Scholars in the News
Reshma Tharani, 21, is part of a new breed of community college student
Scholars in the Arts
"I am fascinated by the breadth of Art History and by how painting teaches a culture about itself."
Valeska Populoh
Valeska Populoh |
|
|
We have this notion of a career track, of a vocation defined as a kind of job. But what if a career path is just one's commitment to alleviating suffering? - Valeska Populoh |
Jack Kent Cooke Scholar Valeska Populoh currently teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. But supporting the development of young artists at MICA is just one part of a life committed to art, social justice, and building community.
Since her days as an undergraduate student in international affairs at American University, Valeska has been trying to figure out how to best contribute to positive social change. Her path has taken her from working as a research assistant at an international environmental organization in Washington, DC, to farming in Oregon to teaching. “We have this notion of a career track, of a vocation defined as a kind of job. But what if a career path is just one’s commitment to alleviating suffering? Or to cultivating positive change in a community through a variety of means, from grassroots organizing to gardening to art making?”
Over the last few years of living in Baltimore, Valeska has built working relationships with a number of community arts organizations and performance groups. Her work has spanned stiltwalking in big community festivals, teaching puppetry in the public schools, and serving as a facilitating artist in community workshops that enable all kinds of Baltimore residents to find their creative voice.
In addition to her individual studio work, which considers the role of folktales in a dilapidated, post-industrial age, the German-born Valeska also works in collaboration with other Baltimore artists to create joyful street and stage performances using costuming, puppetry, and stilt-walking.
“I often feel like I have to rationalize the importance of art making in a society so overwhelmed by social and ecological problems, but then I walk in a parade or perform a little dance number with puppets and see a person laugh, a face light up, a community come together in a public space, and I think: “This does matter. This is important.”
“And,” she adds, “I cannot be more earnest when I say how grateful I am to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation for supporting so many of us in our studies, helping us to be more skilled, more capable, and more empowered to do our work, and thereby acknowledging the vital importance of art in our culture.”