If there is one thing that can hold people back in their creative process, it is the fear of failing. We all want to be perceived as successful, knowledgeable, and competent, but as any scientist can tell you, there is no discovery without forming a hypothesis and testing it, and some of those are bound to fail. The bottom line is that it is impossible to discover something new without exploring the possibilities, and those experiments are not foregone conclusions. Sometimes the right mistake is what takes you in a fantastic new direction or leads to the exact bit of new knowledge needed to break through into a new process or approach. Often, the bigger the accident or mistake, the more we learn! Join us for a class in failing up! This course will include readings, discussions, and brave leaps into the unknown. It will meet bi-weekly, allowing time in between for thinking and testing out theories, with access to a digital classroom between online meetings to post work in progress and ask questions. If you have been feeling the urge to try something new in your practice, you will find a supportive environment, feedback, and inspiration in this course. This class will be taught by Anne Eder, who has worked with these ideas in her classes at Princeton and Harvard Universities, and who considers herself an expert in failing, gaffes, blunders, and developing new art forms and strategies through experimentation. Dates & Times: Five sessions, Jan 6 - March 3, 2025, every other week. Monday evenings online, 6:30pm-8:30pm, ET. Class days will be Jan 6, 20 / Feb 3, 17 / Mar 3, 2025. Level: All Price: Member, $495.00 / Non-Member, $550.00 (non-member price includes a one year membership to the Griffin Museum, a $75 value). Maximum Number: Ten students. About the Instructor:
Anne Eder is an interdisciplinary artist and in-demand educator. She has been internationally exhibited, awarded, and published, including multiple international awards in alternative process photography. She is currently a lecturer in the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University, instructor in the Harvard Ceramics Program, Harvard University, faculty at Penumbra Foundation in NYC, and the Griffin Museum of Photography. She teaches workshops at venues across the country and, via online learning, all over the world. Much of her work is experimental and research based, combining historic processes, science, and contemporary conceptual thinking.
Throughout her career she has been an advocate for increased access to the arts, and the creation of public art is a dedicated part of her practice. She lives in New England with her fabulous chihuahua, The Brain.
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