselves, and you help them to find a channel, a representation for their ideas. Showing them that it can be abstract or representational. Through the process they learn they may need to take a break and step back but then go back and look at it with fresh eyes. It is not always a success but even the "failures" teach them something about themselves along the way. Anyway... I wanted to show you some students work and a little blurb about them to help to give you a little window into what I get to see from my kids, students, and their amazing ideas and talent! (my own kids sometimes say " they are not your kids" but my response is they are. They are each their own person and it is my job to learn about them and help them grow to the best of my ability.) This is from a senior. I had her first period every day from 8:30am to 9:20am. She was in love with food. This skinny minny thing no more than 100lbs. When she talked about food she would light up. She said that she never saw herself as an "artist" and did not know what she was going to do in class". I was so inspired by her and excited about her progress throughout the year. She gained confidence . This project was inspired by the artist Claes Oldenberg. In Philadelphia he created the oversized clothespin sculpture across from City hall. He was a pop artist who took common objects and made huge sculptures of them. This is the Chick-Fil-A container and fry created because she loved them so! It is approximately 2ft x 3ft. The box was created with cardboard and the fry was paper mache and painted with acrylics. It just makes me smile....
If you were going to make a huge sculpture of an object what would it be? Keep it clean... Ok.. so this whole thing about talking about yourself feels narcissistic. Look at what I did.. blah blah blah...
What I am learning is that getting it out and creating a community is what this is about. My hope is that through sharing experiences, light bulb moments and creations people will join in and a dialogue will grow. So here we go.. I finally created something!!!! I have this wonderful coach, stylist, guru her name is Sally Miller, check out her facebook page and her space is called Besoul, she is amazing!!! Anyway she said I should have a jewelry holder since I love earrings and they are an art form that should be displayed so they can be seen to pair with the outfit. It has taken me a bunch of months but I finally decided that I am not going to buy a jewelry holder but create my own... This is what I created. Not totally done have to add more hooks and cogs to it to hold my earring collection. It makes me smile when I walk into our bedroom now to see it all on display, out in the open. Thanks for looking.. what have you created lately? Presently I am teaching at a charter school in Philly. The demographic is from North, West, Southwest Philly. The school is comprised of about 33 different zip codes. I have taught in many schools ranging from suburban to urban and from classrooms to shelters. So grateful for all of the experiences and the lessons I have learned along the way and every day..
Some lessons learned.... 1. Don't talk too much when introducing an idea. Use key words.. will loose their attention fast! 2. Time management. If you have 55 minutes organize it well, allotting time for set up and clean up. Time warnings are so helpful beginning at 15 minutes as to when the next step will begin. but.. have to gauge the group because sometimes too much of a warning means stop what I am doing. 3. Set clear expectations 4. Expect to make mistakes and make adjustments as needed. 5. There are times it seems like it is a mess but have to keep going to get to the other side. 6. Every day is a new day, clean slate. 7. Keep smiling 8. Point out the good in people and when they are doing well. Does not have to be for every move they do but give praise when deserved! 9. Say hello and goodbye and good to see you 10. Admit that you make mistakes, the kids love to hear that. They don't rub it in your face, most of the time. 11. The first day or two of a new project always seem to be rocky until they get into a groove and confidence is gained. What are some lessons you have learned along the way? Thanks for joining me on this journey! This is a whole new world for me. To be honest I am not a big reader and whenever there are too many words my brain just kind of shuts down. I hope to create a space to show show students creations that tells their story. Also to show my work and please join me to show yours.
Going to keep this simple... The big picture is a space that I am creating called I AM CREATIVE... It will be for urban youth and adults to have a space to explore creativity beyond the concept of drawing and painting making you an artist. My biggest pet peeve is the conversation " What do you do" and I respond " I am an art teacher" the response generally is " I can't draw a straight line, draw or paint". My response is " Drawing and painting are not the only forms of expression". The formal definition of cre·a·tiv·i·ty ˌkrēāˈtivədē/ noun
So excited to start this new chapter!!! Looking forward to hearing your stories as I share mine. |
AuthorHi...My name is Hollis Citron. Credentials: Artist, Teacher, Mom, Wife, Sister, Friend, Empath... (others could have more for better or for worse)My passion is to explore creativity for myself and others. Life has led me to teach in many different settings with all ages and abilities. The mindset is limited on what being an "artist" creative thinker is and I want to help people find their expression. ArchivesCategories |