Christina Trowbridge’s piece “Drawing Attention” was very powerful because it highlights a way to use art as a mindful intervention among a population of people for whom reflection and contemplation is immensely important. Within this reading, first year teachers reflect on both this experience and their day to day experience in the classroom. One middle school teacher wrote, “I constantly think that there is no hope for humanity”. This shook me as an extremely visceral comment, but speaks to the incredible pressures that New York City teachers are under. There is a clear need for mindful interventions and teacher wellness. Trowbridge’s diorama as a heuristic model seems like a wonderful way to “focus attention to contemplation, reflection, and meditation” in a new environment that still stimulates learning in a calm and centered way.
In my own project, I am continuing to paint more maps, and I can sympathize with drawing as a focused meditation exercise. I am looking forward to visiting the museum, speaking with Christina Trowbridge, and engaging in this diorama drawing to promote conversations and reflections on teaching and learning.
We lost last week’s class, so I am posting some paintings that I have been working on. Each map is color coded based on various information gleaned from the 2010 census in Nassau County. The top left is the population of White people in each town (also, I was experimenting with using glaze to make the image opaque/transparent, because I want to paint a map over collaged newspaper clippings but still have the clippings present). The top right has the red paint highlighting the highest disparities of white-black populations. More red=more disparity. Bottom right is the literal number of black people in each town, and there are words/phrases related to this redlining cause/effect on the borders of downs with the most egregious segregation. Bottom left is color coded based on diversity of towns. White = 70% white population and higher. Grey is 31-69% white population. Black is where white population is 29% and lower. Also, I tried staining the canvas with coffee. I am thinking of nailing this one to a piece of wood.
I am eager to hear your feedback and comments on the art in progress!
Thanks,
Nick
Hi Nick,
I’m concentrating on the gut feelings your maps evoke on me and not the process.
There are many feelings/thoughts conflicting and fighting to emerge that I do not know how to start describing them. However, let’s start with a macro view of your maps after reading the coloring explanations.
My first feeling is isolation. I constantly read that African Americans and Latinos will become a majority in the near future and that New York is an example of the integration of the races and ethnicities, but your maps give a different sense.
The second feeling is desolation. The bottom right map brought tears to my eyes. I’m sorry for being emotional but I cannot help feel like I’m looking at a barren wasteland for African Americans.
I also feel confounded. I remember one of my students stating that he voted for Trump because White people needed to take back their country. Well, they certainly haven’t shared much of Nassau county with African Americans.
At the micro view, reading the numbers at the top left and bottom right maps representing the White and African American population respectively, gives me a sense of despair.
Your maps speak volumes to me. I cannot wait to see where your project will take us.
Hi Nick,
I’m concentrating on the gut feelings your maps evoke on me and not the process.
There are many feelings/thoughts conflicting and fighting to emerge that I do not know how to start describing them. However, let’s start with a macro view of your maps after reading the coloring explanations.
My first feeling is isolation. I constantly read that African Americans and Latinos will become a majority in the near future and that New York is an example of the integration of the races and ethnicities, but your maps give me a different sense.
The second feeling is desolation. The bottom right map brought tears to my eyes. I’m sorry for being emotional but I cannot help feel like I’m looking at a barren wasteland for African Americans.
I also feel confounded. I remember one of my students stating that he voted for Trump because White people needed to take back their country. Well, they certainly haven’t shared much of Nassau county with African Americans.
At the micro view, reading the numbers at the top left and bottom right maps representing the White and African American population respectively, gives me a sense of despair.
Your maps speak volumes to me. I cannot wait to see where your project will take us.
Hi Nick:
I love your maps, the way you’re thinking about them, and I think Dora’s response to those maps are evidence that you are both informing and evoking simultaneously, which I believe is your purpose. The maps, especially seen next to each other, make a bold statement that echoes through their different manifestations of the same phenomena. It’s interesting to me how the numbered map means nothing on its own but once given the context of the other maps becomes horrifiying. I like the gloss as partial and I also like that black squiggle – maybe made inadvertently like a reminder of who is not there. The Black haunting of your red map is meaningful to me though I don’t know if it was intended (and it doesn’t matter). You might want to think about the border of the map on the bottom right. Those two black islands really shock, but the border of the top right painting is so evocative that I wonder if you could play more with the border of the bottom right. I cannot read the type on this map, but the idea of the phrases you mention sound very compelling and I a looking forward to seeing it close up. Do I see red lines throughout the black spaces? This map blows me away. The bottom left map looks like it’s painted on canvas (maybe they are all on canvas). It is probably worth thinking about the look- canvas unstapled vs. stapled. Why are you thinking of nailing it to a piece of wood? What type of wood? A cross? A tree? One can also tack canvas, nail canvas, glue canvas etc. The idea of staining canvas with tea or coffee also is interesting both in how it looks and metaphorically. I think the idea of maps over newspaper articles or images is very powerful!
Nice work!
Nice work Nick. I immediately thought about an app called Zillow, which gives you the breakdown of each neighborhood. It was similar but different. Your maps forces conversations in a different manner. Thanks for sharing.