reflection || the art of convention presentation

National Art Education Association

The Art of Convention PresentationAuthor(s): George SzekelySource: Art Education, Vol. 52, No. 2, Reflection (Mar., 1999), pp. 47-52Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193763 .

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BY GEORGE SZEKELY

The

of Convention

Presentation 4 '

I walk the labyrinth of hallways of a contemporary hotel to faceless meeting rooms. The setup of lecterns, overhead

\ :v I projectors, and chairs could belong to a group of

i :l' I v cosmetics sales representatives, or travel agents. The hallway atmosphere is business-like as is the name-tag-

BL \ , wearing and program-clutching audience lined up on the

p _ seats of each room. Would the hotel staff, or ordinary observers, know that in this audience were some of the most creative people-art teachers?

Conventions have become packaged events; you fill out the required form, and receive the standard room and AV equipment. But when presenters consider their task an expressive art act, they hope to break this packaged mold. An implied mission of all art teaching is to present with innovation. Whatever an art teacher does should be creative and represent our unique ability to educate

MARCH 1999 / ART EDUCATION



visually through art. How can one's convention presentation express the unique discovery of ideas and experiences it portrays? How can it demonstrate that it was designed by an artist? At any meeting of art educators one should recognize that one is presenting to a unique group, people who are receptive to creative ways of doing things, who are visually trained, and who appreciate artistic showcasing.

Art teaching is a visual performance that explains and demonstrates. Convention performances demonstrate ideas alive and in practice, as they might appear in a classroom. A visual presentation can hold a sense of freshness, and excitement, that involves everyone. Hands-on presentations are always the most sought after workshops at conventions because art teachers want to get involved and participate.

A convention presentation can be electrifying, inspiring, and life changing. As a presenter, I have filled many sketchbooks, gathered scores of props and fantasies preparing for convention art at state and national conventions. Twenty-five years of experience have altered my way of thinking about designing a convention presentation. Today, I develop presentations that are a mix of words, objects, and images instead of lectures. I dare to dream of creating exciting occasions, visual events, and memorable experiences that involve the presenter as a performer amidst an active audience.

To create a memorable event requires creative designs for a visual performance that will involve the audience. A visual presentation then becomes a special occasion, a celebration of an idea that invites

fantasies and boundless dreams. A convention room becomes a

canvas, representative of school classrooms. In ordinary places, extraordinary events can be created, testimonies to the celebration of art.

By using what was found at each convention site, along with a mix of imported props from home or the hotel's gift shop, sterile hotel rooms became my canvas to be dressed and remodeled. Frequently, items that children had collected, made, or played with became an important part of these events. Meeting room entrances changed into fantasy stores and restaurants. Participants sat at the beach, attended birthday parties, or took off on a magic carpet ride. (On one occasion, they even landed in 'jail.') Events became as much fun to create as to enter, serving as invitations to art teachers and their students to participate in my party and in art. Children have always been the source of my inspiration, and each presentation was designed to appeal to the childhood memories in everyone. As an exhibiting artist, my presentations had the quality of the opening to an art show which invites the public into an exciting space and experience of unique ideas and objects.

CONVENTION "OPENINGS" ATLANTA

From among a clothesline display of current children's fashions made of plastics, I greeted everyone at the Atlanta convention wearing a bright pink plastic jacket, purple plastic shoes and a floppy plastic rain hat. The presentation about using soft plastics began in a "store," a converted meeting room. Children's umbrellas, backpacks, pencil cases and shopping bags all made of plastics, were in the aisles so visitors could browse and

shop for ideas. Plastic forms were set out flea market style on plastic trays and bins. To become part of the life of the convention, the event expanded into the hotel lobby, corridors, elevators, and a guest room. For example, original plastic fashions made and worn by participants were modeled in glass elevator fashion shows. A New Age room of plastic was constructed using a guest room and advertised for viewing throughout the hotel. The room's furnishings were wrapped in plastic overlays. A lobby gift shop featuring our unique bags, jewelry, rainwear and sculptural accessories- all made at the presentation-were also available throughout the day.

Art teaching can spread its messages to all parts of the hotel or school building. An art experience can be woven into the life of a convention as participants take on many roles, such as guest artists, sample crafters, models or shopkeepers. Participants become partners and spokespersons for the event.

