School Visit – Life Academy
This was an emotional school visit. My friend Nicole gave me an invite to come speak at her School-Life Academy, not far from me in East Oakland. The student body is predominantly Latino and Black. This was dope because I got to speak to 6-8th graders and their teachers about art, literacy, about character design.
I’ve been working in schools since 2002 as a teaching artist, as a parent, and for the last decade as an author and illustrator. As a guest who come in for a few hours or a day I try to jam pack some art, inspiration, or skills into the time while I’m there. I tested out a new workshop with them revolving around drawing, teamwork, and design. Some of the things we talked about were:
- Character design for film, tv, and animation
- Public art and murals
- Illustration
- Literacy and ethnic studies
- Collaboration
I had some break throughs with the kids because I had them draw, model, and envision what their ideal characters would look like if they could design them. It was with the adults though that I had an emotional moment. I always talk aabout where I’m from, my identity, my past work, inspiration, etc. But for some reason this day I described a traumatic traffic stop with the police I had with my mother as a kid. I broke down a bit during this presentation, not realizing that this run in with cops still affected me.
I had the adult teachers do the same thing their students did but it just goes to show how children can go through some fucked up shit whether they’re in the city or a rural area, and the work that we adults do to teach them is important. Not just for what we can share with students, but how we learn from them, and how we can be a sounding board when they need it. I dont know if that came across to the teachers but I thanked them.
Dig this? Check out the time I got to present to college students and educators at Modesto Jr College.
