Christy’s Narrative Chart

Data Source	Text	Notes
Focus Group #1, lines 310-317	The first ... When they first handed out the assignment, I was also the only Art Major in my group, but I'm also a professional artist so I jumped. I was the person who jumped into the solution immediately, by myself, without my group. I was doing research, collecting images, writing a proposal. I was ready to go. Our second group meeting, I had three fully fleshed out ideas, ready for the group and I was ready to do it. My poor group just looked at me like I was insane and I really needed more to do in my life than to work on this project, but ... I didn't get it at first, I didn't get the working backwards idea.	First design challenge; Art Major/ professional artist; jumping to solution; “I didn't get it at first, I didn't get the working backwards idea”
Focus Group #1, 335-344	In my work I often times I will go to a site, and sit and let sounds and smells and things direct ideas and inspire ideas. I went down town and sat and there's an excitement, there's twinkle lights. There are all kinds of things that are happening downtown […]. That I responded to and so like my first, ideas were about performance, live performance downtown. Projecting images, sound of glass breaking. I wasn't at all bothered by, the open-endedness of the question, that's sort of, what I do. [00:32:00] I deal in metaphor all the time. I was very comfortable taking that huge open question and making it my own. The problem was it wasn't mine. It was ours. That's where I had the most difficulty.	Creative process; idea for performance; open-endedness of question; dealing in metaphor; “The problem was it wasn't mine. It was ours. That's where I had the most difficulty”
Focus Group #1, lines 322-325	I'm a pretty careful reader. I really thought I had this figured out. It is not at all, what I thought it was. It was an undergraduate Engineering student who ... It's just a very generous comforting individual in the group. Said to me, “Chill out.” I did, and then it was a lot more comfortable.	Chill out; Ellie; “I really thought I had this figured out. It is not at all, what I thought it was.”
Focus Group #1, lines 350-369	Christy:  It was it was literally, “Chill out.” She was sitting right next to me, looking at me and saying … She said … She said, it wasn't in front of the other group members, she said it under her breath, she said, “We do this, don't worry about it, we do this all the time, just chill out.” I was, “Okay.” (Laughs) Facilitator:  What went through your head at the time? Christy: I was shocked, I was … Because you know, I’m 40 years old and I’ve been a professional artist and teacher and she’s maybe 22-23 and I’m, “You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met.” Facilitator: It clicked immediately, you were shocked because you felt it resonated with you so much for a while, that’s interesting. Christy: Yes and she was very comfortable both of the Engineers were very comfortable with the process, they did not seem worried about it, whereas the two graduate students, myself and another graduate student who’s Landscape Architecture we were … “Let’s get it done. Let’s get these ideas flowing, let’s go.” They were much more relaxed about it. It was very funny and it was, I don’t know that [00:34:00] … I definitely will take away from this pay more attention to … The group, not necessarily like their ideas, I mean their ideas are good, but … Their behavior and their mood. I think gauging that earlier will be more helpful. Understanding that earlier will be helpful, I’ll do, when and if I do this again.	Chill out; we do this all the time; Ellie; shocked; comfortable with the process; “You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met.”; get it done; paying attention to the group
Focus Group #1, lines 386-400	Facilitator: That’s interesting; I have two more questions for you, because it’s really intriguing. This process of, “Chill out,” it sort of fascinates me. Can you talk about what you think made you trust that person in that moment because you said it’s an unlikely case, there’s a 22 year old that tells you, “Chill out,” which could initially sound [inaudible 00:36:34] what, was it that you went, “Right, this is really insightful thing to say.” Where do you think that came from, it sounds like an unlikely story? Christy: She was very calm, and I responded to that calmness. I was sitting over here bursting with ideas, not nervous, but anxious energy, and she was calm and she was listening and she was letting the process unfold. Another member of our group was doing that also and the two members of our group … We were the ones who were sort of battling with ideas. We were like throwing ideas at one another and they were slamming up against one another. The other two were … They weren’t … Non-invested, but they were … It was just a different way of relating to what we were doing.	Chill out; anxious energy vs. calm;
Focus Group #1, lines 401-416	Facilitator: Yes and they do that calm from what you said past experience, what did she said? “We do this all the time?” Where did they get it? Christy: I think so part of it may just be personality, but she … I mean she very [00:38:00] was very clear about, “We do this all the time.” She was experienced with the nature, because the thing that kept upsetting me, upsetting my equilibrium was we’d get started and then we’d have to stop, and talk about Andy Goldsworthy and then we’d get started and we’d have to stop and listen to [the guest speaker] and then we’d get started and then we’d have to stop. I didn’t get that they were consciously putting these, what I thought were obstacles in our way when they were actually … They were speed bumps to keep you from moving to a solution too quickly. Facilitator: That’s interesting though it’s kind of a new thing that I find fascinating. How did that realization come about? Do you recall that situation when you went, “Ah!” Christy: Oh, gosh when did I realize that …? Probably last week, I mean (laughs) Facilitator: Was that the specific context or what led up to it, how did it? Christy: I don’t remember right now I need I would need to think about it.	“We do this all the time”; “upsetting my equilibrium”; obstacles vs. bumps to prevent jumping to solutions
