Arts Explorer 6: Collaging with Scissors

Art Word of the Week:  Color

Activity : The World and I

Materials:

• Large piece poster board
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Photographs
• Magazines
• Any other material your child might need

Directions:

1. Look through magazines and photographs for things that describe your understanding of the world
2. Cut them out in whatever shape you like and glue these pictures/photographs on the poster board (such that the poster board is full with no background color showing)
3. Now look through the magazines and photographs again but this time for things that describe you 
4. Cut these images out and glue them on the same poster board (ie. on top of the things that describe your understanding of the world), in whatever direction, shape, position you prefer
5.  Use whatever else you need (glitter, cards, paper clips etc) that would show a better understanding of who you are and what you think of the world

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Color :

the quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue.

Without color, our life would just be black and 

white - boring. Color brings in the adventure, the beauty, the life in our world. The world is filled with vibrant hues, color puts emotion in our life. Over the decades, we have started to associate certain feelings and emotions to certain colors. For example, red describes love and warmth whereas blue describes cool and calm. 

Life without color is unimaginable. We see color and we automatically become happy. Imagine having to choose from a black and white version of movie and a colorful one. Which one would you choose? The colorful one, right?! Our eyes have become used to see color all around us, it has become a need for us; without color we would probably die. Color sets the mood of the place. Color ... excites us, amazes us, attracts us. 

The brighter the color, the greater the attraction. Like for example, if we see the above picture, the focus of that image becomes the pink color. Our eyes automatically see the pink first, then the yellow and then the little bit of red. The black, white, and gray are what they eye sees the last. The same goes for the flowers on the left - the focus or the attention is given to the red rose, where as all the other flowers 
sort of become the background. The red rose sticks out from the rest of the flowers.

The same goes for this image. Here we see different colors of the crayons, and we also see gray crayons (rather crayons which have been grayed out to blend in with the mat). It's like these four crayons are the spotlight of this image!

Childhood is the period where life is full of different colors, excitement, and  adventure.Children like seeing different colors. I remember as one of my activities for placement I had taken crayons, dipped them in different colored paint and then put them in the show box. The box was then shook up and down, side to side by the children, and when the lid was opened, the picture/image that came forth was beautiful. The children saw it and were amazed at what the plain white paper had become! They started naming the colors they each saw. Colors make children happy, colors make everyone happy!

References

Schirrmacher R., and Fox, J.E. (2009). Arts & Creative Development for Young Children. US: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Arts Explorer 5: Movie, Popcorn, Chat!

Art word of the week: Balance


Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like! For this Arts Explorer I watched Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko : which is about "a troubled teenager, Donnie Darko, escapes death when a jet-engine crashes in his bedroom, because he follows a giant bunny leading him outside. The bunny, called Frank, tells him that the world will end in 28 days. As the final date comes closer and closer Donnie is drawn into an alarming series of events that may or may not be a product of growing insanity" (Mio, 2001).


The following is the chat I had with a friend after watching the movie:

me: hey u

 ok lets talk!

 Aisha: ok

  so the movie shud have been PG 16

  and it used to many inapproprate language

 me: maybe it was and we didnt check the rating

 Aisha: and it was scary

 me: lol we should have checked first

 Aisha: and the ending wuz a total flop

 me: lol!

yaa it wass scarryy

  especially that rabbit bunny woman

 Aisha: and i didnt understand wut wus up with the dude at the end

 me: what dude?

 Aisha: the guy who donald ddarooo shot

how did he end up being the bunny

  it wus soo confusing

 me: ohh yaa

  i didnt get that either :S

  that was confusingg

  and remember that old woman

 Aisha: she wuz scary

 me: they totally didnt show her story properly

Aisha: and at the end she was still walking when the car ran over the dudez girlfriend

 me: ya.. thats what i'm sayingg i didnt quite understand her role

  :S

anywayss so yaa explain me that ending again

 Aisha: so remeber how when the cycatrist asks the guy why hes ruining his life

 me: ohh and ya i was telling u before.. it was all those things he feared that he ended up doing

 Aisha: and y is he listening to the bunny

me: lol the bunny's name is frank!

 Aisha: yaya

  listen

  and then the donald dude says im have to listen to the bunny bcuz he saved me

me: ya

 Aisha: at the end we find out that in the beginning when the bunny called the dude out he was saving his life

 me: ya but i thought the countdown was like for the end of the world or something?

 Aisha: and at the end the bunny lets the donald dude sleep bcuz he shot him

 me: what was all that about then?

 Aisha: ya the countdown wuz for how long donald wuz gonna live for

  and when the last day happened he died

  and...

 me: what?!?! thats confusingg

 Aisha: my thinking wuz confirmed by this movie

95%on teenage guys have disgusting messed up wrong minds

  and all think of the same nasty stuff

 me: loll!!

  haha

  ok the movie was about emotions and how to handle them

  soo ya it makes sense :P

Aisha: yup


Balance does not have to be limited to art. In this movie, the balance was directed towards emotions and how to regulate them. When an imbalance of emotions happens, the flood can be so strong that you may lose control, despite your better judgment.

In order to function at your best, it’s important that you learn to balance your emotions. Learning how to express upset, hurt, anger without condemning others, without blaming, without alienating others will help you fit in with others, create relationships, make choices based on what you need and want. Same goes for children, they need to be shown/taught how to express themselves without hurting others; they can be provided with alternate ways to expressing themselves, for example art!

