Arts Explorer #10: Community Arts Project

Art word of the week: “Mass or Volume”- “Mass and volume are appropriate criteria for critiquing three-dimensional art, which has height, length and width” (Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar, p.142).

This was our "take away" item for our class mates. These are all cards we made, one for each student, in order to remind them to "Use you ECE voice and make an educated choice"

For our community arts project, Samantha, Diana, Michelle and I decided to focus on educating Early Childhood Educators on the party platforms for the upcoming election and go out and vote. By getting more Early Childhood Educators to go out and vote we are letting the government know that we do care what happens and will hold them responsible for promises made. We are hoping that this will result in more importance being placed on issues related to educators, families, and children. In addition to getting Early Childhood Educators to vote, we also want to promote voting among students because the student vote is an untargeted but very important demographic.

Our inspiration for this community art project was from Rick Mercer’s report from his show The Rick Mercer Report on March 29^th, 2011. The Rick Mercer Report airs on Tuesday nights at 8:00 p.m. on CBC.

We chose to send our message across and communicate using Rick Mercer’s video and a facebook page we created.

After we presented our big idea to our creative arts class on the morning of Tuesday April 12^th, I personally thought our presentation went well. The class and our teacher enjoyed our video that we showed and we had a great time presenting our idea. At the end of our presentation, we asked if anyone had any questions or comments, but no one did. One thing that we could’ve done differently was to incorporate a poster or Bristol board that we created as a group to emphasize our idea even more. This would’ve been a good idea because we could’ve actually displayed it in the ECE student lounge so other students can realize how important it is to vote.

Our big idea relates to the field of early childhood education because child care and issues related to Early Childhood Education are not always the focus of candidates in elections. The education and care of children today will have a direct impact on the prosperity of our economy in the future. Investing in this issues now will pay-off in the future by ensuring that Canada has an educated work force that remains a global competitor.

DON'T FORGET THE DATE!!!!

Here is the web link to vote online...use your ECE voice and make the right choice..please vote!

Elections Canada

http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=yth/bas/faq&document=index&lang=e

Arts Explorer #9: GUERILLA ART

Art word of the week: “Space”- “the total area defined by the size of the artist’s paper or canvas” (Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar, p.143).

            For my guerrilla art, I decided to make posters and use post-it notes to send out the message of voting and how important voting is. I wrote things such as “exercise your right and vote”,“ make changes and vote” and “May 2^nd voting day”. I chose to express the importance of voting because of the upcoming election and because this was the topic my group and I chose to do our community arts project on. As you can see from the pictures above, I posted these posters and post-it notes on a mailbox and on a bench. I was only able to capture a picture of one person walking by the bench and looking at the notes on the bench. I had a lot of fun and excitement doing this art explorer because I had the opportunity to create interesting messages and posters and then post them on things in my community. I was also interested in people’s reaction but unfortunately, I was only able to capture one person looking at my guerrilla art, but I wish I could’ve captured her facial expression and more people looking at it.

            This relates to the field of early childhood education because as educators, we need to realize the importance of voting. If early childhood educators want to see changes in the field they need to get their voices out and vote. Also, parents need to vote in order to get better support from the government regarding education and child care.

Lastly, If you want your voice to be heard.......VOTE ON MAY 2^ND, 2011.....here is the link to vote online at Elections Canada

http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=yth/bas/faq&document=index&lang=e

Arts Explorer #8: Pretend Play & Magical Thinking

Art word of the week: “Texture”- “the surface quality quality of a work of art; how it feels” (Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar, p.368).

                                                  This is Hewie....
                                        

 

<>Hewie is my best friend. His full name is Hewlett Packard, and he is a from HP Envy Beats' Series 14. I love my best friend Hewie, he knows just about everything, and he's always  there when I need him. I met Hewie over the 2011 reading week, and we've been inseparable ever since. Sometimes he falls asleep on me, but that's the beauty of our friendship, because we understand each other and we don't let the little things bring us down. I'm very careful with Hewie, sugary foods and drinks really aren't good for him, and I try to keep all types of drinks and liquids as far away from him as possible. Hewie is the type of guy that is dependable, simple, and irreplaceable. We've already been through so much together that I really couldn't imagine my days without him. We share so much--from thoughts and feelings to music and literaure; Hewie knows everything about me. This realates to the field of early childhood education because children tend to tap into their imagination very often as they engage in pretend play. Children also have a tendency to bring inanimate object to real life, such as their favourite blanket or teddy bear, as they refer to them by a chosen name and give them a personality

Arts Explorer #7 Grocery Shopping with a Twist!

