Art Education 244

Portfolio Piece #6

For my sixth piece, I did Lesson 29:  Irregular and Organic Shape (Pgs 74-76 in Prince’s Art is Fundamental).  I cut irregular shapes out of different colored construction paper.  Then, I glued them down onto a black background, making sure to not create geometric shapes in the negative space. 

This lesson was very simple and still created a beautiful product.  It is a nice contrast to the lesson on Geometric shapes, as this lesson allows much more freedom.  It allows children to cut any shapes they want (as long as they are not geometric) and explore the many different shapes that are possible.

Before taking ARTE244, I never considered how Art would be integrated into the curriculum to help students achieve maximum success.  Over  the semester, I have begun to realize all the ways that I will be able to do so and what an impact this would have on my students.  This article, “Ten Lessons the Arts Teach,” by Elliot Eisner, perfectly sums up the value of having art in the classroom. 

One of my favorite “lessons” that Eisner pointed out that art taught was that problems are “seldom fixed, but change with circumstance” (Lesson 4).  Thinking back to my days in middle school, I remember when I made an elephant out of clay, and before the clay hardened, the trunk drooped down.  I was so disappointed when I first saw what had happened, but after having a talk with my art teacher, we came to the conclusion that my pottery would still be an interesting piece, droopy trunk or not. 

Another good point that Eisner discussed was how art helps children express themselves in ways other than speaking (Lesson 8).  Just like writing or speaking, art is a medium through which people can communicate feelings, ideas, or thoughts.  Eisner states that through art, one can ‘say what cannot be said.’ 

Finally, Lesson 10 discussed how having art in the curriculum shows children that art is important.  If children are limited in their art experiences, they will begin to understand that the schools don’t view art as essential.  If their experiences with art are rich, however, students will be able to see the value in it as well.  I feel like this lesson summarized one of the main points of our course, that integrating art into the curriculum is important and valuable for children in order to have the most successful learning experience possible.

Portfolio Piece #5

For this portfolio piece, I did the Cut-Paper Complementary Color Project (pgs. 40-42 in Prince’s Art is Fundamental).  I started by creating three backdrops – 6″ by 12″ rectangles of yellow, red, and blue.  I made three same-size rectangles in purple, green, and orange.  The purple, green, and orange papers were folded into fourths, and then I cut shapes around the edges, just as if I was making a paper-snowflake.  I unfolded the cut-paper and glued the different designs down onto the background that was its complementary color. 

I liked this lesson because it was a hands-on way to introduce complementary colors.  It was open-ended, as students would have the choice about which color to make the backdrop vs. which color to make the cut-paper designs.  They also had the freedom to create any design they wanted for the three cut-papers.  Also, this lesson allowed students to visualize the colors directly next to their complementary color.  It would be a fun and useful lesson for children.

Portfolio Piece #4

I chose to do Lesson 23: Review of Line – Using Line to Create the Illusion of Form (Pages 139-140 in Prince’s Art is Fundamental).  The materials needed were only a piece of white paper, a pencil, and a black marker.  I started by lightly tracing my non-dominant (left) hand onto the piece of paper.  Using the black marker, I made a straight line until I reached the outline of my hand.  I curved the line slightly until I reached the other side of my traced hand, and then I again reverted back to using a straight line.  Any lines outside of the tracing were straight; lines within the tracing were curved. 

I chose to do this activity because I liked how it offered the possibility of teaching children a different way to make shapes.  Instead of thinking that they must use lines to draw the outlines of shapes, children can learn a new way of thinking about and making shapes.  I hope if I use this lesson in my classroom, children will realize that art offers many opportunities for “thinking outside of the box.”