Choice Based Art

BASA Week 10

This was the last class of our session.  I thoroughly enjoyed working with this group of kids and I hope I was able to get them to think about art in new and different ways.  I saw a quote today that sums up how I feel. "Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else."

The pedagogy of Teaching for Artistic Behavior supports kids in finding their creative voice in an authentic learning environment.

I promised the class that I would not speak to the whole group which would allow more time to work.  I almost kept my promise.  I read the book "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" by Maya Angelou and artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat.  The book expresses courage, which I think all of the students have shown in the way they have opened up and shared their artwork with each other.  I also read this book because Basquiat's art is so vibrant and child-like; I knew it would appeal to these kids.

Choice Based Art

BASA Art Class Week 9

Following the interest level of the class, I decided to continue talking about pop art and tie it in with the kids' love of cartooning.  I showed the class images created by Roy Lichtenstein.

Roy Lichtenstein "Maybe"

Roy Lichtenstein "Mickey"

A few of the students were fortunate to see the Lichtenstein exhibit at the Art Institute over the summer.  We had a great conversation about the way Lichtenstein elevated cartooning to "high" art.  We also discussed his use of ben-day dots to mimic old printing techniques.

After my five minutes of talking, the class set off to work.  Some of them went straight to cartooning, while others explored their own ideas.

Choice Based Art

BASA Art Class Week 8

Love is in the air!  Our class this week was on Valentines Day.  I chose three pop artists for us to explore.  These three artists, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Jim Dine, all used hearts in their artwork.  We discussed what "pop art" means and how a simple heart, mass produced in popular culture, can be elevated to "high art".

It was interesting to discuss Andy Warhol's heart print with the class.  Our conversation diverged into careers that an artist can have, such as scientific illustrator.

"Graffiti Heart" Keith Haring

Heart print - Andy Warhol

Heart print - Jim Dine

Choice Based Art

BASA Art Class Week 7

I continued our discussion about collage from the previous week.  I decided to show some examples that used simple materials that we have plenty of in our art centers.

We looked at works by Romare Bearden.  Most of the students in the class play instruments and the music theme was one of the first things the students noticed about Bearden's work.

"Three Folk Musicians" Romare Bearden

While looking for collage examples, I found the artist Denise Fiedler.  I really like her simple collages that utilize old pages of text. 

"Lion" Denise Fiedler

As happens every week, a few of the students are interested in pursuing a project based on the "five minute discussion" and others are motivated by their own ideas.

Choice Based Art

BASA Art Class Week 6

While reflecting on the work that has been created the past five weeks, I realized the students had not spent much time in the collage center.  I decided to focus on collage for the "idea of the week" and shared a variety of images with the class.  We talked about what the word "collage" means and how Pablo Picasso is credited with making the first modern collage.

We also discussed the surrealists and the ways that they used collage.  I read part of a document from the Dali Museum that can be found here: http://thedali.org/education/docz/LessonPlan3-CollageCollege.pdf

Two other artists we looked at were Henri Matisse and his paper cut-outs and Jen Stark and her paper sculptures.

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Henri Matisse-  The Horse, The Rider, and the Clown

Jen Stark - Microscopic Entrance

Choice Based Art

BASA Art Class Week 5

Choice Based Art

This week we continued our conversation about color.  I brought in two books to share with the class about the artist Niki de Saint Phalle - Niki de Saint Phalle: My Art, My Dreams and Niki's World.

We looked at Niki's use of bright colors and the child-like quality of her art.  Another reason I chose to explore her work with the class is that as an artist she worked in several different mediums.  Niki created drawings, paintings, sculptures, mosaics and more.

Choice Based Art

BASA Class Week 4

In the movie I have included photos of the work centers.  Because I am teaching in a cafeteria one afternoon a week, everything needs to be portable.  All items are labeled and placed inside a copy paper box.  The lid of each box displays the contents.  Each box also holds a binder that includes how-to information for that particular work center as well as ideas of what to do with the given materials.

Van Gogh "Night Cafe"

Van Gogh "The Cafe Terrace at Night"

This week we talked about color.  Specifically, we looked the color wheel and the relationship between colors.  We also talked about color schemes and how color can effect your mood.  The class seemed surprised when I pointed out that most fast food restaurants use a warm color scheme to make you feel excited and to make you eat faster.

We talked about Van Gogh's "Night Cafe" with its warm colors and compared it to how we feel looking at Van Gogh"s cool night-blue sky and warmly lit cafe in "The Cafe Terrace at Night".

I am impressed each week with the energy and creativity that the kids bring to the class.  I will work toward putting photo examples of their work in the corresponding binders for future classes to see.