Defining beauty

I came across an article about how the store H&M photoshops heads of women onto fake ideal bodies that they create digitally. I thought this would be interesting to fit in with a big idea of defining beauty, and it also goes with what I made my video documentary about. You can read the article  here.

Sensory Drawing Lesson

 Last friday, Christine and I did our lesson on sensory drawings. We met up with each-other previously to plan our the entire lesson. We wrote down how many minutes we should take for the opening, explanation, work time, clean up time, and critique. We also wrote down what each of us were going to say. We felt so good about the beginning of our lesson that we kind of ignored the close of the lesson, which was a major mistake. We knew that we wanted the class to sit in a circle formation, (which is how the tables are already set up) and have a discussion where they would share their finished work, but we did not bother to think further than that. When the lesson was actually happening, we realized that we should have made the students bring their chairs on the inside of the table to make the circle smaller. It was very ineffective to have the students just sit in their seats because everyone was so far away from each other. When we asked if anyone wanted to share their poem, the room froze and nobody wanted to. We realized that we should have worded that better and not ask people to share their poem but just share their memory and drawing. Also, we should have had the students talk about each other's art instead of just having the artist talk about their own work. We also forgot to mention the clean up instructions. Overall, I think our lesson went good except for those things. I now know how important it is to plan every last bit of the lesson.

Video Game Article Responses

In our Technology in the Art Room class, we are going to be creating a project using the Scratch Software. Many people use Scratch to create their own videogames. The readings for this week all focused on videogames and learning.

In Paul Gee’s article, Video Games and Embodiment, he talks about different ways the player thinks while playing a video game. In many video games the player inhabits the goals of a virtual character, the player is acting as if the character’s goals are his goals. An example of this would be Zelda, you are playing as Link but you are taking on his persona and goals.

Simkins’ article, Critical Ethical Reasoning and Role-Play, discusses role playing video games and how they develop our critical and ethical reasoning skills. This article talked about the usual argument of video games’ effects on children, such as dehumanization and desensitizing violence. Many role playing games allow players freedom to act socially or antisocially. The example given was Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, where the player can become a hired assassin and either murder innocent  people and steal from their corpses, or they could become a servant of the law and defender of the weak. The game doesn’t require the player to take one route over the other but it does provide a set of plotlines and rewards for each path. The article goes on to discuss how video games are learning environments. Roll playing video games allow the player to learn to take on the role of character in either a realistic or fictional society. This reminds me of when  I worked at a camp once a little boy was talking about how he plays grand theft auto and kills prostitutes, but he said “Its ok I just kill the bad women.”

The Gill article, entitled Usefulness of Video Game Experience for Students Learning and Creating Digital 3-D, reported findings from research which investigated learning outcomes in a high school digital art class which used animation softwear to create short animations. The study was with two classes, an advanced class and a beginner class, where groups of students had the entire semester to complete a short narrative using the program Maya. The teacher provided only minimal lecture and demonstration, and allowed the students to explore Maya on their own. The students were motivated to learn because of their love of visual culture, video games, movies, and TV. Many students used their video game experiences while creating their animations. The classes benefited from teaching themselves the program. I don’t know if I necessarily agree with this. When we were introduced to Scratch, we were just given the entire period to explore it and learn it on our own. I found it very frustrating and hard. I’m not familiar with the Maya program, but maybe it is more straightforward than Scratch. Although I agree that it would probably be beneficial to give minimal instruction and let the students explore and do what they want, I feel that an initial introduction lesson on how to use the program is necessary. When we learned photoshop, garageband, and iMovie, we were given a small introduction to the program. With Scratch, we were just left on our own, and I found it very annoying and counterproductive. 

Video Projects

For the video remix project, I wanted to show how the media sometimes uses tricks to alter the meaning and context of what a person is saying in order to frame them in a certain way. I did this by altering footage from a Justin Biber interview to change what he was saying. I did this by using the split clip tool in iMovie. I deleted segments of his speech and also re arranged the order of some of his words. I also added in text to make my own interview questions for him.

For the documentary project, I focused on the effects of photoshop on women's body images. I was originally going to do this for my video remix project, so I already had researched multiple videos pertaining to anorexia and the medias affects on women. I decided to use the video sources that I found and talk over them to create my own documentary. I also added my own footage where I interview two of my friends to find out how the media has affected them through their lives.

Observation at Cardinal Hayes

Today I observed at the Cardinal Hayes School for Special Children to supplement my independent study on special education and art. This school was a bit different than the Anderson Center, where I had my internship. At the Anderson Center the focus is more on a product rather than the process, but the opposite is true for Cardinal Hayes. The teacher at Cardinal Hayes focuses more on having the children explore and do what they want to do. The teacher at the Anderson Center taught classes with 5 to 8 kids in each class. At Cardinal Hayes, the teacher gets to work 1:1 with students to figure out their interests, which I think is very beneficial. Another reason why it is beneficial that he gets to work 1:1 with the students is because this way the students are doing the art, not the aids.  He only has one or two full classes a day. He explained to me that since it is a charter school, he has more freedom in the schedule and also in creating the entire curriculum.

