Week 13/more updates

The creative wall evolves....  :)

Week 14 Artistic Thinking/ Gude

Week 14 Artistic Thinking/ Gude; Read and Reflect #1 Quotes from Gude notes.

7th grader "A world with out color"

7th grader "inner and outer peace" response

Well, I would have to agree with all the quotes whole heartedly, so choosing one is difficult.  That said, I have selected the last one because I feel it is more of an umbrella for the rest and other issues as well.

“It is our job as contemporary artist/educators to teach the most useful. Complex, artistically sophisticated version of art education that we can now imagine.”

     I remember years back when I first heard the term “Outsider Art”.  I wondered what the heck that was and was it a sort of “sub version” of art. Shortly after that, I learned of the Visionary Art Museum (I was living in Baltimore at the time) I went and was completely blown away at the raw beauty of the work I saw. I soon discovered the publication “Raw Vision”.  These moments were radical turning points for me in respect to what I felt expression could be and how it could be realized. These moments impacted my own art, but even more importantly, they impacted me as a teacher. I think that maybe I became an “Outsider artist/teacher” 20 years ago.

Those moments of profound discovery shattered many beliefs for me about art and education. I wonder just what the majority of artist/educators can truly imagine with out also imagining the current constraints in place.  Are artist educators aware of the ingrained training and beliefs they have inherited, can they imagine beyond the current rigid curriculum and standards? YES! It is a scary and risky thing to break free of that, but isn’t that he kind of thinkers and learners we want our students to be?  Gude states at the opening of her article “ to teach skills and concepts while creating opportunities to investigate and represent ones owns experience-generating personal and shared meaning” (pg 6 Art Education 2007). If we can start there,  we go everywhere from there.

   “By its Nature, art is an open concept that is always evolving and changing (pg 7, Weitz 1962).  LIFE is the same, people are too....  Recently,I was asked what my current art work looks like, and I stopped and felt what that question really means to me.  My teaching is my art really, my classroom is the canvas which is full of vibrant potential, that which resides in the heart of each of my students.  None of which I control, but some of which I conduct, compose, orchestrate.  The energy and passion and the 

hunger and freedom to play while also balancing that with discipline and perseverance.  Responding and relating and evolving.  That is where the greatest art happens.  It is in this, I feel the quote I selected from Gude is realized in my own classroom.

     If we as teachers can operate from this perspective, then stop for a moment and consider its effects on students.  Kids by their very nature are full of ideas, imagination and wonder. If we do not impose limits on that, they wont either. To illustrate this, this term at my school I offered a one of the students favorite electives “Altered Books” (used to be visual journal but when Borders closed my access to cheap hard bound sketch books was gone so we went with existing books) I offer this class each year, sometimes twice because the kids beg for it.  I come up with a new theme each time.  This time it is “environments”  last time was “personal mythology”.  It is a class where we explore deeply very personal ideas and perspectives about just about everything. This is balanced with play and experimentation.  The same is true for me. (As I work along with them) But also as a teacher. 

      I sat and wondered one day as I was cooking up a new entry, what they would do if I did not allow them to use found images, but gave the assignment of “Text as Image”  Combined with the statement “Toxic Environment” That was the assignment.  That was the only thing I give them. They are not allowed to as “Can I?” questions.... Below are some examples of their solutions.

8th graders "toxic environment"

8th grader: "Toxic Environment"

Another was as simple this: "Your inner and your outer peace" Use a minimum of three different materials and cover a minimum of two pages:

7th grader "Inner and Outer Peace"

6th grader "Inner and Outer Peace"

    

The more open we are as educators, the more open we allow our students to be. Being able to respond to the unknown with confidence is a crucial skill in our rapidly evolving world. This skill traverses all disciplines and units them.

Read and reflect #2

Value One:

It is difficult to choose one again because most of them are at work in one way or another in my classroom....

“Engaging mess over keeping things neat”

      I selected this because I feel it can address many things on different levels.

There is the obvious, making a physical mess with materials.  I allow my students tremendous freedom to experiment and play with materials. More often than not it looks like a bomb went off in the art room.  They can move around the room, sit on the floor or in a corner, even under a table if space is at a premium. They play, make mistakes, learn from that, share their discoveries and its such a pleasure to watch the evolution of their understanding as time progress’s. That said, I also hold them accountable for cleaning up and taking responsibility for “messes” 

     I would say this also applies to idea. Getting messy can mean getting uncomfortable. Pushing ones self past that first easy response and digging deeper for meaning, then taking the risk of putting out there, even if it doesn’t “look right”. Sometimes the physical mess helps facilitate that. 

