ART JOURNAL 8
04/06/2020
Please think about and answer the following questions
What events/moments/personal experiences change or refine my past perspective to look at art teaching and learning now?
What current learning or art education theories do I learn related to this change or revision?
How does my art piece (or the process of making this art piece) represent this change or revision?
How does my current understanding influence my path of becoming an artist and educator?
For this art journal I wanted to include my thoughts on the quarantine, how teachers and students have adjusted to interacting online, and how the public has utilized social media to remain entertained and creatively involved with each other.
One of the greatest learning experiences that the quarantine has provided is the opportunity to examine how my professors are remaining flexible while continuing to create coursework and content that coincides with the curriculum objectives previously laid out. Organization leaders have had to come together and brainstorm new methods to endure this hardship while prioritizing employee health and public safety. I have been very impressed with how strong communication and collaboration skills have made this a quick and effective transition, despite these difficulties. As schools and business have shut down, maintaining an up-to-date understanding of programs and technologies that can be used in teaching has become critical.
In my past, and through my schooling, I have experienced many teachers that did not embrace the technological changes that had started to ingratiate the education system. These teachers tended to believe that reliance on technology was removing students from the natural order, and could inhibit their social and physical development overall. As I matured I tended to side with this argument to an extent. I saw the benefits of the technological boom, but also how dependency and the addictive nature of the internet was negatively impacting my life and personal growth.
The moment of revision, where I identified that one must not run from the changing times, was during my first semester at CSU. When I saw how much our lessons relied on using computer programs, email, and online readings, I knew I must embrace both the positivity and negativity that comes with extensive technology use. I was able to make this change because of my experience with art making and the creative process. Problem solving is vital in the art studio, as well as discovery, self-assessment, and identifying necessary adjustments through failed attempts. I used my experience with these elements of learning, to embrace the changing times and now see through this global health crisis, how beneficial these technological advances are.
In regards to the internet and communication, social media and other interactive applications are providing a method for people to still connect with others, while maintaining safety in their homes. Instagram has personally served as one of my primary sources of entertainment through the quarantine, as well as a vehicle for maintaining creativity. During this past week, I saw an art challenge posted by the Getty Museum. The goal was to recreate one of your favorite artworks with objects or people in your home. For mine I chose the artist George Rodrigue and a painting from his Blue Dog Series.
“Born and raised in Cajun Country, Louisiana, U.S.A., artist George Rodrigue portrayed on his canvas what he feared was his dying heritage—-including its land, people, traditions, and mythology. As he often explained, he sought to “graphically interpret the Cajun culture,” preserving it in the face of a progressive world.
In the early 1990s his Blue Dog Series, based on the French-Cajun loup-garou legend, catapulted him to worldwide fame, while his dark Renaissance-like landscapes developed into robust modern masterpieces.”
https://georgerodrigue.com/bio/
The way I assessed the artwork was to capture the same pose and most importantly, the same expression as the blue painted dog in George’s work. In regards to the background I wanted to find an area in my parent’s home that would create a relatively flat color split (vertically) behind my dog. I did this by positioning him in front of a nightstand and bed. I also found a tie, in my Dad’s closet that closely resembled the tie the dog in the painting was depicted wearing.
The subject/model for this artwork was Otis, my parents’ hyper-active dog. He is a Blue Heeler, and I felt his natural appearance strongly resembled that of the Blue Dog. It took a lot of problem solving to get Otis to co-operate with my artistic vision, and many failed attempts to photograph him with a facial expression, or pose that even remotely resembled the dog in the painting. To get the correct photo, it took having my little brother hold a chicken tender behind my head, while I made a strange noise that confused Otis into making the correct facial expression. Otis also kept trying to eat his tie off, and did not want to sit still.
My original intention was to have Otis sit on a stool, exactly like the painting, but this scared him greatly and he immediately jumped off and ran away. Therefore, I had to work to regain Otis’s trust and concede that I could take the picture of him on the floor. Overall, this activity taught me valuable lessons in working with animals and how to problem solve creative ways to get them to cooperate. This understanding could also be applied to working with anyone who has a different goal than you while working on a shared project. I had to adjust my vision based on what Otis wanted from the process, while completing my task objectives. I felt this is similar to the flexibility and cooperation that we all are faced with during the quarantine, and how making adjustments is a universal skill applicable in all areas of life.
I believe the art room is critical to developing these skills, practicing ideation, and learning from failure. Collaboration is one of the standards that is vital to all artistic processes, and I hope to emphasize that in multi-faceted lessons and through interesting and socially relevant projects. I had a lot of fun working through this art challenge, and that was due to the personal relevance the instructions carried. Also, since the art I created would be posted to social media, there was extrinsic value to be gained from submitting my creation on a popular online platform.