Useful Links

Here is Aileen's flicker account of our work.

Here is the class blog.

Here is the teaching blog.

Here are links to everyone's individual blogs.

Week 4 Response

I could always use new ways for students to stay active when they've finished a project and have definitly just told a few to free draw. I like the idea of having them pull out a slip of paper with an activity to do on it. Three examples that were mentioned were picking up scraps for the collage bin, sharpening all the pencils, and designing a new shopping cart for the elderly. There are tons of other things I could use.

I also need to find ways to get the room silent when I need to tell them something. The clapping tricks dont work if they are used too often so I need more ways. We talked about it breifly, but I would like to touch on that again.

I've been thinking about the alphabet project and I think I would make a few adjustments. The examples that were shown were much stronger if they had some sort of a theme, such as the sidewalk. I would split the students into groups and have each group choose a theme. They would then split us the letters the way we did.

Sketch Book Drawings

These are drawings of my kitties. I used spray paint, colored pencils, and gesso. I really enjoyed meeting with a classmate to talk about our sketchbooks. I think this would be a good thing to do with students because it gives them a chance to explain and validate their work on a level deeper than quickly mentioning it during a crit. It was also interesting to hear about the meaning of the other classmate's work.

Artists

I found some really incredible artists whose work reminds me of what we've been doing in class. These first two artists use text in a really stunning way. This one is "I Know About Your Broken Heart" by Carson Fox. Its made of wire and synthetic hair.


This next one is untitled by a book artist named Hilal Sami Hilal. It's made of cotton fiber and pigment. Here it is, with a detail...


Two other artists made me think of the way we used the tyvek. Cal Lane made these these two, "Five Shovels" and "Wheelbarrow". I love how delicate they look even though they're made with such strong, masculine objects.




This last artist, Piper Shepard, does similar work but works with materials such as muslin, aluminum and graphite. The first is called "Chambers" and the second is "Along Lace Lines".

Week 3 Response

First of all, I am a huge fan of Tyvek! This is the most excited I've been about a new material in a long time. I thought it sounded interesting last week but I wasn't convinced untill I started working with it. One of my favorite things, besides the fact that its almost impossible to tear, is that it pretty much looks exactly like black paper. I left class last week and sat down and finished my entire project in one sitting because I enjoyed it so much. Here is a picture of it...


We kept working on these by finding new ways to interact with what we had made. Here are some pictures of what we did. I especially love the one that is projected onto me. The second picture is the piece between several mirrors and the third is just projected onto the wall.


I really like the use of the projector. It can completely transform the room and prepare the students for the project. The text projected onto the wall was very exciting. Doing a slide show of student work is especially important. It validates their work and could be very inspiring.

We talked about more ways to use text in lessons. These could be using small, medium or large words and handwritten or typed. The words could be cut up and scrambled or used to create texture or make shapes.

I liked the way we made distinctions between each of our pieces. Aileen said to encourage learning we need to have the vocabulary to talk about the work.

I've never done animation but I would really like to do that with a class. I could do claymation, cut paper, or those cut outs on matchsticks. The animation with the tree and punched out circles was absolutely gorgeous. The end products are very exciting.

Week 2 Response

I found doing this project very very relaxing. The project was not intimidating to do, probably because it was so limited and everyone had the same few choices of what to use. Though we were able to use more than one material, I think it was more restrictive than last week. We had the option to use any material, which can be more scary. We also had a long set up for the project and got to practice writing a word in different ways.

I also liked this part because it reminded me of the way I sometimes work. I do a lot of free associating and list making what I am struggling with coming up with ideas. It helped take the pressure off of choosing a word, or a topic. This could help students who have trouble with these kinds of problems.

Because of this I felt very comfortable working on this project. I focused on creating texture by using different width markers writing "communication" over and over. It was interesting because I wrote it so many times over each other that you couldn't read it, so it did a very poor job at communicating what was written.

I think I would do something like this as a warm up or preparation for a second project. I got a little frustrated because I kept wanting to add white or alter it in other ways.

Week 2 In Class and Homework

Week 2 Sketch Book

This week I made a little book! The sketchbook just has pictures of the book in it. I wanted it to first just look like a book, then you see the hands holding onto the pages, then you saw the person hiding inside the fold. It was a bit difficult figuring out how I was going to have the book opening into a little box. You cant tell from here but it's enclosed on the bottom too. This last picture isn't in the sketchbook but it shows the inside more clearly.

Week 1 Homework and Sketch Book

These are my first two sketchbook entries. They're drawings of my boyfriend. The writing in the background is about what we were doing at the time and what I was thinking about.




This is the assignment where we could use only text and only one drawing material. I used the & symbol because its about how I be be both a teacher an an artist.

From Studio to Classroom

You can visit the class blog "From Studio to Classroom" here.

Artist and Teacher

I've been thinking a lot about how important it is to me to continue to be an ARTIST throughout my entire life. I don't want to be too caught up with working or teaching to forget about making my own art. I want my life to reflect my inner artist whether I'm playing or working. Above is my Octocake which I made with my brother and boyfriend. This is the kind of playing with art that I'm talking about. It sounds like this class might be about that, and about how important it is for us to make our own art, and how that can help us teach art.