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[Podcast #263] Appreciating Art with Bianca Bosker
If you feel like an outsider when it comes to art, you aren’t alone. In fact, as Bianca Bosker explains, there’s a whole gatekeeping system built up around art: who you know, how you dress, what words you use, etc.
Lucky for us, Bianca spent five years finding a way past the gatekeeping!
In her book, Get the Picture, and in today’s Brave Writer podcast episode, Bianca brings back her findings to the rest of us, teaching us how to better seek out and appreciate art.
If you want to find more beauty and meaning in the visual world around you, this episode will help. Bianca’s frank insightfulness is life-giving.
Show Notes
Gatekeeping System
First of all, Bianca points out, the gatekeeping system is real. It’s not just in your head. During the five years she immersed herself in the art scene, she saw the gatekeeping firsthand: the confusing lexicon, hidden galleries, expectations for clothing and hair, and above all, a disdain for enthusiasm.
Museums
Paradoxically, there is a ton of great artwork that is free for anyone to see via museums. The only problem is that we might not know how to interact with art in a museum. Bianca says that on average a person only spends 4 to 17 seconds on each work of art at a museum, rushing through to see everything in one visit. She advises we slow down. She suggests spending extensive time with a few pieces, taking the time to notice how we feel in their presence.
Daily Life
Art, of course, doesn’t need to be confined to museums. Bianca speaks extensively about the art mindset that we carry with us. By improving our own visual literacy, learning how to “unsee” our visual assumptions, and creating our own art, we can more deeply engage in beauty and meaning.
Pursue art boldly. Let it jostle you. Encourage your kids to see art as an adventure. If you need a guide, have Bianca’s book in hand.
Resources
- Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention
- Bianca’s website and Instagram.
- Find Bianca’s book, “Get the Picture,” in the Brave Writer Book Shop
- Check out the Brave Writer Practice Pages
- Learn more about the Brave Writer Literature & Mechanics programs
- Read all Brave Writer class descriptions
- Check out the Class Schedule for Fall
- Sign up for Brave Writer 101
- Read Bianca’s other book Cork Dork
- Read Sister Wendy’s Story of Paintings
- Read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
- Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!
- Send us podcast topic ideas by texting us: +1 (833) 947-3684
Connect with Julie
- Instagram: @juliebravewriter
- Threads: @juliebravewriter
- Bluesky: @bravewriter
- Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter
Connect with Melissa
- Website: melissawiley.com
- Substack: melissawiley.substack.com
- Instagram: @melissawileybooks
- Twitter: @melissawiley
Produced by NOVA Media
You’re Allowed to Change Your Mind
In case you needed reminding.
You’re allowed to change your mind. About anything.
- The plan for the day.
- The program that gave you hope, and fell flat.
- How you parent your kids.
- How you vote.
- The length of your hair.
- Whether or not to shave.
- How clean you keep the kitchen.
- Your diet.
The beauty of being you is that you can choose to become a wiser, more thoughtful, curious, quirky, risk-taking person.
One day you’ll cozy-up to the familiar routine and beliefs, mug of tea in hand. Another day, you’ll walk to the edge of idea-danger where you try on a belief that promises liberation from the old, wooden way of life—yet disrupts what you held onto tightly before.
It’ll be okay.
This is how you grow.
No one has purchase on your mind. It’s yours. It’s beautiful. Get to know it. It’s filled with fascinating thoughts that you deserve to think and explore.
This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebravewriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!
Friday Freewrite: The Silent Treatment
Today’s freewriting prompt:
Remember a time when you and a friend or family member were upset and stopped talking to each other. Write about it.
New to freewriting?
Freewriting is that wonderful key that unlocks the writer within. It’s the vehicle by which we trick our inner selves into divesting the words and ideas that we want to share but are afraid won’t come out right on paper if we do. So, read the freewriting prompt, set the timer for 5-10 minutes then write whatever comes to mind. Just keep the pencil moving!
Need more help? Check out our free online guide.
[Podcast #262] Teaching Through Play
Play isn’t a reward for learning, it is learning.
In this Brave Writer podcast episode, we dig into the reflex to be suspicious of anything fun, and we rebuke it with developmental science and lived experience. We give ideas on how to create playful conditions for deep, sustainable learning for your kids and even yourself. Also, we break down how to evaluate homeschool learning you’re already doing.
If you’re feeling stuck and bored with your homeschooling, or if your kids are feeling that way, this is the episode for you.
Show Notes
The Importance of Pleasure
Many of us live in a culture where we automatically approach pleasure with distrust and suspicion. At best, we see play as a reward. The truly valued part of education is hard, joyless work and the discipline to do it day after day. That’s what we believe will best serve our children in their adult lives.
But, there are other ways of looking at pleasure. For example, when Julie studied abroad in France, she learned the cultural approach to infusing pleasure into daily life. Value was placed on affirming humanity, acting as a bulwark against a life as an unhappy cog in a machine.
Creating Playful Conditions
Once we accept that pleasure is okay and that humans learn through play, we can start examining the learning conditions we create for our homeschooled kids:
- How does it look like play?
- How are you capitalizing on tools, clothing, kinesthetic energy, excitement, and engagement?
- Does the skill being honed lead to something the kids actually want to do?
Remember to stay true to the spirit of play—don’t manipulate it. Kids can sniff out inauthenticity a mile away. Give them autonomy over how they want to make an activity fun and meaningful.
Lifelong Learning
As homeschooling parents, sometimes we get restless with our children’s play. We want them to learn faster and deeper. The answer might be to look at your own play. Are you playing enough? Do you have your own toys you enjoy? Are you learning new things and forming relationships with subjects in new ways? A parent taking on their own fun learning sets a fantastic example for kids.
Every day isn’t sunshine and rainbows for homeschooling families, but play can be a consistent habit and an ongoing mindset. Remember, kids are pros at playing. Let them do the work.
Resources
- Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention
- Check out the Brave Writer Practice Pages
- Find Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness and other books mentioned in this episode in the Brave Writer Book Shop
- Learn more about the Brave Writer Literature & Mechanics programs
- Read all the Brave Writer class descriptions
- Explore Tools for the Art of Writing
- Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!
- Send us podcast topic ideas by texting us: +1 (833) 947-3684
Connect with Julie
- Instagram: @juliebravewriter
- Threads: @juliebravewriter
- Twitter: @bravewriter
- Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter
Connect with Melissa
- Website: melissawiley.com
- Substack: melissawiley.substack.com
- Instagram: @melissawileybooks
- Twitter: @melissawiley
Produced by NOVA Media
Relationship Repair with Our Kids
Amends are not a once-for-all-time act. We learn to take responsibility for our impact over time. It’s super easy to be defensive or to believe that you aren’t making the mistakes your parents made. A feet-of-clay moment comes for all of us, though.
The Key
The key to relationship repair with our children goes beyond the apology. It’s the willingness to sit in the discomfort of hearing how our behavior impacted the other person, without losing our cool.
Most of us want that from our parents. The practice, though, is for us—to take a “fearless and moral inventory of our lives” and to be accountable for our actions. We can’t make someone else come to terms with their impact, but we can learn to take that awkward responsibility for ours. I give my mom a lot of credit. She has shown me the way again and again.
Just to add: my father made amends to me in person when I asked him to—in his own different way. Both were healing. Neither prevented future hurts, but now those differences are less painful and I am more accepting of everyone’s limitations, including my own.
[quote above from the 4th of the 12 Steps]
This post was originally shared on Instagram.
Watch the accompanying reel for more.
