STORY BOARD.

VIDEO WILL BE HERE SOON SOON SOON.


In the meantime, here is my story board. 

Documentary Continued

Today, I got in contact with my friend Kyra who goes to the Stockton College of NJ and she courteously gave me her ID card so I can access the computer lab at her school. Unfortunately, it isn't open until January 3rd! :( This being said, I am completing my story board tonight and outlining everything I want to say so that I can go there on the 3rd with all my information ready and able to be plugged into a version of iMovie that actually WORKS.  Ugh.  I didn't think this late assignment would end up being SO late, but I'm really excited to for the final product!

One aisle of Best Buy, where I tried to spend my Christmas gift certificate.

Documentary Update

Sadly, I was unable to schedule an interiview with PJ before he left town for Christmas break (I only had Tuesday, and after my class he T.A's, he teaches a basic class and I had a final... simply incompatible  scheduling). I did however, get to tape my roommate Sarah answering a couple of my questions.

Once I got home, I went to Best Buy and took a few still images on my cell phone of empty isles and products they had on display. In addition, I interviewed my mother and father who talk about their relationship with technology and how they use it in their jobs and how it has changed over time.

As I try and compose my documentary in iMovie, I'm running into a few issues. First, I wanted to start my video with a scene from Portlandia but for some reason, it REFUSES to import into my project library which is really frustrating and highly disappointing. Another thing I'm having a lot of trouble with is the sound. I want to add some music into parts of the movie, and change the audio from once video to sync it with images I add and/or another video, but there is no visible audio "line" like there is on the version of iMovie I used at school. I'm really nervous that I won't be able to figure this out before New Years, and I'm asking friends and relative t see if they have a newer version of iLife. I also asked a couple friends about the college campuses in my area to see if they have open Mac labs that I might sneak into. I'm on the verge of getting a copy of Final Cut Pro to use instead...

Documentary step-by-step propsoal.

Before Thanksgiving, I had started working on my second idea, which concerns people and the relationships they have with the many faces of technology. Whether this may be their phones, computers, instruments, or resources, this day and age calls for a copious amount of time spent with technological belongings.

I will first conduct 2 or 3 more interviews: one with Paul John, a printmaking MFA whose work is highly influenced by the technological era we face. Revolving mostly around the iPhone, P.J. has created a plethora of multi-media works. The addition of an explanation of his concept will heighten the strength of my documentary.

I will also conduct a 4^th interview with my roommate, Sarah who uses technology as a means of receiving information. As journalism major, she reads the news and writes articles based on current events. It will be interesting to see how her interest in journalism expands with the help of technology and how she tends to use it in the future.

Next, I plan on re-watching all my interviews and picking out the strongest phrases and answers that I receive. I will split them into categories and outline my documentary by theme.

I will then probably visit an electronics store, perhaps to receive some stranger responses to their purchases for Christmas. If this is not allowed (I plan to ask in advanced) I will simply record some of the objects/observe what I see and create my own responses to them.

Lastly, I will compose my video in iMovie, using the skills I learned in class to promote my message. Technological relationships are prominent in society. It has become hard to live without cell phones, even if only for a day. With each advance, cell phones are becoming more like computers and our resources are expanding by the minute. What is to come of the future? Will technology ever exceed human potential? (And what about conspiracy theories?)

I will explore these and other questions to compose a complete video by the end of the year.

On Gill's study of the usefullness of video games

This reading proved to be quite interesting especially considering my recent dabbling in the programming software, Scratch. The study talks about how visual culture of video games influences the digital media work in a graphic design art classroom in the mid-west. The study took place in a high school classroom with mostly male students who admitted to taking the class because of their interest in video games and 3-d animation. I like the setting of the classroom. The study says the the teacher only acts as a guide or coach, rather than a Maya (the program they use for digital 3-D CG creating) expert. He allows the students to work around their own problems and learn the resource first hand. He would only give lectures/demonstrations when there was a common problem, and the solution would be beneficial to the entire group. This allows for the learning to be brought upon by the students themselves and also leaves room for peer mediation.

Some students (78%) also expressed interest in going into the field of video-game design itself which is something I found to be fascination. The connection between playing video games and learning how they are created was a prime motivation for these students to take this class. The students used the information they learn outside of the classroom to help them plan their animations, which they worked on in cooperative groups. I think facilitating groups to explore a new software is good idea because this way they can learn from one another and be assigned to different aspects of the animation.

