Musings of a Pre-Service Teacher
Innocence and sin co-exist in the world.
To what extent is innocence really ignorance? Can a sinner be innocent because of his or her ignorance? Is it possible to sin without ignorance? Is sin a tragic outcome exacerbated by a media-environment saturated with photoshopped bodies, pornographic choreographing and dramatically violent special effects? At what age are we most impressionable, and why are powerful corporations not taking up responsibility for impressing upon youth heavily-narrow-coloured glasses of things that shock, scare and sell?
Innocence is a human construction of purity, the lack of guilt with respect to a crime or misconduct. To sin is to engage in unlawful behaviour, to offend and trangress some moral boundary. I do not believe human beings, children, are born sinful or born innocent. These are two lenses from which society views, depicts and reacts to children. Children can be woefully helpless in their lack of worldly experience and knowledge that we find it "cute" how misinformed or simple-minded they are, or children can be delightfully (or dreadfully) mischievous (and violent) in their quest to push boundaries and advertise or work out their unmet needs, to find what makes adults react, squirm and pay attention to them.
Cause and consequence exist in the world.
To remain ignorant has a cause and a consequence. Sometimes the consequences are small, such as embarrassment, and sometimes the consequences are heavy, resulting in deaths and abuse that are justified and perpetuated. The consequence is then the cause that continues to cycle.
Our media should to owe us and our children scripts that do not perpetuate ignorance and glorify it. I support a balance of scripts where children can also see the other side, a way of questioning that problematizes ignorance and leaves us with more food for thought.
To what extent is innocence really ignorance? Can a sinner be innocent because of his or her ignorance? Is it possible to sin without ignorance? Is sin a tragic outcome exacerbated by a media-environment saturated with photoshopped bodies, pornographic choreographing and dramatically violent special effects? At what age are we most impressionable, and why are powerful corporations not taking up responsibility for impressing upon youth heavily-narrow-coloured glasses of things that shock, scare and sell?
Innocence is a human construction of purity, the lack of guilt with respect to a crime or misconduct. To sin is to engage in unlawful behaviour, to offend and trangress some moral boundary. I do not believe human beings, children, are born sinful or born innocent. These are two lenses from which society views, depicts and reacts to children. Children can be woefully helpless in their lack of worldly experience and knowledge that we find it "cute" how misinformed or simple-minded they are, or children can be delightfully (or dreadfully) mischievous (and violent) in their quest to push boundaries and advertise or work out their unmet needs, to find what makes adults react, squirm and pay attention to them.
Cause and consequence exist in the world.
To remain ignorant has a cause and a consequence. Sometimes the consequences are small, such as embarrassment, and sometimes the consequences are heavy, resulting in deaths and abuse that are justified and perpetuated. The consequence is then the cause that continues to cycle.
Our media should to owe us and our children scripts that do not perpetuate ignorance and glorify it. I support a balance of scripts where children can also see the other side, a way of questioning that problematizes ignorance and leaves us with more food for thought.
September 11th, 2012
What is art?
What makes someone an "artist"?
What makes someone an "art teacher?"
These were the three questions posed at the beginning of class for on-going reflection throughout the year (or the rest of my life).
I was struck by J.H. Orsten's deep pedagogical experience in his answer regarding the question "what makes someone an artist?" Now I have incorporated some of his wording into my answer.
Visual art is something that catches your eye's attention. It strikes a feeling in you, makes you stop and ponder, wonder, stand in awe. It's an experience.
The creation of art is an endeavor that is both personal, individual, and collective, collaborative, socio-cultural, historical, religious, economic, political and linguistic. It is an act of appreciating, by both the creator and/or an audience, in viewing/taking part of that work which may still be in process of play, exploration, reflection, examination and distribution within a context of a particular time and place, of a particular culture, history and worldview, perhaps within a dominant discourse by an institution (they way art has been defined in a society thus far). The definition is always in flux, the boundaries of what is and isn't art are never stable, never fixed.
Art is a response to the world.
An artist is someone who has been inspired by other artists to go on a journey, and an art teacher is someone who has learned so much and experience such joy in this journey of learning, had such an adventure, that they want to share that joy and wisdom and inspire another generation to embark on their own journeys.
When I was young, I loved watching Sailormoon and other Japanese anime. What I loved more than watching the animated series was the controversy over what was considered appropriate content for children. I participated in many dubbing debates. Back in the late 1990s, no Western cartoon series had a comparably large cast of characters with colourful personalities. By colourful, I mean that each character was deep, had strengths, weaknesses, grew and matured as the series progressed due to certain experiences they encountered and wrestled with in their lives from episode to episode. In Digimon, for example, each child had a unique family situation they came to terms with, whether it was having lots of siblings, responsibilities of birth order, being an only child, being adopted, parents divorced, or in Yu-Gi-Oh!, having an alcoholic caretaker, parents never around, being orphaned, raised by a grandparent, etc. In contrast, most cartoons like Bugs Bunny or Animaniacs, where there is no character development, and serious "adult" issues, such as substance abuse and violence, were made to be humourous and hilarious with "cartoon physics." As such, I was fond of anime for its more nuanced, complex storytelling.
Back to the topic of appropriate content for children: besides violence and sex being edited out, homosexuality was also taboo. Several "gay" characters in Sailormoon were, if they looked feminine enough, had all their pronouns changed and cast as female with a voice actress. This was an impossibility for the lesbian couple Sailor Uranus and Neptune, for even though Uranus in her civillian form dresses masculine enough to "fool" others (which she has fun with), is wearing a sailor miniskirt after her transformation. So at best, the English dub tried to cover their romance and co-habitation by having them refer to each other as cousins, which is hilarious for the fans who now have the English canon to thank for adding a slightly incestuous connotation to their homosexuality.
So is there content that is inappropriate for children? Or should we (society) not censor anything? That's what I want to explore on this website.
What makes someone an "artist"?
What makes someone an "art teacher?"
These were the three questions posed at the beginning of class for on-going reflection throughout the year (or the rest of my life).
I was struck by J.H. Orsten's deep pedagogical experience in his answer regarding the question "what makes someone an artist?" Now I have incorporated some of his wording into my answer.
Visual art is something that catches your eye's attention. It strikes a feeling in you, makes you stop and ponder, wonder, stand in awe. It's an experience.