Convention rooms and classrooms may not contain the most unusual objects, yet what is available can be playfully used. Furnishings with anonymous personality, such as hotel accessories, can be readily used for projecting fantasies. Creative improvisations of every form are important aspects of teaching art. Convention presenters need to consider how to most effectively use elements found in the available environment.

TENNESSEE At the Tennessee Art Education

Conference, I was dropped off before a sun-bathed glass building. In an auditorium inside this building I had planned to show slides. But the

ART EDUCATION / MARCH 1999



auditorium's many glass windows had no shades or curtains. To add to my dilemma, no screen had been ordered for the projector. To meet the on-site challenge, I had to empty my props from their black garbage bag wrappings and affix the torn bags to the windows in a pleasing pattern to block the incoming light. I quickly ran out of bags, and had to shop for more throughout the building. I rode the elevator to each floor and gathered garbage can liners and giant garbage cans. Fortunately, food tables on each floor were covered with white tablecloths, relatively easy to remove in my desperate attempt at supply gathering. Rushing down to the main floor to complete the window treatment, I piled the garbage cans into two enormous twin towers. They were dressed, of course, in white tablecloths which became a rounded screen prominently visible from all parts of the room. I moved a platform on wheels into the audience by relocating a hundred chairs. On the platform were a music stand, a chair with a leaning white cardboard cello, and a bow which was a stick wrapped in soft fabric. It would be used as a brush in my musical bowing or live painting performance. My artworks, painted over music scores, were on display around the room. Lunchboxes

and bright makeup totes sat around the stage holding surprise items which would be shown and circulated during the presentation. Five minutes were left to change into a painted, paper tuxedo jacket made for the occasion.

In creating artful presentations, preliminary planning is necessary. By the time a presentation begins, although it may appear improvised, extensive ground work has been laid. It is important to learn as much as possible about the space and its elements prior to a presentation.

SAVANNAH By the seaside in Savannah, before a

crowded ballroom of convention guests, I gave my first dinner presentation. Advanced scouting informed me that a flotilla of large circular tables would be set for dinner in an elegant southern style. Sitting at the dais while waiting to be introduced I fully realized the culmination of extensive preliminary work collaborating with porters and catering staff. To be able to hide small packets of crushed Kentucky leaves, confetti, and other mixes within the table setup had required cooperation. The timing of

clearing the tables just prior to my presentation, leaving only glasses, pitchers of ice, and silverware, had been planned. Since I could bring neither the play blocks nor the play pools (used in our school water plays) on the plane, water and building plays would be created with what was available on the dinner table. The cavernous areas under the table were perfect for flashlight illumination and house playing. Copper-piped bellhop carts were parked outside the ballroom fitted with my hanging props and luggage. I planned to steer the train of carts into the room while sporting a yellow DickTracy hat. Since I did not use lecture notes, the way the props and events were sequenced had to cue the outline of my presentation. On the rolling carts were such items as hanging closet organizers, antique doll trunks, and vintage suitcases filled with unusual buttons and marbles.

DETROIT My wife and I arrived in Detroit on

the evening prior to the presentation in order to create a large, open space that would feel different from presentations in other convention halls. We did not want the audience to sit in rows of chairs facing a podium. Removing 900 chairs was a formidable challenge. Imagine our horror when we tried to move props into the ballroom early the next morning and found that all the chairs had reappeared. Fortunately, this time we enlisted the help of a legion of hotel employees. Quickly, the vast space we originally envisioned appeared, again exposing the bright, green leaf-patterned carpet, a beautiful background on which 28 inflatable pools would be set up. One by one, the lively-patterned play pools were inflated and set in an orbital position around the

MARCH 1999 / ART EDUCATION N



center display. Pillows and beautifully illustrated beach towels served as pool decks. We filled the caterer's large stainless steel hot water urns and chauffeured the water supply on a service cart to fill each pool. Participants were further lured to pool sides by the adjustment of overhead lights which reflected on leaves and pastel tub blocks floating on the water. A fort-like pile of toy boxes encircled the center of the carpet where, for the occasion, my children had cleaned up their porch play space and agreed to place their collections on temporary loan. Boxes filled with such items as unusual sticker books, candy dispensers, bouquets of pencil shavings, and crazy drinking straws were all hauled to Detroit.