     I would also say this idea pertains to lessons and units, if I notice my class is going in another direction or needs something different, I am willing to abandon my first idea and together we forge a new one. I do not struggle to control the direction of a lesson.  It is a dialogue.

Value Two:

There are no values I disagree with... So I will look at one I do not use a lot (by the nature of what I do things are touched on, just not emphasized).  My rational has been so far, that my kids are young and sheltered and some of these values make more contextual sense at a high school level.  That said, I am examining this belief and am deciding that I will include more emphasis on it as I develop my new iPad lab class.

“Investigating how culture generates meaning over projects that merely mimic commercial culture” 

I think sometimes with my teaching I make a choice about what it is the kids need most to work with during a unit.  This can change as the unit progresses and it is flexible.  As I sit and reflect more on this value, it occurs to me I do teach this general concept in Literature, although we do not always hit it from the visual but from the idea of belief and verbal message.... What we inherit with out question vs. Authentic formation of personal idea and perception and then expression of said idea. (Im having a minor epiphany as I write this) So thinking about that it would make sense to jump right to the visual aspect as well......) hmmmmm.. So thinking about that an idea is forming for my Literature group next term... Depending on what book we read and what ideas we are exploring, I will find a way to link the two concepts and include a visual exploration and response..

Progress/week 13

The "creative wall" as its come to be known is evolving with kids clamoring to work on it, thought I would post a few updated photos.

fOr fUn

This has nothing to do with anything except it's a good example of playing I suppose.  In one of my classes, we decided that since all the Summer and Fall color was gone, we needed to spruce things up a bit and created an explosion of color at the entrance of the school.... :)  We are eager for the snow to come to really see the effect of the color.

Week 13/Play, its beginning!

OK.  Criteria is up, some students are collection words (sponataneouly on thier own) and a couple have fearlessly jumped in to make the first responses!  OK... lets see where this goes!

Week 13 Artisitic thinking PLAY! (aka stretch and explore)

OK.. WOOT WOOT!

I am all about this play stuff.  AS I was reading and listening some of the other ideas Ive been "scratching" at suddenly exploded into an idea I am going to try with ALL my students. My students are used to working independently, are also used to working along side me and love to play.  As Tim Brown put it in his talk "In studies of kids playing, its been shown time after time that kids who feel secure, that are in a trusted environment, they're the ones that feel most free to play". Well, I agree... so lets see how free my kids really feel!

I want to create a large (5 foot by 6 foot) collaborative playful peice.  It is voluntary participation, cooperative in that they must respect marks and meaning made by a previous student. Students may go to it as they wish in any class I am teaching. No more than 2 at a time working to have adequate space. In order to do this I had to redesign (for me that menas cleaning house and moving shelves) a corner of my room to make wall space I can put paper up on.  Done.

Now... what am I up too???  (Ive been giddy and jumping up and down and giggling all day.... this is peaking the students curiosty)  Becuase I am interested in how the community at my school contributes to creativity, I am going to make the theme of this piece about creativity.  Students will be invited to come and contribute to the surface of the paper in anyway they want with only a few criterion;            1. Honoring the contribution of another.
2. Considering what is present and how thier addition may alter or change meaning, or enhance meaning.
3. Develop the thought they want to express to make it personal not general.
4. Employ excellent craftsmanship.
5. Address the idea of creativity.

This is the beginning premise.  To get them excited and create a Spring board, I have spent most the morning cutting up words.  Im going to begin this by introducing that "refrigerator magnet" idea.  You know the ones?  Come in a clear box and people at parties have a marvoulous time making crazy sentences or beautiful poems...  YUP, those. They will be available to use, as well as letters and any image they feel is appropriate to express thier idea. (They may also use paint, oil pastels, other collage materials etc)

I have no clue where this will go, but I am very excited about it.  I will post images as it begins.

Artistic Thinking/Studio stuff, glass etc Week 12

OK.  First try.  Not too bad for having created a floral in about three years.