The creation of art is an endeavor that is both personal, individual, and collective, collaborative, socio-cultural, historical, religious, economic, political and linguistic. It is an act of appreciating, by both the creator and/or an audience, in viewing/taking part of that work which may still be in process of play, exploration, reflection, examination and distribution within a context of a particular time and place, of a particular culture, history and worldview, perhaps within a dominant discourse by an institution (they way art has been defined in a society thus far). The definition is always in flux, the boundaries of what is and isn't art are never stable, never fixed.
Art is a response to the world.
An artist is someone who has been inspired by other artists to go on a journey, and an art teacher is someone who has learned so much and experience such joy in this journey of learning, had such an adventure, that they want to share that joy and wisdom and inspire another generation to embark on their own journeys.
When I was young, I loved watching Sailormoon and other Japanese anime. What I loved more than watching the animated series was the controversy over what was considered appropriate content for children. I participated in many dubbing debates. Back in the late 1990s, no Western cartoon series had a comparably large cast of characters with colourful personalities. By colourful, I mean that each character was deep, had strengths, weaknesses, grew and matured as the series progressed due to certain experiences they encountered and wrestled with in their lives from episode to episode. In Digimon, for example, each child had a unique family situation they came to terms with, whether it was having lots of siblings, responsibilities of birth order, being an only child, being adopted, parents divorced, or in Yu-Gi-Oh!, having an alcoholic caretaker, parents never around, being orphaned, raised by a grandparent, etc. In contrast, most cartoons like Bugs Bunny or Animaniacs, where there is no character development, and serious "adult" issues, such as substance abuse and violence, were made to be humourous and hilarious with "cartoon physics." As such, I was fond of anime for its more nuanced, complex storytelling.
Back to the topic of appropriate content for children: besides violence and sex being edited out, homosexuality was also taboo. Several "gay" characters in Sailormoon were, if they looked feminine enough, had all their pronouns changed and cast as female with a voice actress. This was an impossibility for the lesbian couple Sailor Uranus and Neptune, for even though Uranus in her civillian form dresses masculine enough to "fool" others (which she has fun with), is wearing a sailor miniskirt after her transformation. So at best, the English dub tried to cover their romance and co-habitation by having them refer to each other as cousins, which is hilarious for the fans who now have the English canon to thank for adding a slightly incestuous connotation to their homosexuality.
So is there content that is inappropriate for children? Or should we (society) not censor anything? That's what I want to explore on this website.
September 14th, 2012
Our class has so many fascinating, deeply knowledgeable artists. It never ceases to amaze me how different we all are, and how much we can contribute to each other when we share our uniqueness. Everyone is so special, and so inspirational.
I did not get to present today, so I will continue to rehearse my story here:
Have you ever seen a movie based on a novel? Have you read that novel before or after the film? Did you find it richer, darker, more complex and intriguing than the movie? I have, and I have felt the same about comics.
The movie tries to abridge hundreds of words and pages into approximately a two-hour auditory and visual spectacle. Animation, or an animated series does something similar with comic series. Most Japanese animated series are based on comic books. And those comics are often deeper, richer, darker, more complex and intriguing than the abridged animation. Some animated series are more faithful to the original source than others, but I was hooked on Japanese comics. More accurately, I was hooked by the Japanese method of storytelling. Here was an art form that was challenging to master. It was not only a visual masterpiece, but a literary one as well. It requires the master of two trades: drawing and writing, combing the two in such a manner that there is balance, harmony and flow. Amateur (and sometimes professional) comics can read horribly because there is either too much writing, or the drawings are unclear or include unnecessary, distracting details. In a nutshell: comics are not easy to make!
I began my journey in comiking at the dinner table. When I was a child, I remember large family dinners at restaurants. My sister and I were the only kids, and being the impatient one, my sister would always nag my mother, "Can we go home yet? Is it time to go yet? I wanna go home!" So my mother armed her purse with pens and paper and left us siblings to ourselves to doodle to our hearts content while the adults had their long adult conversations. My sister and I thus developed a way of communication that was silent. We wrote each other notes and began to use characters from television series speaking with speech bubbles to collaborate on stories together to pass the time. We both developed a knack for sketching heads and scribbling text at the speed of light in order to keep up with each other. She wrote something, and I had to reply else another character of hers would start talking and the conversation would shift and I had to adapt and she had to adapt and it was an organic, evolving narrative that grew and grew and grew, with the cast expanding as we fell in love with new television series. As soon as we saw a show we liked, we divided their characters equally between the two of us, and our comic would continue. This lasted for many years, up till the start of high school.
That's how I became an artist.
When I called three people closest to me to give me a list of my strengths, this was what they shared:
My sister? She became an engineer. But she's more likely to be known as the engineer who can draw (and will be asked why she didn't go to art school).
Speaking of art school, I didn't go to an art school either. I became an anthropologist. And now I'm going to be a teacher. Because I love comics, but working in isolation is lonesome, and I also love teaching, especially in regards to comics. It's sharing the love.
I did not get to present today, so I will continue to rehearse my story here:
Have you ever seen a movie based on a novel? Have you read that novel before or after the film? Did you find it richer, darker, more complex and intriguing than the movie? I have, and I have felt the same about comics.
The movie tries to abridge hundreds of words and pages into approximately a two-hour auditory and visual spectacle. Animation, or an animated series does something similar with comic series. Most Japanese animated series are based on comic books. And those comics are often deeper, richer, darker, more complex and intriguing than the abridged animation. Some animated series are more faithful to the original source than others, but I was hooked on Japanese comics. More accurately, I was hooked by the Japanese method of storytelling. Here was an art form that was challenging to master. It was not only a visual masterpiece, but a literary one as well. It requires the master of two trades: drawing and writing, combing the two in such a manner that there is balance, harmony and flow. Amateur (and sometimes professional) comics can read horribly because there is either too much writing, or the drawings are unclear or include unnecessary, distracting details. In a nutshell: comics are not easy to make!
I began my journey in comiking at the dinner table. When I was a child, I remember large family dinners at restaurants. My sister and I were the only kids, and being the impatient one, my sister would always nag my mother, "Can we go home yet? Is it time to go yet? I wanna go home!" So my mother armed her purse with pens and paper and left us siblings to ourselves to doodle to our hearts content while the adults had their long adult conversations. My sister and I thus developed a way of communication that was silent. We wrote each other notes and began to use characters from television series speaking with speech bubbles to collaborate on stories together to pass the time. We both developed a knack for sketching heads and scribbling text at the speed of light in order to keep up with each other. She wrote something, and I had to reply else another character of hers would start talking and the conversation would shift and I had to adapt and she had to adapt and it was an organic, evolving narrative that grew and grew and grew, with the cast expanding as we fell in love with new television series. As soon as we saw a show we liked, we divided their characters equally between the two of us, and our comic would continue. This lasted for many years, up till the start of high school.