Today he had one class period and five 1:1 periods. The first period was 1:1 with a student with autism and was a collaboration with the speech teacher. The student was asked what materials he wanted and what colors he wanted. He had to pick the colors and materials from his picture chart and say the words. The art teacher had a picture board with different shapes; a line, a circle, a triangle, and a square. The student had to point to which one he wanted to try to draw. This student was very excited about art. He struggled to draw a triangle and square, but once he did draw them he was so excited that he became overwhelmed.

The second period was also 1:1 with an autistic student and was a collaboration with the speech teacher. The student sat at shut himself off from the outside world. The art teacher kept asking, does he want to work small or big? The student did not respond until the speech  teacher said that maybe the art teacher would help him draw a Christmas tree. At this, the student's eyes lit up as he exclaimed, "Christmas," and got out of his chair to walk over to the large piece of paper which was tacked onto the wall. (The teacher explained to me that this student is very big on holidays) The student had to say which color he wanted. Then he began to draw a giant stack of presents. The art teacher talked to him through out his drawing and commented about what he saw. He also asked the student to reflect on his feelings during Christmas by saying things such as "You must feel really excited when you see all of your presents on Christmas." At the end of the period, the speech teacher asked the student how many presents he was going to get on Christmas, and the student counted all of the presents that he drew and answered.

The third period was 1:1 with a student with severe mental retardation. The materials were construction paper crayons and construction paper. The teacher asked the student which color she wanted, but the student did not respond. He kept asking her and finally she started drawing on one of the papers. The student took the crayons and moved her arm back and forth, creating scribble lines. The teacher also tried to teach her to make a circle but it was not successful.

In each of the 1:1 periods, the teacher tried to pick a material that would interest the students, and gave as much choice as possible. I liked the personal environment of teaching in a 1:1 situation.

Tim Lefens Lecture

Tim Lefens presented three of his theories during his lecture. The first theory he talked about was the deathbed theory, which was basically asking if you were about to die and the only thing in the room with you was white walls, what painting would you want to see on the wall? Tim's next theory, the double funnel theory, is that a person must drop their ego into a large funnel which is then dropped into a smaller funnel. Once a person is completely  devoid of their ego and of the material world, they will enter a more spiritual conscious. I agree with this because when your mind is free of thinking about trivial material things, you are left to ponder earth and the greater universe. Tim's third theory was that the art world is like a pyramid,  there is only a few great artists which are at the tip of the pyramid, and many mediocre artists at the base. and artists such as Warhol sliced off the tip of the pyramid so that now there are much more mediocre artist on the top of the pyramid. Honestly, I kind of agree with where Tim is going with this. I feel like Warhol is famous because he is the inventor of his movement, and at the time it was new, but now theres a million artists running around and copying him, and in my opinion, the product isn't really anything special. However, I don't agree with how Tim Lefens was contradicting himself when he first said that nobody can define what great art is, and then proceeded to name a list of artists who he thought were horrible. I thought it was interesting that his views totally contradicted the art education department's views of what art should be. Tim favored abstract art and said that art should not have any political connections. The art education department says that art should focus around big ideas. This is something that I struggled with last year in my intermediate painting class. I always wanted my paintings to have some sort of theme or idea behind them, and my teacher kept pushing me to just let go and do whatever came to me. At first I was scared and didn't understand what she was talking about. However, after I just painted without thinking about anything and being in a sort of trance state where I felt like something else was guiding me, or that I was just following my intuition, I made the best paintings ever. I think that Tim also contradicted himself because he talked about doing abstract art like I just described, but I feel that the disabled students who created the art did have a social message behind their art. Even though Tim contradicted himself many times, I really liked his lecture because of the personal stories that he shared. My favorite one was about the bones and how he left them in his room and forgot to close the door to the house, resulting in a swarm of raccoons. He was really funny and I enjoyed listening to him.

