This was the first week where I got to be the student in and extensive, one-week lesson by peer group 2. This lesson was all about food security and food justice, and our learned technology was the 3-d printer! All in all, this experience of stepping once again into the shoes of a younger student role was impactful because I really saw how important it is to make those bigger connections in your art lessons and to encourage students to think about their world more actively and to work their ideas and their voices into their art. 

When asked about solutions to modern issues in high school or earlier, my mind and others would go straight to politics and legislation or to science. I never ever would have said art as a method for creating social change. While politics and science are very valid, this lesson helped me to realize how important and impactful art can be in forwarding change and making and impact, in a local and a global scale. 

I think this lesson really connects to pages 39-40 of Walkers "Teaching Meaning in Art Making" where she talks about building a knowledge base in the art classroom. In order to drive these big connections to their world, students need to be able to break away from this "dormant or inert knowledge that sits solely in the classroom walls" and look more into these challenging, real-world topics. Peer group 2 did a really good job of helping us to build a knowledge base. They gave us a list of sites that we had time to research and build a chart from the information we collected. I learned a whole bunch about food security and the food deserts that impact us right here in Fort Collins and how the price gouging of grocery stores is so harmful. By connecting my research and new knowledge base to my specific area and experiences, I was able to create a more personal and impactful project.

My art piece for this journal is all about building that knowledge base to promote impactful artmaking. I wanted to keep it more representational and allow a lot of open room for interpretation or research. My hand is positioned in the corner holding a spray can because I often associate social art with murals and spray painting. The paint that is coming out is actually the map of Fort Collins from my research and the food desert that we live in. 

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