Visual Journal Check #1, p. 38	In first problem statement, I was hung up on the solution method. Could not stop myself [from] jumping to solution method to stop + define the problem. Had to have a group member (engineer) tell me to chill out before I realized what I was doing.	Problem statement; solution; chill out Relates back to focus group
Focus Group #1, lines 488-502	At one point I said … Someone brought up an idea and very loudly, I said, “No.” That did not work out very well. Everyone sort of got a shocked look on their face and it just kind of disrupted what we were doing and I tried to make a joke about it, but afterwards I thought, “That was really inappropriate.” I didn’t mean it the way that it sounded, but I’m sure that it…	Shutting down group member; “That was really inappropriate”
Focus Group #1, lines 377-385	I think that … I think that we do have as professional artists we are kind of insular, but we do have critique and we do have feedback, we get feedback and we have of course reviews and things like that. I think that what I would take away from this that would help me in my own work is … Is the slowing down and the reason that I have to slow down is I have to give myself time to absorb other people’s opinions. Whether the solution is mine or part of a group, I don’t know that I will ever go in to group work or collaborative work as a profession, [00:36:00] but in either case, I think that listening is really important.	Being a professional artist; slowing down; “I think that listening is really important.”; collaborative work
Visual Journal Check #1, p. 21	Working collaboratively is always a challenge. Different egos operate in different ways. It's difficult to gauge emotional temperature in the beginning. My first instinct is to react when I have a bad idea. One of our group members taught me something today. Sometimes it's more important to keep your mouth shut rather than disturb the group dynamic and use the activity as a learning experience. The group member's solution would not have been my solution but by listening to him I have a better understanding of working in groups.	Collaboration; “Working collaboratively is always a challenge”; gauging emotional temperature; working in groups
Visual Journal Check #1, p. 43	2) What are the most significant things you learned? opening yourself to possibilities group dynamics 3) How has this knowledge affected the manner [sic] in which you perceive or approach problems? I vow to be a better listener.	“opening yourself to possibilities”; better listener; group dynamics (group work)
Visual Journal Check #2, p. 3	(1) challenging. Group member not reading carefully. Seemed to be resisting direction. -->persuasion- politics <negotiating tension> (2) had to step back several times-->didn’t get working  [backwards?] first thought -->jump to solution (3) visual journal--> autobiography creativity theory-->creative problem solving (4) documentation--> progress--> changing viewpoints; visual construction; deconstruction (6) environmental pieces- exciting group work- frustrating	Stepping back; “group work frustrating” Derives from focus group discussion
Visual Journal Check #2, p. 5	Challenging your thinking: Problem finding/ problem defining considering multiple perspectives Contentment with inquiry Withhold problem solving Experiences: Working in interdisciplinary teams exploring ideas of waste representing ideas related to waste in expressive media communicate early stages of creative process through problem statement reflecting and becoming aware of self as learner	Notes in visual journal that appear to relate to the focus group discussion
Visual Journal Check #2, p. 23	To me, this means that being aware of your weaknesses can allow a greater sensitivity in your work. For me, it's the tendency to move too quickly towards a solution. I learned that in this class. Now that I'm aware, I can purposefully slow myself down. (10/3/12)	Weakness; “slow myself down”; self-awareness Evaluative statement
Visual Journal Check #2, p. 38	Empathy is still the most useful tool for me. I am using [it] everyday is so many ways. For example, in the Final Design Challenge, putting myself in the place of the child, to figure out what ideas + images will capture their imagination. In other courses, putting myself in the form of theorists to try and figure out what shape/ form...[?] (11/12/12)	Empathy; “using it every day/ in so many ways”
Visual Journal Check #2, p. 43	I will remember my experience as a member of a group. An MFA trains you to work independently. I had never been dependent on other people before completion of a project or its success. I can’t say it was fun but it was beneficial. To be brutally honest, my instructor’s could not have paired me two more incompatible people. But, at the end of the process, we had a measure of satisfaction and success. I learned patience, perserverance [sic], and empathy. These qualities are invaluable especially in that patience was not one of my strong suits. (11/28/12)	Group work; MFA; learning patience, perseverance, empathy Functions as a type of Coda