Art word of the week: “Shape”- “refers to the outside form of a two-dimensional object that has length and width” (Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar, p.368).

                                                                                                                        

(1)   The category of food that I chose to focus on is.....FRUIT

(2)   Here is a list of all the different kinds of fruit I can think ok:

-apples             -bananas          -peaches          -papaya

-grapes             -avocados        -nectarines       -grapefruits

-cherries           -guava             -plums

-raspberries      -dragon fruit    -cantaloupe melon

-blueberries      -star fruit         -honey dew melon

-mangos           -figs                 -watermelon

      (3) Here are my sketches of my three chosen fruit:

                                                                     My Apple :)
                                                   

My Banana :)

My Grapes :)

What inspired me to choose the category of fruit is my part-time job. I work at a grocery store as a cashier, and most of the items I cash during a grocery order are fruit. Since I have been working at my part-time job, I have learned the names of many new fruit that I had no knowledge of before. For example, I learn about dragon fruit from working at my job. My art word of the week relate to fruit because all fruit have different shapes. Apples are round, bananas are long and think and star fruits are actually in the shape of a star.

The topic of fruit can relate to the field of early childhood education because as educator we need to promote healthy living/eating to children. The Days Nursery Act also states that early childhood programs need to provide children with a recommended amount of fruit in their daily food servings. Educator can teach children about the different shapes, colours and names of fruit and tell children how important it is to eat a fruit on a daily basis.

Arts Explorer #5: Watch an ‘art film’ and chat about it

                                           Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Art word of the week: "Shade"- "Adding black to any colour darkens its value and results in a shade" (Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar, p.137).

     Our group chose to watch the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" in order to engage in our group discussion. Here is our group discussion:

Diana: What caught my attention in the movie was the fact that they were erasing people's memories. Even if something bad happened, don't you want to remember it and learn from it? Even though they end up with a "Spotless Mind", it doesn't seem like the most pleasant thing to go through. Nothing can be perfect, and stuff happens so you just have to go with it. Mary had her mind erased and she just went down the same path with Howard not knowing that it all happened before. To me that's just inconvenient (and embarrassing).

michelle: I agree with Diana. I don't think I could go through erasing my memories (even the bad ones), because I think that they are part of who you are. Also, I don't think you can escape fate, which would make erasing your memory pointless because the same things would end up happening (a point in case with Mary). I also cannot imagine what the world would be like if you were actually able to erase your memory. I think it would be interesting to see who would do it and for what reasons. Just like to point out there's a new movie coming out that reminds me of this....the adjustment bureau and for some reason inception.

sam: Ha ha, yeah. The whole thing ends up with them realizing what they had in the beginning. Any relationship, no matter how crappy it may have/did/could (I don't know how to phrase this, ha) become, had to have some good points or it wouldn't have manifested into a relationship at all. Those memories are certainly worth having, in my opinion. I love memories and nostalgia.

This movie won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. I love when little indie-ish (I hate using the word indie) movies win Academy Awards. The Oscars is by no way a means of judging whether a film is good or not since it's run by old people, but when a film like this wins, it's cool. Especially when it's screenplay awards. It demonstrates that many people appreciate the film for its uniqueness. To me, the story is most important in a film. Visual effects? No thanks. The story is the foundation, and then you build on top of that. Big time blockbusters are so cheesy these days, and I feel half of the movies nominated for awards were produced solely to win awards. Which is why The Social Network won't win anything at the Oscars this year and it'll be The Kings Speech and stuff like that. Sorry, I am getting personal now (NOT DIMINISHING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STORY BEHIND THE KING'S SPEECH, because I like it).

POINT IS, the team behind it makes this story interesting. Charlie Kaufman was a writer for the story and adapted it into a screenplay, and he did Being John Malkovich which is AWESOME (among other good films). Michel Gondry was a writer, and does awesome stuff on his own, especially music videos. I see a lot of his influence in the visual style of the film. There is a third writer dude, but I don't know much about him. I am pretty passionate about film, writing and directing. Not only did they write an interesting story, they made it visually appealing as well. Anyway, I love the idea of them working together, it's like a collaboration piece. Writing is art, film is art. Yay art.
A world where we could erase our memory would be...

horrible
pointless
unemotional
vapid
boring
heartless.

