Speak

As adolescents, we are constantly bombarded with images of our visual culture that tell us how we're supposed to look and who we're supposed to be. At this delicate age, we are more aware of the judgement of our peers; we are more self-conscious and this is when views of our body image can be affected positively or negatively. When the constant stream of imagery is full of size 2 models, it's hard to feel that average is beautiful. I chose to digitally rip up and piece together different fashion advertisements to show the not-so-unique qualities of our society's ideal beauty.

The great wisdom that was bestowed upon us

It was so inspiring to hear the first year tales of our panel guests. They had all experienced those drama-filled first days, and second days, and thirds and lived to tell us about it. They all have so much drive and passion for what they do that the hardships became mere stepping stones to great successes. They also shared with us two secrets that will get us through: laughter and coffee. I think I already agree with these.

Revolution

Our group's lesson 3 big idea is "Revolution." So I chose to do fashion as revolution and create wearable art that voices some kind of message through the fashion. Students would decide on a contemporary issue and create a way to display that or send a message of change within a fashion piece. As a class we'd look at celebrity fashion revolutionaries, such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and Lady Gaga, of course. We'd also explore the fashion hats of Stephen Jones, the social justice graphics of Luba Lukova, and the truisms of Jenny Holzer.

My future art room!

Oh, the scary yet exciting first year

I feel a lot of excitement when thinking about my first year of teaching. I look forward to getting in there and getting my hands dirty, actually doing the real thing and putting all of this theory into practice. It is hard not to be a bit fearful or nervous though.

I'm afraid of classroom management. I am not the best at dealing with discipline problems and I fear being walked all over. I tend to be very idealistic and don't always approach situations realistically. For instance, ideally I would love if every student came in, even the ones who hate school, and loved my class. But realistically, not every student will love me, my class, or art. But I'm going to try my hardest to not let that happen.

I fear setting up lessons that keep my students engaged and that meet the standards. Above a lot of things, I don't want my students to be bored. And I don't want to be bored. I want us, as a class, to laugh, explore and discover.

Those are a few of my fears. But before these fears are faced, I have to face another: getting a job.

Walker 6: Developing Plans

Reading chapter 6, I felt as though it was information we've heard quite often in our educational experience in Art Ed. We've been taught to start with a big idea and set up essential questions and keep concepts. One thing I found helpful was her breakdown of the research on the teacher's side of planning. She included researching the big idea and the several ways it can be approached, as well as resources to support the lesson.

She also included researching artist's personal history, which was something I don't always think about. I think it is easy to get wrapped up in the fun of the lesson and developing the big idea, that the artist bio can get lost in the process. I hadn't thought about how inquisitive students are and that they are more than likely going to want additional information on an artist that is presented. This is something for me personally to remember and work on as I develop lessons.

She went on to continue artistic context and social context, both very important inclusions in presenting big ideas and artmaking lessons as they form a better understanding of the art history and development of the idea over time.

One thing that I struggle with is how to include this method of lesson planning all the time. In our preparation for the field, our experience is so heavily grounded in big ideas and making meaning in art; however, often in field observations, this isn't always happening. For instance, right now I'm in a foundation course at the high school level and there is little meaning being made. For the most part, their focus is on technical skills. While I see the importance of gaining technical skills, especially at a foundational level, I think it can be approached in a manner much better than this. Why do big ideas have to be introduced half way through the year, or only in advanced classes? We are trying to hook students with how exciting art is and much potential they have as artists, but this is not the way to do it. So is where practical application and theoretical planning bump heads. So as teachers on the cusp of our first year, how do we steer clear of boring, empty, technique-heavy lessons?

UPDATE: self-portrait (work-in-progress)

I had some wonderful feedback and interest in my fibers project so I wanted to post what I've done so far. I created this statement "WHO I AM" in Photoshop by collaging images from visual culture and then printed it digitally on to cotton. I'm moving on to the next phase of adding a fabric border and handwritten adjectives of society's definition of who I am. More to come!

Walker 4 & 5: Problem Solving and Boundaries

In reading Walker chapter 4, I really appreciated her discussion of creating artistic problems and using big ideas within a big idea to create those problems. This brought to realization that we often discuss big ideas that alone wouldn't be as enriching or meaningful. Walker brings up the example of transformation saying that too often classroom activities lack the edge of altering reality and forcing the audience to question what they know. Transformation works more effectively and conceptually when it is paired with another big idea. Cindy Sherman for example works within the big idea of Identity but uses transformation as the edge to push her concept.

