A couple things:
1. I'm wearing pajama pants in this video. Don't judge me.
2. This was way more fun that writing all of the assignments I have to do.
3. I make a few mistakes in the video...deal with it ;o) As such, I tried to upload this video directly to Blogger so the world wouldn't be able to see my blunders on YouTube but it wouldn't let me for some reason. So YouTube it is.
4. Cheers!
Elvis Presley is the king of rock and roll. As far as I'm concerned, this is an indisputable fact. When my "art pretension" group was debating on an artist to choose to present on, someone mentioned to me that we should present on Elvis. I argued that we should try to pick an artist that would be appropriate to teach children about. Obviously, Elvis is an artist that all children should learn about (he is the king, after all), but I'm not sure Elvis is appropriate to learn about in school. You know, the whole man-whore, drug abuse, dying on the toilet thing may not fit in with current curriculum. However, whoever I was talking to argued that we could just focus on the positive aspects of Elvis. You know, his awesome sideburns and sequenced jump-suits! ;o) Just joking! Aspects such as his amazing voice and his commitment to his parents. Anyways, my question to you is is Elvis appropriate for elementary school? Thoughts, comments, concerns?
I must say, I think the art show was a huge success! I definitely wasn't the most excited person in the class about doing the art show, if I'm being honest, as I had my doubts about how many students would actually show up. This is one of those situations where I am happy that I was wrong. The turnout was huge! As I circulated around the room watching others in the cohort interact with their students I noticed a few things. First, our cohort is amazing at interacting and creating relationships with children. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to see the strong connection that most of us had made with our students during this practicum. Second, not only were students very proud to see their own art work displayed in the art show, but they were also very excited to check out the rest of the amazing art that was on display. That is the real victory of this art show, in my opinion. We didn't just get children excited about doing art in the classroom, but to view and appreciate the art of others.
Hey all,
Hope everyone had a great 3 week practicum! Just a quick post to share a picture of the art project I did with my class. It was a mad rush to get it done in time (find usable leaves after it snowed, find time in the last two days to actually do the work, you know...the usual) but I think they actually turned out really nice. The actual finished products are laminated (you'll see those at the art show) but here is a preview of how they turned out.
Its no secret that playing music is my thing. It's how I express myself, its what I do to kill time, it cheers me up when I'm sad, it's my release when I'm feeling frustrated. I wish I was more creative and could write my own songs, but it's just not one of my strengths. I used to be able to write when I was a teenager, but as I got older I developed writers block which continues to this day. However, playing other people's music still satisfies my creative side as I can put my own spin on things and make the songs a reflection of me. I guess this is what art really is, or possibly should be. A way in which the artist can create something (music, dance, drama, visual art) that reflects who they are and their view of the world around them. As a soon to be teacher, I struggle with having to critique or evaluate children's art. I understand providing criteria and marking based on your instructions, but who am I (or we) to say a particular child's self-expression is "wrong?" I would really struggle to get past it if my critique of a child's creativity resulted in them no longer wanting to express themselves. We must make sure to take extra care when giving feedback in the arts as what we say may impact a particular student for the rest of their lives.
Just food for thought.
This is the very first video I ever put on YouTube and it remains my most popular.
Hi everybody!
I chew gum like it's going out of style. I gave up smoking in 2006 and took up chewing gum instead. On an average day, I'd say I chew between 6-10 pieces of gum (that just can't be good for my teeth). What does this have to do with art, you say? I can create balloon animals out of the bubbles I blow with gum!!!!!
Ok, I lied. I can't do that. But you can imagine how cool that would be, right?
Anyways, the other day in class I moved from my normal spot to join a group for some form of activity. Before I moved, I put a fresh piece of gum in my mouth and threw the wrapper on my table. At the end of our group activity, I went back to my spot and this is what I found.
Pretty cool, right? This awesome gum wrapper origami was created by Catherine Eagles. It got me thinking of that old saying "one man's garbage is another man's treasure." So I Googled "garbage art" and came across a few interesting websites. http://www.noupe.com/inspiration/40-terrific-works-of-art-made-from-common-trash.html is a collection 40 amazing works of art created by professionals from recyclable material.
Ironically, this post is not about music (though I'm a big fan of both of these artists). I was having a conversation with Mike the other day telling him how I used to wear mainly all dark colours. However, over the past few years I have become a really big fan of bright colours. I still wear a lot of black and dark colours, but I also have several orange, yellow, and pink shirts, and the last golf shirt I bought is neon green! After I told Mike this he chuckled and said "you've gone from Johnny Cash to Elton John!" For some reason that stuck with me (I'm pretty sure there is a song just waiting to be written with that title. Feel free to write some lyrics and send them to me ;o) ). I've been thinking about colour a lot recently, as my visual arts lesson plans are built around introducing the colour wheel to my students. When I was thinking of projects I could do with my students based on primary and secondary colours, I immediately thought of doing something with warm colours to reflect the season (I decided on leaf printmaking). It just seems more fun to me to use warm colours. I don't know why or what has changed with me that I just enjoy seeing/using/wearing bright colours now. Seeing as how warm colours are usually associated with happiness, I guess it's a good thing.
Anyways, I don't really have anything else interesting to say (you could argue that I didn't have anything interesting to say in the first place). I mainly just wanted to share the phrase "From Johnny Cash to Elton John!" Do with it what you will.
