Teaching artists are getting off the road and going online

By Sarah Carlson, SDAC Arts Program Coordinator

The era of the pandemic has eliminated in-persorn arts teaching, but it hasn’t stopped some artists from getting art to the people. More than a dozen South Dakota Arts Council (SDAC) teaching artists on the 2020 roster switched creative gears by transforming their engaging live presentations into accessible virtual experiences.

Each of the 24 videos on the new series’ playlist on the YouTube channel features 30 to 60-minute arts lessons, including a description and materials you can find at home. Some artists created multiple presentations for a more in-depth series of lessons. There are videos for all ages, from kindergarten age to senior citizens.

Nicole Gagner travels and teaches in rural South Dakota communities and contributed to the series.

“We’re dealing with so much and things change so quickly,” she said, “so for people to have quiet time where their brains can entirely focus on mixing paint or designing windows can be so healing—a way for us to process everything that’s going on.”

Nicole Gagner created “DIY Heart Art” for the SDAC Educational Video Series. Here she stands in front of her handpainted window.

The online video process may be new territory for some artists who are accustomed to a live, public setting. In creating a recorded video, there is no real audience responding.

“Normally there’s so much interaction and you get live feedback,” Gagner said. “With the videos you don’t really get to feel the impact you’ve had.”

Markie Scholz has been a touring teaching artist with SDAC for 49 years, and has been trying new things.

At left is a video screenshot of SDAC roster artist Markie Scholz who created “How to Make and Manipulate A Sock Puppet.”

“I always believed I had to have an audience or I could not perform,” Scholz said, “and the energy would come from the audience in order for me to give it back, but what I discovered was that the energy seems to be in me, too, so that I can generate it back out.” Impact may not be palpable by the artists, but the impact on students may last long past the pandemic.

“Someone 10 years from now might watch your video and learn something from it,” said Mark Zimmerman, a painter and SDAC teaching artist who created four videos for the series.

“I’ve been inspired by feedback from my videos and will continue to expand my audience in this way,” Gagner said. “It’s never been anything I would have thought was on my path.”

Scholz was already providing live stream instruction early in 2020 because of the pandemic, having the teachers in their classrooms helping to instruct.

“The economy is hurt and people are dying, but there’s an energy that’s happening that’s going to change the way we do a lot of things—for the better,” she said. “I just remember, ‘this is why I keep doing what I do’—and I’ll do anything to adapt for it.”

The roster artist educational video series is free to the public. The playlist of 24 videos (and counting) is available through a link at artscouncil.sd.gov or by searching for South Dakota Arts Council on YouTube.com.