WISCONSIN How much room do the props for a

speech require? Avery small vehicle met us in Wisconsin and our host was surprised to find trunks, hat boxes, and luggage that had to be squeezed into his compact car. To begin our presentation in Milwaukee, our "flight" was rerouted for "landing" inside the convention hall. The plane was constructed of two chairs set on the podium. Seat pockets held airline souvenirs such as unusual food trays, luggage tags, raised cup lids, and airsickness bags collected from different flights. As flight insurance, I brought my own runway, rolling out colored toilet paper rolls on the floor alongside the airline shaped seating arrangement. In case of emergency, I popped up fanciful children's umbrellas as parachutes.

The theme of the presentation, 'The Artroom as a Flexible Canvas" demonstrated how artroom walls and windows can be opened with

imagination, ceilings lifted to the heavens and opened for a plane to land. Floors can be extended to the bottom of the ocean and, with a few props, new play spaces can be conjured up. An instant circus rolled out on the floor consisting of a large sheet of star- covered wrapping paper and topped with three liquid-filled hula hoops. Ringside, stuffed animal performers waited in plastic crates (cages) linked as a circus train. A skating rink made from shiny plastic sheeting covered with snowflakes (torn papers) and snow mounds (stuffed white bags) draped over another part of the room. A magic carpet unfurled with a plastic fan behind it to give it a lift Puffy cotton clouds with tiny matchbox cars beneath suggested a landscape below. On a play phone, conversations were conducted with children who described their most imaginative room setups at home.

CHICAGO A hotel or a classroom is a magic

canvas. It can be dressed, setup and fueled with imagination to become anyplace, to go anywhere, and take everyone along. Simple alterations in the room's setup, lighting, and props in addition to imaginative stories with playful actions can richly engage the imaginations of all participants.

Even by hotel meeting room standards, I was issued an unusually dreary room in the basement of the Chicago Hilton. Sculpture portraits made by prison artists were set up next to walls lined with bars of black tape so that their shadows would appear to sit behind bars. Seating was tightly spaced to allude to the conditions of a prison artist's studio. Hanging from the door knob of the entrance was a heavy tractor chain with an imposing padlock. Voice

recordings from our prison art program were spliced and played as a welcoming gesture. Lights were turned low and I wore an F. C. I. (Federal Corrections Institution) baseball cap to begin the pretend lockup. (Bland spaces can be quickly changed to evoke powerful feelings and visual messages. Feelings about the presentation's theme can be embedded into a room.)

TORONTO School classes can become involved

in the exciting preparation process of their teacher's presentations, since these occasions are about children; their suggestions, object contributions, and voices create an authentic setting for any art teaching theme.

For example, my students got involved in the excitement of preparing sketches and packing props for a Toronto presentation. White socks, tee shirts, white doilies, gloves, pillow cases, tissues and stickers were arranged to form three, tapestry-like screens. The slide screens were unfurled and placed in different parts of the music performance room to which I was assigned. There was no shortage of music stands in the room, so I placed a stand with a poem near each of the three screens so I could move the presentation from one music stand and screen setup to another. I also used the music stands as display tables by placing samples of children's collections on stands located throughout the room. Participants entered while listening to a collection of children's hand-clapping rhymes which I had previously recorded and played as a greeting.

LOS ANGELES As a performer, storyteller, and set

designer, an art teacher can use all facets of his or her creative talents. The art of teaching can also be represented

ART EDUCATION / MARCH 1999



as a public performance of imaginat actions and props.

For example, with my back turm to the Los Angeles gathering, I dres in surgical garb wearing a paper hat surgical mask, operating room slipp and a disposable stethoscope. Look at my watch, I turned to check my pregnant patient's "contractions." A large, soft gray elephant lay on a des as its mate, a wooden pull toy, pacec and rolled about. Soon, a small soft elephant was extracted and gently wrapped to be passed around for inspection. The baby's first pictures were snapped by the audience usinl boxes that had been turned into cameras: drawings on adding mach tape became film. Brief skits were u to introduce the theme of "Art Teaching as a Performance." The sl

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became the dressing room and prop room with objects, costumes, and mirrors waiting for quick changes. "What would you like to eat?" I asked while wearing a prized 1950 kitchen apron. Holding beautifully illustrated menus I took food orders on carbon- backed receipts. The orders were then taken to a play kitchen setup where custom dishes were designed by volunteer chefs using such ingredients as erasers, paper clips, pebbles, marbles, and shaving cream.

