Teaching Art in a Time of Social Isolation (Famous Painting Reenactment)

Student Work 1

Day 4 (4/27/20) 

You can’t get far on the internet these days without seeing people reenacting famous paintings usually with some comedic twists. I decided to get on board and make it a learning exercise. As soon as I mentioned it to my Drawing 1 students they were on board, especially since I replaced their Old Masters Drawings with it. This class has always been kind of special and the students have a real chemistry about them. When they found out that they were not going to be able to finish the year together they took it pretty hard because they looked forward to their time together. It was the perfect class to use as the pilot and they would all be able to see each other, in pictures at any rate. To make it more of a learning experience they had to research famous paintings to find one that they wanted to recreate. They then had to write a two page critique on the painting and artist. Then it was time to start recreating. Again, I emphasized the importance of good photography to the overall quality.  They were so excited that I actually received some of the images before the due date. As I expected they came up with some good ones. I am not sure how many of these assignments will make the cut once we get back into the brick and mortar but for now it is making online teaching fun.

Student Work 2

Student Work 3

Student Work 4

Student Work 5

Student Work 6

Student Work 7

Teaching Art in a Time of Social Isolation "Origami"

When Dinosaurs walked the Earth

Day 3 (4/22/20) 

I have always wanted to include “Origami” into my curriculum although finding the time to squeeze it in was always a problem. Originating in Japan, in the sixth century as mostly a religious endeavor, origami still holds a certain mystical quality. At a time when more emphasis has been put on including diverse cultural experiences into art programs origami seemed like a natural bridge. This and the fact that it uses minimal materials made it one of the first options that I thought about when faced with what to do with my ceramics classes in the absence of clay. The problem I faced was how to teach students an art form as complicated as origami without being present. Fortunately the internet came to the rescue. There are tutorials on doing everything from simple to complex forms. To make it less intimidating I emphasized the overall art piece more than the individual objects. The students were allowed to stay as simple or get as complex as they wanted to. Furthermore I encouraged the students to use materials that they had on hand like magazines, newspaper and printer paper as well as found objects. I recommended some sites that showed what contemporary artists are doing in origami and encouraged the students to do some research. When it was time to start they began by posting some of their individual objects. Again, I kept reminding them that the origami modules were to be just one part of larger project and that not everything had to be origami or even paper. I wanted to make it as expansive as possible to allow for individual creativity while minimizing the anxiety of working with something new. Happily, the students seemed to embrace the project and took off in all directions. Finally, I discussed the importance of carefully photographing their projects since the only reference I would have for grading would be their photos. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their work.

Cubes 1

Cubes 2

Crane Mobile

Flower Mobile

Zoo Animals

Butterflies

Origami Dress

Dreams

Teaching Art in a Time of Social Isolation "Land Art"

Land Art 1

Day 2 (4/17/20) 

I have to admit that when I first heard that the school was shutting down and we were going to start teaching students remotely I went into a bit of a panic. Although I have never been a stranger to technology I didn’t really feel prepared to start teaching over the internet. “Google Classroom” was something I was remotely aware of but had never really used it. Being very camera shy, the thought of video conferencing and making videos still sends shivers down my spine. Add to that the fact that I have four classes of ceramics this semester seemed to be a recipe for disaster. The possibility of sending clay home with the students in so little time was out of the question.  In light of the fact that we are not going back this year I am glad I didn’t try. I started working on learning all the programs I would need to make this happen. It came to me that perhaps this would be an opportunity to explore some areas that I had always wanted to but hadn’t had the chance. The first one, for obvious reasons, was Land or Environmental Art. I started by having my Ceramics 2 class research and write on the art of Andy Goldsworthy and other Land Artists. After writing a critique on the Land Art Piece of their choosing they had to develop their own Land Art. It is a small class so I thought it would be a good pilot group. I wasn’t disappointed and will probably use it for other classes in the future.

Land Art 2

Land Art 3

Land Art 4

Land Art 5

Due to school protocol student names are not being used. 

Social Isolation

Wade and Tripod 2015

Day 1 (3/21/20)

Where to start? In the last week our world has been turned on end. Social isolation has become the order of the day. Schools have gone online and everywhere there is a surreal, nagging uncertainty. The COVID-19 virus which was just identified four months ago has swept across the planet and changed life as we know it. I have decided to spend some of my isolation time going back and visiting some builds that I have made along the bike trail over the last twelve years. When I first started the Dolmen Project it was an attempt to exercise both my body and mind. I would ride out every morning and build structures along the bike trail and come home and blog about it. At first they were basic cairns of different sizes. We had seen them in Iceland and Norway and found them fascinating. I had the goal of building a hundred of them along the trail. It didn’t take long to realize this wasn’t going to happen since soon after building them they would get knocked down by either natural or human causes. After awhile I started expanding my repertoire to include other objects left lying around by the railroad. I started doing larger and more elaborate builds. Eventually my manifesto became that I could not use anything that was not found on the trail and that would not eventually return to its past state. The first couple of years there was a lot of material available. The railroad had left ties and hardware everywhere which provided a good base to work with. Then later they must have decided that they had value and came through and grabbed everything even the ones that were sculptures. After that I had to get more creative and do more foraging. The first couple years I also made sure I wasn’t caught building. I would go out early so that by the time it got busy I was home blogging and a new crop would seem to pop up overnight. These first couple blogs will go back and take a look at some of the different years and some of the challenges that presented themselves over the last eleven years.

Tripod, Early Incarnation 2011

A Question of Balance 2015

Limestone Cairn 2012

The Knight Build 2015

Water Cairn 2011

Winter Tripod 2016