7/5 Updated Learning Objectives

My Original Learning Objectives:

- To have a more concrete understanding of new medias beyond video and sound art.
- To feel more comfortable incorporating a new media into my own practice.
- To become a more educated and conscious consumer of new technologies through research and self-reflection

My Updated Learning Objectives:

- To understand how to selectively curate the inclusion of new medias in an Elementary Art classroom in a way that enhances learning and growth in art making.
- To learn how to apply elements of a maker space to my art classroom in the future.
- To become a joyous consumer and creator of new medias and to decrease passive consumption of social medias

7/3 Sample Lesson in Stop Motion

Stop Motion Animation Exploration - 5th grade

Materials:

- iPads
- iStop Motion apps downloaded onto iPad

- Stands for iPads

- Paper for bases for action

- Paper pieces

Rug Chat: Using stop motion animation, we can make it look like objects can move on their own across a surface. T does very brief demo of how to use iStopMotion using a sample found material. T should take no more than 3 photographs and play back. Just to quickly introduce children to the app. T should explain "ghost image" and moving object as well as leaving the iPad still.

Motivation: How might you make papers look like they are moving across the surface?

Making: Children will work in pairs. Can take turns moving papers and snapping photos. T provides guidance through questioning as needed.

Critique:

T will airplay outcomes from groups on smartboard.
T will ask, "What do you notice?"
Children will guide this discussion with teacher prompting.
Hopeful to discuss motion, image capturing, use of materials, consistency

The next session, would be interested in a more personal motivation once they've gotten the basics down. Something like, "How might you show how you get to school?" or "What do you like to do with someone else outside?" using cut paper. Of course, this unit would need to follow collage in order to take advantage of proficiency gained in collage work.

7/2 Stop Motion Process

I thought about using drawing to create a stop motion animation. I moved a lot as a child and so moved my art making from place to place. A physical representation of this was through putting up and taking down of my childhood artwork between each move. First, I sketched how I would lay out the individual frames and then drew each one. For the one with the artwork, I added each artwork on the wall after photographing the frame to build the whole wall of artwork. I was upset to find that I could not adjust the dimensions and lighting in iStopMotion and so was unable to remove the table beyond my paper and to make for better lighting conditions. In the future, I might create the entire stop motion on my computer in order to avoid these challenges.

7/1 Stop Motion Animation

7/4 Reflection on Reading

Peppler

I am very interested in the ideas set forth by Peppler (2013) as she is primarily concerned with providing children an avenue to learn in new media. Specifically, she is interested in pushing forward their learning and preventing them from being impeded by new medias. By this, I mean, using platforms that allow for productive experimentation and in which children don't have to contend with too many guidelines that may close off their learning. She mentions that new medias shouldn't only be explored by the highest achieving students, but instead by children of all levels of achievement in traditional subjects. Some child-friendly programs that fit this model, Peppler believes are Scratch, Alice, and Lego Mindstorms. She is also concerned not only with children's ability to learn a program, but to also be moved towards creative expression within the media. I am interested in the potential for a new creative mode of production for children that allows for sincere explorational learning in new medias. I feel connected to this concern of Peppler's theory of education in new media.

Martinez & Stager

Martinez & Stager explain how the development of technology and new medias inevitably leads to higher expectations for children in the arts. This comes as a result of increased access to materials for creation and increased connection to more art and artists. However, these materials don't have to be "high tech" they can be low-fi and low-budget. For example, cardboard construction as in Caine's Arcade uses cardboard as a material for making. Martinez & Stager focus on the importance of making something highly personal while taking advantage of new medias, rather than just the use of flashy new materials for flashiness' sake.

I'm curious about the difference between a maker space and art class and where the dividing line exists. For the authors, it seems these two are separate, but equally important.

7/3 Impact 25

Our Impact 25 project taught me, above all, that care needs to be taken with the installation of public art, especially that which invites participation from the viewer. The lack of control over outcomes and the actions of viewers brings up important discussions about censorship. Should artwork be censored if it is undesirable, immoral, offensive, or violent? Where is the subtle line and how do you define it in order to enact censorship effectively? Can censorship be effective? These are important questions to consider when setting out on the creation of a piece of public art. It is essential to generate potential solutions in order to address undesirable responses to a piece of public art in order to proceed and seek out positive outcomes.

7/2 Reflection on Sound

When I reflected upon sound, I thought about when and how I chose to experience sound on a daily basis. For example, I will put on different types of music at different times of day to suit my mood or what I would like to accomplish. I may put on calm music when I am trying to work or I may choose music that is more upbeat if I'm looking to gain energy. A different kind of music than a particular mood calls for can be discordant and unsettling. At times small noises like the hum of the fridge are hardly noticeable and under different circumstances these sounds can be maddening. Our perceptions of sounds are highly susceptible to the slightest shifts in our moods and states of being.

In terms of sound in art, I thought about how in exhibition spaces there is an expectation of silence. Disruptive sounds are frowned against when viewing art, however sound is so integral to various modes of making. Video, performance, and of course, sound art are highly reliant on sound in order to meet creative ends. It's an interesting dichotomy between the expectation of silence in a gallery space and the inclusion of sound in the art being observed.

