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Journal Entries

 

 

Artistic Abilities Journal, Spring 2015

 

Taylor Lawson

Journal Entry 1

February 11, 2015

 

Experience Narrative:

         Students came in, most of them knew each other and knew jenna, as the artistic abilities teachers we were more the outsiders in a tight group. We went around and introduced ourselves, and then Alison instructed the students to find a group and teacher.

I ended up with a young lady Ashley, and a young man Nick. Ashley was very outgoing and talkative. Nick was much shyer, and it took him a little while to get comfortable with me.

I brought in colorful paint chips as collage materials, and Ashley really liked these. She went through and intentionally picked out colors she loved, and then used them to decorate her cover, writing her name in the center.

She was very sociable and showed me how well she could draw flowers. She really loves drawing flowers. Using her drawing of flowers I her sketchbook as a guide, Ashley then got a canvas and painted her flowers using green, pink, and yellow. She showed interest in gluing on beads and other materials on her next painting of flowers.

         In the beginning Nick’s shyness caused him to be very withdrawn and unsure of what he wanted to do. I asked him if he would rather draw and he said yes, and then I asked if he wanted a pencil and he said yes. I found he responded better with yes or no questions rather than asking open ended questions that required full thoughts and sentences from him. After he got a pencil, he began drawing different compasses. While he did this he opened up and told me about colors and directions. He knows every color, and can name them as primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, and can match the complimentary color to any other color! He used complimentary colors to color his compass. He also knows pretty much everything about coordinates, maps, and directions.

 

Interpretation/Content meaning:

         Ashley’s use of her sketchbook as a guide for her painting tells me that she already has a fair grasp on planning an artwork, and gives me an idea of where to start in teaching her new methods of planning. Her desire to use multiple materials in her art also gives me ideas for mixed material lessons.  

         Getting to know Nick has really given me insight into how I can differentiate for my two students with different cognitive and social skills. I’m looking forward to working with him more. His art process seemed more introspective, where he thought for a while about what he wanted to do, then drew it with pencil, and then colored it.

 

Personal significance:

         This first lesson was significant for me because it was so much fun. Connecting with these two students and getting to know them was a great experience and I look forward to spending more time with them.

 

Future Actions:

         Just this one lesson has already given me insight and great ideas for future lessons. I’ve been thinking of ways to incorporate maps and compass components in other lessons, and ways to encourage Ashley to add to her favorite flower montage.

 

 

Taylor Lawson

Journal Entry 2

February 18, 2015

 

Experience Narrative:

         Only Ashley was in class this week, I read a story to her and we talked about trees, at first it was going well, she told me apples trees were her favorite, and then we talked about incorporating her love of flowers into her trees and she drew some trees with flowers. She was continually distracted by the canvas she painted flowers on last week and wanted to continue working on it. I asked her if she would try my activity first and then we would work on the flowers. She said yes. Unfortunately at one point during the tree drawing she started crying, this flustered me greatly because there was no warning, she seemed ok. We swiftly switched gears and moved on to working on the flowers on canvas. Ashley was very interested in painting her flowers and socializing at other tables. Towards the end of class we joined Jenna Lewis, Andie, and LeeAnne. Ashley worked on a carving started by Jenna, then at the end started her own of her ever present flowers/

 

Interpretation:

         In weeks lesson I learned that Ashley is incredibly uncomfortable going out of her comfort zone, to the extent of panic and crying. This was very startling to me because I really, really, really don’t want to make my students cry. However since she snapped back pretty quickly and was happy and content the rest of class, as well as still being sweet and amicable with me I believe it’s just a response to discomfort. She told me sorry multiple times (unnecessarily) and that she just felt scared outside her comfort zone. This makes me feel like little changes in medium and techniques will be better than a fully different lesson plan that kind of almost incorporates her lesson plan.

Perhaps because she has trust and a relationship already with Jenna she was more willing to try new things, and she and I will just need to spend more time together.

 

Personal Significance:

          This week’s lesson gave me insight into Ashley’s comfort zone, and gave me an idea about how I could gain insight into my future students comfort zones and how to use that relationship in my lessons.

 

Future Actions:

         Build next weeks lesson on stamping, focus more on trying new materials with her favorite motif where she is comfortable, I will try the lesson next week with nick as well. He wasn’t there last week and I’ve only had one lesson with him so I don’t know him as well, hopefully the lesson will work with him too.

 

 

Taylor Lawson

Journal Entry 3

February 25, 2015

 

Experience Narrative:

         This weeks lesson focused on printmaking, specifically stamp carving. Both Nick and Ashley were here this week!

After I explained that we would be stamping today and how to carve stamps, nick just nodded and went right to it. He chose a large rectangle and carved out the edges to make a more original rectangle, he also carved three little lines in a curve on one side. Using every color of ink we have Nick methodically printed his different colored rectangles side by side. I mentioned to him that rinsing his tools between prints would help keep colors from mixing, and then in between each color he thoroughly washed off every one of his tools. On black paper, to see which colors would show up he printed red, yellow, white, and blue. He then wanted to print black, so he got some bright blue paper; he then printed gold and silver on the blue with his black print. Each time Nick put his stamp down, he would wait until he had my full attention before pulling it up to see his print. I would ask him, “Are you ready?” and then he’d pull it up! After we saw his print he would tell me about all the different colors he saw there, and if the print wasn’t thoroughly printed, we would discuss if he needed to press harder or pt more ink on, etc.

