Expressions of a child

For my children’s drawing assignment, I observed Katie, a grade 4 student at Bayview Elementary school in Vancouver.  I have been a long term sitter for Katie and her younger twin siblings, and in this period of time, I have learned alot about her personality, and her work ethic.  Katie took the task of drawing a self-portrait very seriously and she was very focused; I noticed that she would push her tongue against edges of the inside of her mouth mimicking her careful pencil strokes.  She made little conversation; asking questions of uncertainity, only to quickly put her pencil to the paper and start drawing.  After drawing a few sections of her portrait, she would pause, back away from her work and observe what she just drew, and she would make adjustments and add-ons where she felt necessary.   It was interesting to observe a student who is so meticulous and focused in her work, and commited to her work. 

When she was finished her portrait I asked her why she didn’t add ears, and she responded saying that she didn’t draw them because they don’t show underneath her headband.  I asked her if she wanted to colour her portrait; she told me that portraits can be either black and white or in colour and she decided to leave her portrait black and white.  Katie showed to be very familiar with art as she has been exposed to many forms in her school.

  

I then asked Katie to draw of picture of anything she likes and she decided to draw a portrait of a flower she had seen when her class went on a field trip to the the Vancouver Art Gallery.  The same focus and perfection went into drawing this flower; she had controlled felt markings, she was not easily distracted, and she would go over her work from time to time erasing pencil marks that she had not coloured.  Before she drew her picture, she asked me what to draw, how to draw it, and whether she should colour it.  She was soon to start her masterpiece.    

 

Listening to a child ask questions when given a task is interesting and at the same time educational. As adults, when we are told what to do, we are able and educated enough to go ahead and do it; on the other hand, there is a sense of uncertainty and shyness that lives inside young children and this characteristic, I believe, becomes less prominent as confidence develops.  When I gave her directions to be as creative as she wants in her drawings, Katie still sometimes asked me what she should draw.  It is important that we, as teachers, encourage our students to be creative and inventive, and at the same time, show positive reinforcement to build their confidence level and self-esteem.

We, as adults, have had years of experience working according to rules and I believe that children should learn rules, but we should help develop their ability to think independently and creatively when the situation arises.  In our EDUC 310 semiar, I learned about enabling constraints, a term meaning that we should allow our students to be inventive and creative in their contributions while conforming to the rules that may be administered by the teacher.  Thus, in a classroom, it is a goal of the teacher to teach students to be independent thinkers while at the same time being clear about what the expectations and rules are, that is if there are any rules.  

Claymation, Earthworks and Collage

CLAYMATION 

We did not line up outside the classroom today because we already knew our colour groups and we knew what tables to sit at. The first portion of the class was spent discussing our jigsaw readings with our groups and the activities from the previous session. Our classroom management strategies were now set in place so that class ran very smoothly.

We watched a video on Andy Goldsworthy, an artist who creates scultpures out of materials readily available in nature. His scultpures are beautiful and almost surreal, as the artist takes us away from the mundane world into a world of creativity and imagination. The video was introducing us to artists, new and unusual forms of art, and showing us that creativity is in the eye of the beholder.

The video was followed by an introduction to the art of clay-making where we were given the task of creating anything we wanted to. Our professor showed us techniques in playing, cutting, and moistening the pieces of clay and then let us have the rest of class time to work on our creations; we used scultping utensils to make fine cuts in the clay and create texture, we massaged the clay in our hands to get it warm and soft, and we learned that clay gets dry fairly quickly so the key is to moisten the piece of clay with water. 

It is important to go over safety rules in the activity with students, especially in the primary grades. In a primary class I would go over the safety rules in working with clay; I would tell them that they are not to taste the clay, and they are not to touch their faces or eyes until they have washed their hands with soap and water.

Lesson Plan-grades k-3

http://k-12.ccad.edu/lesson01.htm

Aristists who work with clay:

http://www.earlinegreen.com/ (very interesting)

http://www.lundinkudo.com/ (Really cool)

EARTHWORKS and COLLAGE

Today was our first art class of the elementary education program; the first day going into art class as a student with the mentality of a teacher. Our professor greeted us outside his classroom door and asked us to line up and one by one, we would pick a coloured fuzzy craft ball and enter the classroom to find our corresponding coloured table. Our first lesson with him was thus a lesson on class managment strategies. We then sat in our coloured groups and were asked to pick a group leader for each group. This was great lesson because this sort of practice creates accountability between students, focus on the stduents and away from the teacher, and it establishes responsibilty. Right from the started our professor administered ‘the clap’ as a way to control the classes attention.

The session included many activities that were centred around exposure to the world of art in a variety of ways and in different mediums. We laided down on the floor to observe a different perspective of the world, we went for an outdoor walk to observe the many mundane articles in nature that we may not usually take note of, we created collages and creative displays of our designated colour.

Green is all around us

dislay of colour

The definition of the word, collage, according to Sayr’s second edition, A World of Art, is “a work made by pasting various scraps or pieces of materia-cloth, paper, photographs-onto the surface of a composition”. Our professor put on the music of Carmen for us to listen to and, with felt pens, we were asked to draw, with no particular rules or instructions, the sounds that we heard in the music composition. After the initial creation, we were asked to rip up our art work and, listening to the piece of music again, paste the pieces onto a piece of paper in a collage format. I was not distraught at having to rip up my masterpiece but I could see how younger children may be unhappy at this request. In a classroom setting I would probably tell the children the course of events ahead of time because I would not be so sure that the element of mystery would go over well with them. On the other hand, I think it is good to know your class before assumptions are made on the creativity of an activity.