I think this is relevant to our class for many reasons. One of these being the current project we are working on has not only to do with animation, but with an entirely new program that all of us know absolutely nothing about. I'm excited to explore Scratch in it's entirety. Hopefully I'll be able to make something really really cool. :D

My Video Remix

In this video, I had hoped to sync some comic relief with a huge issue facing this country today: Hydrofracking. Natural gas, after extracting it and separating the usable gasses from the Marcellus Shale will eventually lead to the creation of radioactive waste that is then plotted in dumps across the state. No matter how much we may rely on gas for transportation and power, I don't feel that the Earth should have to pay the price. The Marcellus is a prehistoric rock that took Mother Nature billions of years to produce. By drilling into the shale, we are interrupting it's leisure and taking it for... well, money. Not only that, but the chemicals leak into our wells and poison many farms and small town homes that are anywhere close by. Yes, this will create jobs, and yes, it will boost the economy, but the price, in my opinion is just not worth it.

Lesson Plan Response #2

                 It took my partner and I a while to think of a great idea for a lesson that only lasted 45 minutes. Nick and I knew that we wanted to base it off our "Representations of Home" presentation that we gave to the class a few weeks prior. After a meeting with our professor, he challenged us to make something 3-dimentional. We focused on the amazing art of Pepon Osorio and Gregory Crewdson and talked about how they represent a feeling of home in their works. After briefly discussing what the feeling of "home" could mean without being in a space of continuous living, we got the feeling that this would be a great idea for a lesson. By talking about what the "home" feeling is to some students, we could translate that same feeling into a different space.

My very first example, we were still working out the kinks with the sizes.

                 What we ended up making was a small 3-d box with a writing exercise that got the students' juices flowing. After briefly recapping the ideas we saw in the powerpoint presentation, I brought up the idea we wanted to use for our boxes. I was hoping for a bit more of a pre-creation discussion about the ideas and objects the students were going to use, but the class seemed pretty quiet and tired during our lesson. After realizing the questions I was asking was not sparking any interest, I looked at Nick and he immediately jumped into the lesson itself. I thought perhaps he could have rephrased the questions or gone about it differently, but what he did allotted the most time for the actual creating of the box. We then asked the students to write down some words, phrases or sentences that reminded them of their certain place. By having them write about the feeling and memories they have of this place, students easily reference their writing to make their 3-d box a bit more meaningful. While doing the lesson, we realized that we had completely forgotten to grab scrap paper for the writing prompt.. and quickly improvised by having the students use the back. It's interesting to note that Meghan pointed out how we should have had scrap paper instead because it was too distracting to have it all written on one piece of paper. As soon as Nick called the students to watch the folding demo, I immediately thought that they could have watched a demo from their desks, but he continued to give the step by step. I also noticed his assumption that everyone in the room knew how to make a “pop-up” but this was a part of my demo time and it made me a bit upset that he tried to completely skip it. When we sent students back to their desks to continue working, I walked around and made sure they were on the right track. For those who looked confused by the assignment, I tried asking questions like... “where do you feel most comfortable, if not at your house?” and “What is your favorite place to go with friends?” Mary told me that she messed up her paper, but she really just wanted to see if we had extras drawn out (which we did!) Marissa acted like a distraught student who did not like being at her house. I used some of the previously stated questions with her to which she answered each one with a shrug. After a while she wasn't giving me anything to work with so I told her, “if it's that hard, take some extra time to think about it, maybe next time you see your friends you will know.”

Rachel D's example! Great job, Rach!

I think the lesson itself went pretty well. We carefully decided who was going to say what, and although the roles were not as clean cut as the lesson we did at our fieldwork, I still think it was equal on paper. With that being said, it was still difficult for me to get a word in. What I wanted or planned to say was often already being explained by my partner which made my role during the lesson a bit uncertain. He sometimes interrupted my thoughts and kept going off in another direction than I had already planed. I know this is not really his fault, but our teaching styles are too different which makes it hard to teach in pairs. I figure when it comes time to student teach, I should be able to really take control of my classroom (or let's hope).

Tim Lefens Visit

I took Art for the Exceptional Child last semester, and it was here that I learned about the great things that Tim Lefens was doing. I know they had a hard time getting him to come but it finally happened and was a really enjoyable lecture to listen to. He was a very personable speaker and brought a great sense of energy to the podium. Some of the stories he told were really funny which made it easy to pay attention and take something useful from it all.

