Curriculum Sketch III: Nature

T H E E X P E R I E N C E O F P L A C E:

N A T U R E

E N D U R I N G   I D E A

R e l a t i o n s h i p

Q U E S T I O N S

• How does place make us who we are?
• What is our relationship with nature?
• How do we interact with nature?
• How has that relationship been created?
• What is our responsibility in relationship to nature?

R A T I O N A L E

The natural world is a vital part of human existence. As we engage with it through art, we will be better prepared to be responsible as we use the earth and it's resources. Nature can also be an access point to spirituality that students may not otherwise engage with or include in their art. (See Sally Mann)

L E A R N I N G   G O A L S

• Students will have meaningful engagement with the natural that they will translate into art ma

• VA:Cr1.2.Ia: Shape an artistic investigation of an aspect of present day life using a contemporary practice of art
• VA:Cr1.2.IIa: Choose from a range of materials and methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices to plan works of art
• VA:Cr2.1.IIIa: Experiment, plan, and make multiple works of art and design that explore a personally meaningful theme, idea, or concept.

K N O W L E D G E

• Nature is psychologically beneficial: "Green is Good for You"
• Ways to reduce the harm we do to the environment
• Art about  and with Nature:
• Hudson River School:  
• Andy Goldsworthy
• Cai Guo-Qiang 
• Mark Dion
• Alisha Anderson

A C T I V I T I E S

• Go to and photograph or draw a natural place that is meaningful in your life or influenced you in some way.

• List as a class or in sketchbook ideas about nature.
• Collect art about nature online.
• Live with nature. Bring a rock, plant, animal (safely and with permission) into the classroom and invite students to do the same.
• Go on a walk and collect natural items that talk about your relationship with nature.
• Go on a nature walk and identify a plant that you will conduct further research about
• Build a container out of natural material.

An egg, emptied carved and sanded.

• Field trips to local nature areas where we will paint/draw the landscape.
• Watch a movie and think about how nature is portrayed (Avatar, Pocahontas, The Martian, An Inconvenient Truth, Life of Pi, King Kong, Food Inc., etc.)

B I G   P R O J E C T

Create a sculpture of natural material that will somehow change over time and communicate your personal connection to nature.

P R O T O T Y P E

Mix of clay dirt and seed pressed into mold of legs.

I grew up barefoot in the summers. The bottom of my bed as a little kid was often kind of dirty from my feet. But through that connection growth is possible. My feet are tough and was more sensitive and aware of my surroundings.

Eventually this sculpture will deteriorate, planting the seeds.

Natural Container

Emptied, cut, and sanded egg shell

Natural Place

I grew up in a city but in this storm drain creek
 I could pretend I was deep in the woods. 

Make-shift plank bridges, rock islands, and forts. 
Wild onions, blackberries, and mulberries. 
Creek-bed clay pots and leaf boats.
Frogs, tadpoles, and skeeters.
Raccoons and fish.
Moss and flowers.
Deer hoof prints.
Mosquito bites.
The Creek.

Curriculum Sketch II: Mandala

T H E E X P E R I E N C E O F T I M E:
Transcience and the Spirit

E N D U R I N G   I D E A

Perspective

Q U E S T I O N S

• What is the difference between religion and spirituality?
• Talking about: What is a thought? 

• How do we experience time?
• How do we know that time has passed?
• How does our perspective of time influence how we experience things?
• How do you feel when you are waiting?
• How does change influence your understanding of time? (physical, natural, etc.)

R A T I O N A L E

Perspective influences interpretation.

When we recognize our perspective we can better understand our interpretation.
It is important that students understand what spirituality is and the role it has in culture and health. Spirituality is rarely addressed anywhere else in school

L E A R N I N G   G O A L S

• Students will recognize how their culture influences their perspective of time.
• Students will recognize how their physical state affects their mental and emotional state (through meditation).

• VA:Cr1.2.Ia: Shape an artistic investigation of an aspect of present day life using a contemporary practice of art
• VA:Cr1.2.IIa: Choose from a range of materials and methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices to plan works of art
• VA:Cr2.1.IIIa: Experiment, plan, and make multiple works of art and design that explore a personally meaningful theme, idea, or concept.

