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Faculty Interviews |
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Interview with JuPong LinRecent Teaching History Recent and Current Areas of Interest When I am asked about the center of my work it makes me a
bit nervous. I am not terribly sure of that, but I can identify
what the spokes are. This past year I have noticed that I
feel a bit distanced from it. So my answer comes in two parts,
what my work was before coming to Evergreen and now that I
have been teaching here for two years how it has changed.
First of all, I have been a feminist for a long time. My work
is often very personal and autobiographical, and I think it's
partially driven by a need to reclaim womens' bodies from
the barrage of over-sexualized, objectified representations
that alienate us from our bodies. Mothering has been an important
theme in my work since I've had a child. The Betty Friedan
days gave motherhood a bad name because it kept you from making
it in the world the way men do. But the climate is really
different now. It is much more accepted that you can be a
feminist and a mother. Identity is important in terms of culture, but also in terms of sexuality. Before I came here I was active in the lesbian and bisexual community. Coming here coinicided with getting involved in a heterosexual relationship. Since I have been here this has been an issue that is sort of unresolved. I have been working on a piece in a book for counselors on bisexuality. I think about that in the context of being in a heterosexual relationship and at the same time feeling allegiance to the queer community. The only other thing I would say about my work before coming here has something to do with the issue and experience of time. My work is about trying to make the experience of time concrete. For me the time thing is linked to issues of the search for spiritual practice. We often seem to go through our days without being conscious of the time that is passing. Meditation is a way of making us conscious and present in this moment in time. I think that when I do my artwork there is a similar interest in slowing down the experience of time and thinking of the art making process as a practice, as a ritual, something you do regularly. I do it with a commitment to be present and conscious of what I am doing. Since I came here, teaching has taken over my life. This is the first full time teaching I have ever done. My whole focus the first year was in learning how to teach and preparing for class. So now I've been trying to find a connection to my artwork again. My work has tended to be on the personal side of the personal/political spectrum, but I think teaching has shifted my attention to community. The project I am developing now grew out of my concern with my son's obsession with action figures and weapons, the boy thing. I finally gave in and figured that swords at least stimulate imaginative play. But these are really fine lines to try to draw. I have struggled with my son's interest in fighting, action figures and guns. I want to shift that interest without making him feel bad for having this aggressive energy which isn't in and of itself a bad thing. I am interested in what other parents have to say about it. The project seems to be shaping up as a community piece, where issues of discipline, violence, child rearing, play and the like can be shared. There are a whole complex of issues that have to do with the way the toy industry has taken up making variations of these things and how they are linked from video to fast food, to movies, to action figures. It seems I sometimes end up getting mad at my kid for being sucked into what the society has created. Someday I would love to teach in a program with a scientist. My dad was a chemist, and I was expected to become a scientist, so for most of my life I've had a love/hate relationship with science. But now that I'm a grown-up and no longer rebelling against my parents, I feel like I'm coming around to science again. I have always loved the outdoors, and have been an environmental activist. I'd really like to study the representation of nature in films and video in a science program. Are there particular authors/artists/thinkers whose work you interested and which you often ask students to examine? Rea Tajiri's piece "History and Memory" is a piece
that is pretty important to me. It is a piece about trying
to reconstruct the memory of her mother's internment in the
concentration camps in the U.S. What I really love about the
piece is that it is a personal narrative, but it is in the
context of the historical event of the Japanese internment.
Coco Fusco is an artist and critic I think about and admire
a lot. She and Guillarmo Gomez-Pena did a video call the "Couple
in the Cage" in which they present themselves as undiscovered
indigenous people. It is one of the most amazing pieces I
have ever seen dealing with racism and colonization, and how
"western civilization" has made some cultures "others"
and exhibited them as museum pieces. John Berger comes to
mind as I am interested in photography and theories of photography,
film, and video. I seldom work with the realistic photograph,
I try to degrade it some how so that you are aware that it
is from a photograph but it is some other object. It is that
in-between that is interesting to me, because when you are
in that in-between then you are aware that it is a photograph.
