Week 13 Assignment to Self

Use Clay to Play with Surface Design

Explore possible surface decorations for angel wings through a series of rapidly executed experiments –

Roll five slabs, mark four with a grid

Preassemble tools: small ribbon tools, premade clay stamps, rubber stamps, miscellaneous found object tools (pencil, emery board, marker lids…),Timer

Slabs 1-4 Use five minutes and one set of tools per grid marked slab to create as many textures as possible.

Slab 5 Use five minutes and any / all combinations of tools on plain to create as many textures as possible.

 An added benefit to this assignment, while digging through my clay tools, I discovered a small cylinder seal I had made and forgotten about!

I couldn't wait to get started on this assignment. I felt like it would be the perfect opportunity to explore designs for my angel wings.  Traditionally, the wings are painted with two or three simple line patterns.  I was having difficulty translating that look onto clay, and hadn’t been satisfied with anything I’d came up with.  So, I gave myself the assignment posted above, assured myself that I would not be bound to actually use the designs, and began to play.  As I carved and pressed with reckless abandon I enjoyed the freedom to not worry about originality and craftsmanship.  While exploring I found myself thinking of what to try next….how I might repeat something, add something, and omit something.  I discovered new techniques for using my ribbon tools. (I never knew that the round loop tool could work like a melon baller, carving out a near perfect sphere when used on leather-hard clay!)
I particularly enjoy the texture achieved when pressing a screw head into the clay and in the end decided to use it for part of the wing design.

How could I see this experience translating into my classroom practice? As I have mentioned before, in my elementary classroom there is so much curriculum to cover that I feel like I am driven to move quickly from project to project.  I provide far too few opportunities for my students to ‘play’ with a medium prior to the start of a project.  I think that by building some play time into my lessons it would provide valuable chances for them to explore freely, to enjoy that random ‘what-if’ thought process, and then, determine if they wanted to implement those new ideas in their work.

Week 12: Creativity,-Tools, Theories, & Techniques

Week 12: Creativity,-Tools, Theories, & Techniques

Excerpt from Twyla Tharp - First of all, let me say that I loved reading Tharp’s theories on envisioning. I could identify with her notions so much that I kept thinking, “Who are you, crazy dancer lady, and how do you know my mind so well?!” 

 Tharp likens scratching to the act of scraping a lottery ticket. When I think of scratching, I am reminded instead, of chickens persistently clawing and pecking their way through life in search of the next tasty tidbit. Either way, I agree with Tharp, ideas come from the art of doing something physical in your craft.  You may not know what direction you are headed, but ideas will come simply through the act of engaging in the process.  Tharp says that scratching is a wildly unruly process, but offers rules to make it a bit more manageable. (p 105)  While I hesitate to say that I am a person who likes rules, without a doubt, I am a person who follows rules. Thank-you Ms. Tharp!

Tharp’s Rules for Scratching:

Be in Shape - When I began this course I was definitely out of shape in regard to the process of engagement.  I would generate wonderful ideas, but was extremely undisciplined when it came to actually doing anything with those ideas. Consequently, it did take me a good while to feel comfortable working on projects again. I’m challenging myself to maintain a new level of creative fitness!

Scratch in the Best Places – This one was a bit tricky for me, Tharp says to scratch among the Masters for your inspiration, surround yourself with the best…and I couldn’t help but think, “Isn’t it a matter of personal preference? Isn’t one man’s trash is another man’s treasure?”  When I thought of it in terms of craftsmanship and attention to detail though, this rule did make sense.  Now, if I could just impress the idea upon my students!

 Never Scratch in the Same Place Twice – What a great suggestion for keeping ideas fresh.  I tend to be a creature of habit, but how can I argue with the idea that scratching in the same place will give you the same old ideas?

Maintain the White Hot Pitch - This rule is my favorite! I love the exhilarating description of unleashing an idea and running with it, of allowing it to have the potential of being awful, of not seeing an end product, but just allowing the energy to rush forth and go.

Tharp’s book is on my shopping list, I can’t wait to read everything she has to say about the creative process.

Studio Thinking –

When I first started reading the assignments from this book I couldn’t help but think that it was geared more toward middle and high school teachers, however, the more I read this week, the more I realized that all art teachers face the same challenges when it comes to envisioning, engagement, and persistence.  If I can present deeply engaging projects, if I can encourage the habits of engagement and persistence at the elementary level then surely it would be habits which would carry over into every aspect of a student’s life.

Kosslyn 4

There are many days when, especially with my kindergarteners and first graders, I know they generate ideas, it’s just the matter of getting them to f-o-c-u-s and remain at their table long enough to demonstrate the retention of that idea!

