"Syllabus"....

So a blog I love to look at is by Lisa Soloman.  She in an artist, teacher, mother...person I would love to know.  I was procrastinating grading 2D work earlier this semester when I read about the book Syllabus by Lynda Barry.  I immediately ordered a copy.  And then I fell a bit down a rabbit hole.  

This is the written document of a class she teaches on cartooning, but really encompasses any kind of creative practice.  There is such originality and compassion in her teaching.  The work is the act of making.  There is a schedule and a process and the development of a relationship to the present moment that is so lovely.  And then the student work is such a delight.  Every class meeting students have to make a short timed self portrait on an index card that she collects and hands back at the end of the semester.  I am thinking I need to make a self portrait a day for an extended period of time and see what happens.  I could let my drawing loosen up and school me a little.  

I think I am so tight and guarded that I can't imagine making a playful page of drawings, but that is what she can show me.  So much of her teaching style in "Syllabus" reminds me of my friend and former teacher Lee Dejasu.  They  both know how to get at the heart of what is true.  It is on my list to read again this summer, while I have time to do the work.  More on the rabbit hole in the next post.