7/1 Sound Art Creative Assignment

Sound Art + Audacity Digital Steward Presentation

6/2 Creative Potential of Video Art

I am very interested in video art and how it can be used to not only communicate through stimulating visuals, but also to relay a very direct narrative. On the other hand, I'm also intrigued by how video can challenge the very notion of a narrative strain. The possibilities with video feel endless, and therefore a bit daunting, but I think careful exploration of and creation within the medium can yield truly fantastic results. I, personally, wonder how to toe the delicate line between video art and film and am interested in doing more research about where the difference lies.

Recently, I visited the Mika Rottenberg show at the New Museum and was quite taken with her ability to use video to communicate beautifully and directly about complex social and environmental issues.  Specifically, NoKnowsNose was particularly impactful (here is a short clip). This medium is unique in that it can engage the viewer in many senses, pushing past the limitations of more static mediums. As mentioned before, though, there are seemingly endless possibilities, which I am sure is a challenge in and of itself for video artists.

This brings me to how to incorporate video art into the classroom. Again, with seemingly endless possibilities, I would like to set up a condition for children to interact with video art in a way separate from what can be achieved through painting, photography, and film. Therein lies the challenge, how to explore within a medium that is so clearly defined but also borrows from others? With Upper Elementary children, iMovie makes video art accessible and easy to bring into the classroom. However, the challenge becomes what motivational question could be posed to children in order to explore this medium. Perhaps something like, "How might you create a video that tells us about yourself without talking?" or "How might you create a video of a past artwork?". I am still working through the possibilities here, but am intrigued at the prospect of using this medium with children.

6/1 Video Reinterpretation

 From 66 Scenes From America,1982, Jørgen Leth





Spaghetti and Meatballs, 2019, Liz Burans

5/3 Reading Takeaways

Peppler details a variety of instances indicating the rise of digital painting and drawing. An example was specifically given of a New Yorker cover that was drawn using the brushstroke app on an iPad. This made me think as well about a show I saw of Hockney's at Pace Gallery in 2016. It was comprised entirely of work made on an iPad and blown up to, at times, a huge scale. This rise in the endorsement of digital painting by both established publications and blue chip galleries seems to lend a legitimacy to a medium that I consider to be somewhat ephemeral and casual. However, I have to wonder about the regard cultural institutions would have for artists who have solely worked in digital painting, without a prior established practice, would they be as willing to show that work? I'm curious about whether tides are changing in this regard or if years of prior established practice in more traditional disciplines is necessary for recognition at a large scale. It seems that maybe attitudes are shifting such that it is not as much of a necessity.

In relation to digital painting, I am intrigued by the argument that it affords a degree of accessibility to painting and drawing. However, I would like to point out some flaws in this thinking. The author expresses that digital painting allows for artists to paint without the need to purchase expensive materials like paint, brushes, and paper. That being said, an iPad is a decently expensive material and I would like to suggest that digital painting doesn't really impact access financially, but it does allow for multitudes to access works of art that are made and almost instantaneously shared digitally. This allows for a much more quick and fluid spread of artistic ideas.

In addition, I wonder about the replacement of analog painting with digital painting as time progresses. Digital painting may be a great tool for its ease and accessibility. However, can it be a complete replacement? Would you be able to hand someone a brush and a palette of paint who has only painted digitally and would they be able to execute at the same level as they did digitally? I would argue not as working with a stylus or the tip of a finger on a screen and without the viscosity of paint, moved by a brush onto a surface is a world apart. But, why must we maintain historical traditions of painting, does this matter? I feel it does, but maybe society at large does not feel the same way.

5/2 Scanography Takeaways

I really enjoyed the scanography process as well as the outcome. I feel that this way of making would lend itself well to children’s art making. The process is reasonably simple, technically speaking, and many outcomes could be achieved by way of small adjustments of the objects arranged on the glass surface of the scanner. I would love to see children not only explore this media, perhaps by providing them a few objects they could place and move on the scanner surface first. Then, once children feel confident in the process, it could be engaging for them to capture items of personal significance to them that they bring in from home. I can envision some really exciting outcomes from the use of scanography with children.

5/1 - Scanography eBook

4/3 Digital Photography & Children

The first aspect of digital photography that lends itself to working with children is that it doesn't require the extensive and toxic chemicals required by traditional photography. Digital photography is immediate and doesn't require any technical skill in order to take a picture. Of course, technical skill becomes valuable and will develop over time, however at the onset, there is very little a child has to learn in order to partake in expression through this media successfully.

Even for beginners there are many variables in digital photography that can be used to achieve a desired effect with little effort. For example, exposure, ISO, and color can be adjusted in order to achieve a wide range of image styles and would be fairly simple to do with children. There are many opportunities for children to explore these aspects of digital photography in their daily lives and I think it would be a thrill for them to experience the immediacy and impact of this medium. Smartphones have made digital photography much more accessible, as well, as most phones have pretty good cameras and some even have some photo editing capabilities.

4/2

Maggie and I will post the following posted around TC this week in order to engage the TC community in social media, posting their alterations to the image on the poster. Not only will this lead to varied creative outcomes, but it will also reach a wide range of members of the TC community.

4/1

I would like to either make a painting with or make a drawing in procreate of the picture I took during class. This painting/picture could be either an exact rendering of the photo or a fantastical take on it. I think I would prefer to create this image digitally in order to explore procreate more and gain more proficiency in a new media. The feedback I received was to explore a more realistic approach as I had already done an imaginary drawing. Here is the result: