A History of Music

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Even though I don't consider myself that musical, I come from a long line of family that values the importance of Music. For example my great grandmother used to play the piano for the silent theatre in her town Westville, Nova Scotia. She was considered the best pianist in the community. My mother also took after her by playing piano at a very early age. Along with this she took singing lessons and instilled this talent onto my brother. As long as I can remember, my brother has been singing. Eventually, he devoted his passion to this by partaking in Royal Conservatory examinations and music festivals. This was enjoyable for me as we often were able to travel for his provincial competitions. Eventually he was admitted to Dalhousie University's Music Program to study singing. As for myself, I started piano at the age of 2. I eventually continued on to complete my level 10 RCM. Even though I achieve this accomplishment I did not feel that music came as naturally to me as it did to my family. Regardless, I have a huge appreciation for music.

This just shows that Art despite what genre, music, drama, dance, or visual arts can give a sense of identity and belonging. This reminded me of our last class when Dolly shard her drumming with us. The drumming in her story of the feast hall built a sense of community between the members at the hall. Therefore, it is important to cultivate and celebrate students talents, for I feel that we all can connect to a form of Art, for it moves and inspires us all. Even if we cannot perform it, we are all surrounded and linked though it. I know for me thus far, teaching Fine Arts has been one of my Favourite if not Favourite subjects to teach. This is because I have noticed that all the students in my classroom participate in these lessons, even students that normally exclude themselves from regular classroom activates. 

One lesson that I would love to give, that was inspired while creating my inquiry, would be to have students research their own background of their artistic history. This does not have to be specific to family, as I know that there are many children in this day and age that do not live a nuclear model, but could incorporate researching ones culture or even community they grew up in or identify with.

Deck the Halls

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With Christmas right around the corner, now is the time to think about all the amazing arts and crafts ideas that are available to create with your students. One of my favourite places to get ideas from for making Christmas decorations in Pinterest. This site provides a lot of clever ideas for a variety of difference ages.

One idea that stubbled upon while searching through the site that I really likes was making prettily Christmas themed tea light holders with mason jars. This idea seemed so simple yet looked so effective.  The look of the end result reminded me of when I made a snow globe out of a mason jar when I was a child. I absolutely loved my mason snow globe and thought it was the prettiest decoration. I was please to see that I was also able to find this on the site. Both of these seem very simple to make as they only involve mason jars, glitter, glue and pretty much what ever you can dig up around the house. The materials are up to you.

Here is the links to both of these ideas. I plan on making either one this Christmas with me niece and nephew, to see how the process turns out!

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Two Rivers Art Gallery

Bloodredlife by Will Gill

The visit to the Art gallery was educational to me in so many ways. After practicing the first activity while seated in front of the paintings by Will Gill, we had a chance to hear some of the interpretations that people came up with. It was interesting listening to the stories that people created for the paintings, and while listening, I was wondering what factors influenced everyones ideas. It seemed like peoples experiences and backgrounds really shaped and reflected what people came up with. Additionally, the hues used in each piece seemed to set the tone of what typed of emotions were evoked for a few people. I know this was true for me. I was instantly drawn to the decapitation piece for it used warm hues such as reds, pink, orange and light blues. Little did I realize that this was what the painting was depicting, as the colours gave me such a warm and happy feeling. The story that I made up for the piece was quite comical involving a paint can falling off construction scaffolding and landing right on the head of someone below. This resulted in bright colours being splashed all over the persons head to the point where there was no head left to seen. I even thought how it would have fit perfectly into a Just for Laughs prank, with a laugh track and silly music playing in the background. I was happy to know that after talking to Chris the warm colours in the painting evoked positive feelings for him as well. Perhaps I was not the only person who completely missed that grave undertones that a lot of the painting were depicting? While preparing for a fine arts lesson on colour, I discovered that a german scientist and writer named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe studies how colours make us feel. He discovered that blues evoked quiet moods and reds evolved cheerfulness. Perhaps this is why this peace made me think of something comical.

