Minneapolis College of Art & Design, 2501 Stevens Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55404 (map)

Artist Sharon Hayes stages protests, delivers speeches and organizes demonstrations as ongoing artistic investigations into the relations of history, politics and space. At both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions Hayes is mounting large-scale public performances titled Revolutionary Love 1 & 2: I Am Your Worst Fear, I Am Your Best Fantasy. Organized by Creative Time in New York in collaboration with the Walker, these events involve a large group of citizens reciting coming out speeches of American politicians. For this talk, Hayes is joined by Creative Time curator Nato Thompson for a conversation on this project and her work in video, performance and installation.

But truly the culmination of the week were the group’s presentations of their Design for Necessity projects. An expert panel critiqued each group’s process and ideas. The panelists, left to right in the picture below, are Design Corps architect Bryan Bell, Dr. Paul Polak, Walker Design curator Andrew Blauvelt, designer Tom Oliphant, Ann Ledy of the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, and Target creative director Ruth Balbach.

Problems the teachers tackled were varied and diverse, but centered on their own experience in schools. Challenges ranged from lowering the school building temperature during summer school without using air conditioning, to enhancing the bus experience, to identifying at risk students more effectively. Presentation styles varied by group and included posters, skits, and models.

Many of the participants felt this was a life changing week, and as staff we could not agree more. Teachers can now confidently take design based learning techniques into their classrooms in the coming year and beyond.

The day continued with the teachers working hard on their Design for Necessity projects. Teachers are looking to find design solutions to big problems mapped during Day 3. Projects will be presented on Day 5 to a panel of professional artists and designers for critique.

As we toured the exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes, we applied Design Thinking to our conversation about the suburbs. What stereotypes do we hold about the suburbs? What are the challenges faced in the suburbs? What systems in suburban culture can be addressed through art and design?

The first assignment from John Comazzi and Scott Christensen – NO TALKING!

This short design challenges really focused on “ thinking through building.” We learned first hand about “ failing early in order to succeed”.

Teachers quietly work on their tower constructions.

The themes and ideas imbedded in the Design for the Other 90% exhibition offered a jump start to thinking about the “ other 90%” of our own communities and provided the basis for the final design challenge: Designing for Necessity. John Comazzi and Scott Christensen moderate the concept mapping in the picture above.

Sandy Speicher from IDEO works with teachers on design as a process for learning. She states: “Design thinking is the way we approach the world when we imagine and create new solutions for the future.”

“Build to think” and “Fail early to succeed sooner”- teachers make prototype models out of found materials to solve design problems related to the morning commute.

Teachers tour the exhibit Design for the Other 90%

Designer Tom Oliphant explains the critique process to teachers by defining it as, “a conversation about the efforts of work.” He brought some of his students along to discuss how it felt to have their work critiqued.

Twenty-seven teachers were selected to attend. Most are in teams of two teachers from a school; the majority are from the Twin Cities, with one team from south Texas and one from Oregon. They teach art, science, language arts, special ed, French, math, and industrial technology. The goal for this week is to introduce a new way of teaching based on the ways that designers think and work. Our plan is to blog about the highlights each day and share some pictures of the SDI in action.

Day 1 began with our lively group of teachers sharing their goals for attending. My personal favorites were the several who mentioned they “ want to change the world.” I am always heartened to encounter teachers who are dedicated, visionary, and willing to take time from their summers to learn something new. Meredith Davis, author of Design as a Catalyst for Learning and Professor in the Department of Graphic Design at North Carolina State University, provided big-picture insights into design thinking and processes. After lunch Ellen Lupton, Curator of Contemporary Design and CHNDM walked us through a lively history of the design of everyday things from dishwashers to telephones to can openers. She also challenged us to get hands-on and create a new use for an ordinary bag.

The energy was high, the laughter was infectious, and we are off to a great week!

-Susan Rotile and Lindsay Stern

Meredith Davis talks about Design based learning.

Ellen Lupton leads an activity with the teachers to redesign bags.

Teachers show off their creations.

Teachers break into groups to share new ideas from the day’s activities.

Through the glories of viral marketing, Fox 9 News discovered the UnConvention project I Approve This Message. Here, Jaime Reese interviews Chuck Olsen from The UpTake and Allison Herrera from ECP on the lawn outside the Walker. Sarah Peters, baby Anna, cameraman Tim, and I enjoyed the time outside in the summer sun while the conversation took place. If you missed the story, which also featured filmmaker Mark Wojhan and numerous video clips, you can view it at: http://blip.tv/file/1025152

Fox 9 also has information on I Approve This Message and My Yard Our Message on their website.

On June 14, Allison Herrera and I went to the St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN), a public access channel, to help publicize the kick off of the project I Approve This Message, sponsored by The Walker and The UnConvention. Chuck Olsen from TheUpTake.org was on hand to talk about the power of citizen journalism and gearing up for the RNC. Then we took to the streets to capture what ordinary citizens leaving the farmer’s market would want to say to a delegate. Despite some technical difficulties, everyone had fun, and I think we captured some great stuff.

You too can make your own political video! Upcoming Make your own Video workshops dates are:

July 10, 6pm: Walker Art Center, Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab

August 7, 6pm: Walker Art Center, Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab

August 16, 10am: Minneapolis Television Network (www.mtn.org)

In the meantime, go to http://theunconvention.com/iapprove to watch animals and puppets introduce I Approve This Message or and check out the submission guidelines.