He began by explaining what inspired him to do art. The notion of limitlessness was his main aspiartaion. He quoted DiVinci saying "Body and spirit cohabitate against our wills, the body longs for the Earth, the spirit longs for the sky." I think by starting with this, we really know where his art comes from. He said that artist find real art only after letting go of themselves. I think this is so true, he was right in saying that not all fine art is good art.. only those artist who completely lose themselves in what they are doing, have potential to really impact viewers. He said that real art exceeds among the plateau, where there is a feeling of equality among artists, and strives to  ascend beyond that physical level. The best art speaks to the viewer... it hits home and evokes a strong sense of emotion. I agree with him fully on this idea. I'd like to think that some of my artwork does that for someone.
Lefens' belief that the conceptual aspects of art is not as important as the emotion that it evokes. If art has to be explained, it cannot be as powerful as just looking and knowing. For the making of it all, if it is planned it cant be as strong as losing oneself in the art-making and therefore making that ascend beyond the averages.

After religiously being taught to think of a "Big Idea" within my curriculum, I find Lefens' ideas are constrastive. The lessons we create start with a concept as to allow our students to create something with more meaning. But though students might not particularly grasp this idea, I feel like
 it may not be necessary for them to lose themselves within the making of the work. They want to do what is right, and what we, as teachers are looking for. Following a concept may or may not lead them into the art-making that Tim Lefens deems most note-worthy. In my own art-making, I try hard to think of a conceptual idea often, but sometimes... it just has to look nice. I might end up making something with no higher value to it, but it was the process of making that moved me most and if i like the result product, than it is deemed worthy of my own standards. So much attention is placed on being conceptual, especially at this school... but it is not the only way to produce something with meaning. It is, however a good way to motivate students to make something more meaningful which can result in the artist "losing themselves" in the art-making.


"If someone has to tell you it's art... it's not art."

Lesson Plan Ideas/Reflection

My partner, Nick and I have been trying to conjure an idea based off our "Representations of Home" presentation that we gave to our class a few weeks ago. We focused on the amazing art of Pepon Osorio and Gregory Crewdson and talked about how they represent a feeling of home in their works. Osorio usually uses concepts linked to nationality and feelings of displacement. Whether this be having to live in a culture different from one's own, or having to move out due to a fire... his themes of displacement can be reckoned (as seen below in "Tina's House").

Pepon Osorio's "Tina's House"

On the other hand, Gregory Crewdon's work has a dramatic and cinematic view of everyday American small towns. He photographs images on a huge large-scale set that he plans out very carefully to capture the desired image.

Gregory Crewdon's "Ophelia"

 
After briefly discussing what the feeling of "home" could mean without being in a space of continuous living, we got the feeling that this would be a great idea for a lesson. By talking about what the "home" feeling is to some students, we could translate that same feeling into a different space.
We were originally going to use a mixed media/collage/drawing on a flat sheet of paper... but this idea was pretty lame and after discussing it with our teacher, he challenged us to make it 3-d. What we ended up making was a small 3-d box with a writing exercise that got the students' juices flowing. By having them write about the feeling and memories they have of this place, students can easily reference their writing to compose a meaningful 3-d box. It was really hard to think of something that could be done in 45 minutes, but in the end, the students really had fun with it.

Here is Rachel D.'s example...

I even enjoyed making the teacher examples, which is always a good sign.

I think the lesson itself went pretty well. Though Nick and I planned what each of us was gonna say, I found myself unable to get a word in. After I finished what I was explaining, Nick would take over and just kinda keep talking. I know this isn't really his fault... and it wasn't on purpose... but our teaching styles are just too different which makes it hard to teach in pairs. I figure when it comes time to student teach, I should be able to really take control of my classroom (or let's hope).

Popplet Outline for my Narrative

New Video Project

So, I was originally going to do some sort of mash-up with the Hobbits from LOTR with added dub from gay movies portraying Frodo and Samwise in love. Though quite obviously meant for humor, i don't think this really gives any message. Also, it's been done. I came across this video which i found very inspirational. I can't wait to take part in this on our print club field trip Thursday.

Jones & Fox: PEW Interenet and American Life Project

This article was interesting to read. It compared the different generations in relation to the use of the internet. I think it rings true that the older generations are more prone to using e-mail than their younger predecessors. Not only did it take e-mail into account, but it also compared things like gaming, social networking, broadband use, online shopping and banking, between the different generations. The article was covered in charts and graphs that clearly displayed the percentages of generational internet use. While the younger generations generally dominated in overall usage, email and searching the internet for health information was found more common in older generations. When I read that, I though of how my mother and father like to email me things often, but since I usually only check my school email, I never get their messages. I usually rely on Facebook and text messaging/phone class for contact and information. While both my parents have Facebooks, I know my dad prides himself on have 30 friends and my mom checks hers often. They were behind the times in signing up for the social network and I wonder if they'll continue with whatever social network surfaces as inferior after the reign of Facebook.