Unlike Nick, Ashley can be easily distracted, and is excited about trying new kinds of art. Sometimes before she even finishes her own, especially if someone else in the class is trying something new. At the beginning of class Ashley was excited to continue carving her stamp and printing it. After she finished printing her pictures, Ashley wanted to join Jenna Mishoe’s group and try the shaving cream painting. After trying the shaving cream activity, Ashley went back to stamping. While she was stamping, I began gluing paint chips to paper in a mosaic. Ashley was very excited by this and also wanted to create a mosaic. We picked out all the pink, orange, and magenta colored paint strips and she cut them into rectangles, gluing them into an abstract shape on her paper. Unfortunately we had to cleanup before we finished, so we may work on tem more next week.

 

Interpretation:

         Nick’s methodical printing/stamping this week reflected the “mooing” of art praxis. His rhythmic and repetitive motions reflected the “doing” and his intention of exploring colors gave him his purpose. Nick was mostly concerned with choosing colors and determining which color would show up truer on which color background than creating a final piece.

Through each of the projects Ashley pursued this week she was able to focus more on taking risks away from her constant representation of flowers. Working in more abstract forms enabled Ashley to focus more on technique as well as the characteristics/ expressive features of art.

Personal Significance:

        Nick’s actions gave me great insight into his personality and art making style. It reinforced my knowledge of his love of colors and making discoveries relating to colors. I believe the way to teach Ashley more about art making is to take a more abstract approach. I was able to connect with them both this class and enjoyed myself a great deal.

 

Future Actions:

         I plan on our next project being more abstract, with a new technique, and the opportunities to incorporate lots of color. This should allow them both to focus more on expressive features and characteristics of art. It should be an exciting way for Nick to incorporate his methodical geometry and exploration of colors, as well as allow Ashley to explore other aspects of art besides representing flowers.

 

 

Taylor Lawson

Journal Entry 4

March 4, 2015

 

Experience:

         Today we started class with a tape-resist-painting demo. After the demo, Nick taped the edges of his paper so it wouldn’t curl, and then made the decision to free hand paint his colors instead of taping other sections off. He then practiced color mixing and painting circular shapes.  He created a very balanced and interesting composition of circles filling the whole page.

With her tape Ashley made large shapes with only a few pieces of tape. After seeing Nicole’s tape painting, which had many angles and triangles, Ashley wanted to add triangles to hers. Nicole and I tried to help her, but could not spatially grasp how to make three pieces of tape into a triangle. She wasn’t frustrated by this struggle, and ended up being please with a geometric shape that looked a little like the letter F. She painted a little bit a little bit on the paper, and figured out (with Nick’s help) how to make Lavender. After the tape-resist painting she moved on to collaging with paint chips. Ashley made color connections between her collage and her abstract painting, choosing colors that matched so the two works would go together.  

 

Interpretation:

        The abstract method of doing was more freeing and relaxing for Ashley, she was hardly concerned with her flower painting (she only worked on it for about 5 minutes!) and wasn’t concerned about calling her ride until the end.

Nick’s composition using repeated circle shapes reminded me a little of Kandinsky’s work in both the repeated shapes and color tons. The painting seemed like a representation of Nick’s attention to detail and his meditative color mixing state that is often present in class.

 

Personal Significance:

         This class was the first time I had really seen any of the things Alison had talked to use about our first day with her with the drawing activities. Ashley struggling to create a triangle even with us breaking it up into step-by-step questions and directions was very interesting. 

Personally, I view these last 2 lessons as a success, the first two classes Ashley starts stressing about her ride home and wanting to call them around 5-5:30, however the last two classes I have managed to keep her very engaged.

I also feel triumphant about the relationship I have built with Nick, he feels confident enough to both try my techniques and do what he wants with the materials, and is also eager to share with me what he’s done.

 

 

Future Actions:

         In the future I think I will use the paint chips to create a more complex collage with Ashley. She seems to really enjoy the cut and paste process, and the kind of instant gratification it gives her. I may challenge Nick to try to specifically match colors he finds and likes in the paint chip collection.

 

Taylor Lawson

Journal Entry 5

March 11, 2015

 

Experience Narrative:

         We started the class by looking at colors and images with colors in them. Nicole and I were trying to get Ashley and Nick to think about the symbolism behind colors. For nearly every color and image, Ashley and Nick both said that the colors made them think of or feel “happy.”

         After the color discussion, Nicole demonstrated salt painting. We each wrote our name in glue. I wish that we had discussed other images they could draw in glue, since Ashley just seemed to copy our lead, and Nick seemed hesitant about what to draw. When came time to “paint the salt,” neither Ashley nor Nick understood that you painted by just letting the salt absorb the paint. After explaining the technique, Ashley got very excited and hypothesized that the salt soaked up the color. Nick continued to brush the color on even after the explanation and didn’t seem to ever grasp the technique.

 

Interpretation:

         The fact that Ashley and Nick could not attach symbolism to colors on their own makes me think cognitively they just can’t grasp that kind of deeper analysis.

         Ashley and Nick both seemed to need more specific instruction. Nick may have needed a step-by-step demonstration.

 

Personal Significance:

         This week was personally significant for me because it was the last week, and the amount of fun I had with everyone was a sign of the relationships I had built with these students over the last 5 weeks. One student, Chris, made me a bracelet out of pipe cleaners.

 

Future Actions:

         In the future, I’d like to make sure when introducing a new project, all the steps are broken down where the students understand them.

 

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