Issue Topics

My Art Education Philosophy on Technology in the Classroom

I believe that technology can be used in wonderful ways within our classroom. We can use technology to look up information and research different methods. I do not think that technology should be used to really create art, but perhaps manipulate the works. I think that art work should be done by hand, painting/drawing, etc. It should be done with our "hand" persay so that we are really making it ourselves. We are not allowing something to create for us, but we are choosing to use our own talents. 

Technology in the art education classroom can be used to find artists to relate to and open our minds to more ideas for our own art works. We can see the past that all other artists have worked through and what ideas they came up with, whether art educators or just artists. To see what others have made in the paid can spark interest for us or our students and some artists may become a large part of other's inspiration for our own art. 

Technology can further art education by allowing us to have these resources and perhaps manipulate the pictures for brainstorming our ideas, but I think we should be creating all of the art by hand. I am a very hands on person that needs to work with things really to understand it and I believe that kids in the elementary level, which I what I hope to work with, need to have this tangible experience as well.

Topic: Creativity and Art Education

What is creativity?
      Creativity Is important in everyday life; Whether in schools or at home. In schools, we are trying to really promote the arts because everyone seems to have forgotten about them. Every time that I have attended a conference about anything in the "arts" category, the main idea is promote the arts! If you are creative, you can see things in a different way than anyone else, even others that are creative as well. Everyone has their own ideas and each one turns out wonderfully. Creativity is seeing something that is inside of you and trying to show it to the world. 

http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2010/11/25_awesome_quot.shtml

Creativity is what kids do. Kids just create. They just do. They do not think, they do not care, kids just make the most amazing works. I worked at a daycare this summer and it was amazing what they could create. No matter what the child is doing or what is going on, if you sit a child down and let them go, they will make something unbelievable. We just have to allow them to go and be crazy. 

How can creativity be taught?
       I do not really think that creativity can be taught, but it can be learned. It can be observed from others, enhanced or designed. If we work on our own creativity in everyday works, we can even enhance our imagination and other ideas may come when we don't mean it to. One of my fellow art ed classmates and I have talked about how our hand creates so much more than our mind. Our hand knows more than our minds could ever imagine.

Why creativity NOW?  Why do you think creativity is especially important now?

       Creativity is important NOW because people tend to forget about it. We need to bring back the arts and show everyone that expressing your mind is a good thing. Having an imagination and thinking of things that haven't existed before is the brute of it. Another reason that creativity is important now is because technology is taking over. Most people right now, choose technology over creating with their hands. We can still be creative using technology, but I do not think it is as effective as using our own hands to do something brand new. 

A project that I think is simple and creative together is the exquisite corpse project. Each student thinks of something and just draws and then others can complete it, and at the end there is a new creature that has never existed before. Each creature has their own characteristics and own identity. 

How can technology (digital media) be used to implement creativity in learning through the visual art?

Technology can be used to implement creativity because we can use research to enhance our ideas. There are digital media programs that can connect to our works that may improve or embellish our works. Technology can most likely be used in every way possible. If you want to create something new or just add to your piece in any way, technology can altar 

Topic: Animation Critique-Cat Soup

The animation seems to be about taking a journey somewhere. Death seems to be a main theme within the piece because there is so much repetition of blood and killing. The main cat seemed to be trying to help the other out, make them healthier or revive them in some way. Cat Soup was very confusing because I was not really sure what was going on. I did read the script of the animation before we watched it so I knew the jist of it but it was still very hard to follow because there was a lot going on. 

The technical artmaking strategies used is through repetition going through different ideas over again and trying to revive and help someone else. Many visual strategies such as the dark colors and using the specific characters to portray the story the artist wanted to use. 

The animation was very dark and seemed sort of disturbing. It will help with my own ideas by seeing different ways how many ideas were portrayed without words or script. The artist used a strong way of showing his point, so I have seen different ways to show ideas that I might be trying to convey. The artist's use of characters makes me to think of what the characters will be and how it will take a while to create the storyboard. 