We Make Money Not Art

While browsing we-make-money-not-art.com, I found it difficult to chose a piece of work that represtend a "New Media Literacy."  I came across an interactive ball that was trapped in the gallery space and would create charcoal squiggles on the white walls it bounced off of. Though I thought the process was the most interesting part of the exhibit, I realized it did not exactly display any certain NML... After re-reading the article, and checking out www.newmedialiteracies.org, I revisited we-make-money-not-art.com and came across a better example of artwork portraying a NML.

Thinking about Play as a New Media Literacy, I cam upon an awesome art exhibit from Hasselt, Belgium. The Numan / For Use exhibit at the House for Contemporary Art Z33 is an exhibit consisting of multiple layers of flexible nets that are suspended in mid-air. It forms a sort of floating landscape that visitors of the exhibit are encouraged to climb on and explore. The artwork explores ideas of "instability, levitation and regression." It reminds me of a net that hung in a room at my brother's MIT fraternity which was said to once hold over 26 people!!
Read more about the exhibit here!

Show & Tell Website: Artsonia

I wanted to post a link to this website for my show & tell before I forget about it. This is a great resource for art educators. With this website, teachers can create an online "Kids Museum" and upload pictures for every student. My art teacher used it during high school, it was a great way for parents to see what their kids have made over the full year. I remember a friend of mine's parents ordered some items as Christmas gifts with Katie's artwork on it! It's really good source for looking at the projects from previous years as examples in the classroom. I hopefully plan on using it in the future. Thanks, Mrs. Reustle!

Artsonia!

 

 

Accordion Book Alterations

Materials: Watercolors Brushes White Paper Colored papers Colored Pencils cardboard cover Mini secret envelope scissors, glue, pencil & erasers Postmodern Principles: Layering, Text & Image Exploring ideas of : narrative, illustration,  pattern, repetition,

Step 1 : Write one or two sentence about a recent dream. Plan out where each part of the story you tell will occur on your book. This story should incorporate a dream that you remember well. Step 2: Draw a patterned background with the watercolors. Remember that a pattern is anything that repeats itself throughout the image. So simple shapes like lines, circles, triangles or squares can be easily made into a pattern. The pattern must be repeated throughout the book. Incorporating your setting into the patterned background Step 3: While this dries, cut 4 or 5 shapes on your choice of
paper. Draw 20 more of that shape  in many varieties of size and
form. Cut these shapes out of the paper. Arrange these shapes
throughout the image and talk about how it can create movement,
repetition, and the picture. a world that can only exist in this
dream. Repetition and

Step 4:Use colored pencils to add any missing elements.
Step 5: Create your character somewhere in the picture. He/she/
only needs to be draw once, but more than that is encouraged.

Step 6: Glue a small envelope to the back cover of the book and
place the two sentences that inspired this work inside.
Step 7: Finish the piece by completing an about me page that
displays your knowledge of pattern, repetition and movement.

Retouching Self Portrait

 

For this assignment, I wanted to comment on the allurement society has to an individual's eyes. The skewed idea of beauty in today's society is because of the etreme photoshopping and altering of normal faces to be extreme in terms of "beauty."  It makes me question what beauty even means. Everyone has their own ideas of what they believe to be beautiful, so how is it possible have a norm for the term? Something I do know is that eye contact is valuable to attract individuals. I played with this idea in my image, using size and color to emphasize my eyes. It came out a little creepy, but I really like how my gaze turned out.

Before these projects, my understanding of Photoshop was very limited. I have successfully learned and now understand the possibilities of masking images, and the importance of layers in the document. I have also learned a lot about the tools used for certain effects and will continue to explore the possibility in future classes.