I think that having students use mind mapping as a way of working through this process could be a highly effective method of teaching the envisioning process. I used Popplet to create an example…

Scratching

A Collection of Scratchings

I have a fairly clear vision of how I want most of my tiles to look, but I am not really sure about the center tile and the corners.  I think I want to go with a very simple flower (and maybe vine?) design, but am still exploring.  I began observing flower designs all around and decided to collect these “morsels” for inspiration. From the top left you see an illustration from a Tomie de Paola book that I snatched from a student’s hand as they prepared to return it to the library, a rubber stamp I bought but never used, cat treats….strange place to find a 'flower', fabric from a Pottery Barn table runner, and the background it a Tree of Life image I had been saving for a while. Yummy stuff !!!

I did a little sketching after studying my collected images.  This might be a little too busy for the space I have, but I think I’ll hang onto it for future work.

Studio Assignment

I rolled 25 pounds worth of slabs thinking it would be enough to cut the total amount of tiles needed, but unfortunately, it was not quite enough. So, I had to mist these with water and seal them up, hopefully they're still at a workable stage.

I was really anxious to get started on the design, so, while waiting for the new slabs to dry enough to cut, (persistence!) I drew the angel face and transferred it to Mylar for the purpose of transferring the outline to the largest tile.

As I engaged in the process of carving out the rays I decided that I would save the pressed tile design, maybe for the corners.  I envisioned the clay sticking in the rays or other small areas if I went with my original plan.   Instead, I have decided to go with additive relief sculpting for the main tiles. 

  I have been exploring various options for the eyes, these are some images I found on-line, thought I would experiment with this treatment using scrap clay, just to see what I think.  That's where I am right now.

Thus far, I haven't hit any big snags, there have been no difficult problems to work through. I'm happy with the way things are going.  I only wish there were more hours in the day.

Engage and Persist

Motivating and Instilling Passion – In order for me to be motivated and passionate about a piece of work I need an interest, a connection to what I am doing.  About a year and a half ago my husband, being the generous man that he is, offered my painting services to an acquaintance of his.  He presented me with a large circular saw blade and a photo of the man’s hunting cabin and excitedly told me that the poor man had been looking for forever to get someone to paint the hunting cabin scene onto the saw blade.  Augh, inwardly I cringed, never having been a big fan of the painted saw blade.  I tried to explain to my spouse that it just wasn’t my particular expertise, but eventually I gave in and agreed to do what I could.  That saw blade remains in my garage, untouched, I have NO passion, no desire to ever begin that piece.

So, what do I do to keep from presenting my own students with ‘saw blades’? Hetland suggests presenting assignments that are ‘deeply engaging’. I try to make topics relevant and meaningful. So far this year, we have explored identity, celebrations and place.  We engage in much conversation and brainstorming prior to the start of a project.

Cultivating Sustained Attention – As a rule, once I get started on a piece, I have no problem sustaining attention.  I experience greater difficulty disengaging from my work, I am driven to complete as much as I can in whatever time I have available. I don’t know that this is the best way to work, the results aren’t always wonderful, but it seems to be the way I am wired.

As far as my students go, I travel table to table, admonishing students to stay on task. I remind them of how much time remains on a project. Occasionally I will take away the privilege to talk and ask students to focus all of their attention on their work.

Combating Frustration – When I experience frustration I generally take a break from what I am doing.  I like to walk completely away. I review rough drafts and make new sketches.

With my students I don’t have the luxury of allowing them the opportunity to take much of a break as far as walking away. I encourage them to experiment with ideas in draft form.  I empathize with them, telling them I KNOW that the work is hard.  I let them know that some things we do are difficult for me too.

Working Hard to Meet a Deadline – Having selected clay tiles for my studio piece, I am very well aware of deadlines! I have constructed a rough timeline for my project.  Clay tiles need to dry slowly so they do not warp; carving works best on leather-hard clay.  I had to really think through the entire process of what needed to be done, by when.

In the classroom I try to give my students an idea of how long we will work on a project and offer suggestions on how they need to budget their time.  I tell them what point I expect them to be at the end of a class period.  I tell them not to rush their work, and remind them to do their best. I provide opportunities for them to come in before or after school, or during their recess time.

Developing the Ability to Delay Gratification – For me, and this sounds silly to put into writing, I give myself little pep-talks.  I have kind of a running monologue, sometimes out loud, sometimes to myself, describing what I see and how I think it looks and what I need to do in order to complete the piece. I tell myself to “Just keep going” or “Leave that the way it is for now and move on to the next part”. This is probably one of the reasons I like to work alone!

For my little ‘Instant Gratification is my middle name’ students I do pretty much the same.  If we are working on a piece that takes multiple time periods I tell them not to focus on the end piece, but to do the best that they can on it every time they work. 

Electric December

My favorite Electric December video so far.

I want the Nokia N8!

Nokia 'Dot' from Sumo Science on Vimeo.