     So if you can imagine painting with glass that is fluid, somewhere in the 1700 degree range (give or take) and building from the inside out, you have my technical challenge .  This is also an Italian soft glass.  I know, what the heck does that mean?  It means it is more sensitive to temperature fluctuation and there for prone to cracking or exploding if temperatures range to much.
   Of course, now that Ive gotten my feet wet (or fingers hot if were going to be literal), I cant wait to get in there and do it again!
    I am also envisioning drawings.  Im in trouble though.  There will be a battle between getting class work and making art!

The orb is about 2.5 inches across.

Week 12 Playing with Glass and Kosslyn's Theory

After many hours sitting at my torch, I have an orb annealing in the kiln at 986 degrees.  It will have to ramp down over the next 18 hours so I can not photograph it properly until then. (I have a sneak peak in the kiln....I hope I didn't ruin it by doing that!) It was interesting to be back at the torch.  I realized, like everything else I do, I couldn't keep it simple.  Hmm a theme....  I also was reminded how different my process is from the 4 steps  Kosslyn writes about.

After spending 5 delicious hours in my studio, my own process is more like:
1. Get a big complicated idea... (or simply the desire to create is enough sometimes)
2. Sit and feel it.... I get out of my head.  I do not visualize until I've felt it, then I break it down from the inside out as visual components and skills.
(actually, this is the same way I plan lessons and units )
3. Begin the actual process of manifestation, and in that everything transforms because as I work with the feeling and the materials a conversation begins and I get out of the way so the magic can happen.

Over the years I have developed lessons and a general culture in my own classroom that echoes some of this process.  Of course, any time a student wants to sketch or work with ideas their own way they can and do... I step out of the "expert shoes" and suggest to my kids they have their own process to find.  And find it they do. My way is one way and thats all. I believe it is helpful that I do not ask them to stay fixated on the end result but allow them to respond to the process in the moment and this allows them to let go of expectation and that greatly reduces frustration. It also gives them the freedom to authentically alter an idea as they are inspired to do so.  This is not an escape hatch if the student does not like what they're doing however....  :)

Week 12 Artistic Thinking

Week 12 Engage and persist reflection

Motivating and instilling passion:

ME; As an artist, most things motivate me.  I am a fairly passionate person and if anything, have to keep a lid on it so I do not over whelm the process (and those around me) I get ideas constantly so I have to be selective about the ones I want to work with.  I am pretty sure all the things that bubble up come from the same pool screaming for my attention and each bubble that comes up is another attempt to get me to stop what Im doing and focus on it.  So sooner or later that does happen and then in a way all the bubble ideas come together.  

My Students:  It doesn't seem to be much of an issue.  All art classes are electives and each term kids who are in my classes want to be there.  I think it helps I often work along side them expressing my enthusiasm as I go.  The classroom can often feel more like an art studio with lots of artists in it creating and sharing and talking and moving around.

Cultivating sustained attention

ME; For me the challenge is finding the time for sustained attention.  Sustained attention means at least a 4 hour or more block for several days in a row.  I can sustain the attention but not the action due to scheduling commitments.  That said, when I am working on one of my large drawings (which can take anywhere from two months to a year)  I leave the drawing up and visit it often.  So it is in my awareness, and we have a silent dialogue.

My students: I can not say how it came to be really, except there is a culture, in the school, of excellence.  That expectation sets up an environment for sustained attention.  The first mark, or response is hardly the last.  It is a clue of what is to come if attention remains focused.  Somehow, sustaining attention is not the problem.  I build all projects as a layered process with somewhat open ended time (the end of the trimester being the only true deadline)

Combating frustration

ME; Frustration represents epiphany.  I know though years of experience that if I work through frustration with out worry that something good will come of it.  Honestly, the greatest frustration is not having the time to really sink into my artwork for prolonged periods of time.

My Students: Like Jason mentioned to one of his students who thought her work looked stupid "Its too early to be critical"  Im sure Ive mentioned this before but I often make the comparison to a young child.  A students early investments in a piece are the beginnings.  Not the ends.  I ask them to imagine their art work is like a two year old. Would they give up on a two year old for bad behavior?  No, they know the youngster has growing to do and requires patience and guidance.  The same is true for their work.  I also point out the them that the worst thing that will happen is that they produce something they didn't like, big deal, so what?  But they will certainly learn from that and make a different choice next time.

