Art

Art Tutorial One:

What I gained from this tutorial:

A range of ‘art appreciation’ resources

Overview
Before the lesson began I attempted to finish the question on the board:

Art appreciation does not aim to fill children with facts about art but....

....develop an awareness of how people perceive similar ideas.

Throughout the lesson I began to understand that art appreciation was much more then perceptions and ideas and more about encouraging people to pause and look indepth at art works.

The final definition which was given was is that art appreciation is to develop strategies for looking at art and making sense of what they are.

I researched further into this concept and found another workable model. Barrett in his paper (2007) described art appreciation through Stein Olsen’s definition (1988) as "the act of apprehending a work of art with enjoyment”

"Through reflecting on and responding to their own artworks and the works of artists children develop the skills of talking and thinking (and later, reading and writing) about the arts. When they engage in the art criticism, children describe, analyse, interpret, judge, challenge and value artworks and artistic ideas" (Ewing, Gibson, 2011).

This tutorial thus provided me with knowledge about art appreciation and working activities for the classroom. Which is far more beneficial than student’s explaining their artwork and how it was made, which is a boring and tedious process.

Five methods of art appreciative techniques include:

1. Feldmen’s Inquiry mode
2. Artmap compass
3. Art alphabet
4.  Dinner Parties
5.  Living Clay

The technique that I found benefited my understanding of art appreciation the most was ‘Art alphabet’. Usually, I find it difficult to look at an artwork and describe what I see/aspects of the artwork, as I think about it, in too much depth. This activity demonstrated that an artwork can be looked at from many different aspects, e.g. Who made it and the techniques and colours used in creating it, thus emphasising the broad component of art appreciation.

Example Art Appreciative activity

Critical Reflection

The second component of the lesson looked at 'making' a drawing which reflected a photograph displayed at the front of the room. It is an activity which is appropriate for stage two, as it involves an awareness of the elements of  Visual Arts, in order to effectively portray the features in the photographs (Colour, line, shape etc). 

This activity is found in Transforming the Curriculum through the Arts (2011, Pp.145-149), where Gibson and Ewing (2011) suggest ideas of transferring this activity to other KLAs and thus reflecting its appropriateness in the classroom and enhancing my awareness of its benefits. I further see the relevance of this activity in the processes involved the entire Unit of Work, which is labelled 'Wheels' (Ewing & Gibson, 2011) in Transforming the Curriculum through the Arts. Students:

1. Students learn about wheels (Can make numerous links to other KLAs)
2. Students write a description on wheels (English syllabus)
3. Students make and develop a wheel with no visual stimulus, just the knowledge they have acquired (in three minutes)
4. Using, an object with wheels; the school carkpark or enlarged images of wheels as we used in the tutorials, students make " a detailed representation focusing on size, shape, line, tone and pattern, using a range of lead pencils" (Ewing & Gibson, 2011).
5. Links to other KLAs (suggests in  Transforming the Curriculum through the Arts UOW).
6. Students then use a view finder and select a section of their image which they would like to enlarge and enhance.
7. Students develop and experiment with their artwork by using a larger piece of paper and enlarging the image in their viewfinder. Using techniques and materials such as: newspaper; scrunching, cutting etc or black paper etc. 
8. Links to other KLAs  (suggests in  Transforming the Curriculum through the Arts UOW).

Above steps taken from Transforming the Curriculum through the Arts  (Ewing & Gibson, 2011).

Reference List:

Ewing, R, & Gibson, R. (2011). Transforming the Curriculum through the Arts. Australia, NSW, Palgrave Macmillian.

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Art Tutorial Two:

What I gained from this tutorial:

A range of art ‘assessment strategies’

Overview and Critical Reflection

In all KLAs assessment should be "designed to be an ongoing part of the learning environment. Process and product are both parts of arts assessment. Performance, art making, talking, writing, and thinking are parts of the design of each assessment strategy" (Alaska Department of Education & Early Development Arts Framework, No Year). 

In this tutorial we looked at the importance of assessment in Visual Arts as an ongoing process, where teachers assess, adapt and thus cater for individual students throughout the entire lesson, unit and year. This process can be looked through the following  child-based assessment or teacher-based assessment strategies and thus through the following key themes (derived from the tutorial and additional resources):

Child-based assessment:

1. Observation: Whilst students are engaged in the process of artwork, and the finished process.
2. Discussion: Talk with students to gain an understanding of their attitudes and insights into their artwork.
3. Questioning: During the activity, using a similar criteria as the discussion.
4. Displays: Display student’s artworks in the classroom or school to recognise the importance of their artworks. This can be done by; hanging artworks on windows, closelines, on the roof, tables or even on tea towels. There are numerous examples.
5. Treasure boxes: Using shoe boxes to keep a collection of the art work that students complete.
6. Art Folders: Constructed with a large piece of cardboard, again to collect of artworks.

