Portfolios
VISUAL JOURNALLING POSTS
For many years I have kept a "sometimes" semi-daily journal as a way to chronicle events in my life, my wife's and kids' lives, and the goings-on in our community and around the world. It has been a great reservoir for my reflections, thoughts and feelings, and has served well as a form of serious self-therapy and comic relief. My journal, which I call The Sometimes Journal (also the name given to this website-blog), is full of illustrations and doodles featuring a cartoonish rendering of myself and Mr. Ghost (my future self). I have also started creating a weekly two-page spread visual journal, which you can see below. The visual journal is my method of working through specific topics or ideas through imagery. I apologize in advance for any humor that may be off the mark, or that might ruffle your feathers a little. I love to engage in satire, but I do have a bad habit of reaching for the low-hanging fruit, the sweetness of which is sometimes just too irresistible.
In this first visual journal entry for the year 2022 I was responding to my anxiety about needing to balance work, and life in general, with student teaching.
January 24, 2022
Here I was angry about that school board in Tennessee that has banned Art Spiegelman's Maus from its curriculum and school libraries. Apparently, teaching about the holocaust has become too controversial in some segments of our society. This is tragic and stupid.
January 31, 2022
In this visual journal entry about mind mapping ideas concerning classroom management, I gave my alter-ego Mr. Ghost (my future self) the task of brainstorming ideas.
February 7, 2022
I just can't get the image out of my head of Vladimir Putin's ridiculously long and gratuitously ornate marble table, with him seated at one end and French president Immanuel Macron seated at the other end twenty feet away. I love political satire, so I tried including that to turn an otherwise boring subject about assessment into something funny and easier to digest.
February 14, 2022
This visual journal entry concerns teaching and assessing students, along with a bit of satire regarding artists who sometimes engage in shameless self-promotion.
February 21, 2022
The "field of values" or "of field values" (depending on how you look at it) represents Ukraine in its time of great need following Putin's invasion of the country. The text refers to the value of human life, the value of freedom, and the values we attach to courage and standing up for what is right. The text also refers to what I value for myself as an artist and art teacher, and what values I want to teach my students.
February 28, 2022
Stream of consciousness writing exercise with "no looking" contour drawings of my hand in different positions, fellow students in a seminar classroom, and my glasses.
March 5, 2022