This chapter had a lot of great examples that can be brought into the classroom. I especially liked the self-portrait boxes done by the university students. How wonderful would this project be in a high school art class? In that setting, the discussion of stereotypes, gender roles, sexual orientation and cultural ideologies could all set the foundation for some great self-portrait boxes. Even doing this project as a reaction to Speak would be great, talking about what people see on the outside and how someone thinks and feels that they don't voice or show to everyone.

I loved that she mentioned Kruger and a discussion of ads. I already have an attachment to this idea of "the invisibility of everyday" and using Kruger as an exemplar was an idea I had. She suggests having a discussion with students about both the implicit and explicit messages of ads as a basis for students to create their own photomontages. I love this idea. In a way they would be creating anti-ads.

In chapter 5, Walker discusses boundaries and how this is often boosts creativity instead of hindering it. I thought of Imagination First, because one of their "sparks" is thinking inside the box and having those boundaries in order to push creative thinking. I think students need those boundaries as a bit of security. Often when teachers say, "there are no certain guidelines, you can do what you want," student respond with blank stares or panicked expressions. This vast freedom doesn't always drive focused ideas. I think it's important for us as teachers to give them boundaries that give them focus and pushes their questioning and creativity, but likewise doesn't hinder their imagination and deprive them of enriching experiences.

We like turtles: staying connected

Our department decided to stay connected through our very own blog. Check it out!

melissamuddlikesturtles.blogspot.com

And if you haven't seen the video we are referencing, watch it here!

Flickr: maybe not the most appropriate

So I wanted to check out Flickr as a source for our students. On one hand, it has some really strong, artful photography and work published from working artists (and student artists), which would be great for image storming. On the other hand, I searched 'sex' and some not-so-tasteful images popped up as a result. By no means did these come close to what one might find when Googling the word, but school appropriate? Maybe not. So there is the conundrum. How do we allow a useful image site, but control content results while searching? Any thoughts?

The Spiral Curriculum

The Spiral Curriculum had so many wonderful lesson ideas. I especially liked the Collaborative Wall Collections. This was a great way to incorporate some of those technical skills required at most lower levels, such as line, shape, negative and positive space, outlines, etc. They are also gaining some graphic design skills-- a great opportunity to discuss commercial art and how powerful symbols are in our visual culture (restroom signs, company logos, street signs, etc.) But more importantly it adds that layer that we always strive to include. The use of symbols is a powerful thing. Students are learning how to conceptualize big ideas and format them into simple and elegant forms. In the example on the site, the students were working with majors events in American History. A topic like this is a great way for students to start synthesizing broad topics and breaking it down into a single representation. What else is wonderful about this lesson is the collaboration aspect. In Walker, we read about postponement of meaning as an artist habit. This is especially true with this assignment. The students are creating their own meaning within their individual work, but once their piece(s) are combined with those of fellow classmates, the juxtaposition and combination create entirely new meanings, or at least expanded meanings.

I really like this idea because you can take symbols into any big idea. Think about the wonderful results if this were done with a social justice theme, or visual culture symbols of ideologies. I'd love to use Luba Lukova as an exemplar artist for social justice. On the Spiral site, she mentions that this lesson could be modified with colored symbols or backgrounds, which could be an affective use of color as symbolic messages. Let's not forget of course Kara Walker. Students could use her storytelling techniques to convey symbols of memory, emotions, identity, etc. This idea could go in a thousand directions.

I love the idea of displaying these along the hallways of the school; it would become a nice interactive piece with the other students and teachers. A display in the classroom might be successful as well, especially if the lesson was expanded upon and additional artwork was added to create more juxtaposition and expansion of meaning.

Inspiration board

I'm working on a surface design self-portrait in fibers. I chose to do mine on who society says I am based on ideologies set forth in our visual culture.

Developing a knowledge base: Walker Ch.3

In this chapter, Walker is discussing how just as professional artists build a knowledge base of their subject matter before creating a piece, our students need to do the same. Developing this deeper understanding of a subject pushes the artmaking process further and creates a richer piece. I think at this collegiate level as student artists we often do this building of a knowledge base almost subconsciously, depending on how conceptual are piece is. I know we are often doing artist research, and learning historical and social contexts before working on a piece. Or at least in some cases we are. But elementary and secondary students really need that push to learn more about their subject matter. As teachers we have to foster that synthesis by creating opportunities for them to make connections.

