About a year ago I returned to NYC from a long trip in Asia. I immediately embarked for San Francisco, a city I’ve always considered a second home of sorts. I needed to visit good friends who had married while I was away. I also wanted to breathe in that “left coast” air: the potent, salty, fog-induced ocean scent has always appealed to me.
SF has a way of connecting people and I’m not exactly shy. Sure enough, my first night there, I randomly met an artist – John – with whom I spent exactly three hours. We talked, had a drink, or two, and ended the hangout at his gallery. He wanted to display his art. I was hungry for an art-inspired interaction. It was a case of perfect strangers discovering shared passions & enjoying the dialogue.
John took out a number of his pieces from behind a wall barrier. They were all beautiful and some were the result of “collaborative art”. I enjoyed listening to the stories that accompanied those pieces, but when he took out the “one” I gasped, shocked by the power of the image he laid before me.
It’s here on your right. It has no official name. And John certainly didn’t understand why I was so moved. After all, this was just a “recycling piece”, he explained.
You see, first, John’s brother had used fresh canvas to paint a bicycle as a way of practicing sharp lines. John often shared canvas with his brother – as many ‘art-collaborators’ do – so, months later, he repurposed the image to practice human figure and color layering. That was John’s story. It wasn’t exactly deep.
I explained to John that I was convinced this piece was much more than a “recyclable”. The image powerfully, metaphorically, captures the reason I’ve dedicated my life to education. Ever since my 2003 “Harlem awakening”, I work hard to ensure that the kids entering our public schools don’t end up like the child on your right. I want kids to become more than mere “Cogs in a Machine”. I want to make sure we’re teaching them to fish, not merely handing them the fish.
It takes a village to evolve an Education system and I have many friends and colleagues who dedicate themselves to this cause every single day! It takes compassion, conversation, love, lack of ego, agile investment, improved market dynamics, human-centric design. It also takes collaboration and increased communication amongst multiple stakeholders. Parents, teachers, vendors, philanthropists,VC’s…all involved & invested, all thirsting for a common sounding board.
Since I’ve returned from Asia it has become increasingly clear that we (the royal WE) need a common canvas for painting Ed solutions. As such, I have titled John’s piece, and this blog, “Collaborative Education”. I’ll begin “painting” here in hopes that you’ll join me in the dialogue. I look forward to the contributions of my fellow artists.
Click RSS on the right and let’s get the conversation started.
Maša Užičanin 