CRN: 2074
Credits: 3
Polyvocal Course Description:
This 3-credit studio course focuses on the integration of polyvocal studio practice and collaborative research, using the Mesoamerican concept of plática (heart-straightening talks) as a method to foster relationality, understanding, and communal growth.
Students will explore a fusion of traditional academic and Indigenous research methodologies, critically challenging the colonial structures that often limit or inhibit studio practice. Some focus will be dedicated to exploring the transformative power of individual and collective rituals and ceremonies in shaping a rigorous inquiry process.
Through weekly pláticas, hands-on studio work, and collaborative research, the course will function as a co-created learning community, examining how individuals within a group can collectively generate meaning, shape artistic outputs, and communicate across multiple voices. Students will engage in both individual and group projects while reflecting on the intersections of art, research and community, considering how knowledge is produced, shared and decolonized.
By the end of the course, students will create artworks and research projects that reflect a shared journey of self-reflection, relationality, and the unpacking of colonial pressures. The course also emphasizes the ceremonial and ritualistic as pathways to fostering deep communal dialogues on co-creation and co-communication. Through learning from each other, students will deepen their engagement with others, advocate for social causes, and contribute to community-based arts practices.
Matthew Villarreal- BIO
Matthew Villarreal is an artist, community advocate, and educator from El Paso, TX. His creative practice blends pedagogy, artmaking, and activism with the aim of building space for whole communities to deepen community confidence and creative capacity via workshops, exhibitions, and exchanges.