When you don't have that and it is just nicely framed, you
can forget that it is a construction or representation. I
enjoy his work in Ways of Seeing because of what he says about
ideology and representation. I also enjoy him because he can
be so poetic. bell hooks I also appreciate a great deal, especially
her writing on art. I used Art On My Mind in Telling Stories.
She really makes the link between the personal and the political.
What I am really drawn toin her writing is the link she makes
between the personal and theoretical. Her willingness to share
personal stories and link them to political and community
contexts is really admirable. Illuminating Video is a great
compendium of articles about video art. Are there specific areas of interest or issues you want to work with students on in the current year? For media students I am really interested in expanding video
beyond the context of television or projection on the screen.
Basically non- traditional uses of video, some of which might
be artistic and some of which might be more oriented toward
community and community organization. Also digital video capabilities;
I'm really interested in the interactive capabilities of the
World Wide Web and CD-Rom. Specific Skills, Competence, Techniques: Video production, especially camera work and editing is of
real interest to me. Editing is where the picture is made.
You can do a lot with footage that may not look that good
with good editing. I can teach some digital imaging, but still
have a lot to learn myself. Media criticism and critically reading images of any kind is a skill I try to build. I try to develop a basic visual literacy. What are key qualities you look for in student work? What techniques do you use to assess their work? How do you help students assess their work? I look for a strong connection between material, form, and
content. And then I would underline content. There really
has to be something there. But my assessment is and has to
be quite intuitive and depends on the unique needs of each
student . I often say to my students that the final product,
and what I say about it, is one small piece of the whole experience.
The process of getting there and the responses of other students
and external audience are the critical dimensions. One of
the real challenges I take on is to move students beyond bad
and good. I also encourage students to see what they can learn
from what they don't like , because you are often challenged
them to think harder. Teaching Style:How would you characterize yourself as a teacher? I am not a stand up charismatic lecturer, unless I am presenting
some of my stuff. I prefer working with small groups. Interactions
with people are really important to me. Getting to know what
people know and who they are is a big priority. So in the
first couple weeks of the quarter, getting to know who the
students are and establishing a relationship with them is
my main priority. That is what I most enjoy in teaching. This
word co-learner is really appealing. I feel that I am a teacher
because I love to learn. I am always wanting to learn new
things. I have a lot of different interests and sometimes
it makes me feel I can't find the center, so I don't always
make straight linear presentations. I am a good facilitator
of discussions. I like to think about discovery. I think about
my own learning and those moments of discovery when I have
made a perceptual shift are the most important. I try to encourage
that in students. I think that it is in actual practice that
students have the best chance of making those discoveries.
I tend to give people a lot of space, I am not real demanding
except when I see students not attending to the work of the
program. What types of students tend to do well with you? I get along with a wide range of students. But students who
are really interested in what they are studying and go beyond
the assignment are really exciting. I work well with students
who take themselves seriously and have passion for their work.
What types of students have a hard time with you? I don't get along with people who don't communicate. Even
people who completely disagree with me, if they can talk about
that we can usually find a way to work together. I also get
very frustrated with students who are not fully committed
to being here. If someone's slacking off and unprepared, I
think he or she needs to be told there are other choices in
life. Maybe this isn't the right time to be in college. I
am interested in challenging the notions of production values,
so sometimes my work is intentionally not "slick".
So students who want to get to that "slick" place
often butt heads with me. People who have only an interest
in technique and who haven't really figured out what they
want to do or say are a real frustration. What do your student evaluations say about the way you come across to students? People always say I'm encouraging and supportive. They tend to see me as one of them. People really appreciate the amount of one on one time I am willing to provide. I also have gotten good feedback on the way I look at their work. They also appreciate the professional advice I am willing to give them. Expectations about Contracts, Internships, and Evaluations
People doing contracts have to be really self motivated,
self aware about their on learning and the creative processes.
They need a real capacity to focus. What information do you want to see when a person comes to look for a contract? I want to see previous work. It is really nice when the student has identified other technical and support resources. I like it when students have written proposals including a schedule of what they expect to do. I look to be sure the student has the skills to do the work and the approach they tend to take to their work. I tend to work better with students I have worked with before.
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