References

Mio. (2001) Plot Summary for Donnie Darko.  The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 21, 2011 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246578/plotsummary

Arts Explorer 4: Patterns in Urban Settigns and Nature

Art Word of the Week: Pattern

A pattern is anything that repeats itself. Patterns can be fancy or simple, regular or irregular, symmetrical or asymmetrical, sequenced or alternating.

Patterns can be seen all around us, whether they be on the fence post or the fresh falling snow landing on the ground. As I was looking around my house, I came across various different patterns. I opened the curtains of the window in my room and saw the unique patterns made out of bricks used make the house in front of ours. Here are two pictures of the same house, from the same view/perspective, but a different zoom level:  

As I headed towards my closet, I came across some very neat patterns - ones I would never have recognized or paid attention to had I not been doing this assignment: I saw patterns on my clothes!

As I headed down the stairs, I saw more patterns! The steps and railings of the staircase made a unique pattern as well :

I looked outside and the flooring had a certain pattern, the fencepost had its own pattern.

There was pattern all around! Patterns can be what the children choose to enrich their artwork or the different styles of lines used on the tiles of the bathroom - it all depends on what perspective you choose to look at it from.

Children love making patterns. As random as our world sometimes seems, a great deal of it contains repetitive elements. Before a child is able to understand basic mathematical functions, he needs to have a solid understanding of how to identify and create patterns. There are a number of fun and creative ways to teach a child patterns.When a number of materials are provided to them (for example a bunch of counting bears), some choose to categorize them by color, some by size.

Arts Explorer 3: Art Critique

Art word of the week: Space

The textbook describes the use of space as:  "An artist's ultimate space is determined by the size of the canvas, be it paper, cardboard, wood, or a shoebox. Within the overall space, the artist must deal with the problem of arranging elements" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p143).


Other things that matter when distinguishing space are: What shapes to use, where to place them? What to leave as empty space (negative space), and where to place things (positive space).  At the AGO one piece of art that really caught my eye was because of the amazing use of positive space and negative space by the artist.




Last week we had a chance to go to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) to visit the Maharaja exhibit. It was a truly amazing trip; having the chance to see the different pieces of art and pondering on the different styles each artist used to express his inner feelings was an absolutely amazing experience. While I was looking at the different pieces of art, one piece of art really stuck out to me: Piazza D'italia by Georgio de Chirico.

The sharp and bright colors and the extremely perfect and sharp lines just caught my eyes immediately. The way things are proportioned and placed and the way everything looks so calm and quiet (except for the train in the back) gives a very calm feeling. It looks like it is around sunset and those two men are about to conclude their meeting on a very important matter. I don't know why, but everytime I look at this picture, I get an image of myself with a guy (maybe husband, friend - I'm not sure) walking on the warm sand of the beach towards the sea, enjoying the beautiful sunset. Maybe it's because of the way the artist of this painting chose to proportion things or just the sunset or the way the shadows are presented.


This painting is an oil on canvas painted around the 1950s. The artist, Georgio de Chirico, was born in Volo, Greece in the year 1888 and died in the year 1978. 


"In 1910, Chirico began to favor lonely, deserted cityscapes with a dream-like feeling, paintings which lead to the formation of Surrealism" (Taken from http://wwar.com/masters/c/chirico-giorgio_de.html). I think this is why I immediately thought of the beach scene as soon as I saw this painting; it was because that's what Chirico intended to do.



The overall theme of the works in this room was Buried Treasure - The Unconscious in European Art. 

"We must change life" was the rallying cry of a group  of young Parisian artists in the 1920s. Known as surrealists, they challenged the conservative social, religious and sexual values of the middle class. Instead of order they craved chaos. Rather than focusing on the material world, they explored the realm of dreams and the unconscious. They uncovered what lies at the core of human existence - the irrational urges to love, desire, and to destroy.

As ECE's we need to keep our minds open to the various thinking and perspectives each child brings in our classroom. What one image may seem like to one child, may be completely different to another. Depending on the background and circumstances the child has gone through or come from, influences how and what they think. For one child, the picture above may represent a lonely, deserted place; for another it may represent something completely different.

References

(2010). Giorgio De Chirico (1888- 1978) Artwork Images, Exhibitions, Reviews. Worldwide Art Resources. Retrieved February 14, 2011 from http://wwar.com/masters/c/chirico-giorgio_de.html


Schirrmacher R., and Fox, J.E. (2009). Arts & Creative Development for Young Children. US: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Arts Explorer 2: Instant Sculpture

Art Word of the Week: Shape

Shape is defined as "the quality of a distinct object or body in having an external surface or outline of specific form or figure." The textbook defines shape as "the outside form of an object; defined by a line or outline, and by connecting lines" (Schirramacher & Fox, 2009, p140).

While thinking of what to make out of the things in my room, my eyes fell on the markers and pens lying around on my table. I picked them all up and dropped them on the floor. Just playing around and moving the markers and pens from one direction to another, changing the angle of some while setting others in another position I came up with the following:

Can you catch the shooting star?!

The same markers and pens when put in a different angle, style, and direction make up a totally different shape!

What rearranging the markers/pens can do:

When it comes to children and sculpting, they are the most creative beings on the face of this Earth! When provided with certain materials, and asked to create whatever they like, they come up with pretty neat ideas. As ECE's we need to give these children and their creative minds space to just be free and do as they prefer; this allows them to explore the different perspectives of everything, and enhances their development.

References

Schirrmacher R., and Fox, J.E. (2009). Arts & Creative Development for Young Children. Thomson Delmar Learning: US.