I like feeling feelings, which goes hand in hand with thinking thoughts and remembering memories.

diana: I can't really touch upon the awards and people behind the making of the film because I don't know anything about anything when it comes to that. But EXACTLY. You can't run away from what is going to happen, change what has, or make yourself permanently forget it all. The words you have for a world where people could erase their memories are PERFECT!! If someone passes away and you can't take the pain anymore, or if you break up with someone and you just want to forget it, you're not only erasing all the bad, but you're erasing all the good. All the wonderful memories and emotions would be gone. It would be such a waste of your life to have memories and then erase them. You look back on it, you laugh about it, cry about it or regret it, whatever. It makes you who you are.

michelle: I think that although you can't (and I wouldn't want to) erase memories, I'm sure there are definitely some people who would disagree (there always are). I think that doing this would make the world as sam described it, and these people would rethink their stance on the issue. I think though this is one of these issues where if people did want to erase their memories, the only way of making them see the effects of their actions would be for it to actually happen, because we will truly never know..

natalie: Well, since all the good comments have been made, I will try to reiterate my similar thoughts. Erasing your memory no matter how painful some are, is a terrible thing. Those memories are a part of who you are! They make/break/ define parts of your life that shape who you become and how you got to that. The movie in itself shows a fair representation of a world where that is possible but I don't agree with the concept whatsoever. It's a disturbing idea. But I actually did enjoy the movie... AND just for you Gustav, Kirsten Dunst was excellent comic relief! :P   

Karishma: Well to start off... I see this movie as a realization that you never really know what you have until you begin to lose it and it’s gone. As much as I did enjoy this movie, I also found it to be terribly cliché. It begins with the message that you can’t fight fate; it is something beyond our control, and even in a world where we can erase memories and alter our minds in ways we feel might benefit us, destiny will only cause these events to re-occur all over again. Which brings me to my next point, and the second cliché; everything happens for a reason. Every conversation, thought, action, etc. in our life is for a reason, it is the result of one thing, and the cause of another. Every moment is connected and for us to simply erase one or more of these occurrences, it kind of breaks the chain. So in the movie it kind of makes sense that fate would intervene and make Joel and Clementine meet again. Then comes the third and final moral of the movie; if we don’t learn from our mistakes, we’ll only repeat them. Or as many would say, those who don’t know their history are bound to repeat it. In the movie, Joel and Clementine hesitate before deciding to re-attempt their relationship, we don’t know if they are meant for each other or if they really will end up the same way as the first time around. However, the point is even if it is a mistake, it’s one that they were supposed to make. By forgetting the relationship, they forget the experience and everything that came with it, including knowledge, emotion, and development. Personally, I feel like it is our mistakes that make us who we are. Our memories are what help us advance and grow as individuals; we use them as precedent in our everyday life. That might be why I’m completely against the idea of memory erasure. I kind of see it as a form of regret; which it actually is...and I think that’s the worst thing for someone to have. Either you do something and you live and learn from the outcome, or you refrain from doing it at all in the first place...but otherwise, what Clementine did—erasing Joel from her memory, I think it was just plain stupid and cowardly. He did it, too, but not as a form of regret, but kind of a rebuttal. He was hurt and this was his response. Nevertheless, in one sentence, I disagree with the concept of “lacuna implementation.”

To watch the trailer of this movie or to read the reviews..please visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/

Art Explorer #4: Looking for Patterns in Urban Settings and Nature

                                                  Christopher Columbus's Lighthouse                                             
        

                                   Map of Dominican Republic where the Lighthouse is Located

Art word of the week: Line: “visible mark made by an artistic tool”  (Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar, p.366).

      This picture of Christopher Columbus’s Light House was taken in the year 2008 on my vacation to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. On the second day of my trip, my family and I took a trip out to the capital city of Dominican Republic to learn more about the country’s history. On the tour, we drove by this building and I took a quick snap of it. The building is very symmetrical and it is defined very much by lines. The pattern that I see in this picture consists of a rectangle and a thin line. If you look closely at the top of the picture you will notice a rectangle and after the rectangle, moving downwards, there is a thin line followed by another rectangle. Not only does this building consist of a very interesting patter, it was also made up of shape such as rectangles and squares.

      I chose to do my art explorer on this picture because it brings back great memories for my about this trip. This was the last vacation that my family and I went on all together, the five of us. After this trip, my father open a business and now our family has to split up when going on vacations because someone always need to be at the store. This vacation consisted of many memories and excitement and it will remain to be a vacation I will never forget!

