Arts Explorer #10: Community Arts Project

We needed to brainstorm, find a topic and how what we wanted to do with this cause. As my group came together and began to discuss hot topics, we thought of things that we felt strongly about or have affected us personally. After going back and forth and discussing popular issues, our final BIG IDEA was pre-teen female bullying and we called our campaign Words Hurts GTA.

Even though this project was a great deal of work in the last two weeks of the semester, we put all of our minds together, gathered all of the necessary information and created an excellent mock campaign for a start to raise awareness for pre-teen female bullying. We created a Facebook and Twitter page, our own blog, a video, a mini flyer, t-shirts for ourselves containing information about our personal experiences with bullying, a PowerPoint presentation and an excellent workshop for the female students that we would be visiting at schools, if we implemented this campaign further.

Front of Words Hurt flyer



Back of Words Hurt flyer



The presentation that we prepared for the class consisted of us going through our PowerPoint slides, discussing the issues that we had and what our plan was to implement and enforce change in societies around the GTA and, if our campaign was picked up and funded, how we would manage to keep our campaign going and remain effective.

Through planning and brainstorming, we came up with a lot of great and successful ideas that would help spread the word for our campaign to other societies which was through social networking and the artistic spin we put on our activities for the female students in which we plan to visit that would help them to feel more comfortable around us and feel more open around us and others and with a bit of luck eventually come to feel comfortable speaking to anyone when having a bullying problem.

I feel like our presentation was well planned out and organized. We knew who was going to say what, we had our information straight, we all felt passionately about the subject so when we talked about it we it really sounded like we were truly pitching an idea to a panel of potential buyers. Our presentation went really well, we presented it with confidence and sincerity in our voices. We had a lot of information to give to the class and I felt that they were engaged and really listening to what we had to say.

We felt really good about our presentation and the concept that we came up with. We think we did an excellent job so far with getting information out there in the world through Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth and we would actually consider taking this a step further and contacting people who would be interested in helping our cause!

Arts Explorer #9: Guerilla Art

To be a guerrilla artist you can create something – anything – that you would like to and post it around a city or community. The purpose is to try and have random people who you do not know to see your art and for it to have an effect on them in some way, shape or form.

For my own guerrilla art I decided to create something that I find extremely important to do every day, which is smile and laugh! Seeing random things around the city, such as street performers or signs or graffiti around the city can be inspiring, make you happy and perhaps, make you think. Here is my version if guerrilla art:



Guerilla Art

In my picture I have a few happy, uplifting phrases to hopefully boost the person’s day. And along with those phrases is a small happy face to go along with the cheerful mood!

I printed a few of these pictures and placed them in common places where I know people would go quite often around the city. I wanted them to be placed on spots and objects where people go or walk by often. Therefore, I placed one at the library, one on a car in a parking lot at the mall, one at the library and one on the mailbox by my house.



Car in parking lot.



Mailbox on street.



Mississauga Central Library



To catch someone’s reaction, I was at the grocery store and decided to place my guerrilla art within one of the aisles of the store. I stood around for a while and waited for someone to notice my art. Someone did notice it and actually smiled! While the lady was standing there looking at my art, she pointed at it and I snapped the photo. After she looked at it, she was really nice about it and asked me what it was for and why I had to do this. I proceeded to tell her it was for school and why I had to do this. She then told me it was actually a really nice thing to see while she was doing her grocery shopping.

I hope the lady whose picture I took went and told people she knew about what she had seen and hopefully it brightened up her day like I would have hoped it would.



In Loblaws



In Loblaws with reaction.



When doing this assignment I tried to think of something that would make people happy when they saw something posted that normally wouldn’t be seen on objects around the city. I know I’ve talked to people who have seen random stickers with a funny saying or even seeing balloons flying aimlessly in the air around the city, put a smile on people’s faces. Therefore, I just thought of something simple and easy to make that would be uplifting to someone, quick to read but also have an effect and make them smile! I know if I saw this posted on a wall or in a library I’d smile, and I hope it has the same effect on others too!

Arts Explorer #8: Pretend Play & Magical Thinking

A question mark or a cloud?

Art Word of the Week: Mass or Volume

When you look up in the sky on a sunny yet cloudy day, what do you see?

When I look up, I see clouds! But not everyone sees just clouds, some people look deeper and say they see a bunny rabbit or a bird or a fluffy teddy bear. To me, clouds are extremely fascinating and an interesting aspect to the weather cycle that occurs in our daily environment. Even though people love a clear, sunny day in the spring or summer there are also many people out there who absolutely love the clouds and enjoy just laying down in the grass and staring up at them, endlessly. 

