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Feingold Gallery: Back to School

Feingold Gallery:
Back to School

 

 

The design of this gallery is aimed at encouraging conversation involving both immediate and reflective thought, individual and collective. Rather than starting by reading comments of others, please first put your own immediate thoughts in the on-line forum below. This way, we'll all be able to see how much similarity and difference there is in our initial reactions and interpretations of the images. Then go back to see what others have said about this image and add whatever new thoughts you have as a result of that. More general thoughts about the collection of images and/or this exhibit as a whole are welcome in the on-line forum on the exhibit home page.

 

Comments

Stacy's picture

Let me out. There is a whole

Let me out. There is a whole universe out there. Everything that I really want to think about is outside of this classroom. This picture looks exactly the way that school feels!

Lin's picture

this picture reminds of me

this picture reminds of me stress from school a lot-- pressure from the teachers and abunches of school work. The clock in the picture shows that the school is going to be over soon. The universe as the backgound of the picture shows the kid is eager to be free from school and all these stress. The rushing water down at the picture and the drawing exactly expresses this feeling of eager.

Anonymous's picture

The red color around the pic

The red color around the pic to me represents a burning desire and the picture in the middle is the desire itself while the pic of the baby on the right has not fullfilled that desire.

dfeingold's picture

Too much going on

Martin, my sentiments exactly! There's too much going on and it is cause for confusion (among other feelings). For students who do not fit the mold of how a person "is supposed to learn", what types of strengths they "should have" to succeed in school, and those who are not internally motivated to learn even if the instruction may not be best suited for their particular learning style, school can be very confusing for the student. A student can think that they either "get it" or they don't--and consequently (and mistakingly) they're either smart or they're not. What comes to mind is the student that gives his/her all, struggles daily to understand what is being taught, only to fail--while seeing others succeed, sometimes without much effort. The student who struggles fruitlessly wonders just what is going on--what is going on with their difficulty performing and inability to succeed in school, what is going on with their difficulty learning and picking up concepts, what is going on with their lack of academic abilities, low self-esteem, a defeatist attitude, and sometimes even resistance going to school. Indeed, there is too much (of the wrong things) going on. Martin--quite a perceptive comment!
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jrlewis's picture

Showing a progression, a

Showing a progression, a path.  To somewhere?  Away from somewhere?
Martin's picture

Too much going on this just

Too much going on this just confuses me.
Laura Cyckowski's picture

Gives me a feeling of

Gives me a feeling of melancholy. A yearning for the past even if it was less than perfect. Painful memories feel dream-like and less discomforting.
ryan g's picture

Coming back to the prison of

Coming back to the prison of school after the freedom of summer break.  Reflects on the ineffectiveness of the educational system. 
mstokes's picture

Discomfort again in the

Discomfort again in the classroom--less powerlessness here (is the writing on the board punitive or productive?), but still isolation, cold surroundings...
akerle's picture

Is school solid and

Is school solid and reassuring in this picture? A distorted vision, not perfect or even particularly positive, but a purposeful one nonetheless. Situated solidily in a seemingly vast and terrifying landscape. 
kmanning's picture

Mixed emotions

School and learning seem to contain many different emotions for the artist. The light in the classroom is very warm, inviting and happy, yet the crying baby represents just the opposite. Also, it is a baby we see in school, not a child of schooling age. Perhaps he always felt lost, child-like, due to his disabilities in school...
Sophie F's picture

The crying baby a memory,

The crying baby a memory, there is something warmer about this image. Perhaps a comfort in the familiar and leaving behind other versions of one's self.
ysilverman's picture

Again, the infinite abyss,

Again, the infinite abyss, but perhaps in a more positive way. (Certainly, I find it more comforting). Here, it is as if there is a place to fall -- a storefront window, our own self, perfect, if only perfect for each individual.
Riki's picture

Losing oneself? I'm not sure

Losing oneself? I'm not sure if I see this image as positive or negative.
merry2e's picture

evolving and rebirth, joyful

evolving and rebirth, joyful
Paul Grobstein's picture

Back to school comment

Another of my favorite images. Again, not sure why. A space to fit into, despite its shortcomings?

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