Studio Projects

Journal Entries for the Studio Projects

Kristen: Painting and Drawing

For this project, we did a meditation and then painted trees. I wasn’t too sure about the whole meditation part. The idea is great, but she told us that when she practiced the meditation with her sisters, they laughed and did not take it seriously. I feel that a classroom of children would have a similar reaction. Maybe if she rephrased the whole meditation it would work. I loved the painting of the trees. We were instructed very well. I felt that, as a non-art student, I was able to learn a lot about paint through this lesson.

Vince: Sculpture

I love the idea of mythical creatures. The crawling around the room idea was cool to get an idea of movement, but I’m not sure this would really work in a classroom with twenty kids, instead of four adults. Kids would goof around and with all the wandering, I would be worried about safety.

The wire part of the sculpture was frustrating. I didn’t feel that the tools or the wire were very safe for kids 10-12, because I kept poking myself. Safety glasses would have to be used if this project were done with children. I wasn’t as clear with this project as I was with painting and drawing. I haven’t done much sculpture, not being an art student. It was interesting to learn about division of weight and how much plastercine to use, but I had a lot of trouble getting my sculpture to stand up.

Me (Keeley): Digital Artwork

This studio project was quite an experience. I think, in hindsight (which is always 20/20) I would have done pretty much everything differently. Firstly, instead of providing books for them to read, I made hand-outs. However, I still should have set out the books I used, so that everyone could take a look. Books are more tangible than hand-outs.

Finger puppets were fun, for a warm up, but I think in general not the best idea. I really wanted to take pictures of things that would be 3D. I think, if I were to do this again, it would be interesting to make marionette puppets. I love the idea of the children learning about their heritage through making puppets of their families. However, marionettes would present more of a challenge and would still allow the 3D photography aspect I was concerned about.

I got everyone to take their photographs individually, but this didn’t work out very well. If I were to do this again, I would have them go in partners. I love Allison’s idea of the whole white photo booth-type thing. I thought it would be fun to let everyone experiment with light and shadows, but doing this individually was extremely difficult. It was also hard working on such a small scale. The results would be much more artistic using marionettes and a booth.

If I were to do the PowerPoint part of the lesson again, I would give more direction with regards to layout and artistry. I felt that the artistic experience in this project could have been a lot stronger than it was.