                                                                                     http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385586/

Who are the three artists who influenced your work and inspired you as an artist? 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Barbara Kruger
Dr. Seuss

A preview of artists’ practices

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1. The artist’s background (personal, artistic, and social contexts) 
• Toulouse-Lautrec is a French painter, printmaker, and illustrator. He worked with the theatrical life of Paris in the late 1800s. When he was young (13/14), he fractured his thigh bones and they never healed properly so he was known for being very short. He hung out at the Moulin Rouge and drank and did his illustrations. Here, no one would judge him for being different, so he stayed and was accepted. Toulouse-Lautrec created 737 canvases, 275 watercolours, 363 prints and posters, 5,084 drawings, some ceramic and stained glass work, and an unknown number of lost works.
2. The big idea and key concepts (what is the work about?) 
• Toulouse-Lautrec became very interested in the bohemian lifestyle and was drawn to prostitutes He began painting them and then moved on to family portraits as well as landscapes. He also captured amazing images of the night life at the Moulin Rouge.
3. Boundaries (Media, subject matter, visual form, techniques) 
• Kurger layers photographs with aggressive texts that shows the difference and idea of power in today's society. A lot of her text approach the idea of feminism, consumerism, and individualism.
4. The key artwork(s) (include title, year, medium, and insert links if needed) 
• "Two girls in bed." 1893. Oil painting.
• "At the Moulin Rouge.  1892-1895. Oil Painting. 
• "Jane Avril"  1893. Color lithograph on wove paper.

   5. The artist’s artmaking practices 

• Knowledge (how does the artist acquire knowledge?)
• Toulouse-Lautrec got his information for his images by just observation. 
• Toulouse-Lautrec got his information for his images by just observation.
   
• Artmaking problem (how to investigate and express the idea?) 
• o Technical strategies- He uses oil paint and bright colors to capture the lighting and different facial expressions on everyone's face. 
• o Conceptual strategies- Lautrec uses risk taking in who he captured in the images (prostitutes,etc)  

Barbara Kruger

1. The artist’s background (personal, artistic, and social contexts) 
• Barbara Kruger is from New Jersey. She went to school at Syracuse University for Art and Design. She worked for Medmoiselle Magazine, and was quickly promoted to be head designer. 
2. The big idea and key concepts (what is the work about?)
   
• Kruger uses the idea of language and society in her works. She is often seen as feminist and has different feminist points of view. 
3. Boundaries (Media, subject matter, visual form, techniques)
   
• Kurger layers photographs with aggressive texts that shows the difference and idea of power in today's society. A lot of her text approach the idea of feminism, consumerism, and individualism.
4. The key artwork(s) (include title, year, medium, and insert links if needed)
   
• "I shop therefore I am." 1990. Photolithograph on paper shopping bag
• "Your body is a battleground." 1989 photographic silkscreen on vinyl 

 

   5. The artist’s artmaking practices 

• Knowledge (how does the artist acquire knowledge?)
• Kruger gets her information from media and society. 
• Kruger gets her information from media and society.
   
• Artmaking problem (how to investigate and express the idea?)
• o Technical strategies- Kruger uses black and white photography as the base of her works, usually with a   red border and red box with white text layered on top of the image.o Conceptual strategies-Kruger definitely uses risk taking in her works because she makes a big bold statement that a lot of people can relate to and it needs to be addressed.  

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

1. The artist’s background (personal, artistic, and social contexts) 
• Geisel is from Springfield, MA. He was an American Illustrator and author. The first book that he wrote and illustrated was  "And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street." After his wife died, he wrote and illustrated 44 more children's books. Geisel's birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association. He was a perfectionist in his work and he would sometimes spend up to a year on a book.
2. The big idea and key concepts (what is the work about?) 
• Geisel used all different ideas throughout his books to capture the audience of children.  
3. Boundaries (Media, subject matter, visual form, techniques) 
• Geisel illustrates with such whimsical style and effort. His work has definitely influenced all of my work of the past year and a half. I love using very whimsical style in my works because I think it reflects my personality. 
4. The key artwork(s) (include title, year, medium, and insert links if needed) 
• "The Cat the Hat." 1957
• "The Lorax." 1971
• "Oh the places you'll go." published 1990

     5. The artist’s artmaking practices 

• Knowledge (how does the artist acquire knowledge?)
• Geisel used information and memories from when he was younger. His mother used to read poems to him and rhyme everything, so this is where he got his inspiration. 
• Artmaking problem (how to investigate and express the idea?) 
• o Technical strategies- Geisel uses whimscial imagery along with poetry 
• o Conceptual strategies- Geisel uses experimentation with all different themes.

1. Choose one artist above to develop new teaching strategies which incorporate technology into an art lesson (at least use some forms of technology learned in class, such as digital media- blogging, animation, movie and image making for artmaking).