K N O W L E D G E

• Time based art - time as an element of the art
• Video, audio, slides, performance, etc.
• EXAMPLES
• *** Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing by Francis Alys

• CROSS CULTURE: Tibetan Sand Mandala, Navajo Sand Painting 

• Interdisciplinary:  
• Social: Time Perspective
• Psychological ideas/concepts: The Secret Powers of Time

A C T I V I T I E S 

• Rituals: Identify a daily ritual of yours and create a work of performance art or video art that includes that ritual.
• Daily meditation: Each day a student will lead the class in a meditation. 
• Using collage methods create a mandala to explore spirituality.

B I G   P R O J E C T
Create a mandala that uses time as a factor. (Might it naturally decompose? Do you have to deliberately destroy it?). Document the creation and destruction.

EPHEMERAL MANDALA

C R E A T I O N

D E S T R U C T I O N

 

Response to Chapter 2 of Teaching Artist Handbook

How Will I Teach?

A Collection of Gatherings

• "Becoming an artist" is NOT becoming a "professional" artist alone.
• THUS: all my students are artists. (Am I treating them as artists? Do I treat their work/opinions/input seriously? Am I invested in what they make?)
• Learning "non-art related" skills happens best "when one actually makes art"
• THUS: my job is to enable actual creation of actual art.
• I can do this by asking on a daily basis (maybe on a poster where I will see it everyday or through out the day in the classroom:
• Would I want to do this project?
• Is their "mis-behavior" getting in the way of the art making?
• Are the "rules" relevant to making art?
• Does the space encourage art making?
• Do I treat and talk about their work as art or just assignments?
• Do I encourage discipline integration as the natural participator it is?
• Am I introducing and exposing my students to a generous variety of exemplars?
• Does the work all look the same?
• Am I in the way?

Collage Artist

JOHN STEZAKER

Readings Response

Graphic Novels as Contemporary Art

Having experienced the use of graphic novels as an access point into contemporary art I felt it was thoroughly enjoyable and a great way to include visual culture as a form of art. I also understand how it is contemporary as in current and is becoming a wider accepted and wider read form of literature. But as a connection point for students to access contemporary art (much of which is highly conceptual) graphic novels seems vague. Perhaps more background into the artists themselves and their own motivations and creative processes will make this clearer. I think the most valuable use of graphic novels is as a means to include current visual culture that is engaging, interdisciplinary, and aesthetically productive.


How the Teaching Artist Can Change the Dynamics of Teaching and Learning

Engaging Minds

The article may not have been complete (missing pages)? But it offered a lot of great points. I feel that in teaching art this is the value of being being a teaching artist who students can look to as an example and source of inspiration and motivation (not solely the only source but one of them).

Meditation Preparation

"CONCENTRATION MEDITATION"

Inner IDEA http://www.gaiam.com/discover/158/article/meditation-101-techniques-benefits-and-a-beginners-how-to

"Concentration meditation involves focusing on a single point. This could entail following the breath, repeating a single word or mantra, staring at a candle flame, listening to a repetitive gong, or counting beads on a mala. Since focusing the mind is challenging, a beginner might meditate for only a few minutes and then work up to longer durations.

"In this form of meditation, you simply refocus your awareness on the chosen object of attention each time you notice your mind wandering. Rather than pursuing random thoughts, you simply let them go. Through this process, your ability to concentrate improves.

"MINDFULNESS MEDITATION

"Mindfulness meditation encourages the practitioner to observe wandering thoughts as they drift through the mind. The intention is not to get involved with the thoughts or to judge them, but simply to be aware of each mental note as it arises.

"Through mindfulness meditation, you can see how your thoughts and feelings tend to move in particular patterns. Over time, you can become more aware of the human tendency to quickly judge an experience as good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant. With practice, an inner balance develops."

"HOW TO PRACTICE WALKING MEDITATION"

Thich Nhat Hanh

http://www.gaiam.com/discover/296/article/mindful-just-breathing-walking/

"Walking meditation is a way to practice moving without a goal or intention. Mindful walking simply means walking while being aware of each step and of our breath. It can be practiced anywhere, whether you are alone in nature or with others in a crowded city. You can even practice mindful breathing and walking meditation in between business appointments or in the parking lot of the supermarket.

"Walking on this planet is a joy. Mindful walking allows us to be aware of the pleasure of walking. We can keep our steps slow, relaxed, and calm. There is no rush, no place to get to, no hurry. Mindful walking can release our sorrows and our worries and help bring peace into our body and mind.

"We can practice walking meditation alone, with another person, or with a group. Placing our footsteps one after the other slowly and in silence, we can create joy with each step. If we take steps without anxiety, in peace and joy, then we will cause a flower to bloom on the earth with every step." 