Working hard to meet a deadline

ME: Well, Im not big on dead lines.  I do it because there are areas in the culture Ive agreed too participate in, but as far as my art work I do not impose dead lines on what I do.

My Students:  Dead lines are loosely defined if at all.  We give a general intention (lets take the next four class periods to work through this idea and then see where were at) For the students who want additional time my room is open for them at recess.  Often, as a group we will decide to extend the time or shorten it as needed. If a student is deeply invested in something and wants to go way beyond but everyone else (who may be ready for a new assignment), I will give them the time to go on independently.

Developing the ability to delay gratification

ME:  That has more or less been forced on me (see above...LOLOL)

My students: This has developed organically over time. As younger  students come up into classes, they observe the olders working, developing idea, re thinking, letting go of one way for another. They may work quickly trying to complete something they believe I want but soon realize it has considerably less to do with me and most everything to do with them.  They get out of a project, what they put in.  Since they witness this in others, they soon take the leap and try it as well.  Some students take longer to take that leap, but almost everyone does sooner or later.

Read and react to readings/Envisioning: 

Scratching.  I like this idea, like scratch board. My scratching sort of works like this.  I see a huge finished big picture piece... Its actually more of a feeling than an image but there is definitely a visceral quality to it.  Then I start scratching away at the surface of it.  Like an archeologist, or a geologist looking at all the layers underneath.  I have to excavate before I can begin, go back before I can move forward.

I don’t mind being caught in the act of scratching...  it might be perplexing to others because it happens in feverish attacks, at in opportune moments. 

My scratching this week has involved a lot of looking at nature.  I spend a fair bit of time outside and with the intention of imagining capturing things in glass, as I look at leaves, bark grass etc, I imaging building it from the inside out with color.  Ive also spent some time revisiting Paul Stankards work.  At one time he was my mentor and worked closely with me for about a year.  It was an incredible honor to have had that time.  He is one of the greatest glass artists of out time. Ive posted a photo of one his orbs here so you can see!   What I lov about this kind of glass work is the technical challenge it 

presents, especially for someone like me who has a limited studio.  Pauls work is exquisite.  It has been my challenge overt the years to create the same minute detail using only a flame (I do not have a glory hole or a vacuum to help me)  

I am eager to get into my studio to play.

Week 11 Artistic Thinking: Creative Spaces

Since I am reuniting myself with the transformative experience of melting glass, I decided to share the images where my most creative experiences manifest.  So below are photos of my glass studio (which I shall renovate in a bit), and also my lil office in my house where I do all my other creative thinking.  Both are sanctuaries of a sort for me.  (Although the spiders in the glass studio are going to have to relocate....)

For my studio experience I will be remembering the qualities of melted flowing color.  I intend to sit at my torch and see what happens.  Muscle memory will kick in Im sure.  Whether I create small orbs or play with beads, or make murrini I am not certain.  I will not know until I sit down and the glass and fire speaks to me and we begin our dance.

 

 
This is my messy but love little office.

It is where I will spend my time playing with IMovie on my Ipad so I can figure out how to teach this unit when my Ipads arrive!

Week 11 Studio assignment Artistic Thinking

Hmmm  what to do what to do.  I will begin by listing the potentials....  (This is actaully partially how I scratch, just thinking about it all I will sometimes gravitate to something more than snomething else.)
    So I could (and really want to)

A: begin a huge piece where I can start creating a map of (down the road) dissertation ideas and thought...  The paper is on the wall, 5 feet by 7

B: Develop a drawing (same size also up on the wall).... Less inclined to do this one until my husband is out of town and I can devote at least a solid 20 hours to it.

C. I have been preparing to do a mosiac on my kitchen wall which I am itching to do...

D.  I also have been anxious to do a stained glass piece for the front door....

E. Work with Imovie on my IPad to prepare for teaching my students this stuff third trimester.  Create a documentary of some sort.....

F.  Ive been working some with photography this term in a new class Im teaching and it has inspired me to create some other peices as well....

G. Get back into my glass studio... Ive been away from it for a long time and am aching to reunite my self with fire..... (not to be confused with setting myself ON fire....)

Leaning towards G..... (Since A & B are kinda not 5-6 week things...)

time time time!!!!!  Is sleping a criterion for creativity?