       As a child, I enjoyed drawing butterflies and colouring them using patterns. Butterflies are my favourite insects and I really enjoy colouring, but I was also interested in how many different patterns I could come up with and create.

       This blog/art explorer relates to the field of early childhood education because children are taught by educators how to spot patterns and how to create them. For example, in one of my field placements, the preschool that I was placed in focused a lot on patterns and colours. The ECE would sometimes play a game with the children where they had to spot a pattern in the classroom and then explain the pattern to their classmates.

 For more information about Dominican Republic and Christopher Columbus's Lighthouse..please vistit  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Domingo

Art Explorer #3- Fine Art Critique

                                   "Three Nayar Girls of Travancore", by Ramaswami Naidu

Art word of the week- Colour: "the visual sensation of light caused by stimulating the cones of the retina" (Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar, p. 364).

             The piece of art that I selected from my trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario is an oil painting on canvas. This artwork originated from Kerala (South-Western part of India) in 1872 and it was painted by Ramaswami Naidu. This painting is fairly large; it is approximately 82.55 centimeter tall and 96.52 centimeter wide. This painting was also framed by a square antique looking frame. At the Art Gallery of Ontario, this painting was part of the Maharaja exhibition.

When I look at this art work I see three girls who look like sisters because they share similar facial features. These three girls also look very young in age. The first girl on the left looks around the age of seven, the girl in the middle looks around age twelve and the girl on the far left look around age ten. I also notice that these girls are wearing a sari, which is traditional piece of clothing that s worn by most East Indian women. This painting also shows some signs of wealth and royalty because the girls are all wearing various pieces of gold jewellery including large earrings, gold necklaces, nose rings, bracelets and rings. The girls also look like they are busy working at making something together and the one girl in the middle seems to be the leader of the group because she is “working” while the other two girls are looking onto to what she is doing. Lastly, when looking at the oil painting, I also notice that two girls in the painting (the girl in the middle and the girl on the right end) are sitting very close to each other and one girl has her hand around the other girls neck, whereas the third girl (on the far left) is sitting fairly distant from the other two girls.

I believe that the artist of this painting, Ramaswami Naidu, is trying to notify his viewers about the wealth of the kingdom of Travancore.  I believe this because of how well kept these three girls look and by the amount of jewellery they are shown wearing. Also, since the kingdom of Travancore is ruled by the Travancore Royal Family, these three girls could be the daughters, granddaughters or someone very significant to the King, Queen and Travancore family. The artist may also be trying to point that the life of “royal” family members may not be what everyone might perceive it to be because although they may have a lot a wealth and money, happiness may be a struggle. I say this because although the girls look very wealthy, their body language and facial expression do not look happy.

“Three Nayar Girls of Travancore” makes me feel a little imaginative and grateful. I feel imaginative when I look at this painting because I think of all the things I would do with the amount of wealth these three girls are shown to have. I also imagine what it would feel like to be a part of a royal family and having everything “handed” to you. I imagine it would be extraordinary to have all the money, luxury, and power the one person could want. On the other hand, I also feel sad for these girls because they do not look happy living their “royal life” and this makes me feel grateful to be living my life. Although I am not wealthy and part of a royal family, I do have a sense of happiness in my life. Overall, I like this oil painting because the artist put great detail in the clothing and jewellery of the three girls, which emphasizes the East Indian culture. 

   In this painting, I believe that the artist put emphasis on the stick that the girl in the middle is holding and on the jewellery that all the girls are wearing. I believe these two things are the emphasis of the painting because two out of three girls in painting are looking at the stick, and their bodies are structured in a way that they are facing the stick. Also, I believe that jewellery is another emphasis in this painting because there are lots of different jewellery pieces evident in the painting and also, all three girls are sitting and structured in such way that the jewellery on their necks, arms, nose, hair, fingers and ears are noticeable. There is also a great deal of detail on these pieces of jewellery; for example, the artist makes the different colours on the necklaces, hair pieces and earrings very evident to the viewer.

The art word of the week, colour, and the culture that this painting is symbolizing related to the field of early childhood education because children are consistently learning the different names for colours, how to mix colours, and the different colouring tools they have in the classroom, for example, markers, crayons, paint, pastels, and pencil crayons. Also, in most early years programs, children are exposed to different cultures by the educators bringing in symbolic instruments from a particular culture or cultural music.

This image was taken from the Art Gallery of Ontario. For more information, I have provided the link below to the Gallery's offical website.
http://www.ago.net/