BFAMFAPhD

Diagram of Lifecycle Phases by Topos Graphics for Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard’s book Making and Being (Pioneer Works Press, 2019).

Diagram of Lifecycle Phases by Topos Graphics for Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard’s book Making and Being (Pioneer Works Press, 2019).

MAKING & BEING

EDITORS’ NOTE:

If art making is a lifelong practice of seeking knowledge and producing art in relationship to that knowledge, why wouldn't we teach students about the political economies of art education and art circulation? 

From December 2018-May 2019 the collective BFAMFAPhD organized a series of seven conversations about art and pedagogy at Hauser and Wirth’s bookstore (New York). The series placed artists, educators, organizers and healers in intimate conversation about forms of critique, cooperatives, artist-run spaces, healing, and the death of projects. Central to the conversations were the questions, If art making is a lifelong practice of seeking knowledge and producing art in relationship to that knowledge, why wouldn’t students learn to identify and intervene in the systems that they see around them? Why wouldn’t we invite students to actively fight for the (art) infrastructure they want, and to see it implemented?

The series culminates in December 2019 with the launch of Making and Being, a book and framework for teaching art that emphasizes contemplation, collaboration, and political economy. In Making and Being authors Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard, two visual arts educators and members of BFAMFAPhD, share ideas and teaching strategies that they have adapted to spaces of learning which range widely, from self-organized workshops for professional artists to Foundations BFA and MFA thesis classes. This hands-on guide includes activities, worksheets, and assignments and is a critical resource for artists and art educators today. Making and Being is a book, a series of videos, a deck of cards, and an interactive website with freely downloadable content. 

All conversations were co-presented by BFAMFAPhD & Pioneer Works Press, hosted by Hauser & Wirth, and covered by media partners Eyebeam and Bad at Sports.

For PUSH/PULL, we have included a protocol and an edited transcription from two events in the series:

- How to Start a Pedagogy Group, a protocol from the seventh event in the series, Open Meeting for Arts Educators and Teaching Artists, (May 17, 2019) facilitated by The Pedagogy Group.

- Transcription from Artist-Run Spaces (February 1, 2019) a conversation which focused on artist-run spaces and how artists create contexts for encounters with their projects that are aligned with their goals. The conversation included Linda Goode-Bryant, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Salome Asega, and was moderated by Kemi Ilesanmi.

BFAMFAPhD is a collective that formed in 2012 to make art, reports, and teaching tools to advocate for cultural equity in the United States. The work of the collective is to bring people together to analyze and reimagine relationships of power in the arts. BFAMFAPhD core members are: Susan Jahoda, Emilio Martínez Poppe, Agnes Szanyi, Emily Tareila, Vicky Virgin, and Caroline Woolard. More information is online

This contribution to Push/Pull has been compiled by collective core members Susan Jahoda and Emily Tareila.







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