first day of fieldwork 3

Tuesday was my first day at Rondout Valley High School.  My partner and I had just gotten our placements, so we didn't know that we were partners until we saw each other at the sign in desk.  Our mentor teacher met us and took us to her classroom.  She is very nice and easy going.  She also has a sense of humor.  Her classes are mostly ceramics, but she has one portfolio development class.  Since ceramics is a very time sensitive art form, she told us that we can teach our lesson to the portfolio development class that will be doing self portraits.

During her planning period, our mentor teacher let us look at her binders of lesson plans for each class.  She is very organized so it made it easy to understand what we were looking at, and it helped us to see what the students would be doing during our time at Rondout.  She starts each lesson with a powerpoint presentation where she introduces the lesson and provides historical context. 

Her ceramics classes have been working on an assignment called whimsical fish.  The students started by making two pinch pots and connected them to make the body of the fish.  Each student had a completely unique fish, and they had a lot of personality.  Some of the themes we saw were pirate fish, a mexican fish that was holding a taco in its fin, a french fish with a painter's palette, and some that didn't have a particular theme but were definitely had whimsical qualities.  One of the requirements was that the fish had to have texture.  The students approached this in very different ways.  Some used the ceramic tools, others used found objects to press into the body of the fish.  We noticed that some students were reluctant to put texture on their fish because they seemed to enjoy their fish's smooth body.  Another requirement was that the fish had to have a large hole to let air in and out during the firing process, or else the fish would explode.  Most students accomplished this by opening the mouth, and others cut out a hole in the bottom of the fish, as long as it wasn't going to sit flat on the shelf where the hole would be covered.  At the start of the class, the teacher went over attaching parts with slip and blending the parts together.  She also went over the importance of not having any parts that are too thick because they would blow up in the kiln.  The students showed a lot of creativity and technical skills.

The portfolio development class had been working on drawing skills, starting with contour.  After they learn contour, they will begin learning gesture.  The teacher explained to us that there has not been a constant drawing and painting teacher, which has made it challenging for the students to learn to draw.  She said that they were basically starting from scratch.  They are now working on self portraits using contour lines of different thickness.  Most of the students' work was well drawn, despite their problems with teachers in the past.  The students taking this class are very interested in art and want to pursue art in college.  This class helps them develop a portfolio to help them get into the schools they are interested in.  Many of the portraits were well-drawn, but a few of the students lacked the confidence needed to take their drawing skills further.  For example, one student chose to draw the back of her head, instead of her face, because she said she couldn't draw.  I thought this was very unfortunate because the image of the back of her head was not very interesting, and she could have done so much more if she had attempted her face.  Most of the students were done with the contour lines of their portraits and were moving on to color.  The materials used for color were their choice.  A lot of students chose to use water color, which looked great contrasted with the bold outlines that were done in marker.  Some students chose to work in colors true to life while others chose non-realistic colors for their portraits.  One thing that I noticed was their work was very expressive.  I was glad to see that they were able to include their personality in their self portraits instead of just worrying about their technical skills.

I am looking forward to teaching a lesson to this class with my partner.  Our mentor teacher is amazing and I think that this experience will teach us so much about being an art teacher.  Our mentor teacher has a great relationship with her students and her classroom is such a comfortable environment.  I am very happy with my placement at Rondout Valley High School.

Accordion Art Book

This Accordion Art book ties elements and principles of design with the principles of possibility layering and text and image.  The theme that is being investigated is an emotion or state of mind combined with text and shapes to create an interesting composition and explore ways of conveying emotion.

Instructions:
Find or draw images of emotions or states of minds.  The images can be found in magazines, on the internet, or any other sources.  Drawn images should be drawn and cut out of separate paper.  Find or draw at least 3 cut outs of either one emotion/state of mind or different ones to use as the theme.

Think about how you want the book to be laid out.  Each page can be a separate composition, or the whole book when unfolded can reveal a single, united composition. 

Choose a shape and cut it out from patterned paper, construction paper, or pages from a magazine.  Make  6-10 of this shape in different sizes, patterns, colors, and forms.  Different forms can be a shape that has the same basic qualities of your shape but has variations or distortions.  Distorting shapes can help convey the feeling of the emotion to the viewer.  You can also throw in some different shapes for contrast, but keep the composition unified by creating balance between the shapes. 

Play with different compositions before you glue.  Think about how you can create movement and make the viewers eyes follow a certain path through the book.  Think about how different parts can be layered on top of each other and how your composition can help describe your chosen emotion(s) or state(s) of mind.  Glue when you're ready.

With marker, ink, or colored pencil, include text that helps convey your chosen emotion(s) or state(s) of mind.  It can be anything you choose, for example, poetry, biography/autobiography, dialogue, single words, stories, or anything else that helps the viewer peek inside the minds of the images. 

Finish with any finishing touches to enhance your book.

back cover

"Principles of Possibility" Gude and "Approaches to Postmodern Artmaking" Barrett

Art education has followed a pattern of placing importance on the elements and principles of design that has dulled art classes for both students and teachers.  Art educators are now adding the importance of meaning making to curricula, resulting in more rich experiences in the art room.  Gude and Barrett's articles suggest ways of helping students put meaning in their artwork by teaching postmodern principles.

Guided play allows students to experiment and learn what they can do with different materials, without a teacher walking them through demonstrations.  This type of experimental play is often beneficial as motivation that leads up to a lesson.  Art teachers can also develop lessons and projects that develop self-awareness and explore diversity.  It is also important for students to be comfortable with their art making, even if others may see their work as badly drawn, because art should be valued for its expressionistic qualities and ability to evoke an emotional response.  Gude states:  "By introducing students to expressionistic artworks that students will perceive as 'cool,' ... teachers can draw students into valuing and creating artworks in more spontaneous and deeply felt manners."

In Barrett's article, he describes approaches to postmodern art-making.  The idea of simulation is interesting to me because he explains how the distinction between the real and the representation can dissolve, and only the representation survives.  He uses the example of Betty Boop, the popular cartoon.  Betty Boop was based on a singer named Helen Cane.  Helen Can had gotten famous by imitating a jazz singer from the 1920's, named Annette Henshaw.  My generation is familiar with the image of Betty Boop through pop culture, however I'm sure most of us wouldn't know that the character was based on a singer.

The concepts that Gude and Barrett explore in their articles provide art teachers with starting points to develop curricula that allows students to make meaningful artwork.  Skills and technique seem lifeless without expression.  The themes and concepts that students explore should be relevant to their lives, instead of assignments that only demonstrate their ability to paint a perfect color wheel.

Automatic Drawing

This image was found at this website.

Automatic drawing is a method of drawing in which conscious control over the image is avoided.  Drawing without thinking can be a challenging concept, but the process can help us to see and think outside of our rational minds.  The unpredictable results are fun and often surprising.