I liked that I did not go into the gallery knowing a lot of the history or the background that the artist had on the pieces for it was a fun experience to see where my imagination would take me before I was fixated on the entire theme of the exhibit. I can only image what the mind of a child could come up with when viewing different types of paintings, for even their everyday seems like it can be such an adventure. I would think an activity like this would be great to try with a Fine Arts class. Perhaps even some of the breathing techniques would be a good way to get some of the little ones to settle and fine their inner peace (fingers crossed).

Here is the painting that went along with my story. Perhaps you can look past the meaning that the artist envisioned for this piece and come up with something cheerful of your own.

Figure with Red Pants by Will Gill

Archives & Special Collections

During the previous Fine Arts class, I was able to get together with my Inquiry group to discuss the artist that we will be researching. As one of our sources, we thought it would be a good idea to go to the library to search for a book on the artist. After finding a few useless resources, we were intrigued by one that was located in the Archives and Special Collections section, especially since all of us has never been there.

If you have never visited the Archives, we found out from the librarian that it is an area located on the fourth floor of the library that houses rare book collections and maintains the University's artworks and artifact collections. I was amazed that I had beed going to the University for so many years and had never discovered this place before. As we exited the elevator on the fourth floor, we noticed several students studying in a what appeared to be a very nice study area. There was also a detailed model of the university encased in glass. Further down the hallway we came to the Special Collections building. Inside we had to fill out a form in order to see what was titled, The Kenojuak prints. We were all curious of what resource we were about to discover that needed such special attention.

We soon discovered that the prints were three books of poems that are based on a series of prints by the artist, Kenojuak. They follow the same order as the Cape Dorset Calendar. The poems were quite simple, however their simplicity captured what Kenojuak portrayed in her art.

Here are a few samples from the artist.

Kenojuak Ashevac

Kenojuak Ashevac

Kenojuak Ashevac

 Kenojuak Ashevac

Falling Into Winter

This years Art Show titled, "Falling Into Winter" was such a neat experience and one that will be remembered. I really enjoyed how our cohort was able to get together to celebrate the creative pieces that our Fine Arts students made. I must say I was so impressed with every singe classes Artwork and I was inspired from each one for my own Fine Arts class.

I was happy to see how many students and families came to the event including two of my own students. An event like this is such a great way to incorporate parents and families into the school culture and to give them a chance to see the projects that their children have been working on. Additionally, the expressions of pride and excitement on the children's faces were so rewarding to see. You could tell that they really enjoyed the show and to see their art displayed in a professional manner.

I noticed that with my display it attracted a lot of younger students, for the pieces looked very silly and funny (entirely the point of the assignment). This was great, for when I taught the lesson students really loved how silly their Picasso Pumpkin faces looked and I was happy to see that this amusemet transferred to the children at the show.

I would love to create an event like this either in my own classroom or school. I remember when I was in high school students were allowed to frame and display paintings or drawings on the walls of our foyer. It gave this space an art gallery feel when you walked into the building and really livened up the area. Just one of the many ways to incorporate art into the school.

Here is a picture of my students Picasso Pumpkins as well as a few others from the Art show.

UNBC Art Show Preparation

While discussing the preparation for the UNBC Art Show I really had no idea how the final product would turn out. In the past I have attended several art shows however, I have never helped plan one.

The day before the show our class had time to discuss what the different committees had been planning. I was please to see what great ideas everyone had. For example, creating a playlist for background music, making a banner to display the theme,  designating people to photography to capture the event and inviting a violinist to play during the show. 

As part of decorating committee, our group had several tasks to complete in order to get ready for the Art show. This included making snowflakes to hang up, taping up balloons and streamers, and arranging baskets with dry leaves in them. Emma and Amanda also spent the previous night making an amazing banner that displayed the events theme "Falling Into Winter", which was placed on the second floor catwalk. I was happy to see that with every job that needed to be done we were not short of hands, as numerous people participated in getting ready for opening. 