Storyboard for Documentary

High School Critiques

Last tuesday was the final day of my internship at Rondout Valley High School. During this visit, my partner and I partook in a critique in the advanced ceramics class. The project which was being critiqued was a body art project where the students made a cast of their face and their two arms and then used underglazes to paint them in a way which expresses themselves. The format of this critique was the typical kind where the student talks about the piece and then classmates comment on the project. This type of critique was criticized in the former reading, Critiques in the k-12 Classroom, stating that students can feel pressured and anxious when they are put on the spot. My partner and I observed this happening. The assignment was to make the mask and arms as one piece, but one student's project was not visually coherent. The student painted one arm black with a rainbow on it, one arm speckle brown with a white fox on it, and the mask bluish green with a koi fish on it. The teacher asked the student how these pieces go together, and the student kept saying that they were all things that represented her. However, the student said that she does not know how they visually go together. The teacher kept trying to get the student to think of a way to connect all of the pieces visually, but the student kept saying that she didn't understand how they could. After class, the student ended up crying.

Boyd – Why Youth (Heart) Social Networks

Boyd – Why Youth (Heart) Social Networks

This article discusses social networking websites as they relate to teens and other young people. The article focused mainly on myspace, but can be applied to facebook as well. The difference between myspace and facebook was that myspace seemed to be more personalized. I remember learning basic HTML coding so that I could change my myspace layout. I even still remember some of it! (</img src=”” for image, I think #FFFFFF is black or white?) I remember myspace as a personalized page where you can put pictures of all of your favorite bands, movies, and interests.

I liked how Boyd described the concept of a public network with this example, “Thus when I say that I embarrassed myself in public by tripping on the curb, the public that I am referencing includes all of the strangers who visually witnessed my stumble.” I think that it is important to remember that everything you put on the internet is public, and can be found. I think that if you are going to have the profession of a teacher, that you should either not have a Facebook or change your name and keep it extremely private. I do not want my students trying to look me up on the internet and finding pictures of me or any information about my personal life. I know somebody who upon completing her student teaching, added all of her high school students to her Facebook, which is basically just an online log of the fact that she is an alcoholic. I would never do such an unprofessional thing. I also think that it is important to educate students about online privacy as many students tend to overlook the seriousness of sharing personal information over the internet.

Some art making concepts which relate to this article are:

-Web design

-Lesson about sharing information online

-Create a MySpace profile for a famous artist. (art history)

-Identity performance online vs. real world

Art-making for Students with Cognitive Disabilities

I am doing an independent study in art for students with disabilities, where I have an internship working with individuals with low functioning autism. These students are all extremely mentally handicapped, and are also lacking motor skills. The lessons that the art teacher does with the students focuses on different art processes rather than conceptual ideas. Most of the projects are themed for the seasons. He uses stencils and masking techniques in all of the projects. It is definitely apparent that the students are working on these skills, and that the skill level is appropriate for them. Here at SUNY New Paltz, we learn as art educators to never teach like this. I am wondering how a different approach to teaching art would be with this population, when cognitively based lessons are out of the question. My advisor told me that the teacher should be more concentrated on using Tim Lefen's A.R.T. approach, which involves the student telling the teacher where they want the brush strokes to go in order to create their artwork. I feel that this approach is more for people who are physically disabled, but are higher functioning mentally. I wonder if anyone has any input on this topic.

Artist Presentation

Today my partner and I roll played as teachers during class to do an artist presentation. Our theme was contemporary nostalgia, and the artists which we chose were Greg Simkins andAaron Jasinski. Doing this activity was good practice for being a teacher. In the beginning of our presentation, my partner and I were both very nervous. Although we rehearsed the night before, we stumbled over our words in the beginning. As the presentation went on, we both became more comfortable. We tried to scaffold the questions that we asked according to Bloom's taxonomy. We also asked some "show of hands" questions for silent participation. When nobody answered a question, we called on a random member of the audience. Overall, I think that our presentation was very successful. Some things that I learned about myself as a teacher is that I need to work on being less nervous, and need to become more animated during my lessons.

Jones & Fox - "PIP Generations"

The reading for this week shows data about internet usage for different generations. The adult population of internet users is 30 % Generation Y (age 18-32), 23% Generation X (age 33-44), and 22% Younger Boomers (Age 45-52) . However, there is an increase in older generations using the internet. In 2005, only 26% of ages 70-75 were on line. In 2008, 45% of that generation is on line. Ages 64 and older use the internet mainly for sending e-mails, while ages 18-32 use the internet for entertainment and for communicating with friends and family. 12-17 year olds use the internet most for playing online games. The older generations use the internet less for social use and more for searching, e-mailing, and online shopping. This data proves true in my own life. My mom, who is in the Younger Boomers generation, uses the internet for e-mails and online shopping. Her friends always send her chain e-mails. My grandma also uses the internet for e-mails. She is always sending me chain e-mails which I never read. I use the internet for entertainment, communicating with friends, researching, and online shopping, while my 17 year old sister predominately uses the internet for entertainment and communicating with friends.

Lesson at Rondout Valley High School

Last Tuesday my partner and I taught our lesson at Rondout Valley High School. The students had just completed their contour drawings, and the next assignment was to draw a realistic portrait. My partner and I decided that 30 minutes was too short to show a powerpoint and do a demo, so we skipped the powerpoint. I did a demo on the block in approach and my partner Christine did a demo on the traditional approach. I was nervous at first but then when I started talking I was fine. I tried to talk throughout the demo so that the students wouldn't be just sitting there and watching me draw. After our demo the students got to work on their portraits. Most students used the traditional method of measuring the face, but a few of the more advanced students chose to work with the block in approach. I am excited to return to the school tomorrow to see the progress that the students have made on their drawings.

Critiques in the K-12 Classroom

The readings from this week focused on critiques and how they are used in the classroom. Students K-12 do not know how to critique art. The traditional method of having the student hold the piece of art up while the rest of the class comments on the piece is not effective. The way to make critiques more educationally beneficial is by talking about description, interpretation, and theory.

There are many different ways to approach a critique.The article Critiques in the K-12 Classroom hi-lights some of these methods. Hartung's method is to provide students with cards which have written terms such as line and contrast on them. Students will then place their cards on the work that best exemplifies the term. The "put your two cents in" method works by giving each student two pennies. Each student places his or her pennies on the two works which they want to discuss. Another method is called "PQP" which stands for praise, questions, proposals.

Whatever the method is, the teacher must lead students by asking questions that direct the conversation. This will help the conversation to develop slowly, instead of just jumping ahead to the judgement stage of the critique. For example, the teacher may first only ask students to describe what they see rather than what they think the meaning of the work is. The teacher must guide students through each phase of the critique; description, interpretation, analysis, and judgement.

Popplet

Accordion Book Revised

Here is my revised accordion book. This book focuses on the postmodern principle of the gaze. In this book I was exploring the different power relationships that are established through the gaze. I made my book interactive by layering Mylar paper on top of the pages of the book. I invite the viewer to interact with the pages by shifting their feeling of power depending on if they are in the perspective of the one doing the gazing or the one being gazed at. On the back two pages of the book, there is a mirror with an eye overlayed on one page, and the reverse on the other page. This is to emphasize the difference in power between being the "gazee" or the "gazer". 

Principles and Elements Panorama Abstract Art Book

Postmodern Principle: The Gaze

The term gaze is frequently used in contemporary discourses to recognize that when talking about the act of looking it is important to consider who is doing the looking and who is being looked at (Olin, 1996). Gazing, associated with issues of knowledge and pleasure is also a form of power—controlling perceptions of what is “real” and “natural.”

Materials:  Graphite pencils

                   Frosted Mylar

                   Scissors

                   Needle and thread

Before Starting: Consider the postmodern theme of the gaze. This postmodern theme asks us to consider who is doing the looking and who is being looked at. Gazing can be associated with issues of knowledge, pleasure, or power. Think about how the postmodern theme of the gaze could be applied to your own life, or a time where you have witnessed the gaze. How can you use the pages of this accordion book to visually tell a narrative about this?

Step 1: Choose a single shape. This will bring unity to the piece. Unity is created because the same basic shape is repeated throughout the composition; unity is often created by repetition of art elements.

Step 2: Make 5 or more of your chosen shape. Make these with variations of size or form. Vary the proportions of the sides of the shapes. Make some of the variations as dramatic as possible.  Variety and interest are attained by making variety of the basic shape.

Step 3: Discuss how the arrangement of shapes can create a feeling of movement and rhythm in the composition. Try to create a sense of movement along the long horizontal page of the accordion book.

Step 4: Use frosted Mylar to create an additional layer. Draw on the Mylar and place it over another drawing done in the accordion book.

Step 5: Add text. This will enhance the narrative of your accordion book.

Step 6: Using a needle and thread, enhance the composition by creating areas of texture and through repetition of points, lines, or shapes.

Step 7: Consider the 3D form of the accordion book. How does it exist in space? Complete the back pages of the accordion book by incorporating elements and principles used to complete the front pages.

Consider the entire composition. Does it have a symmetrical or an asymmetrical balance? If you wish, add shapes or lines to complete the composition.

Accordion book as a sculptural form

Back pages

Interactive back pages

Front pages

Detail of interactive right page

Detail of interactive left page

We Make Money not Art

http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2007/01/passively-multi.php

Justin Hall is working on a concept called Passively Multiplayer Online Games. This concept is based on a point system that gives points for searching the internet, reading emails, texting from a mobile phone, and other activities which are not directly linked to an online game environment. MyWare will track and catalogue online, and then will assign a point system for different actions. For example, checking email will give points for "wisdom" and reading a science journal online would give points for "intelligence." Many people are saying MyWare sharing personal information about computer usage with other players is an invasion of privacy. However, Justin says that Passively Multiplayer is a system for turning user data into play, making work into quest play.