I liked Walker's suggestions of ways to do this in the classroom, such as having the students compile all that they know about a topic. I think we've already started learning how to do this with big ideas. When we introduce a big idea to students and ask our essential questions, these conversations are getting them to think about the topic and awaken that "dormant" knowledge. Creating word associations is a great way to think about big ideas. I think, as a class, having students compile as many words that they associate with that topic as they can could be a successful way to gauge prior knowledge, as well as help them to make connections.

Graphic organizers are a great way to brainstorm and focus on those ideas. Creating word lists or mind maps allows the student to get all ideas on paper -- quantity over quality, of course. Using digital software like Inspiration is another interesting way to brainstorm. I especially like this because you can include text with images.

In Walker's example of the class studying the Motherwell piece, I thought it was a great idea to have the students read literature to gain social, emotional and historical context. This not only gave them a greater understanding of his work, it provided an informed way of viewing abstract art, which some students have a hard time doing.

As we are creating our mini lessons, I think this is something to keep in mind. With Anna's idea of creating a movie poster based on fear, it's important for the students to think about cultural references, as well as historical, cultural and emotional cues and contexts. Students could do a lot of research on fear, finding the history of common urban legends, folklore, myths and ghost stories. This allows the students to put their own fears into context and create content-driven designs.

It's also important to include artist exemplars and discuss the knowledge base from which they are working. Understanding the thinking behind an artist's work, helps the students to approach their work in the same manner. Art21 is a great resource because in the artist videos they often discuss their inspiration along with their working process. It's important for us, especially now going into student teaching and soon our own classrooms, to keep these techniques in mind while we plan lessons and push our students in their artmaking processes.

Artist Inspirations: resource

I was thinking about resources that I would find helpful as a student artist and my instinct was to go to sites with contemporary artists and their works to use as inspiration. I found two that I like. The first is a blog called Brown Paper Bag. They have an assortment of current working artists featured in their posts. The cool part is they have a "you might also like" section featuring artists that work in the same style.

The other site is deviantART, which is a site for ar

tists to publish and sell their work. This site might be great for high school students especially, because the artists are often younger and working from the same ideas and inspirations they have.

FEAR

Our first big idea is fear and my medium is drawing or painting. I decided to do "shadows" inspired by our fears. I want to ask the students to explore questions, such as Why are we afraid of the dark? Why do shadows play tricks on us? What is it about shadows that are so frightening? How can we tell stories with shadows? etc. I think it would be great to look at Kara Walker and her silhouettes, exploring how she includes so much detail in a solid black figure and how she tells stories with her figures. Also exploring the work of Josh Hoffine who is a horror photographer, looking at how he plays up our fears in his work. Also how he is telling stories in a single image. I'd ask how can we combine the work of Hoffine and Walker?
The students will create life-size shadows by drawing outlines of figures on black paper. I envision them completing the work by creating an installation with props or continuing the unit by photographing their shadows/installations or doing a digital piece. There is a lot of way to push this idea.

artistic practices: a response

In ch. 7 of Walker's Teaching Meaning in Artmaking, there are several artist practices discussed, including purposeful play, risk taking, experimentation, postponement of final meaning, and searching; questioning. I was so excited to read about these ideas as I find them all essential to artmaking.

Play especially stood out to me. Students must have opportunities to play. This becomes important when a new media is introduced. They need time to explore the media; practice mixing paint colors, blending colored pencils, molding clay, etc. Comfortability with media only comes with practice and the ability to play.

In one of Kathy's classes, the entire lesson was devoted to play. We explored paper, a basic media that is often taken for granted. She asked us to come up with as many ways to sculpt with paper in 5 minutes and then we were asked to create a sculpture by combining all of the pieces. To push the play aspect further, we had to switch with our neighbors and create something new out of their piece. The time restraints, the exploration of material, and the detachment from our own artwork allowed for us to play and to discover new ideas.

In Walker, I enjoyed how Skoglund was highlighted for her exploration and play with unusual materials. Many artists today are working with odd materials, such as gum, foods, coat hangers, zippers, plastic detergent bottles, styrofoam, etc. I think it's important in our own classrooms to allow our students opportunities to explore new materials. Fresh and exciting ideas can be created through this type of exploration and a breakaway from traditional media.

