How sweet it is . . .

Behind the Canvas raised over $72 at their first bake sale on Friday the 13th. Thank you to everyone who consumed our calorie-laden delectables. A few students left suggestions for how we might best spend the money on the student body, and we will be taking them all into consideration.

Health policy update

Here's where I'd like to give an update on changes being made to the health and safety policy at the Academy, but unfortunately, there is nothing to report. Heather Leininger and Jen Brazas are still waiting for a response from the administration to the proposal they presented in January.

In the meantime, most of our student body still doesn't know where to get a band aid or what to do in the case of a medical emergency.

Jen and Heather have been presenting their research in the current Art and Activism classes, and have done great work at raising awareness about the need for more widely publicized policies and improved services for students in this area.

Behind the Canvas Bake Sale!

Behind the Canvas is introducing a new kind of bake sale to the American Academy of Art. On Friday, March 13, students CAN have their cake and eat it, too! Members of the club will be selling yummy, sweet, sticky and chocolaty stuff and using all proceeds to purchase a gift for the student body. Every student, staff, or faculty who makes a purchase will also be able to make a suggestion about how the money collected should be spent. The Behind the Canvas staff will consider all suggestions and select the best one within the price range of what we collect.

Behind the Canvas Black Light Launch

Behind the Canvas launched its Facebook and Myspace presence as part of the Spring Arts Festival on February 26. This student organization, started by students in one of my Art and Activism classes in fall 2008, was formed out of a need for students at the American Academy of Art to have a forum for discussion of events and issues at the school.

Part of the launch took place in a blacklight room with a chalk mural where students were welcome to add their own artwork or answer a question posed by the group, "If you had a room dedicated to you, what would be in it?"

The group also set up a video confessional room where students could say their opinion of the school on video, to be edited and posted on YouTube by one of the students in Behind the Canvas. Sadly, very few students would participate in the video project. Most were afraid to voice their true opinions on video, even after we offered to blur faces and alter voices. I was saddened by the fact that so many students are afraid to say what they think on a student forum.

Our hope is that Behind the Canvas will help to show students that they are not alone and give them the courage to speak up and advocate for positive change.

Something to Look at

Believe it or not, we are in the midst of midterm papers and presentations in Art and Activism. I moved the midterm assignment due date up this semester to allow more time for the research project in the second half of the class.

The presentations have been informative and inspiring so far. I love this assignment, because I always learn about artists and issues that I didn't know about before. I'm slowly adding links to blogs and websites for many of these artist/activists to this blog, so I hope you'll check some of them out.

Enjoy!

Collaboration on Library grant

Lindsay Harmon, Academy librarian and ardent supporter of student research projects of all kinds, has found an available grant that would benefit the students at the Academy and potentially add some updated books to our library collection. As a member of the library advisory committee, I'm going to have the opportunity to participate in the grant writing process, and will get to help out with the research involved to make a strong case for the Academy to be awarded with the grant money.

If successful, the grant will provide funds for a series of expert speakers to address the students on various issues, and will allow us to purchase complimentary materials for the library collection.

Wish us luck!

Behind the Canvas -- approved! And coming soon to a computer near you!

One of my classes last semester was small enough that we could all take on a common issue. We chose to address the lack of community at the Academy. Many of the students in the class, and in the research conducted by the class, expressed a feeling of isolation within their major and a lack of social connection at the school and with peers.

We identified several challenges in creating opportunities for community, including the new class schedule, high percentage of commuter students, lack of school support for social events, and difficulty in communicating with the student body at large about things happening at the school.

The class came up with a brilliant idea to address these issues and to provide students with an active forum to discuss issues related to the school. They developed several online outlets to provide information and news about what's what at the Academy, and called the sum total of these sites "Behind the Canvas."

Again, there was a concern about how to keep this going after seniors involved in the project graduated and moved on, so we wrote up a proposal for a new student organization. At the beginning of this semester, the organization was approved, and the members are now collecting information and creating posts on their Facebook, Myspace, You Tube, and blogger sites.

The sites will officially launch as part of the Spring Arts Festival at the end of February. Behind the Canvas will also have an open "video confessional" during the event for students to come by and video tape their own messages to post on You Tube and link to the Behind the Canvas sites.

We hope you'll all take advantage of this opportunity to get connected and have your say.