Studio Exploration Update

Place: Emerson, NJ. Known to its residents as "the bubble."

Questions about the place: Emerson is a very small community. The people that live there, especially those that have grown up there, are effected by this in different ways. How does the close, "family town" atmosphere effect those people, positively and negatively? How does it provide a sense of comfort for some and a sense of confinement for others?

Investigation of the place: I have already done some factual research on the town and explored the town webpage, describing town activities, the government, schools, etc. I was also thinking about asking my main questions to some people that reside there. Still thinking if this will be useful.

Artists: When looking up place-based art I stumbled upon an artist named Justin Marable. A lot of his pieces involve brightly colored landscape with silkscreened landmarks featured in his surronding area. They are really interesting and give a unique look at the place where he is from. Although I was thinking more on a 3 dimensional level, his work has led me to contemplate reconsidering my concept slightly.

Ideas for artmaking: I still like my original idea of the paper mache "bubble," featuring a sense of comfort on the inside while the outside represents facts, giving a sense of confinement. I am going to do some sketches though on how I could use the work of Marable as an influence. I like his bold use of color with one solitary element of his place. An element of my hometown that I want to work with is the one traffic light that hangs in the center of the town. I have to work the actual artmaking out as it is a bit rough right now, but I know I definitely want to use the idea of "the bubble" and the traffic light.

The center of town

 

Me in the center of town

Trimis and Savva Reading

Questions on the Trimis and Savva reading, "Artistic Learning in Relation to Young Children's Chorotopos: An In-Depth Approach to Early Childhood Visual Culture Education."


How is one's environment tied directly with knowledge?

The authors separate the idea of "thinking in" and "thinking about art." Why is it important to separate these two ideas?

When creating a lesson, why is it important to consider each of the stages (preliminary, enrichment, production, and reflection)? Is one of these stages more important than another?

There is mention of the children making decisions about how the class activities go. How much control should the students have over what the class does? And how much control should each individual student have over their art making?

During the reflection stage, children were encouraged to discuss their work with other students. Should the teacher be giving students directions in what kind of things to be saying about other student artwork? or should the sharing be strictly a student discussing their own artwork but not commenting on other students?

The in-depth approach described by the authors is noted as flexible. How can it by applied to other age groups?

Why is it important for students to see themselves as part of their environment? How does this aid to their development and artistic growth?

Studio Exploration Concept

As I began to think about place, I addressed the many places that I experience and have experienced. One that blantantly stands out is my home town. Growing up in an extremely small town gave me a much different experience than a lot of people I know. Emerson, with it's 2.4 square miles and population of about 7,000, is very different than a lot of places. I graduated with a class of 75 kids, most of which I went to school with since I was five years old. The idea is, everyone knows every thing about each other - obviously this has its ups and downs. Emerson is called "the family town" but to everyone who lives there it is also known as "the bubble." To different people this name means different things. For me, my brother, and most of my friends, it has always given us a sense of security, happiness, and comfort. But I know of others who felt trapped growing up there.

For my project, I was thinking about visually depicting "the bubble." There are a few ways in which I could do this but my main thought right now is constructing a ball out of paper mache, in which I can cut into and hang a single model stop light in the interior (as Emerson only has one traffic light). I am thinking of also putting fabric inside to depict the idea of comfort, while on the outside decorating it with facts about the town, in which consume the entire "bubble," therefore giving it a sense of confinement. This is my idea so far, but as I don't have much experience at all with paper mache we will see if I can produce this effectively.

The artwork created throughout the last few years is all about the exploration of various processes and material. I seek to gain knowledge in different artistic media in order to make myself a more rounded artist and therefore art educator.

September 1st Group Work

Yesterday in class, our group began creating a diagram in which discussed important areas of contemporary art education. Each member of the group contributed some of their author's opinions along with information from their own art education experience. Although we have not finished the project, we got a great start. Our major categories, teacher's actions, student's actions, student development, environment, and ongoing processes all branched off into other areas. When discussing environment we touched on the area in which the school is located, the vast technologies available to students, and budget constraints within the classroom. Some ideas based on teacher's actions included their investment in student growth, their ability to adjust lessons based on student's learning, and even giving students responsibilities in which they aid to classroom growth. When discussing student's actions we touched upon student's level of commitment in the classroom and student's taking roles as teachers as they come up with creative lessons for the class and students working with each other (as discussed by the author I read, David Darts). Student development included their growth as artists along with their use of technology to promote their creative education, as discussed by another group member's author. Also, we briefly touched upon Dart's idea of a shift from sole focus on technique to the value of conceptual art. I think these things are all valuable in the discussion of art education, along with many other ideas. Conceptual art along with the discussions on technology are obviously of relevance in the art world today. Based upon yesterdays work it was interesting to see how these five categories all made direct connections to each other. As we finish the project I know that we will continue to see more connections. This shows how the many aspects of education all effect each other.