Cloud Composite

Our next assignment required us to create a composite image that reflected the ideas and themes we explored with our Tag Clouds. After reading Sweeny's article, I was immediately drawn to the idea of cyborgs. When thinking about cyborgs in network societies, I thought about the raltionship between a real individual and their "cyborg" or network selves. I began my search with CYBORG which went to CONNECTION and then to IDENTITY and finally ended on IMITATION. With my image, I decided to create something that looked like a lost individual. At first I placed a human sitting in the center of a labyrith but then realized that my message could not be portrayed with a human being and instead replaced her with a sad-looking robot. On the edge of the labyrinth is a computer graveyard; he is surrounded by dead technologies forcing him to further contemplate his existence. The labyrinth is masked by a circuit board, symbolizing the scattered information that network societies have on real people. I then added informational words that are often asked about one's identity so that the cyborg can be as close to the real person as possible. Things like marital status, hobbies, favorites, and date of birth among the few. Once I "finished" the project, I looked at my image closer and realized it needed something more. 

I thought about René Magritte's The Treachery of Images and the message of imitation he conveyed. "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" or,"This is not a pipe" captioned the bottom of his painting. Magritte's point was to focus on the idea that is was an image of a pipe, rather than an actual pipe. This message went right along with what my image was trying to say. The robot or cyborg above is not an actual person, but rather and imitation of a real human identity. This is when I changed "pipe" to "personne" and added the caption to the bottom of my image making it complete.

Magazine Cover

It was quite difficult for me to understand this assignment at first. After reading and reviewing the Layers of Interpretation, I decided to focus on intertextuality: or a visual theme seen in many different texts, or forms. For my magazine cover, I decided to go with the topic of heroes and epic adventures. The voyages of heroes make for compelling and exciting stories that are told over and over again for many years. For example, the mythologies of Roman and Greek heroes like Aeneas and Odysseus have been told for many years. Other classic adventure tales like the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians are popular among readers today. But books and tales are not the only way to encounter adventure. Many video games are based on heroes fighting to save princesses, rescue baby dragons, recover family heir-looms, or simply kill the bad-guy! These are entertaining for gamers because the get to play as the hero who ventures to accomplish his/her goal. The last form of adventure I included in my magazine cover was a comic book series: Scott Pilgrim. It tells the story of an average kid who saves his friend from dangerous situations.

By looking at the theme over different areas of entertainment, I explore the idea of intertextual interpretation of media involving epic adventures and the variety heroes who participate in them.

Cloud Visuality

1. Select one Big Idea concerning technology broadly defined: Cyborgs 

2. Brainstorm a list of themes that apply to this big idea 

a) Connections 

b) Identity 

c) Imitations

3. Explore synonyms to these themes.
a) Associations, relationships, bonds
b) self, identifications, personality
c) fraud, impersonations, replica

Response to A Middle School Cirriculum

J Bean's A Middle School Curriculum provided me with great insight in what I should expect when teaching early adolescents. Because I was a part of this demographic about a decade ago, I can still recall the awkwardness that was middle school. All the girls matured way faster than their male counterparts, and ended their growth in height, whilst the boys had yet to fully "sprout." Braces, glasses, and pimples were all a huge part of our everyday concerns, but in actuality it was only because they were focused upon in our peer groups, or scrutinized by our enemies. After a year of being picked on in upper-elementary school, middle school was prime time for me to make new friends. The acceptance into a peer group was something I strived towards. I found a great deal of comfort in my middle school art room and it was there I made and kept a good number of my friends. Our teacher gave us a great deal of freedom after realizing how much we wanted to spend time in the art room. We were the first year she created Art Club! (this was in 2002ish?) The search for my own sense of well-being came easily with such positive artistic experiences. It was here I learned of my love for art.

My 8th grade unofficial class picture - the silly version

I feel like identity search is a fundamental part of this time in one's life. Self- esteem, self concepts, and self-perceptions can greatly influence the way one acts in certain social situations. I feel that this can be a fun way for art educations to en corporate a unit on Identity into their curriculum. Though they may not know what they want to be when they grow up, or where they're headed in life... these ideas can be explored in the art room, to possibly nudge them in the right direction as it did for me.

The article talks about how students are often experiencing many adult-like situations. Whether it be at home, in school, on the streets, or with their friends, these children are learning how to be adults. Not only are middle schoolers going through tough physical growth, but they are growing intellectually and socio-emotionally as well. Slowly, they are learning how to be (small) members of their communities. They are working hard to get through this awkward time in their lives, which I'm sure causes many teachers to think of them as just "kids." Kids, perhaps, but kids who are dealing with the same issues as adults.

By addressing the social and personal concerns of early adolescents, teachers can incorporate adequate themes into their curriculum that will enable self discovery and growth in their classrooms

This is a link to a clip from a Nickelodeon show called "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" regarding bullies. There was no embed code, nor a clip on youtube but the whole show is a great example of the issues kids undergo during their middle school years.