After everything was placed, hung, and taped, I thought the venue came together nicely and transformed our Teaching and Learning into a proper Art Gallery.

Picasso Pumpkins

                              

    

While in my Practicum I taught my first Fine Arts lesson, which turned out to be a great success. It focused on teaching Pablo Picasso's cubism technique where student we able to recreate cubist inspired pumpkin faces. It was perfect for the week of Halloween as some of Pablo's paintings can look quite odd and eerie. I stressed that many of their pumpkins would have the same effect which instantly got the students excited.

Pablo also lived a very fascinating life which is great for throwing in some fun facts to engage students' attention. For example, did you know that his first word was "piz" short for "Lapiz" the spanish word for pencil? Or that he was able to draw before he could speak?

A fun little project that I created for students who were finished early was to visit the site called Picasso Head. Here student were able to create online Picasso Portraits that looked equally as creative. This got me thinking that the site would be great to use as an introductory lesson or follow up lesson in the computer lab. If you are interested in teaching Picasso to your students I would strongly suggest checking out the site. Here are a few creations that have been created on the site.

Picasso Head

Picasso Head

Picasso Head

Picasso Head

Dance Dance Dance

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I don't know about how the rest of the class feels about the thought of possibly having to teach dance, but it has me realizing that I don't even know the first thing about it! Even though I took dance when I was younger and learned a wide variety of different styles such as jazz, song and dance, ballet, and tap, I have never though about what it would be like to each it, or how I would go about it.

Luckily in this day and age there is a wide variety of resources available for teachers during this time of need through different modes such as the internet, book stores, DRC, colleagues and staff and finally other social networks. The one that was the most readily available to me (the internet) was the one I decided to check out. While searching online I was able to found various lesson plan ideas for and and was surprised to see just how many cross curricular connections could be made. For sample tacking match concepts through dance, and making poem dances.

One really neat unit plan I found, was one that taught dance through the use of free movements and body expressions. I really liked this unit for it provided all the additional information that would be beneficial to a teacher such as forms of assessment, learning objectives and PLO's. Additionally, it seemed like a unit that would not be difficult to teach and one that everyone would be able to participate in no matter what the students skill level. This is something that is important for me as a pre-service teacher to consider. For I want to make sure that what ever I teach in my classroom, it makes all of my students feel that they are capable of achieving what ever task I give them. Not only does this enhance students self esteem, but it give them the proper attitude that is needed for academic success.

Here is the link to the unit plan that I found for a Grade 6 class in case anyone wanted to look at it for future teaching ideas. I personally like the lesson where students act as atoms and switch from partner to patenter.

Pointillism

George Seurat

Last Friday I had the chance to observe a Fine Arts lesson with my Grade K-3 students. It was during this lesson that I became inspired by one of my students for a Visual Arts project. In the lesson, students were instructed to colour self-portraits, and to personalize it by using a variety of different colours. While most of the students were colouring, I noticed one student in particular was colouring with a different technique. Instead of using the marker to fill in solid blocks of colour, he used the marker to create tiny dots. I really like the look of this and thought it would be a fun technique to have all of my students try. While searching online to find a teaching component for such a lesson, I discovered that there actually is a name for this style of work. It is called "pointillism", and many famous painters use this technique when paining for example, George Seurat. What I especially love about this lesson is it wold not require a lot of materials. All you need are plates to put your paint on and q-tips to use as paint brushes. I also thought for younger students, instead of having them draw their own picture you could provide them with a template of a picture. So all they would have to do is add the dots of paint. You could also incorporate a bit of technology into this by having students perform this lesson on the computer with a paint program. If you are interested in doing this, I found a blog that provides a further explanation of the process.

George Seurat

1st and 2nd Grade Project

3rd Grade Project

PoP ArT

 While in my Practicum 490, I was able to observe an Art lesson that the prep teacher had planned for my K-3 class. It was the second lesson for her PoP Art theme, which focused on Andy Warhol's famous soup can prints.

