The discussions, readings, and exercises done in this class have informed my contributions to the final project by displaying the connection between arts and leadership, developing my personal definition of collaboration, and preparing me for the advantages and drawbacks of collaborative work.

Before this class, I have only had experience in performance art in the form of theatre, but this class introduced me to visual art and another form of performance art. The introduction to Womanhouse gave me a fantastic primary example of women using collaboration to fulfill an artistic vision. It also provided methods for collaboration that I could use in the final project. Inspired by the circular discussions of Womanhouse, we attempted to keep the discussion as equal as possible, not appointing a leader of designating specific roles. Everybody was free to contribute any ideas that they wished. In the brainstorming phase, we shared our common experiences of struggling in the arts, sharing stories and finding shared feelings. I think this created a great initial atmosphere of sharing and equality. Like Womanhouse, we discussed each barrier among the group but split roughly into smaller groups to create the slides about barriers on our particular topics (the ones we wrote our passion papers on). Maura Kelly’s article, Does Artistic Collaboration Ever Work?, helped me to realize that when leading a collaborative project, it is necessary to create something that is a combination of each person’s style and ideas. So, it became easier for me to let go of ideas or opinions that others did not think should be in the final project. For example, I was very passionate about the use of figures to portray the barriers but had to let it go in order to make the project better suited for the group. While looking at all of the pieces that we discussed in class, it became apparent to me how relevant art is to documenting history while also invoking future change. It takes a true leader to recognize an issue and take a stand through their art. Leadership through activism can be challenging, but I think the strong examples we saw in class, such as Krzysztof Wodiczko’s Homeless Projection: A Proposal for Union Square, it was easier to be inspired by our issues and create the final project.

My personal opinion about collaboration before this class was that the easiest way is to appoint people roles, often with one or two sole leaders. However, this course has caused me to expand my perspectives on collaboration. Realizing that my leadership style may have been close-minded, I have since been to workshops on developing leadership styles, and am trying to make a more conscious effort to expand my collaboration skills. The discussion format of some of our classes has opened my mind to the perspectives of others, which became useful in the group meetings in which we spent a majority of the time discussing and debating opinions. Heather’s presentation on Defining and Interrogating Collaboration started my thinking on how I should prepare for the final project, making sure to do my Passions Paper well and to always do my work for the group on time, in order to be prepared and considerate of them. The course led me to think of collaboration, not as a focus on just the final product, the project, but the importance of the processes and interactions that led up to it.

Heather’s other presentation on the benefits and pitfalls of collaboration prepared me further for the process of collaboration to achieve the final project. Acknowledging that there are pitfalls was necessary to avoid frustration in the group discussions. At one point, a group member became extremely upset when we began discussing the topic of technology, leading others to become passionate as well. This is a situation in which a pitfall of collaboration became sacrificing a part of our project in order to give another group member what they are passionate about. However, there were many benefits, one of which was the input of a variety of original ideas that one person could have never come up with on their own. In the end, because of the collaborative nature of our project, it was entirely unique.

My academic development through team learning and discussion was a bit more difficult. It required that I go out of my comfort zone and push myself to interact with others to find out their ideas. It is always easier to stay within yourself and not consider the perspectives of others, but I found that their perspectives or contributions to group efforts often broadened my own thoughts and improved the overall experience. Group interaction is not easy, however, and I found myself having to refrain from sharing some of my thoughts or sacrifice some of my wants for others so that they may have a good experience as well. All of my methods were very dependent on individual situations, but overall I could achieve them. They required much more consideration than methods for my other goals, however. I think that there is still more for me to learn and skills for me to develop in group work and discussion, but I think my skills did improve over the course of the week, The New York trip acted as a kind of immersion into the learning process. This development also helped me in my goal to see art as a medium of social change because it required me to gain a respect for other people’s views and knowledge,  which is important because significant change requires the efforts of many people.

The third, personal objective was probably the easiest. Although it was time-consuming, requiring me to sit and reflect in front of many sites and pieces, it was just me writing down my ideas. It would have been easier just to look and move on, but I think the writing allowed me to keep the important thoughts and impact words that the pieces inspired in me. It allowed me to return to them later and reflect on how these things are still relevant and how I can act on them. The creative writing pieces were a bit hard though. Even though I don’t mind doing the writing, sharing them on my d-portfolio was hard because I feel like they aren’t fit for being published online yet and they are both very personal pieces, especially the one about traveling to Ellis Island. The writing experience reminded me how personal art really is, not just mine but all of it that we saw on our trip. This goal to learn through journaling helped me a lot in my other two learning objectives because it allowed me to capture my thoughts in the moment and return to them later. Writing as also a component of both of the other goals, so, of course, it helped. I also feel like I interpreted the phrase “journaling” a bit different because that makes it seem like a diary or paragraphs of reflection. However, my journaling came more in the form of bullets or short thoughts written down because that wasted less time and reflected how the actual thoughts came to me. Of the three objectives, this is the one that changed the most for me over the course of the trip. After two days in New York, I realized that writing my nightly reflections in my journal wasn’t as effective as I thought it would be. The process was frustrating because I did not like having to phrase all of my thoughts into full sentences or long passages. Each night, I already practice personal meditations on my day, so I began to include a mental reflection in my nightly routine. This became more effective for me because I think it allowed me to think more freely and complexly about my experiences. I also decided not to post pictures or excerpts of my journal online because I felt it would not adequately convey my thought process and the photos would likely seem purposeless and unappealing. As this is a portfolio, I decided to keep it clean from confusing or useless images and include my journal observations into my other posts instead.

This reflection was originally published March 28, 2016, on another platform.