Entry No. 4 3/14/21 #collaboration

Art can be about the artist who made the piece of work; they thought of the idea, spent time planning it, and created it. However, art is about more than just the artist or their thoughts, but about the whole community of people who view and respond to the piece. While many artists work alone, many do collaborate with other artists. For my art piece, I am collaborating with my roommates to help me make the artwork. I drink tea every day, but my roommates also drink a lot of tea, and they help me add to piece. I cannot control what happens when they add their tea bags, but the result is beautiful and unexpected. They add an element I cannot control, but that is what collaboration is about.

In the past, I collaborated with my partner teacher to make art projects for our students. We would constantly bounce ideas off each other, what was working and what could be better, and how best to make those changes. She had been teaching for about fifteen years and knew strategies that worked well with the students. I brought a fresh set of eyes and mind to the team, and because of that, our lessons had a fresh element that had experienced eyes to work out most of the kinks. Because no two people can be the exact same, they bring different experiences to the table to take projects one step further. In the future, I want to do more collaboration with other artists and other teachers of all subject areas. Last year, my partner teacher and I would meet with the other art teachers in the district so collaborate on ideas and art projects. With so many minds in the room, there were lots of project ideas that I would never have thought of on my own.

Abby and I have collaborated on all of the projects so far. We both bring strengths to the projects, as well as different experiences. Abby knows more about the academic part of lesson planning and I have more experience in the classroom. So far, we have made a good partnership and we work well together, and I am happy with how I have grown as a teacher working with her. I like to control all things in a project, and I can be very detail oriented, so letting go of control and trusting the other person to work well and do their part is very important. In my art piece, I am letting go of my control and allowing my roommates to have a part in it. Because of this, the piece has evolved and changed in a way that it would not have if they were not participating.