School Visit – University of San Francisco
These are some photos from a recent visit to the University of San Francisco (USF). Artist and professor Liat Berdugo invited me to come speak to her class through a referral from another designer and professor Sabiha Basrai! Check it out!
I’ve been an art teacher for elementary, jr high, and high school students. In fact it was one of the biggest and most consistent jobs I’ve ever had. I started speaking to children in 2012 as an author and have been doing so ever since. But its only within the past 3 years that I’ve been invited to speak to college students.
When I speak to them it has been to assist the professor in driving home a few points of experience, or to give insight into a particular part of my career. But what I really want to do is provide a regular everyday person’s experience of being an artist. Not a famous or wealthy one, a working class artist.
This means no bullshit. I try to be as honest as possible about making a living, debt from college, and how to scrape by because thats what I know. I also want to get them thinking less about working for a big company and more about running their career like a business, and working together with others like them because when we build unions, cooperatives, collectives I think our skill, wages, and power grows. This might be contrary to some schools instruction though.
I also like to bring my sketchbook because its something tangible they can touch and feel. But also, its behind the scenes. Its the making of. Its not finished or perfect, its messy, and its a reminder to me that its important to practice and generate ideas. I show finished work too of course, but I like bringing in physical media.
All in all, I had a really great time talking to these students who had really astute questions about being a working artist. I think adults who are currently working in the biz of dance, music, design, whatever are experts who can really help prepare students to survive as beginners in an artistic career. You don’t need a big name, what you have is experience and that is valuable!
In this talk I spoke about:
- Best practices as a working professional
- Solidarity w/ social justice issues, working class people, and international struggle
- Community building with other artists rather than an individual focus
- Art education about different forms of art
- Art practice and being multidisciplinary
- Career: Kid lit, Mural Making, Merchandise making, and Public speaking
On another note: If you dig these photos, these were taken by my brother Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi who is not only a talented photographer but an organizer of the Fist Up Film Festival and a talented filmmaker! Watch the trailer for his most recent film “We Still here”!
Dig this? Check out other visits to colleges
- California College of the Arts (CCA)
- San Francisco State University (SFSU)
- Modesto Jr. College (MJC)
