East Lyme Middle School, East Lyme CT
Work with and learn from Portuguese ceramicists at a workshop in Caldas da Rainha, experience UNESCO sites and museums in Lisbon and Sintra, and volunteer with an organization in Porto dedicated to the preservation of Hispano-Arabic Azulejo tiles, to demonstrate how cultures have historically influenced and affected one another.
The tile workshops I took were amazing. I worked with a local ceramicist who was proficient in both native Portuguese styles as well as Arab/Moorish style. She not only helped me learn new styles I had never tried, but also mixed in a history of the art of ceramics in the country which deepened my knowledge of the complexity and influence of art in Portugal. Another learning experience was my museum trips which elucidated the global reach and interaction of the global community on Portugal.
I spent the first part of the trip alone before my family joined me. I found I was more resilient traveling alone than I thought. It actually forced me to engage and talk to the locals much more than when I was with my wife and kid. Professionally I was interested in how the complexity of the culture, forged by battling civilizations, guided the visual culture of the country. I learned how even through war and animosity, culture and the arts can persevere and create a language of solidarity.
I was very unexpectedly surprised by the graffiti culture in Portugal. I teach a graffiti unit and that became another focus of the trip. I was given advice on where to find the famous graffiti art around Lisbon and spent much time learning about the big names. I took a lot of pictures that I will be using in my classes.
This trip has helped me better understand the complexity of culture in Portugal. I feel I can now help students start to dig deeper not only surrounding Portuguese culture, but other art forms as well. My experiences will also help them try new techniques to broaden their knowledge of the ceramic arts. I will be using these techniques to create new lesson plans to support my curriculum. I also supplementing my graffiti curriculum with various new types of graffiti styles I saw during my trip.
My major plan is to implement my learning into a large student driven mural. I am going to utilize the various tile techniques and create a piece of artwork that will be hung in the school. I will also use the new tile making techniques to reform my curriculum for my normal classes as well. This will just be on a smaller scale than the mural, but will give students a good opportunity to try new techniques from a different culture.
By creating a school mural I will be bringing not only the students together, but the school at large as well. Hopefully it will be prominently displayed and admired. Students will talk to their parents about their contributions and the culture that helped inspire it. I have already had many conversations with various fellow faculty about my trip and am helping them create their own proposals.
