Elementary I : Day 4

Hey all! So sorry for the delay in postings.. today I will post two to make up for that :)

First of all... Marquette is getting really OLD with all the snow and winter weather. I was supposed to go to the high school on Monday but got snowed out (in?) and classes were cancelled. Wednesday everything was back to normal - and covered in white powdery nonsense. I had a critique in my ceramics course and it went fairly well. My work is coming along slowly but surely... I have to glaze like a madwoman this week. I have been experimenting with overglaze treatments and color combinations. 

So. Many. Ceramic. Things.

 In my original tiles I used mainly tinted primary colors and black background glaze. I "had" to utilize a similar color scheme in my tile boxes but.. frankly I think they look like McDonalds play place jungle gym things. Sooo I went back to a previous glaze treatment, threw in some test tiles, and hoped for the best. I will have the results of that firing, along with my large clay vessels, to finish this weekend.

In addition to ceramics I have a final animation to work on which is.. I guess, chugging along all right. We have to utilize photography and/or film as well as 3D modeling. "Create an animation utlizing Cinema4D that composites 3D models and animation over photographic or video imagery. The primary technical goal of the project is a realistic composite between the 3D and background - appropriate lighting, shadows, color, and perspective. The primary visual and conceptual goals are to entertain and amuse." So.. my idea is to create the illusion of fish and whales coming out of the faucet in my kitchen and interacting with each other.
Later on Wednesday I went back to the high school to try and finish up the lesson with the students -- Success! The goal for the day was to put all the components of the lesson together onto a background and write statements. I had 4 students come in to work and everyone was on-task. One of the most outspoken and active students was pretty quiet but came in talking about some internet videos and sat right down at the computer.. I wasn't sure what he was doing but I soon realized that he was looking up reference images for a drawing he had started the week before! He spent the entire time drawing and listening to youtube videos. He kept track of all the directions I gave him and finished his project before class ended. I had to compromise with him to finish his work, "If you cut out and glue down your drawings you can be done for the day." That was the motivation he needed because he finished his work and also helped to clean up.

Scissors, pumpkins, PRIDE ROCK

 This student fought me EVERY DAY about his project. "I don't know what to draw. I don't remember that time.." well, he churned out some pretty excellent Mario drawings. He was a big perfectionist and glued and reglued a lot of his project - and then it was very important that he cut down the size of the image to make it more cohesive. His words, not mine! He did a great job and as he worked little memories and anecdotes came up from the parts of his childhood that he thought he had forgotten. He did not write a statement.

mushrooms and coins and piranha plants - he did a good job!

 This one probably shouldn't count because it belongs to the teachers' aid but he did an awesome job embracing the assignment. He told the kids lots of stories and helped me motivate them to work and draw. His stories made them less anxious about sharing theirs - and he commended me on my work with the kids. I shared a lot of stories with them as well - and we all had some laughs :)

 This student came in on the second day and drew a LOT of images. Unfortunately, he lost his first page of drawings and had to make up for that by drawing more. He was really receptive to the lesson and even said he liked the idea of looking back on that time. He shared stories and kept on-task pretty much the whole time. He was a model student and thanked me for organizing the projects. He even wrote a statement!

This student had written a lot of negative things on his response sheet before beginning to work... his drawing skills are awesome, though! He had pretty much ditched out on art day the first two days and when he came back on day 4 he was ready to work. He really liked working with the white charcoal pencils and was upset that his piece looked 'unfinished'. Unfortunately I had to explain to him that it was the last day for the projects but he said it was okay if I displayed his work. He did not write a statement.

A few of the students who were coming in to work were sick that day but I am going to display their drawings with the response sheets they filled out. I will block out names as per the request of the students - some of them were really sensitive to the things they wrote on their sheets. It took a lot of bravery to share with classmates, and with me, a stranger. 

 Reflection: If I was to do this project again I would create fewer guidelines for students (ex: the original lesson is only for elementary school, only certain colors, specific steps) because kids do not always want to talk about their pasts. One girl who was drawing some really excellent images was focusing on middle school and her experiences there. She explained each image with great detail and enthusiasm, compared to some of the other students who were not really that excited about their elementary school experience. Maybe having the kids focus on one year or a particular age would be more interesting for students... in any case, I received a handful of collages and a couple of statements to type and display in the gallery show.
I was able to talk with the kids about the possibility of art programs at their new school. Their teacher and I have been talking about writing grants to provide funds for art supplies and possibly for a regular teacher in a classroom. When I presented the idea to the students they were pretty excited and even happier to hear that I might be the teacher. That was a good boost for me :) Especially since THIS WEATHER WILL NOT GO AWAY.

Seriously. Elsa. Calm down.

I promised a second post and I will have it to you by TONIGHT. I have been on vacation at my aunt and uncle's house with my friend Matt and we have been learning how to weave on a BIG loom. We joked that we are weaving a friendship rug but...really, we are. We are learning how to salvage fabric scraps for weft material, how to reset the loom, and I am hoping to someday incorporate this craft into my own classroom. As shown in an earlier post I have a tabletop loom and I will be finishing the process of setting that up before camp this summer. I think it would be fun to have kids weave a collaborative piece or maybe small pieces over the course of the summer.. lots of possibilities.

On that note! Time to get back to weaving, relaxing, visiting, and syruping outside in the north woods.

More later,

Ms. Kanak