That's how I became an artist.
When I called three people closest to me to give me a list of my strengths, this was what they shared:
- Drawing
- Creative
- Thinking
- Listening
- Treating people
- Empathizing
- Supportive
- Enthusiasm
- Storytelling
My sister? She became an engineer. But she's more likely to be known as the engineer who can draw (and will be asked why she didn't go to art school).
Speaking of art school, I didn't go to an art school either. I became an anthropologist. And now I'm going to be a teacher. Because I love comics, but working in isolation is lonesome, and I also love teaching, especially in regards to comics. It's sharing the love.
September 18th, 2012
It was fascinating to meet David Harrison. I learned a lot about the history of arts education (and the Swedish slöjd education system in particular), the differences in tradition with regards to Scandinavia, Great Britain and America. I like the concept of the craftsman being a creative person, someone who works with their hands, creating beautiful handwork. I love the idea of living in a society that respected beauty, expected to have intricate glass, metal, ceramic, wood and textile work. Growing up in an artistic culture must make a different impression on young minds than that of a relatively less art-loving culture.
Looking back, my arts education is largely limited to drawing and painting, both traditionally and digitally. Many other mediums were not readily available to me through schools and outside of school due to heavy costs. I would have loved to be able to experience the breath and horizontal growth of experimenting with glass, metal, ceramic, wood and textile work in addition to drawing and painting.
I hold the arts in high esteem. I love seeing the skill that continues to push at the edge of human potential. I love being inspired by artists, by the way they use colour, by the way they use lines, composition, light, contrast, detail, by the way they capture the world, the way they see the world, they way they depict, show, examine and question the world. I am amazed by the optical illusions they create, the patterns, the realism, the surrealism, the thought, the mess, the serendipity of it all. The arts create a world worth living in.
Looking back, my arts education is largely limited to drawing and painting, both traditionally and digitally. Many other mediums were not readily available to me through schools and outside of school due to heavy costs. I would have loved to be able to experience the breath and horizontal growth of experimenting with glass, metal, ceramic, wood and textile work in addition to drawing and painting.
I hold the arts in high esteem. I love seeing the skill that continues to push at the edge of human potential. I love being inspired by artists, by the way they use colour, by the way they use lines, composition, light, contrast, detail, by the way they capture the world, the way they see the world, they way they depict, show, examine and question the world. I am amazed by the optical illusions they create, the patterns, the realism, the surrealism, the thought, the mess, the serendipity of it all. The arts create a world worth living in.
September 20th, 2012
I'm super excited for lesson planning! I want to create something I can also use with my Forest Lawn Library Manga Workshop.
The end project: Students will have a short comic finished that they can take home with pride.
What you need: Paper and pencils and pens and erasers and rulers.
How to scaffold the comic-making process (based off of pick-a-button):
1. Have them pick a pair of eyes from the "Personality box"
2. Give them five minutes to write about the personality of the character
3. Time's up! Turn to a partner. Pick one person to be A and the other B. A will be the listener and not say anything for the next minute while B has to explain to A why he/she made the assumptions he/she did based on the visual cues from the eyes. Switch roles.
4. Partner B picks an item from the "Plot box" while Partner A picks a setting from the "Place box"
5. They have five minutes to come up with a story using the setting they drew, including the item and both their personalities.
6. Now they have 15 minutes to be a script writer. The script writer's job is to just write free-hand without stopping or editing. Next, they start choosing which sentences will make it into a panel in words or images and the size of the boxes.
7. Time for thumbnails is 5 minutes. Then they have fifteen minutes to add detail to their thumbnails using a darker pencil or pen.
8. Time is up! Share your pages with your partner. See how they interpreted the same story you had previously agreed upon.
9. Class discussion: What were some of the split second decisions you had to make in the process of creating this comic? Which were the most challenging decisions? Which do you regret, or would do differently had you more time? How would you evaluate your work? What did you learn today? Was there anything that surprised you during the process? The difference between amateur and professional comikers is the speed at which they make decisions. That way, they can make many more decisions in the same span of time, a skill that comes with practice. Future workshops may be help on the topics generated from this activity.
Though I only have two hours to work with to start, I plan to expand this workshop.
Introduce myself. I am the teacher. Ask: What do you think my job is? Generate common expectations for the workshop.
My aim is to give students an overview about the various topics related to manga in a safe and respectful environment.
Begin with an activity such as a game. Rules: No talking. Everyone gets a pen, and they must converse with each other by drawing a face and writing what they want to say in a speech bubble. They have 5 minutes to answer the question: what makes someone a manga artist?
Lecture: There are generally three types of people who love manga, those that prefer reading, those that prefer drawing, and those that prefer writing. There is often lots of overlap, but this allows us to examine the specific skills of each type.
The Reader: the fanbase
They collect information, form fandoms, critique work, write essays, reviews, articles, analyse the story, admire the art and enjoy reading to no end.
The Artist: the fanart
They create illustrations, design characters, draw comics. They are interested in various art styles, researching and comparing artists, practicing their skill, learning new visual techniques and doodle to no end.
The Writer: the fanfiction
They write scripts and stories, seek writing feedback, editing and enjoy writing to no end.
There is also the video person, but that bridges into animation, which is outside the scope of this workshop.
The end project: Students will have a short comic finished that they can take home with pride.
What you need: Paper and pencils and pens and erasers and rulers.
How to scaffold the comic-making process (based off of pick-a-button):
1. Have them pick a pair of eyes from the "Personality box"
2. Give them five minutes to write about the personality of the character
3. Time's up! Turn to a partner. Pick one person to be A and the other B. A will be the listener and not say anything for the next minute while B has to explain to A why he/she made the assumptions he/she did based on the visual cues from the eyes. Switch roles.
4. Partner B picks an item from the "Plot box" while Partner A picks a setting from the "Place box"
5. They have five minutes to come up with a story using the setting they drew, including the item and both their personalities.
6. Now they have 15 minutes to be a script writer. The script writer's job is to just write free-hand without stopping or editing. Next, they start choosing which sentences will make it into a panel in words or images and the size of the boxes.
7. Time for thumbnails is 5 minutes. Then they have fifteen minutes to add detail to their thumbnails using a darker pencil or pen.
8. Time is up! Share your pages with your partner. See how they interpreted the same story you had previously agreed upon.