Curriculum Sketch I: Figure

T H E E X P E R I E N C E O F B O D Y :
S E N S E S

E N D U R I N G   I D E A

P e r s p e c t i v e

Q U E S T I O N S

• How does our body influence how we experience things?
• How do our senses influence our experience?
• Disabilities: Do they really "handicap" people as much as we might think?
• Sense: How does what we see influence what we expect?
• connects with observational drawing, drawing what we see as opposed to what is.

R A T I O N A L E

Perspective influences interpretation.

When we recognize our perspective we can better understand our interpretation.

L E A R N I N G   G O A L S

• Students will recognize how their perspective (i.e. physical experience: height, weight, ability, smell, touch, etc.) influences their experience (i.e. memories).

• VA:Cr1.2.Ia: Shape an artistic investigation of an aspect of present day life using a contemporary practice of art
• VA:Cr1.2.IIa: Choose from a range of materials and methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices to plan works of art
• VA:Cr2.1.IIIa: Experiment, plan, and make multiple works of art and design that explore a personally meaningful theme, idea, or concept.

K N O W L E D G E

• Art about the figure: figure drawing, painting, sculpture, anatomy illustration
• Art that includes the figure: Fashion illustration, graphic novels, animation, illustration
• Art using the body to be made  

  
How does watching an artwork be made change your opinion of it?

• Art that uses other senses
• http://katiepaterson.org/candle/

How could smelling what it would be like to go through space change what you think about space travel?

• Interdisciplinary:  
• Social: The idea of the single story
• Psychological ideas/concepts: Synesthesia

A C T I V I T I E S

• Figure drawing from unusual perspectives. How does your angle change the object?
• Figure drawing with unusual materials (sticks and ink, dirt, food, etc.)
• Figure sculpture with found objects.
• Seeing figure and face everywhere: Pareidolia. Look around. What faces do you see? Draw them and write short story about who they are.

• Jogging memories: take a walk outside focusing on what we smell and what we are reminded of. Write it down. The Power of Smell
• At an art museum: what memories do you experience at the museum? Write/sketch down.
• Are there certain songs that remind you of certain things/events/people?

B I G   P R O J E C T

Create a figural work (Drawing, sculpture/installation, painting) that incorporates another sense (sound, smell, touch) for the viewer to experience the work.

Response to Chapter 1 of Teaching Artist's Handbook UPDATED

My Artistic Evolution and How it Influences My Curriculum and Teaching 

a.k.a 

What I Do As An Artist

My earliest art was functional: a Mother's Day gift, an illustration to a story I was writing, a self-portrait for school.

I think the first idea in my life was fantasy, frequently backed up by religion, nature, and family. This meant that for school I would write or draw or research about religion, nature, or family, but when I wanted to have fun I read or pretended or drew or wrote about fantasy. I would diagram a dragon's anatomy and then take copious notes from child biology books about insects, penguins, and Antarctica. I studied the Usbourne Childrens' Encylopedia.

In high school, fantasy faded into the grit of turn-of-century American novels like The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, and The Grapes of Wrath and the modern ideas they introduced. I took myself more "seriously" and painted a series of cubist style paintings exploring my childhood memories, real and wished for (a red ball, piano keys, a shadowy figure that lived in our attic who we called the dark man, horses, a tree house, a brother).

Then as I senior I made a trip with my family to South Africa to visit my father's family. Using a point-and-shoot I collected a series of images from a drive through the shanty town and during our stay. These photographs combined with an experience I had earlier that school year when my German teacher led us in a service project to the inner city. We were working with a youth group from the Lutheran Church raking leaves and collecting litter. That day included a series of events that left a deep impression on me of the moral requirement that exists to see "us", not "them and us" but just "us". I created a series of paintings with the photos as my reference to explore how we are all entangles. Segregation is poison that infects the whole.

My work since then has mainly explored borders, segregation, and interaction. This focus in my art lead me into art education in order to work directly against educational segregation.

In my teaching and curriculum I want to address hard questions and help all "sides" see and ackhnowedge and treat eachother as human. Olivia Gude's article on her own exploration of this idea was highly encouraging that I chose the right field.

What kind of artist am I?
I feel that to say I am a visual artist might be limiting. I think that some of my work is best experienced when it is touched, smelt, or heard.

What is my favorite medium to work in?
Whatever I need to explore or answer the question. I love some kinds of intuitive drawing and painting. I love sculpture and have noticed that recently I think in the round.