Meet the Teaching Artist: Faith Johnson
Posted Saturday November 26 2016 at 3:16 pm.
Used tags: art, teacher, vsa
I am a community artist who uses both individual and collaborative art making and mixed mediums to create and facilitate installation, 2D, 3D, interactive sculpture, and fiber based artwork. I believe by engaging students in creative processes using a wide range of conventional and non-conventional materials students begin to see everything as having expressive potential. My projects encircle content from the inside out, connecting the student first with self then in relation to community and the greater world and universe beyond. Using these approaches helps students access their individual voice in relation to the greater whole while seeing everything around them as potential material and inspiration. It is my hope that this invitation to engage creatively with the world unfolds into opportunities for students to become more deeply invested in themselves, their communities, and the world around them.
Currently, I am working with high school students through VSA Cool Schools. The collaboration begins with meeting the teacher to get a clear understanding of their expectations and where their students are in terms of experience with art making techniques and materials. I then build projects that first, meet the students where they are artistically and second, connect the projects to their academic goals. Once I prepare a project I communicate directly with the teacher to ensure the success of the project and to create any adaptations needed before the class begins. It is my hope that each student will have the opportunity to explore new materials, expand upon familiar techniques, and find new and exciting ways to express their creative light in the world.
The "High Five Hand Portraits" project invited students to create mixed media portraits of their hands. First we looked at images of artists who use hand images and various conventional and non-conventional materials in their practice. Then the students began their own work. After creating a painted background and outlining their hands students were asked to either collage outside their outlines or inside their outlines. They were invited to use magazine images and other various collage materials with the challenge of choosing images, colors, and textures that say something about who they are and what they like.
Faith Johnson is a multi-medium artist specializing in interactive installations and sculptures that explore collective dreaming, extrasensory perceptions, and collaborative consciousness. Her work is visually poetic and ethereal with a touch of whimsy. Her background is in performance art, interactive installation, sculpture, fiber art, and arts education and facilitation. She holds a master's degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University and is a graduate of the Teacher Preparation Program at Massachusetts College of Art and Design where she received licensure in the state of Massachusetts to teach K-12 art. She has been facilitating creativity for over 20 years through her artistic practice and her work with communities and individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Her professional path has included managing an arts studio for adults with disabilities and developing her community arts business "Full Circle Arts" through partnerships with public schools, libraries, children's museums, non-profits, community centers, and universities.
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