9. Class discussion: What were some of the split second decisions you had to make in the process of creating this comic? Which were the most challenging decisions? Which do you regret, or would do differently had you more time? How would you evaluate your work? What did you learn today? Was there anything that surprised you during the process? The difference between amateur and professional comikers is the speed at which they make decisions. That way, they can make many more decisions in the same span of time, a skill that comes with practice. Future workshops may be help on the topics generated from this activity.
Though I only have two hours to work with to start, I plan to expand this workshop.
Introduce myself. I am the teacher. Ask: What do you think my job is? Generate common expectations for the workshop.
My aim is to give students an overview about the various topics related to manga in a safe and respectful environment.
Begin with an activity such as a game. Rules: No talking. Everyone gets a pen, and they must converse with each other by drawing a face and writing what they want to say in a speech bubble. They have 5 minutes to answer the question: what makes someone a manga artist?
Lecture: There are generally three types of people who love manga, those that prefer reading, those that prefer drawing, and those that prefer writing. There is often lots of overlap, but this allows us to examine the specific skills of each type.
The Reader: the fanbase
They collect information, form fandoms, critique work, write essays, reviews, articles, analyse the story, admire the art and enjoy reading to no end.
The Artist: the fanart
They create illustrations, design characters, draw comics. They are interested in various art styles, researching and comparing artists, practicing their skill, learning new visual techniques and doodle to no end.
The Writer: the fanfiction
They write scripts and stories, seek writing feedback, editing and enjoy writing to no end.
There is also the video person, but that bridges into animation, which is outside the scope of this workshop.
September 25th, 2012
Lesson planning...
Since I found out about the focus on drawing for this assignment, I changed my initial idea of just drawing comics to cover more ground of drawing in general.
Since I found out about the focus on drawing for this assignment, I changed my initial idea of just drawing comics to cover more ground of drawing in general.
September 27th, 2012
Our first assignment is due today.
David Harrison brought many samples of student work to show art development. Seeing old art magazines was fascinating. They were huge and only had one or two coloured pages. Those we couldn't take home. But we also got free art magazines.
David Harrison brought many samples of student work to show art development. Seeing old art magazines was fascinating. They were huge and only had one or two coloured pages. Those we couldn't take home. But we also got free art magazines.
October 2nd, 2012
We got our lesson plans back. Apparently some of them were "parsimonious." Stingy. Frugal. Well, we're students with limited classroom experience. It's rather hard to "imagine" a fictional classroom, considering how much improvising you do in reality!
I was pretty happy with my mark. I do realize that I tend to under-emphasize artists, so I decided to correct that for next time.
I don't know many artists off the top of my head. I did take a course in (post)modern art history while I was in University. But I really dislike giving honours. It's rather ironic. I love it when people acknowledge me for my work, but at the same time I don't. I don't like the starlight, the glory. I don't like how some philanthropists want their name enshrined on a plaque or a statue just because they donated to a cause. I don't like how we, in the Western world, copyright things and name people after discoveries as if they were the sole instigator.
I always remember the story of how photography was invented. It was independently invented by several people, but only one got to the copyright office first. The other guy committed suicide over the loss of recognition.
Recognition is great, but in this culture, I think it feeds egotism too much.
Kids can discover gravity, they can invent things, and many will come up with similar ideas. That's okay. There's no need to fight over who thought of it first!
That's why I dislike giving credit where its due.
Some discussion that came up in class were:
Teaching through art or in art?
What can I offer my clientèle?
What is the role of my practicum supervisor and cooperating teacher?
How do I plan a spiral curriculum?
I was pretty happy with my mark. I do realize that I tend to under-emphasize artists, so I decided to correct that for next time.
I don't know many artists off the top of my head. I did take a course in (post)modern art history while I was in University. But I really dislike giving honours. It's rather ironic. I love it when people acknowledge me for my work, but at the same time I don't. I don't like the starlight, the glory. I don't like how some philanthropists want their name enshrined on a plaque or a statue just because they donated to a cause. I don't like how we, in the Western world, copyright things and name people after discoveries as if they were the sole instigator.
I always remember the story of how photography was invented. It was independently invented by several people, but only one got to the copyright office first. The other guy committed suicide over the loss of recognition.
Recognition is great, but in this culture, I think it feeds egotism too much.
Kids can discover gravity, they can invent things, and many will come up with similar ideas. That's okay. There's no need to fight over who thought of it first!
That's why I dislike giving credit where its due.
Some discussion that came up in class were:
Teaching through art or in art?
What can I offer my clientèle?
What is the role of my practicum supervisor and cooperating teacher?
How do I plan a spiral curriculum?
October 4th, 2012
Today we talked about Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning. His student, Elliot Eisner, extensively contemplated the nature of thinking, and expanded on Bloom's taxonomy.
To illustrate this, we were asked to fold origami boxes. They were a lot of fun. Someone brought up Between the folds, which you can find on Netflix, about high level origami. It was fascinating how in Japan, the craftsman is seen as a deity and called a National living treasure. If only artist had that same kind of respect and reverence in other cultures and societies.
We discussed how Lee Iacocca was hired by Ford to speed up production, and how the same factory model was used to speed up production in education.
Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller, a series of satirical sketches and musical pieces using a minimal set, looking at events of the day, forerunner to British television programmes That Was the Week That Was, At Last the 1948 Show and Monty Python's Flying Circus.
History Boys is a play by Alan Bennett. There's also a movie version, but I hear it's not that good.
David recommends The Uncommon Reader, a novella by Alan Bennett. It is about how Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom becomes obsessed with books after a chance encounter with a mobile library.
Day of dignitaries and Night of Notables are examples of role-play in education, where children can dress up and act the part of a famous individual in history. This took place at Prior Weston Primary School in London's Tower Hamlets.
To illustrate this, we were asked to fold origami boxes. They were a lot of fun. Someone brought up Between the folds, which you can find on Netflix, about high level origami. It was fascinating how in Japan, the craftsman is seen as a deity and called a National living treasure. If only artist had that same kind of respect and reverence in other cultures and societies.
We discussed how Lee Iacocca was hired by Ford to speed up production, and how the same factory model was used to speed up production in education.
Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller, a series of satirical sketches and musical pieces using a minimal set, looking at events of the day, forerunner to British television programmes That Was the Week That Was, At Last the 1948 Show and Monty Python's Flying Circus.
History Boys is a play by Alan Bennett. There's also a movie version, but I hear it's not that good.