To first start off the class, the teacher had a powerpoint of Andy Warhol to present interesting facts and an introductory bio of the Artist. I had no idea that there was so much information on Andy Warhol that  would be appropriate for the children to learn, however the teacher provided a lot of fun and silly facts about the artist that made the lesson so engaging. For example, one person told Andy to paint what he liked therefore, he painted pictures of cats for he like cats so much the he owned 25 of them, which were all named Sam! This also reflected his famous soup can prints for he loved tomato soup. He ate tomato soup every single day, a lunch that his mother usually provided for him. Eventually Andy bought a factory where he created many of his famous prints and movies. One movie consisted on a man sleeping for 6 hours! Any one was invited to his factory and could make art during any time of the day for the doors were always open.

Student loved this information and were intrigued by Andy, which motivated the students when it came time for their art activity. The teacher had the students colour their own soup and label it any kind of soup they wanted. She provided inspiring ideas such as your favourite kind of sour, or soup you think would taste good, or even invest a soup that hasn't been invented yet. To do this the teacher handed out little cards with printed soup cans on them. To make the colour of the soup cans really pop, which was a classic characteristic of Pop Art, she had the students used colourful sharpies which really made the colour stand out.

One all the students had finished colouring their soup she glued the soup cans on a canvas and finished it off with a glossy coat. This was then hung in the classroom to celebrate the children's' Art. I thought the turnout looked amazing and very professional. This is something that I would definitely love to do with my class one day for it was engaging, fun and not that much prep work.

Here is a photo of the finished product. I got a real kick out of some of the different kinds of soup, for example make note of the one at the bottom right hand corner lol.

loKal art

I love the idea of exposing students to the many local talents their city has to offer. Furthermore, it provides a good opportunity to show students the various ways people choose to express themselves (while also knocking off a few PLO's). Great talent can be hiding anywhere, and you don't have to go looking in the big cities to find it. Learning about local artists not only helps support your community but it helps support the art industry. Even in times of economic hardships art is still apart of the community. Why? Art is comfort, an escape from the every day, and cognitive enrichment. Even in the darkest days art thrives in ways unprecedented.

One of my favourite local artists also happens to be one of my dearest friends. After dropping out from
the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, my friend made her way to the remote forests of BC. She constantly inspires me even when my creativity is running on empty and has introduced me to a wide array of local artists. It's amazing how one person can unveil a whole other world to the one you thought you already knew. Her work has taught me that you can make art and beauty out of anything, it just depends on the angle you decide to look at it.

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Two Rivers Art Gallery

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This Thursday I remembered it was free admission day at the Art Gallery, so I decided to check out the latest exhibition with a few classmates. I was very happy that I did because I discovered the artist Jane Isakson from Whitehorse, Yukon. I really loved and appreciated her paintings for she painted with some of my favourite colours, and focused on various landscapes from Canada's east, north and west coasts. The collection was beautiful, and captured landscapes with various geometric designs.

I would love to bring my fine arts class to the gallery for I think it would be a great opportunity to teach students about art appreciation. In particular, how one may or may not be drawn to a particular style of art and even if we cannot identify with a particular style we can still appreciate the creativity, time, connections and meaning that the artist invested in it.

The gallery also gives students the opportunity to explore their own creativity in the Atrium. An area that provides a hands-on studio program that is inspired by the gallery's exhibitions. This is a nice way for students to practice some of the techniques that they saw or learned in the gallery.

Visual arts

I have always found that visual arts has had a profound positive effect on me, and it wasn't until I read the rationale behind why we teach visual arts to our students that I realized why.

Through the process of visual arts, students become aware of the ideas and emotions expressed in visual images and gain the knowledge, skilled, and attitudes needed to engage in and appreciate the visual arts throughout their lives.

To be able to have this awareness to appreciate and see the various forms of art is something I value and hope to pass on to my students. 

For me I appreciate the images nature have to offer in the world around us such as in this fall photo of the river. This is something I would love to do for an integrated fine arts and literacy lesson, where studies are to capture something from the outdoors either a drawing, painting or photograph and write a story about it.