Today something huge happened. I booked my flight(s) to Angola, Africa. This process has been almost a year of researching, waiting, planning, waiting, coordinating, waiting and praying.
In my art classrooms there has been a constant void in my curriculum. As an educator, I naturally pull from what my experiences equip me with to impart knowledge to my students. When my experience was lacking, the next best thing was researching someone else's experience and trying to share this insight second-hand. My art explorations have been limited to the museums here in the states, the semester I studied abroad in London, and briefly backpacked Europe. This tends to create a very Euro-centric approach to art history and art making. It's not for the lack of trying. There simply is not enough research and documentation in our school library, public library or even on the internet to provide an in depth look at the vastness that is the African art landscape.
Last fall a colleague of mine, Doug Anderson, came back to school after a trip, as a Teacher Fellow with National Geographic, to the north pole to study polar bears, icebergs and other things that make Environmental Science teachers tingly. He was so pumped up when he returned and shared all about his experience, his enthusiasm was contagious. He also shared about how there are opportunities like his all around if one was willing to look.
Inspired was an understatement. I knew where I wanted to go. My roommate in college, Teague Meyer and her family began their adventure as missionaries in Angola, Africa in 2010. It had been a dream to visit since before they had even left the states. But, it was always impossibly expensive. Now, I had a tiny chance to see the great work she and Robert had been doing, and maybe even research some art while I was at it!
After several hours of scouring the internet to find an opportunity that would allow me to taylor my own experience, I discovered the national grant foundation Fund for Teachers. This initiated a 3 month research expedition into Angolan tribal art, contemporary art making and art history. Similar to my experience of researching African art for my classroom, this experience was fraught with difficulty. Many times the information I found came directly from Teague and Robert as they were actually on the ground in Angola and could ask questions or do research locally. This just reinforced the need for this research and I hoped the grant committee would see it the same way.
The grant I wrote was to fund the research of the tribal art of the Chokwe people, the ancient rock art of Tchitundu Hulu and to facilitate an international art making cooperative, among other things. January 20th I hit "submit."
It would be 4 months before I would know if my grant had been awarded. Being that I like to plan things and check off lists to pretend to be in control, I decided to proceed as though I were going to be awarded the grant. Robert sent me all the visa application requirements...a 7 page email of instructions. The instructions had instructions. This process was an adventure all by itself.
First, renew passport...check. Second, yellow fever vaccine...check. Third, go to the Angolan Consulate in Houston, TX on a Monday or Wednesday between 9-2. Um...I was needing another excuse to go to Texas to visit my brother (in Dallas) anyway. As I discovered, I had the easy part of the visa application. Robert had to make the 8-11 hour trek to the capital, Luanda, to formally send my letter of invitation to the consulate. So thankful he was willing to invite me!