KANSAS CITY Colleagues smiled to see me pose in

a magnificently shaped 1940s straw bonnet lined with hand-dyed silk flowers. The fashion show was inspired by early morning browsings through Kansas City's antique district. The

theme of the presentation, 'Teaching Art History Through Children's Objects," was visually lined up on four, long intersecting tables. A breakfast table had been set with children's antique bowls, placemats, cereal boxes, lunch boxes, and toy toasters from the turn of the century to 1960. A second table illustrated the evolution and beauty of school supplies with a collection of antique to moder-day pencils, pencil cases, school bags, erasers, and illustrated school books. Each display referred to possibilities for object study using the teacher's and children's collections. The circular seating allowed me to freely tour each table using my favorite presentation method-show and tell. Another table was set up to appear as a fashionable toy store with such historic beauties as

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a series of teddy bears, game boards, puzzles, pull toys, printing sets, and "Old Maid" cards. Architectural history was the theme of the final display. This table held a gathering of old play blocks, play houses, and furnishings representative of past interiors and current building styles. A surprise guest speaker, my son Jacob, then 10 years old, shared aspects of American portrait illustration and printing by showing his collection of baseball cards from 1890 to the present.

Sharing collections, a show-and-tell of our object finds both old and new, reveals common interest among artists of all ages. Children need to be included as part of art education meetings and should participate in presentations which are about them.

SUGGESTIONS FOR CONVENTION ARTISTS

Visual performances can "take you there." They can move your spirit from a dreary convention room to any destination on which imaginations focus. As presenter, you are designing a travel plan and offering a passport. Performances do more than report information; they demonstrate lively scenarios and journeys that can describe what an idea, event, or place feels like as students enter.

* Arrive before the presentation, with a plan based on finding out the room's qualities. Consider designs for the floor, seating, displays, and performance areas. Survey everything in and around the room to design entrance paths. Include floors and objects placed outside the door in your design. Building a space often involves flexible structuring using furnishings, banquet room accessories, and food service items.

* Lighting can be designed for different segments of the presentation. A room can be filled with shadows or moments of darkness. Light banks in meeting rooms are often sophisticated and allow selective adjustments for dimming or spotting a particular area. Flashlights, projectors, and party lights can be brought into the room for dramatic changes.

* Design for a presentation's sound track. Sound "sketchbooks" may include the sounds of artmaking, the places art is made, or the voices that inspire it. A cassette tape of clapping, singing, noises or musical instruments can make a big impression. Audiences can also contribute their own voices and soundmaking abilities.

* What should one wear? I prefer comfortable shoes and often wear purple or orange sneakers to provide focus. Presentation cues can come from children's dress-up plays in items such as old gowns, unusual false noses, sunglasses, hats, and capes. Printed messages on clothing can advertise key presentation ideas. Quick changes behind a screen or before an audience underline the unconventional nature of the presentation.

* Design for a creative show-and- tell. Beautiful items, your traveling museum, can be imported to each site. Antiques from home, recent finds in town or at the hotel gift shop, treasures rescued from the local streets can all find their way into a presentation.

* Audiovisual media can be creatively used. Bring along extension cords so that projected images can be placed over any surface at any angle or size. Screens can be imported or unusual creations made on sight. Video monitors can be dressed, reshaped, or tinted. Bring your own cables to synchronize video monitors. For audiences used to sitting in front of

television sets, media need to be creatively presented.

* Action starts are helpful to involve participants in a parade, fashion show, sing along or imaginary ride. Convention populations, like students in school, move all day from room to room where they sit and listen to lectures. Participants enjoy getting up to dance, pose, play, or to try things on and try things out. A participant who is asked to run the projector already feels more involved.

* Consider what the presentation will look like, feel like, and what exciting things will happen. Imagine being there, visualizing the room in its new setup and sequencing of events. Anticipate the audience's reactions to your surprises, packages, flights, and plays. Dare to be different with the look, feel, and workings of your presentation. Make sure the experience is unforgettable. Parting gifts are optional!

Many art teachers are still reluctant to present at a convention saying, "I am not a public speaker, I can't write a speech." But, what if each teacher was encouraged to use his or her own media, designing visual presentations which are fun to plan and execute? Art teachers are often "cued" by the objects they show in class and are comfortable in presenting in an active show-and-tell style. Instead of speech writers, presenters can take on a variety of creative roles such as animators, mimes, choreographers, space designers, set decorators, costumers, or performance artists.

George Szekely is Professor ofArt Education and Director of Graduate Studies at the University ofKentucky in Lexington.

_ ART EDUCATION / MARCH 1999



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