Reviewing the 2010-11 Art Curriculum..a read and a movie

Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Douglas MacArthur

Well, here it is June 10, 2011 and I am about to enter my final post to this blog.  I just now looked at a couple of numbers I thought were particularly significant.  The first is that today in the stats of the blog I see that to date there were exactly 4000 views of this blog since August of 2010 when I started it.  I don't know how successful that number is in relation to other blogs, but I am encouraged that so many of you have taken the time to take a look at our art work.  Each time I look at the stats, I am amazed at the wide variety of places in the world where this is viewed.  Russia, Slovenia, Australia, India, China, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Suriname, South Korea, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil, Nigeria, Canada, United States, Hong Kong, and Poland to name a few.  I have told my students all year long that you have been out there seeing what they have been doing and how I have enjoyed bringing their art to you.  The other significant number I saw today is that this will be my 88th posting to the blog.  I had thought when I began that I would try to post at least once for each day I taught.  Since I am a half time teacher, I only teach 90 days out of 180.  So I aimed for 90.  But those of you who know me personally know how meaningful the number 8 is to me.  So, since we DID miss a couple of days to ice storms, I will find this post to be achieving my goal and ending on the double 8 as well.

As I think back on the experience of dreaming up and putting into place this year's curriculum, I feel as though I have benefitted greatly from the process.  I'll never know what sort of long term impact it will have had on the students I had in class.  Many of them said they enjoyed the class and the process.  I can only hope that the idea of intrinsic motivation that I harped on all year will mean something to them in years to come.  Who knows, maybe they'll contact me through facebook years from now and tell me how it helped them in their careers.  Watch me hold my breath.  For me the important thing was to see the individual effort and satisfaction of doing a good job I saw as they completed each assignment.  They would ask my opinion and I would ask them, "do you like it?"  They invariably said yes.  Then I would say, "you did a good job and should be proud to what you accomplished".  Notice how "grades" did not enter the conversation?

The doing of the blog was quite challenging.  I would usually sit down on my day off and put together my notes.  I din't get into recording the students working and their work until well into the second unit.

At first I was very bothered by the lack of comments.  I would knock myself out putting together a movie, or a slide show, or just some great art works...nothing.  Overall, there were 25 comments over the nine months and 4000 views.  My daughter, Kateri, who works for a radio station, said not to worry about it, their shows get no comments either.  So I concentrated on the number of views and stayed encouraged and motivated.  Thank all of you for being there.  

I have prepared a 10 summary/review of the year and am posting it here.  Just me talking about the year and the lessons.  It may dawn on me to add to this blog later this summer.  If I do, I hope you are a follower so you will know about it.  Until then, or until next year, so long.

  

Some student comments about their year in art

"Start with what is right rather than what  is acceptable."

Franz Kafka   June 3, 1924

I'm not sure if what I started with was "right" or not.  It certainly has had limited acceptance.  However, I asked my students to comment on the class and the year in Art 1.  Last winter I posted some of the actual comments directly from their test papers.  I'm not sure how much of that post was clear enough to read because of the quality of the scan and the readability of the handwriting.  So this time I am going to go through the tests and pick out some students comments and simply type them in.

I like how we worked with watercolor.  I disliked the india ink stuff...didn't catch my attention.

I liked the freedom.  I really didn't like the project for the last 6 weeks.  I didn't like taking this test.

This semester was a lot more satisfying.  I liked the grading process, but thought it was too complicated.  I enjoyed this class very much because you tell us what to do but give us choices at the same time.  I didn't like pressing hard with crayon on the last project and then crumpling it.

I loved the final  project though.  It was an advantage for us to grade ourselves as long as we were doing what we were supposed to.
  

Art 1 was fun.  I got to do things I had never done before.  I would have to say this was the best class I was in all year.  I couldn't wait to get to this class every day.

This semester was great.  I liked the fact that I had a steady goal I could work towards.  The grading system sounds great on paper, but giving the students too much freedom will eventually turn into a bad idea.  The use of the teacher's authority helps make the class more organized seeing as we need a leader or we become restless and can't finish our work.  You should be more strict with the students who give you problems.  I am going to take art next year.  I want to try pottery.

That last paragraph was by Juan.  I highlighted him in a short video as well as posted his work as the cover for the students website.  

Malcolm McLaren on Authenticity VS Karaoke culture

"The person who knows HOW will always have a job.
 The person who knows WHY will always be his boss."

Alanis (Nadine) Morissette   June 1, 1974

I watched a TED conference talk yesterday by Malcolm McLaren.  I tried to record a portion of the talk and post it onto this blog, but haven't figured out yet how to do that.  I ran across an interview with him, however, and am going to post some of that on the blog today.  The whole point of the talk was not only to describe himself and his life, but to discuss the (in his words) two most important words (concepts) confronting our world today...Authenticity....Karaoke...

He describes in his talk how he was first introduced to the idea of authenticity by his first art teacher.  He also discusses what he terms as our existing "Karaoke Culture".  If, after reading some of the excerpts I have posted here, you want to listen to the entire talk on TED, click on 

lMalcolm McLaren's talk and you can do so.  In the meantime, here are some thoughts of his:

Marco Siebertz: You say that you dedicated your life to being a flamboyant and magnificent failure. What is so beneficial in failing?

