In the Midst of an Excused / Unexcused Absence
by Paul Berkbigler, (4 comments)
Greetings to the Be A family from a quick “vacation” in Knoxville, Tennessee - warm weather, soul food right around the corner, and the promise of some great afternoon field trips in town.
I’m in the midst of leading a workshop activity with the Junior Graphic Design students in UT’s Art program, sneaking away from my “real life” for just a few days to bounce ideas around with a totally new / different group of people and see what comes of it. Knoxville has provided a really warm reception for me - big thanks go out already to Sarah Lowe, Wade Lough, Debbie Shmerier and Cary Staples (all of the design faculty here) for extending the invitation and letting me play around with their students’ heads for a couple days.
I’m currently just one full day into a three full day workshop experience exploring the theme of “Thinking Interactively” - I had the chance to give a talk last night on the topic to a receptive group of students and professionals (plus a couple cousins of mine who live in town! Always fun to have family see what you’re like ‘on the job’!). So, mid-Day 2, I have an open window of time as the students are all busily cooking up ‘interactive’ experiences for an audience to review / respond to tomorrow evening (Saturday, March 31).
Here I am pretending to be a character in ‘Citizen Kane’ for personal and public amusement - more to come on why I wanted to be in ‘Citizen Kane’ in the first place in a later post…
Apparently my most effective critical technique is simply glowering at students from the front of the classroom while they present their projects - I promise my actual disposition was sunnier than my look in this shot!
I’m more or less writing this initial post as a placeholder for the fuller article I’d like to write about the experience when I’m back from the trip next week, but I’ll just pitch out a few tantalizing details at the moment as a teaser of things to come.
Here are some quick snaps of the school and of the group that I’m working with (I’ll credit each of the students by name in my longer article). The building has been really exciting to work within - the building design really contains some great architectural expressions of the relationship between students and faculty.
And also just to toss out my afternoon ‘field trip’ that I’m totally jonesing about currently:
I’m looking forward to meeting the Yee Haw crew and seeing their shop in person.
Berkbigler out, for the time being…
Comments (4)
Damian Zannini said:
What time(s) will you be at UT and Yee-Haw? I’m a student at UT!
Posted on March 30, 2007
Andrew Tessier said:
Berkbigler is the man! I am a student that was apart of this workshop at the University of Tennessee. Students at Concordia University should feel extremely priviledged to have such a personal and helpful resource at their fingertips. I can easily admit that this three day workshop has been one of the most enjoyable and inspiring projects that I have been able to work on yet. Once again, thank you very much for your time and knowledge Paul.
Posted on March 31, 2007
p.berkbigler said:
Damian:
Sorry I didn’t have a chance to check back into this thread and reply to your note - I’m guessing we didn’t get to cross paths on Friday or Saturday. Feel free to poll the junior members of the workshop about the experience, and also keep watching the blog for further details later this week. I’m going to do a multi-part post about the whole affair.
Andrew:
Thanks for the kind words - pleased to hear, again, that the workshop was really valuable to all of you and especially pleased to see the work each team carried out. I always find that motivation works best with those who are willing to be motivated in the first place, so my tip-of-the-hat is back at you and the other workshop members for your willingness to dive into the project and keep pushing / being pushed throughout the three days.
Thanks for a great dinner and the hospitality of everyone involved.
Posted on April 2, 2007
Stephanie Soden said:
Hello! I was in the workshop too. It has been said many times since you left, Paul, that our class wished that 3 day workshop could have gone on for a few more weeks! We just loved having you in Knoxville, and I think it’s safe to say that the project left everyone with a new confidence in our work and ourselves. Thank you for the incredible opportunity that has truly changed the way I work for the better. My team is making a book about our process and experience. We’ll send you a copy when it’s printed! Thank you again!
Posted on April 9, 2007