Sweeny's Big Idea

In Sweeny's article, he explores the concept of the "Big Idea" through the use of technology and Social Networks in modern Art Education practices. To examine the nature of the social networking world, Sweeny borrows some ideas from William Gibson  to explain the complex network of the digital age. To better understand the implication of artistic creation in the network society, a few metaphors are drawn: the cyborg, the clone, and the parasite.

The "Big Idea" of the metaphoric cyborg could create a huge interest in the classroom. Consider the fact that these ideas were merely ideas not but a few decades ago, and now cyborgs play a huge role in network societies. What exactly is a cyborg? It can be defined as a theoretical person who's mechanical parts of the body extend that of the average human abilities or... the you on the web! According to Sweeny, cyborgs have "changed notions of identity and visuality" which gives art educators the opportunity to use these as a means of further exploration of the issues and roles of cyborgs in networking societies such as Facebook, Twitter, or even AIM (a program I often used growing up in the digital age). These websites create cyborgs that represent the real you-- all quite personal. Because of the information you give to the network societies, the ability to create a realistic digital version of yourself that properly interacts with other cyborgs becomes a reality. You check these networks sites regularly, hoping to have been invited to an event created by your cyborg-ex-boyfriend. It's a little unnerving if you think about it in such terms. Students can reflect upon their cyborg statuses (which I'm sure will evolve from now) to create and explore notions of their self within the network society.

The following music video is a favorite of mine from 2009 which I thought of when responding to this article... Marina and the Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot

Surrealist Collage

Surrealism allows for students to think outside of society's social "norms" and create images that can represent a dream-like world in connection to every-day life. By using magazines or books or other found pictures, students collect images that may or may not share a connection. While choosing these images, students can cut them out, and play with their locations on the paper in front of them. A conversation about collage artists who create dream-like, illusionist, and bizarre new pictures from already-existing images will ensue in the classroom.
Using Dada collage artist, Hannah Hoch as a prime example in the classroom, I would introduce my students to the idea of a collage-based surrealist game. We could talk about why these images seem dream like, and where the originals may have come from. For example, Hannah Hoch's piece above is a collision of eyes.  What is she trying to say about these eyes? Why did she arrange them in that certain way? What do the colors/patterns behind the eyes tell you about her over-all choice to arrange them in such a way? This sort of discussion will get the students to think about how they can incorporate their own drawings into an image.
When working with each other, students could explore the many ways in which their drawings can be incorporated into their collages. I came up with my own Surrealist game to go with this lesson, considering the article did not suggest a game on this topis. I would have my students split into groups of 3-5 and work on a collaborative "Pass the Paper" drawing. The first student would take 15 seconds to draw whatever he/she wanted and then pass it to the next student who, after looking at the previous drawing, would continue in their own way. The circle continues and the drawing evolves. This teaches the students to draw from a previous image and alter it with their individual creativity.

Example:

Response to Walker's Big Ideas and Artmaking

The concept of the "Big Idea" that Sydney Walker introduces in Teaching Meaning in Artmaking allots for making art that has a significance. The "Big Idea" is just that, an overall theme that is explored with the media at hand. These ideas usually revolve around issues in today's societies that students can easily connect with a draw inspiration for artwork. Big Ideas allow for students to focus on the meaning of the artwork, rather than be solely centered around technical skills. In the art room, it is important for students to feel a connection to their artwork, and Art Educators who use "Big Ideas" in their lessons can influence this sort of meaningful art production.

Not all artwork must incorporate an overall theme or Big Idea. Though, this may make the artwork more powerful, and keep the attention of viewers... it is not the only thing that can influence strong work. I know that many artists create work spawned from their own emotions and often are a result of spontaneity. This type of artwork has an underlining theme that can sometimes only be explained by the artists themselves, and does not emit a "Big Idea" that all views can relate to and/or understand.

Big Ideas are a superb way for art educators to create meaning to their students' inspirations, and consequentially, their artwork. Thematic undertones allow students to think about their artwork in a more conceptual way, a put a lesser emphasis on the technical skill, which is equally as important, but often the only thing taught in the classroom.

Today I started my classes here at SUNY New Paltz for what may be my last semester. This blog has been created for a new class called Technology in the Artroom. Here is a monotype from last semester while I'm at it:

Which was highly influenced by this song:






I'm excited for this class and all the things Arron Knochel will teach me. (The new guy in the department, who seems like a knowledgeable individual... and kinda reminds me of my brother. But this is only because the class is technology based. And Dan is a super-nerd.)