Claymation, Earthworks and Collage
Posted by daz1246 on February 8, 2008
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:
