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.