Automatic Drawing
Artist: Henri Matisse
Mini Compositions: Collage
Mini Compositions: Collage
Artist: Chuck Close
Self-Portraiture: Crayon, Water Color, Resistance
Self-Portraiture: Crayon, Water Color, Resistance
Artist: William Wegman
Artful Personifications: Mixed Media
Artful Personifications: Mixed Media
Unit 1: Identity Reflection
This unit was very enjoyable for me! Our studio assignments were a great way to help us express our identities, something that is not so easily defined. My mini-composition collage relates to the big idea of identity because I chose a theme that relates to something that is of great importance to me: travel. Personally, I find it important to see and experience as much as I can, and I’ve grown up with a family who has this same mind-set. I incorporated both the beach and the mountains; two places where we typically vacation. My self-portraiture piece related to the concept of identity because I chose a character that I felt I could relate to and shared similar characteristics with. The artful personifications piece relates to the theme identity because I chose a fairytale character and used an animal that I felt had similar characteristics. I chose Goldilocks and replaced her face with a golden retriever because I felt that both are sweet and innocent while also sharing similar physical traits such as gold locks of hair! Initially I found it hard to get my creative juices flowing, but once I broke that barrier I was much more comfortable with my artistic capabilities.
Doing studios like these in my classroom will be a great way to get my students excited for learning and will help to engage them with the content. Every studio we have done thus far would be valuable to the students, therefore I plan to use all in my future classroom! I think the first two are great for helping the students to become comfortable with who they are and what makes them unique, while the final studio will be great for teaching them to make connections that define other objects or characters. One element that may make these studios even stronger would be to incorporate a short written response that allows them to verbalize the connections that they made. I think this will also be useful to me as teacher to understand how their mind works! According to Eisner (2002), “Education can learn from the arts that open-ended tasks permit the exercise of imagination, and the exercise of imagination is one of the most important human aptitudes. It is imagination, not necessity, that is the mother of invention” (p. 7). It is important that my students have the opportunity to explore and express themselves in my classroom and incorporating art into my lessons allows them to do so. As Pink (2005) says in his book A Whole New Mind, “When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact” (p. 103). It is important that my students have the capacity to explore and express themselves. Doing studios like those we did in class will allow my students to exercise their creativity, creating a much more enriched educational experience.
References
Eisner, E. (2009). What education can learn from the arts. Art Education, 62(2), 22-25.
Pink, D. H. (2005). A Whole New Mind. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Doing studios like these in my classroom will be a great way to get my students excited for learning and will help to engage them with the content. Every studio we have done thus far would be valuable to the students, therefore I plan to use all in my future classroom! I think the first two are great for helping the students to become comfortable with who they are and what makes them unique, while the final studio will be great for teaching them to make connections that define other objects or characters. One element that may make these studios even stronger would be to incorporate a short written response that allows them to verbalize the connections that they made. I think this will also be useful to me as teacher to understand how their mind works! According to Eisner (2002), “Education can learn from the arts that open-ended tasks permit the exercise of imagination, and the exercise of imagination is one of the most important human aptitudes. It is imagination, not necessity, that is the mother of invention” (p. 7). It is important that my students have the opportunity to explore and express themselves in my classroom and incorporating art into my lessons allows them to do so. As Pink (2005) says in his book A Whole New Mind, “When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact” (p. 103). It is important that my students have the capacity to explore and express themselves. Doing studios like those we did in class will allow my students to exercise their creativity, creating a much more enriched educational experience.
References
Eisner, E. (2009). What education can learn from the arts. Art Education, 62(2), 22-25.
Pink, D. H. (2005). A Whole New Mind. New York, NY: Penguin Group.