David recommends The Uncommon Reader, a novella by Alan Bennett. It is about how Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom becomes obsessed with books after a chance encounter with a mobile library.
Day of dignitaries and Night of Notables are examples of role-play in education, where children can dress up and act the part of a famous individual in history. This took place at Prior Weston Primary School in London's Tower Hamlets.
October 9th, 2012
We got to work on our lesson plans today. I decided to focus on introducing colour to grades 1 and 2. It's always been a pet peeve of mine whenever someone says primary colours are red, yellow and blue. They are not. Whoever believes that is true has probably never tried to mix magenta out of those colours. They can't.
Two books were passed around: A Source Book of Picture Making and Open School, Open Society both by Henry Pluckrose. Filled with good ideas that are still relevant today as they ever were.
Continued discussion about Bloom's taxonomy. What are ways we can engage students at the affective domains?
Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party" an installation piece in commemoration of notable women in history.
Story about an entire school designing stamps for the Olympics, an art project proposed by a student. The school had a show downtown. This was students working in the affective domain.
Planning for field trips.
I found this wonderful website called Doodle Alley: http://doodlealley.com/2012/10/01/taste-is-your-teacher/
It's a picture blog about sustaining your creativity. There's an entry called "Taste is your Teacher," and how your skills develop as you immerse yourself in a craft, trade or discipline. There are many other great comic articles in this blog.
Two books were passed around: A Source Book of Picture Making and Open School, Open Society both by Henry Pluckrose. Filled with good ideas that are still relevant today as they ever were.
Continued discussion about Bloom's taxonomy. What are ways we can engage students at the affective domains?
Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party" an installation piece in commemoration of notable women in history.
Story about an entire school designing stamps for the Olympics, an art project proposed by a student. The school had a show downtown. This was students working in the affective domain.
Planning for field trips.
I found this wonderful website called Doodle Alley: http://doodlealley.com/2012/10/01/taste-is-your-teacher/
It's a picture blog about sustaining your creativity. There's an entry called "Taste is your Teacher," and how your skills develop as you immerse yourself in a craft, trade or discipline. There are many other great comic articles in this blog.
October 16th, 2012
Today we looked at evaluation in the art classroom.
David Harrison explained his assessment weighting:
Drawing ** (Teacher directed)
Composition *** (Most important, student directed)
Encounters * (Helps the more academically skilled get marks)
Effort 10% (Cannot be worth more according to some administrators)
Some questions that help both students and teachers think about assessment are:
Most of us agree that the most significant factor is the "verve," or spirit, conception, emotion, energy and impact.
Next is the idea/content/creativity, then skill/technique, longevity (whether the art piece stands the test of time), and the elements of art (composition, principles). Also on the list is saleability, which for some is important.
An art critic needs to be both perceptive and articulate.
Edmund Burke Feldman Model of Critique: The Teacher as Model Critic looking at description, analysis, interpretation and evaluation.
Robert Hughes was one such great art critic from Australia.
Simon Schama's The Power of Art is a BBC documentary series.
We discussed the controversial topic of whether or not to give homework, the difference between students earning marks and teachers giving marks, administrative challenges in defending one's discipline as valid rather than ephemeral. One can draw a parallel between marking English and Visual Art, as both can be very subjective. As a teacher, you need to be able to defend your choices in marking, especially to parents.
ACAD Studio requirements:
Khan Academy: lectures recorded in video format to view for homework, work in class where there is peer and teacher assistance and mentorship.
Family, faith and friends must in order, then success in school, before even considering becoming an athlete. -- a friend/colleague of David's.
This is true of other things too.
AP Portfolio:
This was the advice I received in high school and when I applied to ACAD in putting together my portfolio. Breadth is important to show that you're open to trying different media and all kinds of subject matter, that you're open to experimentation and many experiences. Concentration is important to show your dedication and specialization to a particular media, and how well or deeply you understand its characteristics. Then finally, quality in both general and specialist works shows your heart, attention to detail, thoughtfulness and creativity of ideas.
Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards is supposed to be a really good textbook for artists. Apparently there's a website for it too. I should get myself a copy. I recall in my research regarding dyslexia, that some people are naturally "wired" to think holistically and exercise their right brain more than the left brain.
While doing research for another class, I came upon Barbara Coloroso's the bully, the bullied and the bystander, a book that came up before in a Professional Development Workshop last year. My mom has her kids are worth it! book.
Coloroso (2002) identifies three types of families: brick-wall, jellyfish and backbone. Since teachers act in loco parentis, I want to extend the metaphor to three types of teachers as well, themselves born of these parenting styles. The brick-wall, jellyfish and backbone correspond to teacher-centred, student-centred and subject-centred orientations to teacher, respectively. The brick-wall style teacher is concerned with order, control, obedience, adherence to the rules and a strict hierarchy of power, conjuring the image of the 20th century classroom with the sage on the stage. Students are controlled, manipulated and made to mind; their feelings often ignored, ridiculed, or negated. The opposite style is the jellyfish teacher, who lacks the structure of the brick-wall type. Usually related to growing up in a brick-wall home, they flip flop between trying not the be the way their parents were, but lack knowledge and experience with any other way. Students are smothered and doted on, as well as abandoned, humiliated, embarrassed, and manipulated with bribes, threats, rewards, and punishments, which are arbitrary and inconsistent. There is no stability found in this classroom, nor any consistent, affirming life messages. The backbone teacher balances a sense of self and sense of community in everything they do, creating a circle of caring in their classroom. The teacher never has to threaten ‘or else’ nor demand respect—they demonstrate and teach respect through embodied action. Students learn they are believed in, trusted, listened to, cared for, can handle life situations and are important to the teacher. They learn to question and challenge authority and say no, to the same extent that others do the same.
This is worth looking into as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empowerment_Dynamic
David Harrison explained his assessment weighting:
Drawing ** (Teacher directed)
Composition *** (Most important, student directed)
Encounters * (Helps the more academically skilled get marks)
Effort 10% (Cannot be worth more according to some administrators)
Some questions that help both students and teachers think about assessment are:
- Please explain the difference between an excellent art piece and a good one
- What is the most significant factor for the determination of a piece of artwork?
Most of us agree that the most significant factor is the "verve," or spirit, conception, emotion, energy and impact.
Next is the idea/content/creativity, then skill/technique, longevity (whether the art piece stands the test of time), and the elements of art (composition, principles). Also on the list is saleability, which for some is important.
An art critic needs to be both perceptive and articulate.
