Positive Space: Conversation in Art Foundations

We discuss creative detours, the mystery of art, becoming comfortable in your own skin as well as the habit and repetition and the true courage it takes to make things, with artist and educator, Gary Setzer, Associate Professor, Division Chair of the First Year Experience at The University of Arizona. While exploring the question many educators are asking “Is (should) Foundations be the same for everyone?” Gary outlines the heart behind the thematic “salad bar” design to his foundations curriculum, which gives students agency, while balancing both craft and content. Each eight week module explores material possibilities while welcoming the value of individual student voices, with this DIY approach to Foundations.

Rethinking creativity and being truly open to opportunities - even if they are unfamiliar & across the globe - marks only the beginning of our thoughtful chat with artist and educator Chris Kienke, Chair of the Foundations Curriculum at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chris outlines how his evolving artistic practice has been informed by places/spaces while teaching abroad in the middle east. In addition, we discuss the state of foundations, advise for emerging educators and the navigating the politics of higher education.

Chris Kienke is a visual artist who works with painting, installation and photography. His current project utilizes iconic visual images of Americana. Ideas about patriotism, citizenship and freedom – are represented through these images, which are themselves reflective of class, race, and gender. They shape our beliefs about what American values are and who gets to share in those values. Kienke’s work has been exhibited in over 70 shows including recent solo exhibitions at Fuchs Projects in Brooklyn, NY (2016) Amos Eno Gallery in Brooklyn (2016), the University of Kentucky (2016), the Art Center at the National Central University in Taiwan (2015) and the University of Wisconsin in Osh Kosh (2014). Chris exhibited in the Governors Island Art Fair (2017), Rockford Midwestern Biennial (2014) the 1st Brussels Biennial in 2009 and the Sharjah Biennial in the U.A.E. (2005) His work was included in New American Paintings in September 2009. Kienke has been a fellow at Hospitalfield House in Scotland in 1998-1999 and at the Vermont Studio Center in 2003 and 2007. His work is in the permanent collections ABN Amro Bank in Dubai, Savannah College of Art and Design, Sharjah Art Museum (UAE) and the United Kingdom National Collection. NY. In 2015 Chris was awarded the FATE Emerging Educators Award for teaching. Chris Kienke received his MFA from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale in 2000 and his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1994. Chris is on the faculty of the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jessica Burke (JB) from Georgia Southern University and Emily Sullivan Smith from the University of Dayton thoughtfully discuss the role of a Foundations Coordinator. In this episode Jessica and Emily discuss just what a Foundations Coordinator is and does. The two also cover the pros and cons of different foundations curriculum and the importance of balancing administrative roles with teaching. Jessica and her work can be found at http://www.jessicaburkeartist.com Emily and Her work can be found at http://www.emilysullivansmith.com/

Art professors Chris Ireland and Peter Reichardt have a lively discussion about teaching studio courses online, assessment and the possibilities of utilizing Pokemon in foundations projects.

Artist, educator & Gallery Director, Shannon Rae Lindsey, reflects on her evolving art practice and how a curiosity of material possibilities has informed her approach to foundations curriculum. In our conversation, Shannon shares practical strategies for encouraging experimentation in the studio classroom, and her passion for the role interdisciplinary collaboration plays within academic gallery spaces.