As we look towards the break for Christmas we are coming to the end of the design phase. Some students who had settled into the design quickly, have even begun painting their boots.
The designs this year are seem less focused on identity -- my national flag, my soccer team's colors. the flora of my homeland, or my favorite thing -- and more on an escape. There are boots with medieval worlds, boots with fantasy characters, and boots with mythical plants. Some boots still reflect ethic heritage or national identity but this year more are personal.
For many reasons this year feels different from the last time. We feel constrained in the materials - the paints that were new last year, are sometimes thick in their pots, hardened and impossible to reconstitute. The paints and Sharpies from last year have become art supplies - that sense that the materials were special, were part of a singular project, has been subsumed into the class routine.
But still, there is joy - hard work and focus on rework to make things perfect.