Edmund Burke Feldman Model of Critique: The Teacher as Model Critic looking at description, analysis, interpretation and evaluation.
Robert Hughes was one such great art critic from Australia.
Simon Schama's The Power of Art is a BBC documentary series.
We discussed the controversial topic of whether or not to give homework, the difference between students earning marks and teachers giving marks, administrative challenges in defending one's discipline as valid rather than ephemeral. One can draw a parallel between marking English and Visual Art, as both can be very subjective. As a teacher, you need to be able to defend your choices in marking, especially to parents.
ACAD Studio requirements:
- Imagination, creative thinking and expression
- Persistence in research
- Technical skills
- Understanding characteristics of chosen media
Khan Academy: lectures recorded in video format to view for homework, work in class where there is peer and teacher assistance and mentorship.
Family, faith and friends must in order, then success in school, before even considering becoming an athlete. -- a friend/colleague of David's.
This is true of other things too.
AP Portfolio:
- breadth
- concentration
- quality
This was the advice I received in high school and when I applied to ACAD in putting together my portfolio. Breadth is important to show that you're open to trying different media and all kinds of subject matter, that you're open to experimentation and many experiences. Concentration is important to show your dedication and specialization to a particular media, and how well or deeply you understand its characteristics. Then finally, quality in both general and specialist works shows your heart, attention to detail, thoughtfulness and creativity of ideas.
Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards is supposed to be a really good textbook for artists. Apparently there's a website for it too. I should get myself a copy. I recall in my research regarding dyslexia, that some people are naturally "wired" to think holistically and exercise their right brain more than the left brain.
While doing research for another class, I came upon Barbara Coloroso's the bully, the bullied and the bystander, a book that came up before in a Professional Development Workshop last year. My mom has her kids are worth it! book.
Coloroso (2002) identifies three types of families: brick-wall, jellyfish and backbone. Since teachers act in loco parentis, I want to extend the metaphor to three types of teachers as well, themselves born of these parenting styles. The brick-wall, jellyfish and backbone correspond to teacher-centred, student-centred and subject-centred orientations to teacher, respectively. The brick-wall style teacher is concerned with order, control, obedience, adherence to the rules and a strict hierarchy of power, conjuring the image of the 20th century classroom with the sage on the stage. Students are controlled, manipulated and made to mind; their feelings often ignored, ridiculed, or negated. The opposite style is the jellyfish teacher, who lacks the structure of the brick-wall type. Usually related to growing up in a brick-wall home, they flip flop between trying not the be the way their parents were, but lack knowledge and experience with any other way. Students are smothered and doted on, as well as abandoned, humiliated, embarrassed, and manipulated with bribes, threats, rewards, and punishments, which are arbitrary and inconsistent. There is no stability found in this classroom, nor any consistent, affirming life messages. The backbone teacher balances a sense of self and sense of community in everything they do, creating a circle of caring in their classroom. The teacher never has to threaten ‘or else’ nor demand respect—they demonstrate and teach respect through embodied action. Students learn they are believed in, trusted, listened to, cared for, can handle life situations and are important to the teacher. They learn to question and challenge authority and say no, to the same extent that others do the same.
This is worth looking into as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empowerment_Dynamic
October 18th, 2012
The word for today was: Luddite.noun /ˈlədˌīt/
Luddites, plural
Many people, our teacher included, was a luddite when it came to technology. Some people still proudly claim to not have a cell phone or a computer or any high tech device. People are reluctant to give up their old ways and comfort of habits.
Since we were the "younger" generation, we talked about how Photoshop has become a verb, and when something's been "photoshopped," it's synonymous with fake, with editing. It's funny how digital editing is seen as cheating, whereas changing mistakes and analog editing isn't. For me, I learned a lot from being able to safely manipulate my work digitally. Sometimes I would draw something that was beautiful, but just slightly out of proportion, and I don't want to redraw it. It's not that I don't know how, but I know that it will be faster to scan, select, rotate and transform. This editing, to me, is still valid because you need to be able to see what's wrong to correct your pictures accordingly. But you can always undo and save copies of your work in case you want to return to a prior stage.
In any case, you should not use media for media's sake. There was and probably still is a craze for PowerPoint presentations, and you made on in English, in Science, in Math, in Social Studies, in Phys. Ed, and for goodness sakes, we don't need to use technology all the time just because it's there and it's the new cool thing. The medium should not be more important than the message.
Bringing up Japan again, I agree with David that it's an amazing experience. The goods are beautiful, the packaging is beautiful, it's wrapped beautifully and put in a beautiful bag and presented to you with a bow. The entire experience is beautiful, only when you're not in a rush or hurry anywhere. Can we teach artfully too? Can we make the entire experience, the content and its packaging artful?
The nature of information (namely, access to it) has changes, so how does the nature of teaching change (and adapt)?
Sherry asked our professor about how he went about assessment. His advice was to take time and put it aside. You want to separate yourself from the process, your attachment to the assignments and from the personalities of the students, your perceptions of their comments from class or anything else that will give you a biased opinion upon reading right away.
Then he sped read through the whole stack, getting a 1st impression, and again a 2nd time, then upon the third read through, he would evaluate.
He then lectured on teaching, on pedagogy, the correct use of instructional strategies. Teachers need a wide repertoire of such strategies, not limited to coaching, lecturing, demonstrating (a lost art), instructing, drilling, quizzing, directing telling, informing, talking, saying, etc.
Some people are very smart but cannot teach what they know. Some only parrot their teachers, with no feeling for the subject.
Luddites, plural
- A member of any of the bands of English workers who destroyed machinery, especially in cotton and woolen mills, that they believed was threatening their jobs (1811–16)
- A person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology
- - a small-minded Luddite resisting progress
Many people, our teacher included, was a luddite when it came to technology. Some people still proudly claim to not have a cell phone or a computer or any high tech device. People are reluctant to give up their old ways and comfort of habits.
Since we were the "younger" generation, we talked about how Photoshop has become a verb, and when something's been "photoshopped," it's synonymous with fake, with editing. It's funny how digital editing is seen as cheating, whereas changing mistakes and analog editing isn't. For me, I learned a lot from being able to safely manipulate my work digitally. Sometimes I would draw something that was beautiful, but just slightly out of proportion, and I don't want to redraw it. It's not that I don't know how, but I know that it will be faster to scan, select, rotate and transform. This editing, to me, is still valid because you need to be able to see what's wrong to correct your pictures accordingly. But you can always undo and save copies of your work in case you want to return to a prior stage.