There's no denying that the brain of the artist functions just a bit differently....(Thank God!)

My district just unblocked staffs use of youtube, think I ought to share this with my kiddos?

Insights Gleaned While Developing Craft

First of all, let me say that is has been ages, more years than the majority of my you, my classmates, have even been alive, since I have a had a project assigned as part of a class. I’ve just fired off a facebook message to one of my oldest and dearest friends, my painting partner from college asking if he could come work alongside me as I execute my proposed piece.  It’s been that long since I’ve had an “official assignment.”

Secondly, I must say that to begin planning for this piece is an exhilarating feeling!  Having complete control over what I want to do and how I want to do it is empowering. As I sketched away on my plans I had to bear in mind that I would need to tweak this and that to prevent the clay from sticking in the molds.  My brain was racing as I proposed and rejected different arrangements for the tiles.  I had to keep ignoring ‘el pequeño diabilito’, the little naysayer perched on my shoulder who kept whispering, “It will never work, you’ve bitten off too much! You don’t know enough about this process, you’ll be a failure!!!” (Fortunately, I’m pretty good at ignoring the pathetic voice of impending doom!)  I’m not certain that the final piece will adhere to these preliminary plans, but I’m excited to just be this far.

How would this insight relate to my classroom practice of helping students develop craft?  I feel that everything in the elementary art room is boom, boom, and boom, “We’ve got to get this done.” Seems like it is always time to move on to the next thing in order to cover the curriculum, and now, these past two years, to administer common assessments.  (In the best interest of staying on task, I won’t digress, but I could write volumes highlighting my belief of common assessments in fine arts!)  More than anything else, this exercise makes me think that I need to find a way to slow things down a bit, and allow more time for planning, especially with my older grades.  My third grade class is in the middle of a project for which I required the use of a fairly complete rough-draft. They did not complain much about doing two drawings, and the quality of their work has improved. 

Rough Planning Sketches

Here are a couple of rough sketches I've made planning for my pressed tile piece...

AT Class - woices.com

Take a look at Woices !!!
AT Class - woices.com

Project Proposal

What to do, what to do?  The question has been churning in my brain since the beginning of this class.  I have a multitude of ideas I’d like to try, and techniques I’d like to explore.    The problem, and yes, I DO over-think every little thing, ( Damn the curse of being the first born!)  is proposing a project which will challenge me, yet not so much that I stress-out like crazy.

SO-O-O-O, given my love of Mexican folk-art and a desire to get my hands really dirty, I have decided that I will create a Mexican folk-art inspired piece using press-molded clay tiles. I experimented with this technique once a couple of years ago,  but wasn’t really satisfied with the results.  I DO like look of a well-executed press-tile.  I haven’t considered size nor number of tiles yet…..lots of ‘ifs’ at this point. Guess a lot depends on how long it will take me to perfect the craft of mold making. Am leaning towards a red clay and maybe will experiment with an iron oxide wash.

Read and React – Week 10

Week 10s reading of Rewired, tells us that students today do not choose to multi-task, it is something that they must do. The technologically rich environment in which they have been raised has likely encouraged this behavior.  Research tells us that work completed while multitasking is slower and contains a greater degree of errors than unitask executed work.  Although psychological researchers are not in agreement over the reasons the brain fails to do flawless multitasking, there is a consensus that the brain has … ‘a limited mental resource that cannot be shared across all tasks.’ (p. 79)  Reading further, educators are challenged to provide learning activities which takes advantage of our students’ abilities to multitask, bearing in mind the brains ability to do so.  To engage students we are encouraged to investigate methods of providing appropriate opportunities for multitasking. In the book Studio Thinking, we embark on our study of ‘Studio Habits of Mind: What the Arts Teach’, examining first the development of craft, and then the development of observation.

Over time, it has been my experience that each successive school year seems to bring students who require more ‘bells and whistles’ to become engaged in the learning process.  Luckily, in the art room, we are capable of introducing new media and techniques all of the time, so I am not certain this affects us as much as it does the classroom teacher. As I consider the art room and opportunities for multitasking, am I correct to think that we expect our students to multi-task in simple ways every time they are in our rooms?  “Do ______ on your project, while you wait for your turn to ______.” Is it multitasking to create one part, while bearing in mind that there are additional parts, and all must, in the end go together?   I do know that most of my students are able to converse with their table-mates without it interfering with their work, a few require redirection to remain on-task, and some prefer to work quietly.  I always allow quiet conversation, only taking away the privilege to talk when the noise level interferes with the ability to work, or my own ability to think! As I have been attempting to incorporate greater use of technology into my lessons there have been many occasions, when encountering a technical problem, where I have asked my students to ‘pause’ working on a project and move to a new one.  It makes me wonder, is it their ability to multi-task that permits them to readily move to something new?