There are many things that can be said about clouds when looking at them. People can discuss their shape or texture, their size and colour. An aspect of art that can also be talked about, that can tie into size, is the mass or volume or the cloud. Mass and volume refers to an object that is solid, three-dimensional body that has height, length and width (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 366 & 369). There are many characteristics (that can be tied into shape) that can be discussed when looking at clouds such as;

• how heavy & bulky OR light & delicate they are

• their geometric shape

• if they are angular or curved

• large or small

(Schirrmarcher & Fox, 2009, p. 142)

Clouds are interesting to look at as they form through a natural environmental cycle and, on their own, can be perceived in different ways. When you look at them carefully, you can make them out to be whatever shape or picture you feel that they resemble the most. People, especially children, love to look up and use their imagination as best as they can to create pictures and even stories about what they see above. It is also very interesting to look at clouds and talk to people about them because everyone’s perspective is different and everyone has different ideas of what they see and don’t see, kind of like optical illusions!

What Do You See? - I see lava exploding out of a volcano.

I remember as a child, when we first moved into our house with a backyard, my younger sister and I would lay in our backyard, all excited and look up at the sky at the clouds. We would talk about what we saw and laugh at each other and our crazy ideas of what we thought each cloud looked like. We love the summer time and would spend a great deal of time outdoors running around and playing. We have had many conversations and seen many different clouds throughout our childhood, thought of many crazy ideas and hilarious stories to go along with them!

To get children exploring their environment, looking at new things and getting them to think outside of the box, take them on a walk (preferably on a sunny but cloudy day) to a park, allow them to lay in an open grassed area and have them lay around, talk and look up at the clouds to see what they see. Children’s imaginations run wild and a great deal of conversation will spark and you will be surprised of the results that you hear from them! 

 

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young Children. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Art Explorer #7: Grocery Shopping with a Twist!

Art Word of the Week: Colour

The first area of a grocery store that I go to is the fruits and vegetables section. Partly because that area of the store is always near the front and normally is where people head first and that is always where I’ve headed first when I’ve gone grocery shopping. But I also partly head to that section of the store because it just seems so peaceful and natural and very much full of colour.

There is an endless list of vegetables, which of course than can be broken down even further. But here are the ones that I immediately thought of:

    1. Carrots

    2. Potatoes

    3. Broccoli

    4. Peas

    5. Corn

    6. Mushrooms

    7. Peppers

    8. Spinach

    9. Celery

    10. Beans

    11. Cauliflower

    12. Onions

    13. Squash

    14. Radish

    15. Cabbage

When I was young, probably like most children, I didn’t really eat my vegetables much and hid them at dinner to pretend that I had eaten them already. But as I grew up, I became more open to trying new things and now I absolutely love vegetables and can’t see a meal without them!

What stands out to me the most about vegetables is, of course, the shape but also all of the different colours that can be found when looking at all of the vegetables out there in the world. Colour is "the visual sensation of light caused by stimulating the cones of the retina" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, pg. 364). But with that literal definition there are various numbers of characteristics that fall under the colour category when looking and analyzing different objects of all kinds. Some personalities of colour that stand out to me when looking at vegetables are how light or dark they are, if they are warm (red, orange) or cool (blue, green), if they are bright or dull and if the colours of the vegetables are primary and secondary or mixed colours (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, pg. 138). Many colours, however, do repeat themselves on many vegetables that can be found in the grocery store. Some colours are orange, green, red and yellow. 

Vegetable Sketch - Carrot, Mushroom & Peas in a Pod

As oppose to colour, there are many other aspects that can be discovered when looking at vegetables such as the many different shapes that they come in and the different sizes. The shape and size can kind of go together in one category and colour on it's own, as that literally speaks about the aesthetics of it. The shape and size are definitely important characteristics of vegetables and any object really but even though those aspects are interesting, the different colours of all the vegetables without doubt stand out to me when I first walk into a grocery store. Colour is something I notice immediately and the world would be dull without them! 

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young        Children. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Art Explorer #6: Cross Stitch with Scissors

Art Word of the Week: Design/Composition

For this week’s blog I didn’t want to choose a word to go “with scissors” that was cliché or typical in any way. I wanted to think of something that I have done that is creative and original and I finally came up with something. What I have chosen is “cross stitch” or also known as needlepoint. To some people this may not seem like art of any kind but I take great pride in the cross stitches that I have completed as they take a great deal of time and patience. They can be very personal as I have made many as gifts for family and friends and I also have on that was made for my from my mothers, a birth announcement. 