In any case, you should not use media for media's sake. There was and probably still is a craze for PowerPoint presentations, and you made on in English, in Science, in Math, in Social Studies, in Phys. Ed, and for goodness sakes, we don't need to use technology all the time just because it's there and it's the new cool thing. The medium should not be more important than the message.
Bringing up Japan again, I agree with David that it's an amazing experience. The goods are beautiful, the packaging is beautiful, it's wrapped beautifully and put in a beautiful bag and presented to you with a bow. The entire experience is beautiful, only when you're not in a rush or hurry anywhere. Can we teach artfully too? Can we make the entire experience, the content and its packaging artful?
The nature of information (namely, access to it) has changes, so how does the nature of teaching change (and adapt)?
Sherry asked our professor about how he went about assessment. His advice was to take time and put it aside. You want to separate yourself from the process, your attachment to the assignments and from the personalities of the students, your perceptions of their comments from class or anything else that will give you a biased opinion upon reading right away.
Then he sped read through the whole stack, getting a 1st impression, and again a 2nd time, then upon the third read through, he would evaluate.
He then lectured on teaching, on pedagogy, the correct use of instructional strategies. Teachers need a wide repertoire of such strategies, not limited to coaching, lecturing, demonstrating (a lost art), instructing, drilling, quizzing, directing telling, informing, talking, saying, etc.
Some people are very smart but cannot teach what they know. Some only parrot their teachers, with no feeling for the subject.
October 23rd, 2012
Sister Wendy Beckett the "Nun-chick" came up in class discussion today. She is an art lover and has done an art history series on BBC.
We talked about the mechanics of teaching: the time, budget, space, resources and support necessary to create a safe, open, inspiring learning environment. Sometimes you may inherit classrooms that have no space, no resources, which are unhealthy for your lungs because of the dusty air vents and lack of clean air circulation. Sometimes you may inherit a classroom that has a large budget and lots of support and resources, and a wide space to work in.
Art Synectics By Nicholas Roukes also came up, and if you had only two books to choose from, this one and Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain will be all you need to create meaningful art lessons.
Something to think about in terms of planning for art is to make use of contrasts:
We talked about the mechanics of teaching: the time, budget, space, resources and support necessary to create a safe, open, inspiring learning environment. Sometimes you may inherit classrooms that have no space, no resources, which are unhealthy for your lungs because of the dusty air vents and lack of clean air circulation. Sometimes you may inherit a classroom that has a large budget and lots of support and resources, and a wide space to work in.
Art Synectics By Nicholas Roukes also came up, and if you had only two books to choose from, this one and Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain will be all you need to create meaningful art lessons.
Something to think about in terms of planning for art is to make use of contrasts:
- Dry and wet
- Smooth and rough
- Small and big
- Monochromatic and Colour
October 25th, 2012
David spent this class in review (or reflection, as he calls it) of what we've covered in this course so far. He talked about the place of art in schools, how in the Victorian era, it was the domain of the privileged, of the rich and generally of females, because they had nothing better to do while they were waiting to be married to some man who will give them status. So they learned to play the piano and paint watercolours. Women couldn't inherit, so they enjoyed the arts while the men tried to create respectable lives for themselves, if they weren't the first-born.
He briefly mentioned the Drawing Development in Children by Victor Lowenfeld, again asking "Can you teach the curriculum with only one media if you were restricted with no other financial means or resources to create art?"
In his slideshow, he showed us "his history" in a nutshell, starting with Lady Butler's Scotland Forever to his own work and then photos of his grandchildren.
His advice to us included:
Finally, a reminder to take into account scope and sequence in long-range planning.
We also got back our lesson plans, and David was kind enough to give me a demo print sample transparency. I don't know what to call it, but I'll do my best to describe it. He was fortunate that his school had a partnership with Husky who provided all the printing for students. So students were able to have copies of their work printed as posters, cards and other things. The one he was willing to part with was a watercolour of a city-scape printed as a card, but along with the card was also four sheets of transparencies that showed the overlap of how the individual layers of magenta, yellow, cyan and black colour created the print job. It was a perfect demo of my Introduction to Colours lesson.
Thank you so much for this gift!
He briefly mentioned the Drawing Development in Children by Victor Lowenfeld, again asking "Can you teach the curriculum with only one media if you were restricted with no other financial means or resources to create art?"
In his slideshow, he showed us "his history" in a nutshell, starting with Lady Butler's Scotland Forever to his own work and then photos of his grandchildren.
His advice to us included:
- Take courses
- Travel
- Win fights
- Lose fights; pick your battles with administration, parents and students
- Decorate space, every inch
- Scrounge for resources
- Collect free stuff; students and parents are a great resources
- Get dirty; do art with the kids
Finally, a reminder to take into account scope and sequence in long-range planning.
We also got back our lesson plans, and David was kind enough to give me a demo print sample transparency. I don't know what to call it, but I'll do my best to describe it. He was fortunate that his school had a partnership with Husky who provided all the printing for students. So students were able to have copies of their work printed as posters, cards and other things. The one he was willing to part with was a watercolour of a city-scape printed as a card, but along with the card was also four sheets of transparencies that showed the overlap of how the individual layers of magenta, yellow, cyan and black colour created the print job. It was a perfect demo of my Introduction to Colours lesson.
Thank you so much for this gift!
Huh. I never noticed until now that most of my faces always point, turn or look right.
October 30th, 2012
We're in the library today. The topic was Conflict in Art, which is always fascinating. Rather than looking at art-in-of-itself, such as materials, history, techniques, artists, etc. we were shown books that could tie with the social studies curriculum, connecting to art made during, about or expressing the horrors of the Second World War or 9/11 Twin Towers. We were then given books that fit into categories such as weird/fascinating/inspiring/strange, mending/recycling/transforming/sustainable or traditional/weaving/texture/textiles.
Some books that I really liked were:
Some books that I really liked were:
- Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tim Litchenheld (to teach about differing opinions and optical illusions)
- Look! Really Smart Art by Gillian Wolfe (various techniques artists use to create visual realism, illusions and effects)
- Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists by Mark Simon (a lot of fun to look at)
- Inkblot: Drip, Splat and Squish Your Way to Creativity by Margaret Peot (create way to design)
- Hidden Pictures by Linda Bolton (good opening into perspective, reflections and illusion)
- Imagine a day by Sarah L. Thomson (great ideas for fantasy imagery)
- Chuck Close: Face Book by Chuck Close (great example of experimentation with mediums, keeping subject matter the same)
- Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg (great illustration of incorporating mistakes into artwork)
- An Eye for Colour: The Story of Josef Albers by Natasha Wing (a great visual aid to explain how colours look different when next to other colours)
- Alter This: Radical Ideas for Transforming Books into Art by Alena Hennessy (beautiful ideas for creative and artsy book and journal projects)
November 1st, 2012
An off-campus tour of the Esker Foundation:
es·ker /ˈeskər/
Noun:A long ridge of gravel and other sediment, typically winding, deposited by melt water from a retreating glacier or ice sheet.