Justin's design sketch, found here

Justin's Passively Multiplayer concept relates to the many of the new literacy skills found in Jenkins' article. Players in Justin's game will actually gain points for using these skills such as transmedia navigation, networking, multitasking, and distributed cognition. In his article, Jenkins talks about how important it is for people to acquire new literacy skills. Justin's design sketch illustrates the use of new literacy skills as a person explores the internet. His Passively Multiplayer game will motivate people to explore and exercise their new literacy skills.

Internet Identity vs. Real Life Identity.

Recently in class we have been talking about people's online identity on social networking websites versus their identity in the real world. Today during our discussion, Joe mentioned that a person's online identity is only a fragment of their real life identity since it is impossible to fully represent yourself as a person over the internet. I stumbled upon an interesting article about a web service called rep.licants.org, which is used to enhance your virtual self. People can use this website to install a bot onto their facebook or twitter account. The bot recognizes the user's activity on other websites such as youtube and combines that with a set of keywords that the user enters in to simulate the user's activity on their facebook or twitter page. The bot posts frequent updates, adds people to the list of contacts, and even interacts with facebook friends. Here is a quote taken from the article.

"The bot does not provide a fictitious identity, but will be added to the real identity of the user to modify it at his convenience. Thus, this bot can be seen as a virtual prosthesis added to an user's account. With the aim to help him to forge a digital identity of what he would really like to be and by trying to build a 

greater social reputation for the user."

So far, feedback suggests that users are happy with the results. One user commented that the bot chose to re-connect with an old friend which the user would have never thought of doing. This lead the user to have a real conversation with the friend. Another person stated that he could not remember if some of the postings were done by him or if they were done by the bot. 

An interactive twitter post by bot,  in grey.

I find it very interesting that it is possible to install a bot to your social networking website which essentially knows your interests and acts as a prosthetic of your virtual identity. The bot interacting with humans over these social networking websites further blends together the world of humans and the world of machines. Some people do not even realize that they are in fact talking to robots. 

Using the Smartboard

Today at my internship at  the Anderson Center for Autism, I left the art room for a chance to observe in a special education classroom. This observation really made me re-think learning how to use the smartboard. The teacher used the smartboard exclusively through out the day to teach all subjects. She made interactive slides which were engaging to the students. The students were even allowed to explore the smartboard on their own at free choice time. Before observing this class I thought that there was no purpose of me learning how to operate the smartboard since my concentration in art education is studio art. However, this observation experience has changed my mind. Students in this classroom were extremely engaged and motivated, which I believe in part is due to the lesson being taught on the smartboard. I think that students who are interested in playing computer or video games pay closer attention to the smartboard than to a regular white board. Using the smartboard also gives the teacher a chance to make the lesson more interactive, like a computer game. Using this technology in the classroom is a great way to get students to be engaged, and I believe that every future teacher should take advantage of this opportunity.

Rondout Valley High School Internship Day 2

Today was my second day at Rondout Valley High School. Most of the portfolio development class finished their contour self portraits. My mentor teacher went over grading with my partner and I. Portfolio development class is the closest thing that they have to AP Art at this high school. Since the students in this class will be using their portfolios for college, my mentor teacher grades them with an AP Art rubric. This rubric goes from 1 to 6. We went through the students' work and graded them on ideas, composition, fluidity, image choice, visual impact, and conventions. Many of the students were way behind where they should be at this point, mostly scoring 2's in each category. This experience made me realize how difficult it is to grade student's work. Sometimes you want to give students the benefit of the doubt, but the work does not measure up to the criteria on the rubric. In the ceramics classes, students finished their whimsical fish, which were at the green wear stage. The classes started the critique process, which is describe, analyze, interpret, judgement. Today each class covered the describing part. Each student showed the class their fish and spoke about the process, if they enjoyed working with clay for the first time, and if they were satisfied with their work.

Jenkins – Media Education for the 21st Century

According to a study conducted in 2005, more than one half of all teens have created media content, and one third of teens have shared their content over the Internet. In a participatory culture there are low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing creations, and informal mentorship. The way that teens use the Internet in these participatory cultures suggests evidence of learning.

It is true that many teens spend more time and engage more deeply with popular culture than they do with their textbooks, but instead of looking at this as a bad thing, educators can look at this as an opportunity for learning. Within this participatory culture, students of all ages, races, gender, and education levels depend on peer teaching and feedback, creating an ideal peer-to-peer learning community. This informal learning experience is different than formal education systems because it is less rigid, experimental, innovative, and has the potential to evolve and respond to temporary interests. Teens are interested in this type of learning because they have power and they matter as individuals.

