Stories of the Land
TEACHING ARTIST: ERIN GENIA
Classes: Oct 11 - Dec 14, 2019
Youth Artist Projects Exhibition: Jan 23 - March 21, 2020
With: Bernard Nina, Manuel Fernández, and Savion Allen-Harding
How have stories shaped our lives? Storytelling is universal and yet it is bound by specific traditions, methods and media that vary between peoples, places and times. Through learning histories and creatively expressing narratives of place, we can grasp the complexities of our urban home, and change our conditions for the better.
In this studio class, Fall 2019 Artist-in-Residence, Erin Genia, began with stories from Native American peoples and invited students to investigate the history and work of Indigenous peoples of our region. They explored stories through a variety of artistic methods: painting, printmaking, sculpture, performance, sound, and public art. Students brought a story from their own heritage, background, or life experience that connects them to the land, and produced a final collaborative piece, combining elements of commonality into a vision for the future, a shared story that they told together using the materials and techniques they had learned.
Through this work, student learnt methods for grounding their work in the context of their own histories, cultures and experiences, and built cooperative relationships that respect the land we live on.
“It was my goal to create opportunities to think about our connections to the land and to unpack experiences through the lens of Native American, Indigenous stories and art, and I think we met this goal. By centering on stories from their own cultural backgrounds and experiences, students were able to understand and work with Indigenous methodologies without cultural appropriation.”