I agree with the raw definition of collage however I think collaging entails much more. I think that it is more about ‘thinking outside the box’, personal expression, subjectivity, creativity, and even telling a story. The creative process in creating a collage, for some, requires only slapping pictures on a piece of paper, but for others it may be much more and may entail deeper thoughts.

My father and I went to Europe two summers ago and after the trip, for his birthday, I made him a collage of our memories from teh trip. The collage tells a story of our trip from centre to periphery; we started in London, then we went to Athens to my family’s house, then we set sail for the island of Santorini, and Mykonos.

Lesson Plan-grades 3-8

http://www.dickblick.com/lessonplans/2005collagebook/

Artists:

Karen Marcus creates natural collages with different textures.  Visit her site and enjoy:

http://www.artists.ca/gallery/kmarcus.html

Contour Drawings and Finger Puppets

In art class today we completed a number of drawing exercises that we could use in our classrooms.  In our first assignment we were asked to draw a map illustrating ‘a day in the life of me’ and each map was unique in a sense that everyone has different routines throughout the day, and a different route of transportation to and from school.  It was interesting to see the diversity in our classroom, especially with the everyone getting out of bed in the mornings.

We then were introduced to contour drawing.  Contour drawing is a drawing, drawn in pencil, that shows the visible border of an object with as much detail to give the drawing dimension.  We first drew a blind contour drawing of an object and then added definition to our drawings; I chose to draw my water bottle and it turned out quiet nice.  A technique that we have been learning is cross-hatching to create shadow, dimension, and definition.       

We also experimented with plaster making finger puppets; when working with plaster one needs water and plaster sheets cut into thin strips.  Water transforms the hard plaster into a soft sticky like substance that is used to create scultpures.  The key to making sculptures out of plaster is to make sure the plaster is dry before you move your object or paint your object.  We were making finger puppets and some of the people at our table learned that if you apply plaster to your finger when it is bent, you will not be able to take it off when it is dry.  The lesson here is to make a sculpture that can be left in same shape dry as it is wet. Another fun activity to do with older grades is making masks out of paper mache; this activity is interactive in a different way and it requires the students to be comfortable with using the material on their faces.

I think this activity would be great for students, starting at a grade 3 level.  In organizing a messy activity like this with enough class time so students can think of an idea, cut the plaster, create their object (it drys very quickly), and clean up, I would allow 45 minutes.  The teacher would have to talk to the students about safety around plaster: do not touch your eyes or face with plaster on your hands.  In this session there is not enough time to paint the scultpures but that can be done in the next session.    

Paper mache caricature finger puppet of a grey cat 

Paper mache caricature artifact brought back from Greece. I couldn’t live without it!!!!!!!!

My favorite book from my childhood was Angelina Ballerina; my mom made me a framed model of this storybook character that I still have on my wall.

Lesson plans for primary grades:

plaster of paris:

http://www.kinderart.com/littles/little14.shtml

http://www.art-rageous.net/Papier-MacheBowl-LP.html

contour drawings:

http://www.kinderart.com/drawing/blind.shtml

http://www.teachartathome.com/Shape.html

Artists:

http://www.artinthepicture.com/artists/Piet_Mondrian/

5 elements of design/5 principles of design

5 Elements of Design

Artwork can be in black and white or it can be in colour. There a many different uses for colour; the choice of colour in a piece of work can determine the mood and emotion in the work, for example, bright colours may symbolize happiness and excitement while dark colours may symbolize sadness or gloominess. Or, dark blue colours can be used to represent dimension, for example in illustrating the different depths of water in an ocean scene. Primary colours are red, yellow, and blue and these colours can be mixed together to create secondary colour of purple, green, and orange.

Pattern is a repetitive motif or design in an art piece. This repetitive design is a decorative tool that can be appeasing to the eye. Patterns are applied to objects such as rugs, woven objects, clothing, and, patternscan also be applied to art work.

There are many different textures in the world around us, for us to experience by touching and feeling. We feel rough surfaces, smooth surfaces, squishy surfaces, and hard surfaces. Texture can also be present in art work and this element is created by overlapping line and shape with drawing ustensils, and by using the technique, cross-hatching.

Diagonal, vertical, horizontal, curved, and broken lines are found everwhere in the world around us; it is a matter of whether we are aware of these simple elements. Lines can create numerous configurations and are an element in our everyday world in everything we see.

Lines creates shape by outlining that shape; for example, lines create circular shapes, oval shapes, square shapes, and triangular shapes etc. Shapes can also be irregular, such as a paint spill that can outlined but does not have a uniform shape.

5 Principles of Design

An object becomes a form when it takes on a three dimensional shape. Artists use form in their art work; in pieces where they want to show the dimensions of an object, and in sculptures with free standing dimensional objects.

The principle of design that deals with the creation of action. In still pictures and paintings, artists and illustrators haev the ability to give the illusion of movement.

An art and design principle that is concerned with the arrangement of one or more elements in a work of art so they appear symmetrical, even, or asymmetrical, uneven, in a design.

The element of emphasis, a principle of design, can be described as the focal point in a picture. There can be detail in the picture or painting however there is one detail that is either centred, or enlarged and emphasized.

Contrast is a prinicple of design created by using opposites near or beside one another, such as a light object next to a dark object, or a rough texture next to a smooth texture.

Lesson Plans-grades 1-5

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtMathPatternsEaster-SpringEgg15.htm

grades K-2

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtScienceColor-EggCartonPaintPalettesIdeaK2.htm