Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday.
The home stretch of the semester is suddenly upon us. Due to last week's holiday, I've amended our schedule in a way that I hope will not present a major inconvenience. Rather than final papers/updates/comments being due next Sunday, I would like to suggest that we take this week to discuss the last two-thirds of Awakening Creativity by Lily Yeh. This would push the due date for final papers/updates/comments to December 9th (instead of the 3rd).
If you made plans ahead of time based on the dates printed in our syllabus, please do not hesitate to email me about your situation. The sooner you notify me, the better. I will work with you on an individual basis, depending on your needs.
For this week, I am looking for three students who have not yet written discussion questions for the class to give us questions and/or discussion topics based on our readings. One student can pose a topic or question for chapters 5-6, another student can address chapters 7-8, and another chapters 9-10. This is your chance to step up if you have not yet written a discussion question for this class!
Most students post their discussion topics without asking me to read them beforehand, but this is not always the case. If you would like me to go over your question/topics before you post them to the blog, please feel free to email me your questions. I am always happy to help!
In the meantime, I ask that all three question-writers identify themselves as soon as possible, and let us know which chapters you plan to address.
Thank you!
carolyn
Chapters 5-6
ReplyDeleteQuestion from Jennifer Cox
In Chapter 6, Lilly Yeh helps design new works of art from discarded student works. I think probably all of us who teach have stacks of discarded student art work somewhere, work that they refused to take home and we just couldnt quite throw away! #1 Do you have any ethical hesitation about using students discarded work? Discuss the pros and cons and how you could mitigate your own or others possible objections. Design a project which could be created from the discarded work you have saved.
Since there is not another question yet, I will answer my own! I do not have a problem with re-purposing existing art work the next year. If at the end of the year, students have still chosen to leave their work, then in my classroom, they have been given many opportunities to claim it. I would not hesitate to use it the next year. I would recognize both the original artist and the one who reuses it. I would not reuse student work while the student is still in my class unless he reused one of his own drawings. This solves any problem of objection to using someone else’s work. I think this is actually a good learning tool about the value of reworking an old piece.
DeleteGiving New Life to An Existing Drawing – High School Drawing
1. Choose an existing drawing that has a theme or idea that appeals to you.
2. Create a new drawing in the same theme and proportional in size to the original image. If you chose an original that is predominantly darker, you will create one that is in lighter values. If you choose a lighter one, you will create a dark one. Ideas: faces, animals, buildings, still life.
3. The two papers should be the same size in something that is in even inches.
4. Cut the first picture into vertical 1" strips keeping them together at the top.
5. Cut the second picture horizontally in 1" strips.
6. Tape the vertical one onto a backing paper on the top and weave the other picture over and under (traditional tabby weave). Square it up tightly and then tape it on the sides. Repeat this until all the picture is done.
7. Tape around all for sides with masking tape and begin to reveal some squares to show more of one picture and so forth until you like the composition. You can eliminate rows and squares that are not important.
8. Re work areas of the original drawing if needed to make the two drawings more compatible. Play up contrasting areas of value. Use a kneaded eraser to emphasize highlights. Use colored pencils for accents and interest to unify the drawings if desired.
9. Mat the drawing to hide the tape.
10. Label the drawing with a title and names of both artists.
More advanced students will enjoy weaving into numerous small areas of their drawings, mixing various pieces of their own work with intent. Weaving can also include text, natural materials, fabrics, etc.
* There is a lot of information on the internet about how to weave drawings together. I learned a lot about paper weaving from a project by Ken Schaub of Leigh High School in San Jose California.
