See Spot Run

A painter takes a sun and makes it into a yellow spot. 

An artist takes a yellow spot and makes it into a sun. 

                                                                  - Pablo Picasso

We can teach how to stroke a paint brush across the surface of the canvas. We can show how to mix colours to produce a new colour. We can model the use of charcoal on a piece of white paper to produce shading and we can also draw straight lines and perfect circles. The ability to create a really rich piece of art work takes time and energy to produce. Some visual artists will be able to pick up a brush and learn the intricacies that exist between the mind, and the hand quickly and produce great art work. It takes muscle memory, and learning how paints interact with the surface of a canvas, or the surface of a piece of stock cardboard. Depending on what types of materials you use, they will all interact with each other in varying ways according to the textures and other physical characteristics. Water colours will react a certain way on a particular texture of paper and artists learn the ways that these interactions work. They can manipulate the images through building this knowledge base, and I would imagine it takes practice, time, scaffolding knowledge to eventually produce something that was built out of hours of interactions. I firmly believe that true talent comes from how much dedication is afforded to a particular aspect of the mind, whether it's visual arts, dance, music, or whatever you choose to do.

Stand On The Shoulders Of The Greats

Chapter one in "The Arts As Meaning Makers" text talks about standing on the shoulders of the greats and putting theory to practice. It talks about the great theorists that have influenced the framework of education throughout history like Piaget, Maslow, Erikson and Vygotsky. Once broken down, the theories can be used in any facet of education such as art work. Art work requires creativity but what is creativity? Psychological theories can help to analyze the human mind and how it works to produce meaning and I think about Sir Ken Robinson's video on the changing paradigms really speaks well to how education currently does not breed creativity. I may be very naive, and probably am, to how simple it may be to extract creativity out of students however this is something that I am very interested in. I am interested in learning how to interact with a student in such a way that will produce things such as divergent thinking and practicing how to think outside the box. The current education system concentrates the classroom with so much students that it is difficult to really move around intellectually in the classroom to produce freedom to explore more artistic avenues of the mind. I'm talking about the curriculum that one has to explore in a short school year. It would be different if a teacher had students for multiple years to help to develop students in a certain way that would require time and focused long term goals, except students often change teachers one year after another. Like I said, i could be very naive when it comes to being able to affect significant creative changes in a student in a short period of time. I will find out when the time comes to explore more.

Seasonality

One way to produce successful lessons in elementary schools is to use the season to your advantage. Using the seasons as a theme, is a great to way make connections with the world around the students. An effective teacher will utilize aspects of the seasons help to provide meaningful connections that will last with the students, such as fall, winter, or summer colours.

This leaf bug art exercise is a great example of using fall to provide a exciting way to manipulate leaves and the change of colours. The idea is very simplistic, yet creates a final product that screams creativity that young students would really enjoy. Upon presenting a lesson on the way that colours change in the fall, the teacher could present an exemplar and get the students excited to go and find their own leaves to make their own bugs. The activity could involve students going outside for a quick walk to find a leaf of their own, assuming there are leaves around to pick up. 

Considering that Christmas is quickly approaching, it provides a great opportunity for the students to create art work that celebrates Christmas, or winter for that matter for those who do not celebrate Christmas. These stars could be produced to hang on the Christmas tree or to simply represent the stars in the sky. Creating meaning is what a teacher does to provide learning opportunities for students that spark interest. Interest and engagement are at the top of the list in terms of successful instruction and utilizing seasons will always be a great basis from which to develop art lessons. 

Art Gallery Visit

Start.

I always appreciate being forced to go to the art gallery. I just think that it is so out of the norm from what I would normally do in my own life due to my own personal influences. I believe that it really takes somebody to take you some place new, or perhaps you have the fortune to stumble across new things in your life. I have been to the Two Rivers Art Gallery twice now since the start of the program and I enjoyed myself a lot each time. I wonder now, how often they change their shows.

There was one piece that I liked, which was the one that looked like a kaleidoscope image. It was made on a computer from digital photos that were taken of trees. The images were altered to make patterns that were meant to look like totems. I thought the final product looked amazing, because I was able to stare at the image for a long time to see new things within the design. The piece was meant to represent the clear cuts that are scattered across B.C.'s landscape. The clear cuts sometimes make patterns on the land that are damaging to the ecosystem, and they disrupt the balance of life. The images can provoke thoughts about clear cuts, simply because the images are made of wood they are made into intricate patterns; and the fact that the print was given a clear cut theme. This allows the audience to take those elements and create something with them in their own mind. The artist has presented what their intention is with the piece, and given the audience something to look at and work with, and the rest is up to the voyeur. This is similar to a process in teaching. You make your intention clear, present material for the student to work with, and allow them to make meaning through guidance.

