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Art & Emergence Learning Cooperative

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10-week small group learning experience centering individual and collective growth
through a focus on ecological art, social practice, and art activism theory

applications open for August - October 2024
due June 15, 2024 - applications now closed

APPLY

About The Learning Experience

The Art & Emergence Learning Cooperative is a 10-week small group learning experience for working artists seeking to deepen their practice, grow collectively, and broaden their radical imagination of the future. 

 

The cooperative will run from August - the first week of October.

The syllabus is tailored to serve the practices of the cohort. The program will explore the confluence of ecological art, social practice, and art activism, through:

  • weekly readings (ex: excerpts from Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, Plastic Capitalism by Amanda Boetzkes, Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet

  • weekly group meetings (discussions & critiques) 

  • bi-weekly individual studio visits (5 per artist)

  • bi-weekly visiting artist talks (5 total)

 

This learning experience will prioritize meaningful connections and community: it will be made up of 3-5 artists, selected based on the strength of their work as well as their potential to grow with and from each other. The meeting schedule will be based on the schedule needs of the selected artists.

Applications are due June 15, 2024.

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Bird's Teaching Background 

I am an artist, curator, and educator who prioritizes caretaking and connection. My work explores the throughlines between history and ecological crises, engaging with communities, scientists, and site-specific materials to investigate land memory, systems of complicity, and possibilities for emergence.


I have been teaching since I was 14, starting with swimming and flute lessons! More formally since graduating in 2009, I've served as middle school teacher, instructional coach, principal of a turnaround school in New Orleans, and director of social studies, supporting school leaders across the South to implement equitable learning practices and anti-racist history education. Currently, I'm teaching undergraduate studio art at Georgia State University and doing freelance consultanting for organizations across the U.S, specializing in adult learning, equity, and organizational systems. I received my B.S. in art history from Skidmore College and master’s degree in education leadership from Columbia University.

 

As an artist, I've led many learning experiences across the country on a range of topics, from hands-on skill-building to analytical art theory. A few of my recent facilitations have included:

  • Grateful Gathering: Foraging for Wild Ink Materials on the Atlanta BeltLine Westside Trail (with Maria Soto), Atlanta, GA June 2024

  • The Way of Water: Exploring Local Ecosystems (with Renee Royale), Virtual Workshop, April 2024

  • Creative Visioning In Community: Authentically Expanding Your Support Network, Emory University and North carolina, 2023

  • Working With Site-Specific Earth Pigments, New York City, Rhode Island, New Oeleans, North Carolina, and virtual, 2023

  • Finding Grounding: Nature Connection + Art Learning Experience (with Lilia Kapsali Grant), Baton Rouge, LA, Fall 2023

  • Atlanta Land Memory Project: Exploring Personal, Scientific, and Historical Layers of Place, Atlanta, GA, Spring 2023 

  • Art & Emergence Learning Cooperative, Cohort I, virtual, Winter/Spring 2024

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Teaching Philosophy

Excellent teaching can be a form of social practice; it aims to create experiences that shift people’s perspectives. Through my work as an artist and educator, I'm interested in exploring how we can use creative processes to interrogate issues of inequity and imagine alternative ways of being through education and relationships.

Ultimately, teaching is based on relational accountability. Through a balance of challenge, support, and trust, education can be transformative, liberating, and expansive. 

Meet the Artists from Cohort I!
Art & Emergence Learning Collaborative
Winter/Spring 2024

The Art & Emergence Learning Cooperative has been transformative for my creative practice, providing theoretical and historical context for my work and intentions as an artist.  Being in community with other ecologically-minded artists has accelerated and expanded my learning process and what feels possible.  This generous and thoughtful cohort is the kind of art community I'm looking for. 

Anna Pancoast

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Cohort II of the Art & Emergence Learning Collaborative

applications open for August - October 2024
applications now closed
 

APPLY

 

SLIDING SCALE

Tier 3 $2,000

Tier 2 $1,250

Tier 1 $500

What is sliding scale?

Which tier should I select?

1/3 of cost due upon selection

1/3 due at the end of the first whole month

1/3 due at the end of the second month

Questions?

Want to learn more about participating in a future cohort?

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©2024 HEATHER BIRD HARRIS STUDIO LLC 

Any artwork and images of artwork are sole property of Heather Bird Harris and may not be reproduced or used for profit without the artist’s permission. Read more here.

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