Liberatory Art Calisthenics
Welcome to Liberatory Art Calisthenics!
For class dates, time, location and registration information, click here.
This class is about deconstructing the layers of programming that society teaches us about following rules. Programming that teaches us there is only one answer to each question, and that we must defer to something in order to do things right. Art making can come from a completely different place, one that sometimes requires you do something that nobody else has told you is OK. Sometimes you have to break the rules, and that can be scary, difficult, or even triggering.
The class is based around the concept of Anarchist Calisthenics, a term coined by James C. Scott in a chapter of his book, Two Cheers for Anarchism.
However, this class is not based in politics, and you don’t have to be an anarchist to work towards your own internal liberation.
The idea is that we are habituated and programmed to follow the rules, defer to authority and fit in. In order to resist rules that may be outdated, unfair, unethical or simply be holding you back, you need to exercise your tolerance to resisting rules in general, in small, safe ways that don’t hurt anyone. Calisthenics is a kind of workout exercise meant to strengthen the body, the muscles, and the circulatory system. I’m using the term metaphorically, as we are building the muscle of the brain and nervous system.
Art is an excellent way to do this, because the only risk you have by breaking artistic rules is that the art might not come out the way you wanted it to. That is no small thing, because we put our identity into our art, and art we feel is “bad” can bring about feelings of embarrassment and shame. But the thing about art is that it might not come out how you wanted it to if you DO follow all the rules. It’s already an intrinsic risk to make art at all. In fact, you cannot make good art without first making art that doesn’t work, by making mistakes, by trying things that fail.
Most of us have a set of rules, fears, or constraints that we place on art to make it feel safer, to avoid what we perceive are mistakes, or to make us more likely to succeed.
Most people who go to public school, and many who don’t are programmed with a certain amount of deference to authority from young childhood. Sit still, don’t interrupt, don’t get out of your seat, show your work, follow instructions, don’t talk to the other students, give the right answer to get good grades. This is so baked in that by the time people enter high school, most have lost the sense of play, expression, storytelling and exploration they had with art as children. The underlying assumption behind art making becomes “How do I do it right?” Instead of “How do I make it mine?” We are taught to seek validation, to make something that will make others happy, to follow rather than to lead.
The truth is, the most compelling art throughout art history almost always breaks rules, and that requires a kind of mental strength that is frightening. Autonomy is frightening. Saying “no” to an authority figure is frightening. It’s safer to just stay inside the lines and do what others have done to succeed. It’s risky to do something nobody else has done.
Because of that, this class is probably going to make people feel a range of emotions. Fear, shame, anger, joy, rebellion. All of those emotions belong in the art we do, because art making is a wonderful way to explore and face those emotions.
Because this class is about deconstructing and resisting authority structures, I will not be running it as an authority figure, either. I will not give you a syllabus, but will bring some ideas that we might be able to explore and we will design the syllabus together on the first day. I will do my best to resist my own habituated authoritative stance as a teacher and try to collaborate with you as a class. My plan is to come with exercises, games, discussion prompts and presentations that will help inspire you.
Also because we will be feeling some emotions, it will be important to come to this class expecting to be in community with the rest of the students, to support each other, cheer each other on, and learn to be vulnerable, and to be safe for others to be vulnerable around.
I will be presenting some principles and ideas from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, so if you want to have a text to refer to, that’s a good one, but you don’t need to buy it if you don’t want to.
Hopefully by the end of the class, you find yourself beneath all the layers of rules, emotions, and fears that tend to overshadow the spark of creativity underneath. At the very least, I hope everyone has fun and feels inspired.
The supply list is simple. A sketchbook or something similar to draw, sketch, and write in is probably a good idea, but if you would rather bring a ream of printer paper, have at it. Something to draw and write with, whatever you like best. After that, you bring the supplies you love using the most, the ones that speak to you. If you don’t know yet, bring a few options. Nothing has to be expensive or high grade, and you are always welcome to change your mind. I don’t know yet whether the class has easels yet, so hold off until after the first class to bring anything big so you know whether you need to bring a table easel or not.
The only limitations are that I don’t think it’s a good space or class for oil paints, anything with a strong smell or anything you can’t take home with you at the end of the class. I will supply a hair dryer so you can dry any water based paints as you work and before you leave.
My specialty is in 2D forms of art, and it will make sense for many of the exercises I’d like to try to have something to make 2D art with, as we will be doing some collaboration, but if you want to bring 3D sculpture materials, just keep in mind you’ll have to take it home with you after each class, so clay may not be the best option. You can bring colored pencils, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, pastels, crayons, canvas, collage materials, pen and ink, etc. Or just do everything in pencil, if that’s what sings to you.