Courses
Archive for the ‘Teaching’ Category
Rhythm
Posted on: February 26th, 2012 by mar
This morning I am putting together a lecture on Rhythm and came across this set of audio clips of Sean Scully discussing his paintings. I’m also reading his book, Sean Scully: Resistance and Persistence Selected Writings. I love how he makes the case in there that rhythm itself is more universal than figuration. He talks about a student named Hedwig who has a tattoo of a bird on her arm which signifies her personal mythology of flying from Berlin. He points out that this is not decipherable to those who don’t know the story because in our society we don’t agree on anything (p.94). Then he discusses the painting, Precious, and his own mythology (involving a boat trip out of Ireland) behind encasing a little painting of stripes within a larger painting of stripes. “… I want mine to be more accessible than Hedwig’s tattoo. That’s nice if you know the story, but I’d like my work also to speak through the universal language of rhythm. Rhythm communicates in a primal way, directly through feeling.” (p.97)
Here is the audio from Hood Museum of Art where he discusses the boat story.
Justice, education: Michael Sandel
Posted on: August 4th, 2010 by mar
I found this by googling Michael Sandel after Hubert Dreyfus (Philosophy 185 – see previous blog) mentioned his amazing teaching methods. The Justice course is accessible to the public on line.
Stanley Fish on teaching
Posted on: June 22nd, 2010 by mar
“But sometimes (although not always) effective teaching involves the deliberate inducing of confusion, the withholding of clarity, the refusal to provide answers; sometimes a class or an entire semester is spent being taken down various garden paths leading to dead ends that require inquiry to begin all over again, with the same discombobulating result; sometimes your expectations have been systematically disappointed. And sometimes that disappointment, while extremely annoying at the moment, is the sign that you’ve just been the beneficiary of a great course, although you may not realize it for decades.” – from: Deep in the Heart of Texas by Stanley Fish
Larry Sultan
Posted on: December 14th, 2009 by mar
Larry Sultan, California Photographer, Dies at 63. Larry was the kind of teacher who knew what questions to ask and how to listen. He had great energy and curiosity. And made amazing pictures. Here is the Guardian article.
UC Students Protest Erosion of Public Education
Posted on: November 20th, 2009 by mar
“Shame on you.” Friday morning in the rain. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyJoqd8iO-A] KTVU coverage (with a familiar face).
This video includes a great discussion on the growing privatization of public education with Bob Samuels, president of the UC American Federation of Teachers.
Video from November 17 – a discussion with Laura Nader, professor of social cultural anthropology, Ananya Roy, Professor in the Department of City & Regional Planning, Blanca Misse, UC Berkeley graduate student and organizer, and Michael Cohen, lecturer in American studies and co-chair of the Solidarity Alliance.
Remembering David Ireland
Posted on: May 28th, 2009 by mar
Artist David Ireland passed away last week. When I was a graduate student he was a visiting artist and I took his class – an eye opener. On the last day he took us on a “conceptual business martini lunch” at the Hyatt Regency Club Lounge. And he gave us each one of these little signed pieces. We actually had to do the yell:
I’m so glad to read that a patron is working on preserving his Capp Street house – an amazing sculptural wonder that had a huge influence on any of us who saw those excavated walls and all those beautiful funky objects.