(A personal side note – Rosen’s information on the development of the frontal lobe was of particular interest to me.  Twenty-some years ago my husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.  His disease has not followed a traditional course, unlike many others afflicted with MS, he leads a fairly full and active lifestyle. His main disability stems from demyelination in the frontal lobe.  So, while Rosen tells us that one of the processes of increased communication efficiency is myelination and the role this serves in the development of the frontal lobe, I have firsthand observation in the reverse of this process.  Without a doubt, my husband has lost a great deal of his ability to multitask, it is, in fact, his greatest source of frustration.)

When it comes to the development of craft, I think the elementary art teacher spends a great deal of time stressing the very basics in regard to the use and care of supplies and tools. It’s not very fun to paint with a set of dirty paints, nor end up with a big hole in your paper because you scrubbed your brush too much in one spot. I try to introduce opportunities which allow for experimentation. I am not so much focused on a project, as I am the process.

‘Students in the art studio are taught to look more closely than people ordinarily do.’ (Studio Thinking p. 58)  I could not agree more with this statement.  Before executing a landscape drawing my students examine examples of landscapes identifying foreground, mid-ground, and background.  We often head out to the parking lot or playground to observe that the horizon line is, indeed, off in the distance and should probably be drawn a little higher than a straight line across the bottom of the paper.  I know that this type of exercise sinks in when they demonstrate what they have learned in their drawings or when they share stories of personal observations made outside the art room.

Visual Exercise

I have long been fascinated with Mexican folk art and was delighted when a friend gifted me with the lovely calaca which I chose to sketch for this exercise. I particularly enjoy that she is seated in front of a computer and that she is smoking a cigarette....something I have always maintained I would do should insanity ever drive me to the point of being institutionalized. ~ Thanks Charlie, you know me well. ; )

Picture me, the neat 'everything must be just so' type, seated in my office, a purposefully large amount of papers and books covering every surface, a can of almonds precariously balanced on top, a soda clenched between my knees, a continuously meowing Siamese cat at my feet, and the home phone ringing every five minutes with  pre-election phone calls (Can you believe that Betty White, Sarah Palin, even Mr. Obama...all were vying for my attention!)  Clipboard and paper leaning against the desk front I began drawing...no, I tried to begin drawing, I had to stop to adjust the desk light due to the paper stacks, OK, draw..draw... wait...one of her boobs looks bigger...hey, that's because one of them really is bigger...oh, I like the light better this way...whoops, about spilled those almonds...draw...draw...what??? is that man on TV talking about sea slugs in lakes? gross! gross! gross! I hate slugs, ugly little shell-less snails, f-o-c-u-s, back to  drawing............Somehow, during the allotted 30 minutes I was able to capture a fairly decent likeness of  my little computing skeleton.  It was a stressful process though, one that made me think that lighters and ashtrays might well be a part of my future.

My Personal Working Preferences for Creating Art

I tend to be a neat and tidy person. In my home, for the most part, at least the things I have control over, everything has a place. At work I have a reputation amongst the custodians and maintenance staff for having the cleanest art room in the district. Students in my room quickly learn that I expect them to be responsible for cleaning their area and for taking proper care of the supplies. I like order not only in my work space but in the surrounding areas as well. I work better in a calm and well organized environment.

When it comes to the creative process, I like to have as many supplies as I anticipate I will need on hand and ready to go. (Fortunately, being the great collector of supplies, I am usually ready to conquer about any project I can dream up.) I like to tune the radio to a classic rock station so that I don’t have to change cds, and I enjoy working by myself or alongside a good friend. I like creating in my own space and I don’t feel near as comfortable working in the company of strangers. I hate interruptions, be it in the form of a phone, the doorbell, a barking dog, or even an inquisitive spouse.

So far my description sounds pretty much like the perfectionist that I am! When it comes to the actual concept for a project though, I tend to be a little more lax. Perhaps due to the isolation, I brainstorm possibilities, usually right before I fall asleep, in the shower, or while driving to work. No matter what media I intend to use, I make many random sketches, and once started, my ideas change and evolve. I generally work as long as I can at one time, stopping only due to frustration or time constraints.

If I were only able to turn cartwheels....

I am excited beyond belief! February 14-16 I will be attending the Midwest Education Technology Conference! My techie friends have been inviting me for the past few years, telling me how much I would enjoy it. This year when they dangled the brochure in front of my face I just had to grab it! One of the keynote speakers is none other than Lee Crockett, he co-wrote Digital Diet and authors the blog, The Committed Sardine. ( Which, btw, I've been following since I began blogging! )

The conference will be held at the St. Charles Convention Center, St. Charles, Missouri. The Convention center connects to Embassy Suites. It's an awesome place to stay....what's not to love about a complimentary happy hour?

Check it out, maybe I will see you there! http://metcconference.org/moodle2011/