People are realizing how important participatory cultures are. Some low-income cities are beginning to provide high-speed wireless Internet access free of charge. Obviously this is not a solution to the fact that millions of people cannot afford a computer in their home. In order to take full advantage of technology, people also need a wide range of skills which include literacy skills, research skills, social skills, play, performance, simulation, appropriation, multitasking, distributed cognition, collective intelligence, judgment, transmedia navigation, networking, and negotiation.

We should encourage youth to be participants of this culture by developing their skills, knowledge, ethical frameworks, and self-confidence.  One major concern that we should educate youth on is making ethical choices on the Internet and the impact that their choices have on other people. We as educators can help students develop the skills necessary to be full participants in participatory culture. We can also use educational simulations, alternative reality games, blogs, or other technologies in our curriculums. 

New Study Says People "Love" Their iPhones

We all know a person who is attached to their iPhone. No, seriously, their iPhone actually appears to be superglued into their hand. Many people call this an “addiction”, but a new study has been conducted which proves that people actually “love” their iPhones. A team of researchers measured subjects’ brain activity while subjects viewed images of Apple products and religious images such as a photo of the pope. Brain activity was the same in both instances. A second test was conducted on sixteen men and women between the ages of 18 and 25. The researcher wanted to find out if people’s brains showed signs of classic addiction to their iPhones. Studies showed that while looking at a picture of an iPhone or when hearing the phone vibrate, the insular cortex of the brain was activated. This part of the brain is not associated with classical addiction, but with love and compassion. People responded to seeing the iPhone the same way that their brain would respond to seeing a significant other.


To read the full NY Times article, click here.

Lesson Plan: Social Networking Digital Collage

Here is a lesson that I wrote which is based off of the digital composite project that we did in class. Instead of exploring a big idea in Sweeney's article, high school students will explore either an advantage or a disadvantage of social networking websites which they encounter or use on a daily basis.

First day of Internship at Rondout Valley High School

Last Tuesday was my first day at my field placement at Rondout Valley High School. While looking around the classroom, I noticed a poster which listed the principals and elements of art. I also noticed a  poster explaining how to critique a work of art. This coincided with a reading that we had last semester in Curriculum and Instruction. The school operates on "block scheduling." This means that each period is a hour and twenty minutes long. This is great for the art department, especially since my teacher teaches ceramics. There is also a 30 minute period called "the skinny". During this time, my teacher has a 2D portfolio development class for students who are interested in pursuing art in college.

The students in the portfolio development class were working on portraits. The teacher explained that since these students have not had a consistent studio art teacher, they are behind in their development. Students in this class looked in a mirror and drew a contour self portrait. They used three sharpies of different thicknesses for line variations and then added watercolors. The students in this class were at all different levels of skill. One student chose to draw the back of her head, saying that she did not know how to draw a good face.

The students in the ceramics class were working on a project called "whimsical fish". To make the body of the fish, students scored two pinch pots together. Students then got to decorate the fish any way that they wanted to. Some students chose to give their fish a top hat and cane. One student made a mexican fish equipped with a mustache, sombrero, and a taco. The only requirement in this project was to add texture to the fish. Some students accomplished this by scratching into the body of the fish, while others added texture by attaching pieces of clay.

Overall, my first day of my internship at Rondout Valley High School was successful. My teacher was very organized and I enjoyed observing the lessons. I feel less intimidated about teaching at the high school level, and I am looking forward to teaching a lesson on portraits to the portfolio development class.

Principles and Elements Panorama Abstract Art Book

Principles and Elements Panorama Abstract Art Book

Materials:  Colored sulphite construction paper

                     Masking tape

                     Scissors

                     Tempera paint

                     Oil pastels

Step 1: Choose a single shape. This will bring unity to the piece. Make 3 of these. Unity is created because the same basic shape is repeated throughout the composition; unity is often created by repetition of art elements.

Step 2: Make 5 more of your chosen shape. Make these with variations of size or form. Vary the proportions of the sides of the shapes. Make some of the variations as dramatic as possible. Create contrast. Variety and interest are attained by making variety of the basic shape.

Step 3: Discuss how the arrangement of shapes can create a feeling of movement and rhythm in the composition. After experimenting with possible combinations, tape the shapes into place. Try to create a sense of movement along the long horizontal page of the accordion book.

Step 4: Create emphasis and contrast by adding a new kind of shape in the same or a different color.

Step 5: Using oil pastels, add lines which will enhance the sense of movement in your piece.

Step 6: Using oil pastels, enhance the composition by creating areas of pattern and texture through repetition of points, lines, or shapes. Choose a color that contrasts the color used to create the original shapes (step 1).

Step 7: Using tempera paint, choose a color that contrasts the color used to create areas of pattern and texture, and paint a layer over the entire long horizontal page of the accordion book.