We were graciously welcomed and received coat check tags to put away our belongings behind the front desk so we didn't have to carry them as we walked through the exhibit. There was a little back corner that had two couches where you can sit down and look outside the giant glass walls (they aren't even windows as this size). On the ceiling was what appeared to be a number of inverted sticks crisscrossing from which changing colours of light could be seen, representing an aurora.
I don't remember the exact details of the centre, though Monica spent just less than an hour telling us about the foundation. I do remember that it just opened this past June, and is currently free to everyone, and we can have free tours as well so long as we book in advance. It would be a great field trip for students to come experience contemporary art. The first opening exhibition was full of student work from around Calgary. They once had invited a neuroscientist/psychologist who came in to talk about perception using the art pieces in the gallery. That sounds like a lot of fun.
The Landon Mackenzie - Nervous Centre exhibition and Project 35 collaborative evolving International video collection (with 35 artists) was in place - September 7, 2012 to January 5, 2013.
I really liked the birds-nest meeting area in the second-story corner of the space. It feels kind of science-fiction like in contrast to the traditional four walls I'm accustomed to seeing in this city.
In other news, this web applet is SUPER COOL: http://tholman.com/experiments/html5/texter/
es·ker /ˈeskər/
Noun:A long ridge of gravel and other sediment, typically winding, deposited by melt water from a retreating glacier or ice sheet.
We were graciously welcomed and received coat check tags to put away our belongings behind the front desk so we didn't have to carry them as we walked through the exhibit. There was a little back corner that had two couches where you can sit down and look outside the giant glass walls (they aren't even windows as this size). On the ceiling was what appeared to be a number of inverted sticks crisscrossing from which changing colours of light could be seen, representing an aurora.
I don't remember the exact details of the centre, though Monica spent just less than an hour telling us about the foundation. I do remember that it just opened this past June, and is currently free to everyone, and we can have free tours as well so long as we book in advance. It would be a great field trip for students to come experience contemporary art. The first opening exhibition was full of student work from around Calgary. They once had invited a neuroscientist/psychologist who came in to talk about perception using the art pieces in the gallery. That sounds like a lot of fun.
The Landon Mackenzie - Nervous Centre exhibition and Project 35 collaborative evolving International video collection (with 35 artists) was in place - September 7, 2012 to January 5, 2013.
I really liked the birds-nest meeting area in the second-story corner of the space. It feels kind of science-fiction like in contrast to the traditional four walls I'm accustomed to seeing in this city.
In other news, this web applet is SUPER COOL: http://tholman.com/experiments/html5/texter/
November 6th, 2012
I'm really excited to go into my practicum. I want to see if I can bridge my expertise with art and the English language arts, social studies and drama curriculum. I think these next four weeks will be more challenging because of the greater variety of grade levels and subjects. Even though I was following my grade one partner teacher in teaching English, Social, Math, Art and Phys. Ed in my last field placement, she only had one class of kids to look after, with the exception of team-teaching in Phys. Ed. This time, there are at least two grade five classes, one grade six, one grade eight and one grade nine, which is a lot more kids to connect to and get to know.
Everyone has different values and beliefs. However, we share one physical reality, even if our interpretations and stories differ. To live harmoniously, we must constantly re-negotiate shared values, connect, honour and respect our different circumstances and opinion. My job as a teacher is not to disseminate information, to tell other people what they should do, but to engage in a dialogue, to be honoured with an audience and vice-versa, as we all take turns having some spotlight on the stage, and hopefully, to change our perception of the world having heard from each other.
Also, math+origami=FTW
Everyone has different values and beliefs. However, we share one physical reality, even if our interpretations and stories differ. To live harmoniously, we must constantly re-negotiate shared values, connect, honour and respect our different circumstances and opinion. My job as a teacher is not to disseminate information, to tell other people what they should do, but to engage in a dialogue, to be honoured with an audience and vice-versa, as we all take turns having some spotlight on the stage, and hopefully, to change our perception of the world having heard from each other.
Also, math+origami=FTW
November 8th, 2012: Summative Statement
What's my legacy?
I think the world is much richer when you can see it like an artist. My aim is to guide students to believing they are capable of having such sight, that they can train their eyes to see more than what initially meets the eye. Drawing is meditative, it is seeing what is really there, for what it is, not what you want it to be. No distortions, no names, no labels, no bias, just as it is. That takes training.
In the same way, when people can train their thoughts to see the world as it is, there will be less delusion, less illusion, more truth, more insight and more peace, because the first step to outer peace is to hone the mind to come home to the heart and find inner peace.
I'm not a trained art therapist, but art is my therapy.
I do not necessarily have to teach visual art to teach artful living. True artistry is in embodying a sense of balance, composition, reflection and aesthetic expression into your thoughts, words and actions. This will never look the same from person to person. No artist is exactly like the other.
We are all changing in response to an impermanent world; adapting, shifting, interacting to a reality in flux, in evolution, in process. Let us continue being, should chance, karma or serendipity have us meet.
I think the world is much richer when you can see it like an artist. My aim is to guide students to believing they are capable of having such sight, that they can train their eyes to see more than what initially meets the eye. Drawing is meditative, it is seeing what is really there, for what it is, not what you want it to be. No distortions, no names, no labels, no bias, just as it is. That takes training.
In the same way, when people can train their thoughts to see the world as it is, there will be less delusion, less illusion, more truth, more insight and more peace, because the first step to outer peace is to hone the mind to come home to the heart and find inner peace.
I'm not a trained art therapist, but art is my therapy.
I do not necessarily have to teach visual art to teach artful living. True artistry is in embodying a sense of balance, composition, reflection and aesthetic expression into your thoughts, words and actions. This will never look the same from person to person. No artist is exactly like the other.
We are all changing in response to an impermanent world; adapting, shifting, interacting to a reality in flux, in evolution, in process. Let us continue being, should chance, karma or serendipity have us meet.