Read and Reflect Week 11 Artistic Thinking

    After reading Chapter 4 in ReWired, Ive been sitting with the ideas shared about uni-tasking and multitasking.
    As I sit and contemplate this idea, I cant help but arrive at the place that any truly authentic artistic process is multitasking.  It isn't as obvious as having a text message and music and all the other exterior stimuli mentioned in the chapter, but consider this....
   When one arrives at the moment of creative insight, there are multiple things occurring.  On one level is indeed the subject of technique or craft.  Manipulating material is a task which requires the student/artist to pull from past experiences and knowledge. Introduce mixed media and instantly you're multitasking purely on a physical level of art production.  Add to that "idea"  or "intention"  This is another layer of the process which now requires the artist or student to marry concept with technique.  Of course, initially this might be done with sketches or plans or maps or what have you, which assists the artist in realizing the big picture and likely the artist will notice and be open to multiple paths to that place.... is this not another layer in the multitasking layer cake?
     I would propose that most creative endeavors are internal (and somewhat intuitive) multi-tasking moments. It may appear, in a classroom that a student who is deeply involved in a painting or a drawing, that they are uni-tasking because the exterior stimuli may be limited, but I would argue that this seemingly uni-tasking picture is far more complex than that and as artists, guides, mentors and teachers, we help students protect that process by NOT deliberately introducing our ideas of "exterior" multitasking .
    Its a bit like the example of video gaming and the author points out that most IGen kids do not multi-task when playing video games because it  "demands much more of our mental resources"
    Nothing in life is a "uni-experience" So how can there truly be uni-tasking? As teachers (or any subject) tasks need to be creatively woven into the fabric of experiences we present to students.
    Multitasking is not the problem in my opinion, its the kind of multitasking (and what is inspiring it) that can enhance or inhibit learning.

Learning to Develop Craft:

   This was an interesting chapter for me. Early in the chapter (pg 33)  the author says "we almost never saw technique taught as an isolated skill"  I love the concept that students "think with these skills".
    The concept of "play" was also discussed and I believe this is extremely relevant  "when students are just playing around, Beth finds she can help them with technical issues in a low-stakes way with out threatening their self confidence." I whole heartedly agree.
     As I read through this chapter and considered how this manifests in my own classroom, I do a lot of "technique" and "studio practice" at varying degrees as students progress through the art program. In Jason's class he feels "With out becoming responsive to the properties of the material, entering into an ongoing dialogue with it, students are just implementing fixed ideas and might as well be using any material."I agree with him and believe this is a fundamental step in artistic development.
     Like Jason, I want my students to really get to know a material.  For this reason, in my mixed age group 3-5 classes, I place far more emphasis on development of technique.  Students are always challenged with personal idea as well, for it is there they find the investment and perseverance needed, but "playing with",  "experimenting with" and developing technique is the emphasis so when they arrive to my 6-8 classes, they already have an existing rich dialogue with many materials and can then, with confidence express deeper meaning and idea.
   
      Chapter nine made me smile as well, as I cant even count the number of times Ive suggested to my students they can not see.  They of course look at me like Im insane the first time but soon understand what I mean as I continually challenge them to "see it differently"  "see it bigger" Break the world down to an exquisite composition of light, texture, color shape etc.  Simple yet complex. Like the author states, "looking is not always seeing".
     This past Fall in my "Art of reflection class"  We took the kids out to their "spots" by the lake and asked them to "observe color"  Journal and reflect about what you see.  It was at the height of the colors turning so we had a fairly rich, but expected description of the colors they saw. "yellow, red, orange" The past four or five weekends I had spent afternoons raiding the paint swatch section of the local hard ware stores (dressing differently each weekend... tee hee hee) I had acquired probably 1500 swatches, you know, the kinds with value changes on them too?.... so more like 6000 variations of color.  I cut these up and gave a huge envelope to each student and sent them into the woods again.  The task?  To find all the colors.  They of course we incredulous....  "What?  where are we going to find electric lime?"  One student asked....  I just smiled and off we went.
      The kids eyes were opened for sure.  Just about every color, from electric lime to deep purples, turquoises etc were found.  The world became far more colorful from that day..
      I can say for certain, at my school, this skill does extend beyond the walls of the art room.