Step 8: Use masking tape to mask off a pattern which extends from the start of the horizontal page of the accordion book to the end of the horizontal page.

Step 9: Using tempera paint, choose a color that contrasts the color chosen in step 7. Paint a layer over the entire long horizontal page of the accordion book.

Step 10: Peel the masking tape off. You may also choose to peel off some of the shapes. This creates contrast.

Step 11: Select two contrasting colors of construction paper. Cut paper into strips and add weaved areas of paper to the composition.

Consider the entire composition. Does it have a symmetrical or an asymmetrical balance? Add shapes or lines to complete the composition.

Finish book by making an “About the Author” page and a cover which displays your knowledge of layering techniques.

Self Portrait Manipulation Project

 Self Portrait Manipulation Project

Artist Statement

This portrait was inspired by the conversation that we had in class about how Photoshop is often used to erase people’s imperfections and to make people appear younger. This made me think of the concept of beauty in relation to aging. As people get older, more flaws begin to appear. Women are constantly buying anti-age beauty products to try to prevent the inevitable. Nobody wants to think about how they will look when they are old and decrepit, with wrinkly flesh that eventually decays after death. I wanted to show the aging process by combining the stages of life into a single portrait.

Compositing Big Ideas Project

Compositing Big Ideas: The Cyborg

Artist Statement

This digital composite was inspired from the big idea of cyborgs in Robert Sweeny’s “Lines of Sight in the Network Society.” In his article, Sweeny discusses how humans and computers are merging. People create alter egos on the Internet and computers take on human characteristics as technology advances. In this picture, I have a cyborg rising from a graveyard of old computers. This is supposed to show obsolete technology of the past in contrast to the technology of the future, being the cyborg. In Japan, holographic pop stars called vocaloids are all the rage. This to me is the definition of humans and computers merging into one being. In my composite image, I have an image of a holographic performance art which takes the shape of a halo on the cyborg’s head. There is also a woman on the top left of the image who is being engulfed by a green light, which symbolizes technology. The woman is reaching towards the matrix as she is being transformed into binary. This symbolizes mankind’s constant searching for new technological advances as we become more connected to computers. I find this process very unnatural and a bit scary, which is why the background of my image is apocalyptic. 

Magazine Cover: The Gaze

Internship at Anderson Center for Autism

This past Tuesday was my first day of my special education internship. I am working in the art room at the Anderson Center for Autism. This is a school for kids age 6 to 21 who are diagnosed with autism or other developmental disabilities. On Tuesday I worked with 5 classes with students ages 14 to 21. These students were all low functioning and nonverbal. A reoccurring topic in our art education class is writing a curriculum which centers on big ideas. I asked the art teacher how he writes his curriculum for students who do not have the cognitive ability to understand big ideas. He told me that he focuses on creating projects that will allow students to learn different skills and techniques. I noticed that while the projects being done in the classroom were not conceptual, they all contained the "principles and elements" of art. I found that many projects focused on layering and repetition. In one project, students started off coloring a white piece of paper with crayons, any way that they wanted to. Next, they used one color of paint, and added a layer of paint on top of the crayon. This reminded me of how Eric Carl creates his paper. Finally, they used a stencil of an animal to add a black layer of paint on top. Looking at the finished products, it is apparent that although there is not a cognitive aspect of the lesson, students are learning and actively using art elements such as unity, repetition, contrast, pattern, and texture.

Emme and Kirova - Photoshop Semiotics: Research in the Age of Digital Manipulation

This article discusses digital art and the advancements in digital manipulation. Manipulating an image allows for the impossible to be seen as possible. In one part of the article, the authors make an interesting comparison while talking about a digitally manipulated picture, which can serve as an ideal type of image. They compare a manipulated image to a diagram of a cell in a science textbook, which is the ideal image for its purpose since a picture of an actual cell would distract from the information in the diagram.

Programs such as Photoshop allow artists to take an image and alter it for a specific purpose or to make it more ideal. For example, a photograph of a model can be altered to not only enhance qualities of the model, but to give the photograph  a certain feeling that changes the relationship between the viewer and the photograph. Here is a manipulated photograph which I feel is an example of this. I found this image here.

Clusters

"Big Idea" of Cyborgs in Sweeny's Article

Description of how a prosthetic arm works

In the article Lines of Sight in the "Network Society," Sweeny discusses today's digital visual culture. From this concept comes a the big idea of cyborgs. Cyborgs have always been an interest to our society. Here is a list of the top 10 cyborgs in popular culture. In today's technology driven world, it seems like humans and machines are merging like never before. People create profiles on social networking websites such as facebook, blogs, and online dating websites. A person may choose to personalize a webpage to show aspects of their identity or may choose to create a new identity all together. Machines are also beginning to take on human characteristics. Cars are being made with bluetooth technology, cars who have voices and who answer to verbal commands. Even pop artists today have auto-tuned voices. Advances in the medical field also explore cyborg concepts as scientists are developing artificial organs and more advanced prosthetics.