One thing I had a hard time wrapping my head around is the postponement of meaning. I understand allowing for ambiguity and individual interpretation, but it's hard to not allow the meaning to direct the piece. We teach big ideas, don't we? Those ideas drive concepts and artmaking that visually bring them to life. Starting with meaning pushes the piece to be conceptual and meaningful. Perhaps the reading is approaching the idea of being too literal in making meaning. The art doesn't need to be literally displaying the message, but can direct the reader through visual cues. Art can start with an idea and concept and then as it develops the meaning changes. I think the reading was trying to draw attention to that. It is easy to become preoccupied with the predetermined final product, but we must allow the process to shape the end result.

I like the idea of creating meaning through series, in which the students are further exploring and pushing an idea asking, "What more can I say? How can I say it more complexly or deeply? What can I say that is different?" This seems like a powerful approach. As artists, we often get attached to several ideas and continue to create artwork based on them. This allows for further exploration and new understandings. It also gives us the opportunity to synthesize what we've already done, to synthesize new ideas and combine them to form a brilliant new outcome.

A rollercoaster of a process

Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts and keep all hands and feet inside of the vehicle at all times. Please be aware that during this ride you will experience flips, turns, epiphany moments, self-doubt, discovery and high speeds. Should you feel anguish at any time during the ride, remember that it's just your imagination. Now sit back and enjoy the ride.

If my artistic process had a disclaimer, that's what it would be. As an artist, the ideas are usually the beginning of my process. I'm constantly asking "what if?" My mind bounces back and forth between ideas, and often times the ideas aren't even connected or if they are, they cover a broad span. I visualize my ideas as flying around above me; there are tons of them jetting around my imagination sometimes bumping into one another and creating new ideas. It's my job to reach up and grab one, to pin it down so I can move forward with it.

Once this is done, or at least I've pinned down a few, I tend to stock up on new imagery for my "inspiration board." This is usually done through an extensive Google image search. At this point, I'm grabbing visual inspiration: figures, stories, concepts, colors, forms, compositions, etc. This is a crucial process for me. It allows me to visualize my ideas and synthesize preexisting images of my ideas so that I can appropriate or create something new.

After the research aspect of my process, it's time to create. Depending on my concept and my media, I usually have to play with the materials. This is especially true when I'm working with collage. Often I spread everything out in my work space, which is usually my coffee table, and just look. In the array of magazine ads, scrapbooking paper, typography stencils, ransom note-style letters and embellishments, my idea comes to life. I layer one composition, add to it, take away from it, decide I don't like the whole thing and start completely over. It is a bumpy ride of twists and turns. Just as amusement park goers are at the mercy of the rollercoaster's crazy ride, I am at the mercy of my artistic process. I don't fight it. I hang on tight and enjoy the ride.

inspiration through materials: Nancy Spero

I found that Nancy Spero and I work in similar ways. In the videos of her at work, she wanders around her studio digging out multiple images from her vast collection. She lays the various disparate parts out on the table and begins to synthesize the imagery. Spero layers her imagery, then removes them and relayers them. It's a visual process, a discovery. In this process of play, she gains inspiration from her materials, which leads to the final composition. The idea is there to begin with, but the visual outcome is not yet conceived. It's through the hands-on creation process that the idea becomes reality.

visual metaphor... a work in progress

As my visual metaphor for teaching, I've decided to carryout the theme of my philosophy: celebrating imagination. I approached the project with the idea of art teacher as party planner. Like a good party planner, teacher's are responsible for inviting their guests (the students), setting up a good atmosphere for those guests to interact and become a collaborative community. Teachers must also use the perfect recipes for the party (lesson plans) and insure that the guests leave with party favors. In my metaphor, I was trying to show aspects of teacher as party planner but creating a complete pARTy planning package. This all-in-one is complete with recipes, invitations, games, center pieces, party favors and more. It isn't quite finished, but I'm happy with the direction it has taken.

art in progress

For my Speak-inspired piece, I plan on combining magazine ads and typography to create an anti-ad or a collage that comments on ideologies, especially those of beauty. Often times in adolescence, well in our entire lives actually, society and our visual culture speak for us. They set the mold of how we are supposed to look, what beauty is and, essentially, who we are supposed to be. This starts at birth when we're put in a blue blanket or a pink one depending on our gender. Right from the start of our life we are subject to ideologies, and it gets worse as we grow up. Adolescents are the most sensitive to these "requirements" and often feel obligated to fulfill these unrealistic ideologies. With my piece I want to speak against these ideologies, speak about body image and loving yourself.