I have to agree with everyone on this and it’s a spectacular tool to expand conceptually and aesthetically. I do not have leftover work from students, but have leftover work from myself and little peices from peers. I have recycled a good deal of my older works, sketches and drawings and re-appropriated them into mixed media sculptures. I have also seen peers and instructors do similar exercises when their work becomes stagnant or they become uninterested in what they are doing. Ethically there is nothing wrong with this process. An idea comes to mind that 1) initiates a creative production of work, and 2) allows a different path of creative expression. Perhaps an easy idea is the contrast or juxtaposition of organic forms. For example create an organic form (or multiple forms, castings work well) in clay, steel, or paper. After the form is completed it is re-appropriated. Smash, cut, break or crush it! This to me was a difficult thing to do purposefully. Using the pieces of the forms create another work. Here is where I introduced contrasting materials. Using ceramic fruit castings initially, then applied the pieces to a plastic urethane molded figure. This work initiated a whole new body of work for me incorporating found objects with other models, test pieces, and work I created in the past that wasn’t quiet adequate for me. As an artists first this was an incredible tool for me to change my perspective and further evolve a cohesive body of work and portfolio.
DeleteYet again Jennifer knocks another project idea out of the park! :)
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting project! I'm tempted to try it myself. I don't have any leftover art from students right now but in the past when I taught studio courses I had plenty. A person could, however, do a similar project using diverse media - such as the approach you suggest for advanced students. I like it and find it certainly preferable to throwing away student art, although I've done my share of this in the past.
Yes, it is important that the names of both (or all) artists appear on the piece, and that the second artist stay true to the general look and feel of the work that has already been done. Permission, of course, would be needed if a student was still in the class but if not, I don't see why it shouldn't be recycled, especially since the student didn't throw it in the garbage but simply left it there unclaimed.
Wonderful question - great response!
I have personally never had a problem recycling students work from the previous year. I think we can all relate to students leaving work in the room to gather dust. When a student leaves work unclaimed I will often re-prime the canvas or wood board, and I have used old paper pieces in paper making projects with various degrees of success. As it sits right now my recycled paper box is full of mono-chromatic paintings students didn’t want. The way I see it, if they leave their projects in the trash then why not find a better use should one come up with a project idea to repurpose it?
ReplyDeleteI am defiantly going to do some drawing weaving with my Art 2 drawing class soon. Not sure if I will have them re-use their old works or create some new pieces with the intent to weave, maybe both? I am really enjoying this book, these murals and mosaics are really inspiring. I recently started talking to our librarian and tossed around the idea of a mural. She had been mulling over the same idea for some time it turns out, and after reading and seeing the work of Lily Yeh I am all the more excited to tackle the project. The timing couldn’t be better too, as the campus is in the middle of a renovation.
Daniel,
DeleteIf your school is willing to let you do a mural, definitely go for it! Many art teachers and professors are not allowed this opportunity. Even the TTU School of Art doesn't permit murals inside or outside its building. Crazy, eh? I taught a murals course at St. Catherine University in Minneapolis, where I worked for several years before coming to Tech, and received permission there for students to paint a mural in the hallway outside the art room. Of all the fond memories I have of my years there, the best come from doing that mural with the students. I still hear from some of the students who were in that class. It was a real bonding experience! For these reasons, I strongly encourage you to pursue the mural and/or tile idea that you have. You will not regret it, and neither will the students!
I have no problem recycling abandoned works! I do it with my own work all the time. Sometimes it takes a fresh eye and some time to discern the beauty in something discarded. We are such a consuming oriented society that seems to only value the shiny and new. I'm pleased to acknowledge the upcycling trend and think it works great in the context of art works.
ReplyDeleteA project that I could see myself implementing would be a collage project where students would use pieces and parts of others discarded work and incorporate them in their own. I often will take fragments of old prints I've done and incorporate them into a new piece. Sometimes this approach delivers just the right missing element that my work needed. My hope would be that students would see the value in all of the work they create. Even when they are not pleased with it from the onset, those unloved creations can have new life and add new inspiration.
Carolyn, Respectfully, Are there 2 more questions.... or not so much...
ReplyDelete... can't really hang around all evening....
I have a question not specifically related to any chapter but to the book in general. I keep thinking about how awesome Yen is for traveling abroad to visit and implement these astonishing projects. I feel inspired and ashamed at the same time. While I very much want to implement change in the culture of my campus to help instill pride in the students for their campus and their education, as well as their role in both. However I can’t help but think maybe it is easier an outsider such as Lilly Yen to come into a foreign environment to implement these projects of such vast scope. Almost like when you are working on a piece and are stuck, an outside view point can help you get over a problem or see your work in a different light and direction.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone feel like being a part of the environment might make it more difficult to get over the mental barrier of seeing your campus or environment in a different light? I am almost ashamed it has taken me 4 years at my campus to think, hey the library sure does have a lot of blank wall space…..