In Japan, it seems as if the concept behind the movie S1m0ne has been brought to life. The company Crypton Future Media  designs holographic pop stars. Hatsune Miku is a holographic pop sensation. People actually pay money and go to a concert that is performed by a hologram. Tell me I'm not the only one freaked out by this.

Sweeny - Lines of Sight in the "Network Society"

The article Lines of Sight in the “Network Society” discusses today’s technological society. In this “network society,” every individual’s actions are connected somehow to the actions of another person. The Internet opens new doors in communication as well as image viewing, as information on the Internet often shifts between visuality, textuality, and sound based information, which is called transcoding.

In the middle section of the article, Sweeny compared a spiral model of cognition to a lattice structure, which he then stated was similar to the structure of the Internet. He said that art education practice was a centralized spiral curricular structure and suggested that it should instead be a lattice. Honestly, I have not even the slightest idea of what he’s talking about.

I found the last section of the article, entitled “Lines of Sight in a Digital Visual Culture,” to be most interesting. This section of the article highlights complexities within a social technological network.  Sweeny talks about how individuals and machines are connected. Many people form identities over the Internet. For example, a person can create a blog, myspace, or facebook page that represents them in whatever way that they choose. Performance artist Stelarc combines human and machine interactions that challenge the boundaries between the two. In “Ping Body,” Stelarc attached electrodes to each muscle group in his body and allowed users to send information into his server, controlling how he would move.

            Another aspect discussed is Cloned Perception. Art that is created on the Internet has the ability to be multiplied, or cloned. This concept is also discussed in Walter Benjamin’s article The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Art educators can benefit from this controversy by discussing reproduced images in the classroom. 

Surrealist Games: Automatic Drawing

Automatic drawing is a surrealist game where the player draws without thinking, which allows unexpected images to be produced. Conscious control over the image should be avoided. Here are a few examples of automatic drawings.

An automatic drawing could look like a doodle or a scribble.
(Drawing by Andre Masson, 1924)

Here is an automatic drawing from artist Jeffrey R. Navarro

Tim Barnard's 'The Immaculate Hope Grenade'

Barett – Interpreting Connotations in Visual Culture

Michael Ray Charles 

Denotations and connotations are always present in both visual and verbal communication, and can have consequences. Michael Ray Charles, a contemporary African-American artist, shows connotations of racism and denotations of African Americans. A piece of visual communication can contain many different messages at the same time. A group of art teachers deciphered a piece by Michael Ray Charles and noticed many stereotypes of African Americans and decided that the work of art asked the viewer to attach their own stereotypical connotations onto the denotation of the African American.

To view some of Michael Ray Charles' work click the link below.

The Art of Michael Ray Charles

"Beware" 1994
Michael Ray Charles

Destiny's Child: Booty Camp

A group of art students deciphered a magazine cover and discovered many denotations in the facial cues and body language of the women featured in the magazine. The text on the magazine said “Booty Camp”, and the connotations in the image were that the women were practically naked, and their legs were spread with the text “Booty Camp” across their stomachs, objectifying women as sexual objects.

Magazines are great places to discover denotations and connotations in visual art. Advertisements for music, clothing, even food can be deciphered and broken down. Another place to discover denotations and connotations is in commercials seen on TV.

I believe that looking at an advertisement or any visual message and being able to break it down and understand what’s really being said is very important. The media pushes products and beliefs on society, and many people mindlessly eat it all up without thinking twice. The person who knows how to interpret the message is able to see the message for what it really is, and therefore is better able to consciously decide if they will accept or reject it.

Walker – Big Ideas and Artmaking

“Big Ideas” are important in today’s art education curriculum. Big ideas are just what they sound like – important issues in today’s world or society. Some examples of big ideas are identity, life cycles, community, spirituality, diversity, and nature. Big ideas provide significance in art making rather than just creating a work of art for aesthetic purposes. A lesson that focuses on a big idea allows students to conceptualize and focus on meaning instead of purely focusing on technical skills.

The big idea behind a piece of art can be thought of as the concept rather than the topic. For example, Van Gogh’s concept was human emotions, but his subject was landscapes, portraits, and still lives.

While I do think that big ideas are important in art making, I also believe in art that is created without a preconceived idea. Usually when I paint, I just do whatever feels right. When I look at a piece of art that has a big idea, I find myself spending more time looking at the piece. I also find myself asking more questions about the piece. However, I also feel that works of art that are not conceptual are equally important as works of art which center around a big idea.