Wikispaces

In this multimodal society, we as teachers have to come up with ways to meet the needs of the ikids in our classrooms. Incorporating technology in the curriculum is important. There are endless ways to explore technology but one I have yet to check out are wikis. Wikis allow for collaboration between several people on a single site. It's constant creating which allows the group to control the landscape of the website. Wikispaces is one site that allows for the creation of a wiki.

I think this could be a great project for students especially in the art classroom. They can create, communicate and collaborate. It gives them the capability to have a student-run site that is essentially their own. They could create a wiki of exemplar artists and research or their own site of artwork. This is an option I would like to learn more about and potentially use it in my future classroom.

Adolescence was...

Adolescence was getting lost on my way to class the first day. It was having the assistant principal help me open my locker. It was that mini panic attack of "Oh My God, who am I going to sit with at lunch today?" and then devising a plan to meet my BFF by the soda machine before hopping in the line that files its way out of the cafeteria.

Adolescence was football fridays. It was purple, silver and black spirit all over my clothes and accessories. It was insisting that my best friend and boyfriend would be on either side of me in the stands. It was: "Go! Fight! Wiiiin Jaguars! Let's. Go. Zumwalt Jags!"

Adolescence was being a good student, having a new found obsession for French and, as always, loving art the most. It was being friendly and talkative, but not as outgoing as I would become. It was the few years before I discovered my confidence and my need to be involved.

Adolescence was discovering myself, joining organizations and having new experiences. It was Student Council, newspaper, yearbook and Senior Class officer. It was powder puff and TP'ing the juniors. It was losing yourself to the music, dancing and socializing of Homecoming, Coronation and Prom.

Adolescence was exploring Europe in the summer with my mom as a chaperone. It was falling in love with Italy and being in a dream in Paris. It was having an experience that brings a mother and daughter closer.

Adolescence was finding out what a "serious" relationship is and all the choices that come along with it. It was peer pressure and "everyone's doing it." It was making mistakes too young, but growing from them.

Adolescence was loving me, but hating my body. It was a mess of emotions, breakups, heartaches, new relationships, drama with friends, adventures with friends, driving, cell phones, first jobs and thinking about college. It was setting my goals and determining to stick to them, no matter who told me I couldn't.

Adolescence was what I thought would be the best years of my life, but then I grew out of adolescence and discovered there were better years to have. It was, however, years of memories, learning and growing.

This I believe of Art Education...

Recently, AT&T has developed a campaign with the slogan “Rethink Possible.” One commercial takes the audience back to childhood and imagination. As children’s drawings come to life in a major city, the voice-over says, “Remember when you were five and anything was possible? Happy fifth birthday, again.” I believe art education is founded upon the same mentality. While I am neither promoting AT&T, nor funded by them, I do support this slogan. Rethink Possible. This sums up what art education is. When you peel back the layers of history, movements, ideas and physical manifestations of art, you find the very bone of it: possibility. Art allows for endless possibilities, which are only confined by the parameters of the imagination. It’s the job of art educators to expand those parameters, and instill in every student that through art anything is possible.

Art education awakens in our students the drive to create, to explore, to discover and to learn. But in our society’s current state, the arts are being placed in the back of the shelf, only to be used as an extra ingredient to the curriculum, not an essential one. However, the known truth among art teachers is that it is essential. Howard Gardner describes five minds for the future: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creative mind, the respectful mind and the ethical mind. By nature, all of these ways of thinking are a part of art. So perhaps the culmination of these minds is the artistic mind and in that lies the future.

We must nurture these artistic minds. Art education teaches students about the world around them through culture and history, through experience making, through art making, and through understanding the invisibility of the everyday. As art educators, we have the responsibility of assisting our students in becoming active participants in their world, instead of passive observers; and to explore the deepest parts of their imagination and realize that they too can be creative. They too can make something out of pure passion, emotion, knowledge, skill and innovation. Art for our students can be like celebrating their 5-year-old birthday, everyday; like celebrating possibility. So rethink possible, and discover it through art.

The commercial really is fantastic. Check it out!

Remember when you were 5 and anything was possible?

Happy 5th Birthday! celebrate your 5-year-old self, everyday.

believe in the possibilities. rediscover your imagination. find the creativity within.