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Meet Nancy! Working away on the Documenta itinerary while enjoying a few drinks in Kassel, Germany
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun) |
Tell us a little about yourself—your
teaching areas and interests and/or your background and how you became
connected to the Paris field school?
I have wide ranging art interests and
expertise, and my teaching reflects this.
I teach all levels of Drawing, Painting and 3rd and 4th year Open
Studio, together with 2nd and 3rd year Cultural Theory and a variety of other 3rd
year studio seminars, including Subversive Art, Public Art – and coming to a
classroom near you soon: tada – The
Graphic Novel: Sequential Storytelling with Critical Content. Currently serving as Chair of the Fine Arts
Department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, my goal is to contribute to making our BFA program rigorous, unique, and
highly desirable – with an excellent national and international reputation.
What was unique or memorable about
experiencing Paris with a group of students already interested in and/or
practicing art making?
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Nancy poses at the moveable feast for Kyubo in a contemporary
update to the barmaid in Manet's infamous A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1882)
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun) |
Experiencing anything in a group is like
seeing through insect eyes that have multiple facets. Watching students respond to art that they
have only seen in reproductions, watching them experience a new cultural environment,
and helping them operationalize a disciplined approach to reflecting on these
experiences visually and in writing has been most enjoyable. I, too, had a unique experience seeing the
world through their eyes, especially as we sat together drawing. A very memorable experience was the
moveable feast, for which we had divided the students into 3 groups, given them
money to buy food for appetizers, main course and desserts. Seeing how they
worked together to shop, prepare, present and host the meal and coming as
guests with wine pairings, was loads of fun.
Bed runners had been converted to table décor, cots had been turned into
sofas; the food presentation was highly aesthetic and also delicious!
How did you see students connecting what they
were learning about the art and history of Paris during the time of the
Impressionists with their writing and studio projects?
In the instructional half of the course
that was based at Kwantlen, the students produced very interesting and
well-conceived and executed projects in relation to aspects of Art Historical
Modernity that they were learning about.
They installed two exhibitions in the Kwantlen Art Gallery and the
Arbutus Gallery, both of which garnered much positive response from the
Kwantlen community. For the Field School half of the course, without studios or
facilities, the students were asked daily to respond in writing and visually to
specific questions based on our itinerary.
Of course, these sketchbooks were very experimental forms, and much more
reactive than analytical, reflecting the being-in-the-moment of the experience.
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Nancy planned and organized two exhibitions at Kwantlen Polytechnic University of student art work
based on the combined themes of the two field school courses prior to our departure to Paris
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott) |
Which of the activities during the trip
stand out to you? Any special highlights or memorable moments for you?
On our first day in Paris, Dorothy and the
students colluded in a crazy surprise:
my sister, Jane, and her partner Maria, were at the pyramid entrance to
the Louvre, when I had been expecting to meet with an administrator. Jane had secretly celebrated her 50th birthday
in Paris, and on this, their last day, we invited them back to the moveable
feast where they got to meet the students they hear about all the time. I was
very lucky to have my partner, Corrie, join us in our 2nd week abroad. A former emergency room nurse and nurse
educator, her expertise always brings a sense of relief to any unanticipated
health concerns. Having completed the
readings for the Art History course, she really enjoyed seeing Paris through
the lens of this particular history, and she was also very impressed by the student
work, as an invited guest to the critiques.
In Paris, we spent a couple of lovely afternoons on our own: one in the
Place des Vosges, and another in the Marais where, on a sunny outdoor terrace,
we ate actual French onion soup! The drawing salons, being on the Paris Metro
with the students joking around – getting to know them a bit better – was quite
delightful. I really appreciated seeing
them spontaneously help one another. We
had a fabulous group, and despite a few inevitable dramas, the group became
close, cohering as its own entity. These
kinds of experiences change us, in how we look at the world, at art, at each
other. Hopefully they make us more open,
curious, analytical, friendly and compassionate.
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Nancy, Corrie, and Dorothy stopping traffic along the Champs-Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe
in the background. (photo courtesy: kind stranger using Dorothy's camera) |
On the strength of a personal connection
(thank you Annetta Kapon at Otis in LA!) we made contact with a highly
respected art school on the outskirts of Paris – Ecole Nationale Superieured’Art Paris-Cergy (the school from which Orlan recently retired!!)-- with whom we hope to develop opportunities for student
exchange. They invited us to a student
exhibition of work based on a similar concept to what our students had been
doing in the course: a conversation with
specific works from a particular art historical collection. I think our students were very interested to
see the work of their contemporaries, and they subsequently made themselves at
home, participating happily in some performative projects – perhaps even
contributing to the success of the event.I feel very fortunate to have been able to help
develop this paired offering at Kwantlen, and for it to have been so
successful. This was largely because of
the students, who I admire and respect. Also, I owe a great deal of gratitude to Dorothy Barenscott, who did so much research
for our itinerary, and was a great traveling colleague (whose husband Brian was
unfortunately unable to join us). Our
friends Andrea Reynolds and Sandra Schinnerl in the International Office were a
great help in organizing our accommodation and travel, and we had the pleasure
of spending some time in class and in Paris with Andrea, who now has a much
better idea of what it is we do.
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Nancy's much anticipated "salons" were well attended by students looking to sketch, chat, and reflect on their
activities at the end of the day. Nancy and others sketch Shannon as she performs a butoh dance
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott) |
With the success of this 6 credit, 3rd year
Studio/Art History offering, we hope to develop an annual Field School that
will become a signature flagship of the BFA degree. Next year: NYC and Venice – here we come! For 2014, perhaps Chicago and Berlin …
