Guest Artist pages 5 & 6

Host artist: Lauren
Big Idea: Identity

Lauren is interested in the idea of curiosity driving the discovery of her identity. My two pages bring my interest about the individual. Page 5 says, "in a world full of people, how will you stand out?" Our identity is how we differentiate ourselves from others. Page 6 is a close-up of a face painted in multiple colors. This is emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual and all the qualities that make up one's identity.

Page 5

Page 6

MUMAA artwork

 MUMAA piece:

"Lovely Maiden" Mask (mwanaphwo)
Angola, Chokwe people Wood, raffia and other flibers.

Muesum description: 

Mwanaphwo literally means "young woman." Masks like this depict an archetypal ancestral personality who died at a young age. The mask's eyes are rendered as narrow slits, indicative of a dead person. Only male dancers wear these masks; women never do. The masks are used in village performances for boys' initiation, or "coming of age," ceremonies. Such masks also symbolize the prominence women enjoy in the Chokwe's matrilineal society.

          Image Board

Big Ideas in MUAA artwork "Lovely Maiden":

-Story --> Character

-Identity

-History

Utilizing this in Tiger Artist Lesson: 

Drawing from the big idea of story, I would tiger artists look at this piece and try to make inferences about the person being depicted in the mask. I would have them focus on the character of the mask. Students will then create a mask of a character they create and develop themselves. 

Essential Questions: 

-What is a function of a mask?

-In what cultures and time periods do we see masks? 

-What types of facial expressions depict certain emotions? 

-What do the material or medium say about the character? 

-How can we show personality through accessories?

-How does color play into character? 

Artistic Concepts:

-Form

-Texture

-Line 

-Color 

How do all of these express different emotions? 

Big Idea Book (pages 3 & 4)

Media: charcoal, colored pencil, watercolor

Artist Statement: 
The artist I chose to collaborate with is Daniele Buetti. He works a lot with photography and advertising, focusing on the role media plays in our lives in relationship to our identity. Using images of fashion models, he adds light and alters the image to show a juxtaposition between beauty and despair. He uses light to enchant the viewers and manipulate them in the same way the media tricks our society into forming stereotypes about beauty. The image shown below is one of Buetti's pieces that I used to influence the pages in my book. Using charcoal and colored pencil, I drew a similar-looking woman. However, even though the viewer may perceive her as beautiful, she looks at her reflection in sadness as tears fall from her eyes. Her tears fall into a pool of water that spell out the word "flaw." Over everything else, the woman does not see a true reflection of herself, rather only her flaws. On the fourth page behind the text is a golden framed mirror. I believe that in today's society, women especially, have an obsession with how they are perceived. Because of the images we are exposed to, beauty to many people is a strict term with guidelines and criteria. It is this this coveted quality that is impossible to achieve when we are constantly comparing ourselves.

Big Idea Artists (Journal)

Big Idea Book (pages 1 & 2)

Cover

Page 1 and 2

The big idea my book is focusing on is beauty. I am really interested in how people perceive beauty in different ways. I also want to draw attention to society's view on beauty and how the media and our culture influence our ideas on what it means to be beautiful. I especially want to focus on the pressure women feel to look a certain way, and how we feel the need to alter ourselves to meet a certain standard.

On page one of the book, there are two sets of text. The text on the top is the dictionary's definition of beauty. On the bottom, I have written trivial questions about beauty: "Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Is beauty only skin deep? Is beauty on the inside, or on the outside? Is there a such thing as natural beauty? What is beauty?" Page 2 of the book shows a collage of magazine images. These are all faces used in advertisements showing the viewers what is considered beautiful in today's society.

Journey Map

This piece is a visual description of my journey to art education. The collaged images are my artwork over the years; some of them were projects, others were taken out of my old sketch books. I included a couple of post-it notes from a previous art teacher giving me feedback on drawings. The comments represent how my skills progressed during my journey through art. The most important part of this piece to me are the two photos of my sister, Lauren. In both photos she is shown working on her own art. My sister has influenced me so much; she was my first un-official art teacher. When I was little, we would have little lessons together and she would make still-lifes for me to practice drawing in my bedroom. She is such an inspiration to me, and I always wanted to be just like her. Lauren helped me find my love for art.

Reading Reflection

After reading "Signs of Change: Art Education in the Age of the iKid," my eyes are even more opened to the importance of art education for our future students. The next generation, the "iKids," are going to require a completely new approach to teaching from every subject. I think that art to these students, now more than ever, will arguably be one of their most influential and beneficial subject areas. As art teachers, we can utilize their knowledge in technology, and push their capabilities and creativity. According to the text, "art education can make a difference in an increasingly complex, interconnected world." Understanding art gives the next generation a way of making connections and decoding culture through visual interpretation. The world we live in calls for much analysis; it is not black and white, but rather quite subjective. Art can teach students to be thinkers, problem solvers, and innovators.

The article "Interpreting Connotations in Visual Culture," allowed me to make further connections between art and the way society thinks. We are influenced on a daily basis by the images we see, and we sometimes mistake them for fact. Even those who are poorly educated are visually literate. They make inferences from the content they see in images and media, and then form opinions. Certain stereotypes have remained in our culture because they are confirmed by art and advertisements. I thought an interesting comment made in the text was that "learners as young as 3 and 4 years old were able to use the construct of denotations and connotations." As art educators, we can give our students the knowledge and the tools to make educated decisions based on the images that surround them. We can essentially teach open-mindedness and discourage ignorance for our future generation. That is a huge opportunity and responsibility that art teachers have.

ART:21 Big Idea Lesson: Paradox

1) Opening Discussion:

-What is paradox?
-What are examples of contradictions?
-How can we physically creating paradox in the process of art making?
-In what aspects of life do we see duality? (Socially, Physically, Culturally)

2) Show Art:21 video on Mark Bradford
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mark-bradford

3) Take a closer look at Bradford's work:

"The Devil is Beating His Wife"

-Discuss the idea of two conditions happening at the same time

• Example: sunshine during rain. What could this mean metaphorically?

"A Truly Rich Man"

-Discuss contradictions regarding utopia

• "A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms even when his hands are empty

-Discuss collage vs. de-collage 

• What expressions are evoked from one technique versus the other?

4) Assignment:

-Choose a particular paradox or contradiction 

-Using Mark Bradford's work as inspiration, create a mixed media

collage that depicts the chosen contradiction 

-Must use at least three different mediums 

-Materials can include, but are not limited to:

• paint 
• ink
• paper
• photos
• found materials 

-Create an artist statement explaining your work

Watercolor Blog spring '12

This is my blog from my intermediate watercolor painting class with Claire Stigliani. Claire did an awesome job emphasizing the importance of concept and theme in order to create a body of work! I loved her class.

Art Blog Link