I also would like to comment on the beheading. I really liked the fact that the host brought up the fact that children are looking at some pretty gruesome things online and becoming desensitized to brutal images on the computer. I do not know what is out there, as I do not have interests in looking at really brutal things like "Faces of Death" or anything like this. I am not, however, ignorant to its existence and I think that all parents should be aware of these types of things on the internet. It brought about my renewed awareness of these things and for that I am grateful.

End.

Rap/ Hip Hop

Hold on a moment and think about everything that you know about rap and hip hop and your pre-conceived notions about what rap and hip hop are as a genre.

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Done? Ok. I know rap and hip hop as a genre that I have grown up with since I was a young boy as a quickly evolving genre. My musical influences vary greatly from my mother, my step-father, my real father, my culture, MTV, Muchmusic, and community gatherings. I'm talking about Roxette (I do not know why Roxette was the first to be on this list, and I will not edit my selection process to emphasize any one group that comes to my current mind space), Deena Carter, Chicago, Boston, Whitesnake, CCR, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Wu Tang Clan, Eminem, Bon Jovi, Smashing Pumpkins, Pantera, Slayer, Tool and the list can go on and on. The one genre that has dominated my headspace is rap or hip hop. It is forever changing and evolving into new and exciting forms. I remember back when the Beastie Boys were so game breaking because they were a white group coming into a black dominated game. It is known that rap and hip hop are dominated by the African American culture and will continue to do so into the future. I think that the genre often gets a bad rap (no pun intended) for it's content considering many people deem it to be all about disrespecting the female gender and glorifying drug use and gang warfare. I can not be ignorant to the fact that there are certainly many "artists" that do exploit these avenues, however any truly good artist is not going to be simply "spitting" out any old lyric. 

Some true artists, such as Kanye West, have the ability to bring the art form to another level. Rap has always pushed boundaries in politics through cultural expression, and this is one of the main objectives in the art form of rap, which is a platform from which to express yourself and your issues. Having said this, and I am having a hard time keeping this short, but Kanye West's new album Yeezus is another boundary pusher. His album previous to this, was considered to be one of his greatest achievements and could be considered almost perfect artistically. Now he feels like he has the free reign to try new things with his art form because he has already made "perfect." Now he can make "different" and force people to think about new ways to change the sounds and move the genre into a different direction because at the moment it can be considered stale, or stagnant. I think people really need to be vulnerable when it comes to art and making things that matter. I think that people need to be brave and trusting when it comes to expressing themselves artistically in controversial ways. Not all art work needs to be controversial to be great, but for those that do provide controversial pieces, are important because it forces one to see things in a new way, and that in itself is very important. I can respect Kanye for that. 

This is an interview that I watched, that helped me understand Kanye's understanding of his process and what it means to him. He is articulate and really takes his art work seriously. I think writing and poetry can be a great art form from which to express yourself. Moving into the future, it is difficult to say something new and exciting. Regardless, it is fun to try and it would be a great activity for children to practice rhyming and getting their point across.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2T0fMkZoMo

Art Show

I thought the art show was great. The T&L building foyer offered a great space for everyone to mingle and view each others art work. I was really blown away by the art work that was displayed, and I wished that I had spent more time with my class on my project because i think they would have had a lot more fun with something they could take their time with. I suppose that comes with good organization, time, and effort to produce good results. Looking back, I think I certainly could have sacrificed some Language Arts lessons for more art content, and that would have had a good effect. I was glad to see what our young students are capable of and i think all you teacher candidates did a wonderful job with your art projects. I was certainly glad with what my students accomplished in a short period of time.

I also thought about how limited one may be considering what a school can provide. You may be limited by what materials are present in the school. This is where the teacher can sacrifice some of their hard earned money to provide the students with extra materials to create something that they might not be able to create otherwise given budget limitations. I was impressed with the teacher candidate's dedication to the project, with offering their own materials and such. Great effort! I will certainly in the future be looking into good projects to do with the class, and that comes with time just like any other subject in the curriculum. 

Here are some photos that I took with my camera:

Absent Without Leave

Hi everybody!

It has been a long time since I have made a post on this blog. This is not due to disinterest, however it is quite the opposite. I am so very interested in art work that I find it difficult to post random things about art work without having much feeling behind my posts. I want to post, and I think about posting, but i do not have the time to really post something significant that I can be proud of. Art is something that I take very seriously because I really appreciate the amount of time and energy real artists put into their art work. I appreciate the process. With that being said I will be posting some things that I have been thinking about since my last blog post, some of which are not going to be of great interest. I will try my best to make them interesting, engaging and thought provoking.

Oh, and here is a random picture of a funny animal photobomb.