I never thought of it that way. We have a program that our district jumped on called Teach for America where the school districts hire others (who don't have their certification) to teach in a field that they have experience in. For example, we have a Science TFA teacher who lived in Maine working as some kind of lab tech. The students can point them out of a crowd because most of them come from up North and look out of place. Do you have any TFA teachers on your campus that you know of? One of them is our JV basketball coach so I'm going to talk to her and see what she thinks about this. Maybe I can get an idea on how they see things here on our campus and what kind of influence they have on my students here!!
DeleteAna I am very familar with the Teach for America program, though we have no members that I know of in LubbockISD...:/
DeleteDaniel,
DeleteThe name is Lily Yeh, not Lily Yen. It's important to get the name right.
carolyn
Also would you rather fight 100 duck sized horses, or 1 horse sized duck?
ReplyDeleteOne duck sized horse most definitely. I see a new for of transportation coming.
DeleteI also haven't had any issues using or tossing unclaimed artwork. A lot of times I've looked through the year's unclaimed work and kept a secret stash for future examples. Especially those projects that have been proven successful in my classes. I've never really thought of actually reusing these artpieces, but it feels like that idea could be useful for a low-budget art classroom like mine!!
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading the process of the mosaic murals while thinking about Jennifer's questions, I got an idea of using old/unclaimed work as a mosaic project.
I have assigned monochromatic projects (paintings and drawings) for my Art I's and higher level courses. A lot of these artworks are left in my room, so why not use them to my advantage. An easy project idea could be to cut the pieces down to various shapes/sizes and have the students reuse them to recreate other pieces of their own. This project could be very flexible in context by assigning self-portraits and landscapes to abstract/cubism and non-representational subjects!
One of my favorite ideas is to play the students a song (possibly all orchestral - no lyrics) and have them reflect on the various moods the musical piece has. Then they would have to create an artpiece that visually represents the song. Here they would be able to choose from different shapes, sizes and colors of cut up artwork to incorporate in their design. I believe that something like this would be fun in an Art I class where most of my students may not be at the right technical level to create something by drawing or painting.
Ana,
DeleteI too use music with beginning students to help them relax and explore nonrepresentational methods in an open-ended, no pressure kind of way. And yes, since these works are by design incomplete, certainly more could be made of them - if not by the student him or herself, then by another. Why not? As teachers, we need to emphasize the importance of recycling just on basic principle. It's also a way to teach students a little about artists' lives and the economic necessity of recycling materials both from their own studios and from the environment. Many great artworks have been made from recycled and/or found objects. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say!
Ana I like the mosaic / monochromatic idea. I just finished a painting assignment on monchromatic color so I have loads of them in the recycle box.
ReplyDeleteI also try to hang on to good examples for the following year, as well as bad pieces as examples of what not to.
Lastly I would take on 100 duck sized horses. A horse sized duck would be scary as all get out.
Ch. 9-10
ReplyDeleteStephen Graham
At the end of the book Yeh discusses the impact she has left on the world. More specifically i found her explanation of her methods interesting. Basing the project off the Needs of completion and why the project is designed, the Planning of how to go about achieving the Vision or ultimate experience and work, all of this made possible by Implementing the fundamentals of the process. Using her knowledge and sharing how her process worked has shown me a great deal and a way to evaluate how one may create. My question is: Is there any thing you might add to her method or any aspects you might alter? Why/How? As a secondary excercise Yeh has a diagram, her "tree of life", to visually express her process. How would you do this visually? (drawing, sculpture, digital media, ect)
Stephen,
DeleteYou posted your question too late for anyone to reply.
carolyn
Gail,
ReplyDeleteI understand your frustration. When I ask students to post questions for the readings, the expectation is that questions will be posted no later than Saturday. If you do not respond to the other two questions, your reasons are well understood and I won't count it against you.
carolyn