My birth announcement made by my mother.

Materials Needed:

- Cross stitch fabric

- Thread

- Cross stitch pattern

- Scissors

- Needle

Steps for Cross Stitch:

#1: Choose colour of threat that you wish to start using.

#2: Look at pattern and match appropriate symbols for that particular colour to where the symbol is on the pattern.

#3: Feed thread onto needle

#4: Create “X” in each square on fabric for each square required for that particular colour.

#5: Continue to create the “X’s” for that colour according to the pattern.

#6: Repeat steps 1-5 for every colour required until cross stitch is complete. 

The art word for this week is design/composition, which is, in this textbook described as “anything and everything young children create in art” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 142). Design and composition in art attempt to meet such requirements as compiling line, shape, colours texture and form as a whole and having the finished product impart sense of overall order, coherence, equilibrium and organization (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 142). To me, design is important when looking at a cross stitch and they definitely meet all those aspects as there is order and equilibrium (with a pattern) but also line, shape and colour, with the thread and also the pattern for the finished design. The design is the essence of the cross stitch because of how it looks like and the way it is put together is what you’re trying to achieve. 

Doing cross stitches is definitely something that I take pride in and that I really enjoy doing. I really do not involve myself with arts & crafts very much but completing a cross stitch is something I love to do. My mother introduced me to them when I was a young girl, probably in elementary school. I started out with small patterns. I remember my mom teaching me how to do them and when I completed one and showed her, she was so proud and gave me wonderful compliments. I gradually became more confident doing them and eventually started making them as gifts for people.

I will always have a love for doing them. I definitely love putting the time it takes to complete them and then seeing the reactions of the people I give them to as gifts, how happy and appreciative they are. I always feel proud and accomplished, even if I have made one for myself. Like I said earlier, completing art projects is not really something that describes me but I feel this piece of art is something that describes me and that I am confident in doing successfully. 

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young Children. Clifton  Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Art Explorer #5: Watch an ‘Art Film’ & Chat About It

Art Word of the Week: Surrealism

As we had five movies to choose from, my movie choice for the week was Donnie Darko. We were told to watch an ‘art film’ with our peers and then discuss the film in any way we saw fit. It was somewhat easy for me to choose this film, as I had never watched it before this viewing. I have seen two of the movies on the list but decided I wanted to watch a film that was new and fresh to me and that I could critique with a clean slate.

Although I have heard of this film before I was unsure of the plot line and did not really know what to expect. However, after watching the trailer of the film in class I was further intrigued and interested in what this movie would bring to the table.

Donnie Darko is an extremely dark and twisted film about a teenage boy who is very troubled and hears voices regularly and has hallucinations of an awfully scary looking rabbit who he calls Frank. His friend Frank tells him to do things - bad things – that hurt destroy things and hurt others around him. Throughout the film, Donnie struggles with the voices that he hears from Frank, his family and the new girl that he is interested in, Gretchen. He goes back and forth with trying to work through his problems and as the movie progresses we quickly learn that he is being told something very important by the bunny and that he needs to make some changes in order for things to go a different way...

Everyone that I spoke to about this film seemed to have different opinions and ideas about what may or may not have happened, which allows people’s perspectives to be a very prominent aspect the discussion. Everyone has their own ideas and beliefs about everything that occurs around them, which allows people to have their own perspectives. To me, though, it seems pretty obvious about what happens at the end of the film or perhaps what the movie makers’ message is that they are trying to get across to the audience. But others may interpret the plot another way because of what they personally believe or how they see things in the world.

Another way of looking at this film is saying it is surrealism, which is “creating a magical, dreamlike world that is more intense than reality” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 204). This film definitely shows “dreams images, fantasies and the subconscious are chosen as subject matter and portrayed either realistically or abstractly” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 204).Donnie Darko is a dark and twisted film that really makes you think deeply about the meaning and what is really happening or not happening.

Donnie Darko, to me, is definitely surreal as it leaves the audience to interpret it their own way and what was really happening and why. Everyone has their own perspectives about this film but it unquestionably gives the viewers a great deal of information an plot lines to think about and digest in order to decipher what the final conclusions for the characters and the story line is. I was pleased with this film and is allowed me to think in depth about all aspects and at the same time, kept me entertained, thinking how things were happening and wondering why everything was happening. 

For myself and peers, this film was entertaining and interesting and finally decided that it has the makings to be called an 'art film'.

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young Children. Clifton  Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.