Malcolm McLaren: For artists from the 19th century like Blake, Byron, Shelley or maybe even Vincent van Gogh the artistic process was one long eternal struggle, which never ends and never ever succeeds. And the only great art comes out of that struggle. It’s like being on a train. There maybe a destination but you never arrive t here – because when you do, you are dead! So, in this romantic age still prevailing in the 1960s, you were taught that from day one. Today, if people were told that, they’d probably drop dead in front of that lecture because they’re such scaredy-dares now! They can’t cope with such thoughts! Those thoughts are far too deep today.

Being a failure was part of an old-fashioned, authentic, romantic way of life and vision for an artist. Today the process of creativity can be better compared to a Karaoke-like experience – an “Ersatz”-world, where the messiness, where the struggle doesn’t exist. In a Karaoke world everything is made easy, you never fail. But in an authentic world failure is something you embrace. It’s almost a noble pursuit. I come from that world – it supported me in creating the punk aesthetic.

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE INDIA INK LESSON SHARED

 POSITIVE/NEGATIVE INDIA INK LESSON

CHOOSE SUBJECT(S) AND DRAW THEM IN PENCIL COVERING THE 12 X 18 WHITE DRAWING PAPER. 

OVERLAP THE SUBJECTS AND HAVE THEM COMING FROM ALL DIRECTIONS AND HAVE PARTS OF THEM GO OFF THE PAGE

I CHOSE ROOSTERS FOR THIS EXAMPLE:

START AT A CORNER OF THE PAPER AND MARK AN X INEACH SHAPE YOU INTEND TO DARKEN.  THE OBJECT IS TO NOT HAVE ANY LINES, ONLY POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SHAPES.

BEGIN COLORING IN THE SHAPES USING INDIA INK OR FELT TIP PEN.

THIS IS THE EXAMPLE I WORKED UP FOR MY STUDENTS USING MY IPAD AND PROJECTOR.

I THOUGHT THE STUDENTS’ WORK CAME OUT QUITE WELL.

India Ink and Rebecca Penney

"You can get all A's and still flunk life."

Walker (Alexander) Percy   May 28, 1916

When I saw this quote on my daily email quoting famous people, I didn't have a clue as to who this was.  I don't really care, to tell the truth.  I just know it spoke a whole world of ideas about what actually IS important.  This blog has tried to stay centered around the idea of intrinsic motivation and its importance in the learning process.  Getting all A"s is the ultimate external motivation in education.  We place so much value on that concept that we forget (ignore) completely the value of learning for the sake and joy and worth of learning.  So, hail to you, Mr. Walker Percy, for reminding us way back at the turn of the century that we need to get our heads out of dark places and find the light of learning as life itself.

Yesterday was my LDWKTY (last day with kids this year) and it was busy and fun.  I gave them a formal test over the last semester similar to last semester's exam where I asked them to summarize the lessons they had and the projects they did and feelings they had about them.  I also asked them again how they felt about the "program" they were on, the self grading, choices, etc.  I'll share some of their thoughts about that in subsequent posts here.  We also finished, or came close to finishing, their last project, the Positive/Negative India Ink projects.

I am posting a video showing, again, some of them working along with some still shots of some of the finished works.  This time I set it to music by the artist Rebecca Penney.  I love her piano work and hoped you would enjoy it.

John Wayne on "Life and the Creative Process"

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us
 at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts
 itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from
 yesterday."

"If everything isn't black and white, I say why the hell not."

John Wayne   [Marion Michael Morrison]   May 26, 1907

Today is the "Duke's" birthday.  In looking over a couple quotes attributed to him, I decided that these two would be appropriate.  The first could be an analogy for the beginning of an art work.

The "blank canvas" that every artist faces in some shape or form.  Is is the "tomorrow" of each

piece of work we attempt.  The other quote, while being meant as a "no nonsense, no gray areas" approach to life, I merely saw it as a metaphor for the POSITIVE/NEGATIVE SPACE 

projects my students are finishing the year creating.

Here is another short video of students in the "creative process'.  Uncut and uncensored.

"Mistakes, Failure, and Being Wrong"...the creative process

"Do not fear mistakes. There are none."

Miles (Dewey) Davis (III)   May 25, 1926

I love jazz musicians.  They are the genius' of spontaneous creativity.  An old acquaintance of mine from a couple of lifetimes ago, Ken Cassover, was a psychologist by day and a jazz pianist in the likes of Dave Brubeck at night, was trained as a traditional concert pianist.  I asked him one day if he found that rigid training beneficial or a hamper to his playing jazz.  He shared that his classical training had been a benefit.  He said that it broadened his base of spontaneity.

I feel the same way about classical training in the visual arts.  Students need to be held to an accountable understanding of the elements of art and the principals of design.  I think at every level of learning those tenants hold true.  I use as an analogy with my students that at every level of football (elementary school to the pros), players practice the rudiments of blocking.

Tiger Woods practices putting.  John McEnroe his backhand.

Now, about Miles Davis' comment about mistakes.  FDR said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself".  The only "mistake" we can make is to believe that failure is not a part of the process of creating art.  Being wrong is what makes us human.  Embrace it.

Here is short video of students while they were staining their ceramic pendants the other day.