Educate - The Word
with
Heather René Dunaway
June 2024
Hello again, it’s me Heather, back at you with the Word.
The Arts Council recently hosted the first meeting of the Augusta Literary Society. It’s a new perk to being an Arts Council member. If you are a writer, you can join for just $10 more annually as part of your membership. Pretty neat. Though I write, I don’t really consider myself a writer. I use writing as more of a tool to form my visual arts concepts. But this perk is definitely beneficial for those who do consider themselves writers, poets, authors, etc. Networking is an important tool in your art toolbox, but so is education.
I’ve always thought education would solve so many of the world’s problems. If we, as a society, invested more in the education of ourselves think of all that we could accomplish. But you can’t just sit around and wait for society to get it into gear. Sometimes, you gotta take it into your own hands.
As an artist this means finding opportunities for personal growth. Such as taking classes at places like the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art or 4P Studios, signing up to attend the Arts Council’s Creative Conversations or Brown Bag Lectures through the Augusta Museum of History. Taking a Grant Writing class through the Arts Council’s partnership with Augusta Tech. Artists talks at the Morris Museum and Augusta University are great ways to learn about new ways to create or experiment. Experimenting with new mediums or techniques from a conversation you had with another artist at an art show you weren’t really in the mood to go to but did anyway (it’s how I learned about Yes glue for my collaging).
I am definitely a learn-by-do type of person. People will tell me the rules to a board game, and I will just gloss right over (thanks ADHD), but if we just JUMP in and PLAY the game, I pick it up quickly. I feel like I know a lot of artists who are the same. If you are like me, finding those hands-on learning opportunities is important. You should also be pushing yourself to read up on a subject that interests you or ask someone who knows that subject in-and-out. Reddit is a better than Google in that respect. Because sometimes jumping in and doing the thing will be a waste of money. I can’t tell you how many glues I tried out before I just asked someone.
My newest batch of work for my solo exhibition coming up at the end of July incorporates a lot of sewing, which I am teaching myself how to do through YouTube videos and calls to my mom, but I did just sign up for a sewing class at the Lucy Craft Laney Musuem. Yah gotta love adult summer camps.
One way to find resources like these is to look at the Arts Council’s resource page or our arts calendar .
Well, I hope this was educational. Thanks for learning!
-Heather