Teacher- based assessment:

1. Testing: which can be oral or written.
2. Folders/ Card Files: providing the teacher with a checklist of the criteria that each student has fulfilled.
3. Picture Records: Taking pictures of students during the process of making and at the conclusion.
4. Peer Group Assessment: Is a useful technique as long as students know the criteria.

Using the above assessment strategies as ongoing methods of obtaining information provides both teachers and students with a range of methods and devices to assess learning. As a pre-service teacher, however, I am learning that it is important to use a range of assessment strategies in order to keep learning as stress free as possible and to provide a range of ways to assess different learners. 


Alaska Department of Education & Early Development Arts Framework (No Year), further expresses the components or guidelines of assessment as:

1. Assessment should be standards-based and should reflect the arts skills and knowledge that are most important for students to learn. 
2. Assessment should support, enhance, and reinforce learning. 
3. Assessment should be reliable. 
4. Assessment should be valid. 
5. Assessment should be authentic. 

Reference List:
Alaska Department of Education & Early Development Arts Framework (No Year). Chapter 5 Assessment. Retrieved from http://www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/frameworks/arts/6assess1.htm

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Art Tutorial Three:

What I gained from this tutorial:

A range of techniques to respond to student’s artworks & an awareness of colour theory

Overview

To begin this tutorial we looked at common comments which teachers use to praise students artworks. However, when looking in depth at the comments it becomes evident that each ‘common’ comment holds problems.

Below are the answers and an analysis of these strategies

1. Complimentary: It decrease student thinking and dialogue is minimal.
2. Judgemental: Teachers don't usually like to make judgements and therefore they tend to say that everyones work is good, thus shallow commenting.
3. Valuing: Putting teacher, as opposed to a student value on the artwork. It isn't supposed to be about the teacher, but the student.
4. Questioning: Asking students questions such as "What is it"? Often offends them.
5. Probing: Can become stale quickly
6. Correcting: With correcting students feel as though they loose ownership of the artwork, through comments such as; " It looks good, but you could...".

Instead of using the above strategies teachers can comment on the elements and principles of artworks. This process essentially provides students with individual positive feedback.

Elements	Principles
Colour	Direction
Line	Balance
Shape	Rhythm
Texture	Movement
Size	Repetition
Tone	Pattern
	Unity
	Discord

Where questions and comments such as; I really like how you have used patterns and repeated them throughout your artwork, I like the way you have used two tones of blue.

Before entering this tutorial I would have definitely commented on students artwork using the six common approaches, thinking that I was creating  a positive art experience for the students in my class. However, upon reflecting on this tutorial it has become evident that there are many problems with these strategies and thus I agree that commenting on the elements and strategies that students use in the classroom would create more effective dialogue, learning outcomes and art experiences in the classroom.

The second half of the lesson looked at developing and painting an artwork using the Colour Theory.

Colour Theory Components

•   Monochromatic: One colour; but you can add black or white to it
•   Neutrals: Black, white and the greys inbetween
• Warm/Cool: red, orange, yellow and brown/ blue, green and purple
• Complementary colours: colours opposite each other on the colour wheel

After dividing a piece of paper into four piece of any shape and size we were to use the four components of Colour Theory to create an artwork. 

Critical Reflection
It is evident that colour encompasses every aspect of life. Colour is therefore an important component to teach students due to its relevance. Below is a colour wheel which divides colour into three main categories; primary, secondary and tertiary. Although students most likely will be aware of the colours on the colour wheel, they may not be aware of their importance, e.g. what colours symbolise or even the components of Colour Theory. 


Monochromatic is the first component of the colour theory, it refers to the variations or shades of the one colour. It is important for students to learn about this concept in regards to night and day and when drawing or painting artworks to reflects shadows or depth for instance. 




Complementary colours: Refers to the colours that highly contrast each other. The purpose of complementary colours in art is to 'draw maximum attention' (Colour Series, 2011). 


Neutrals:Neutrals colours can relate to mood or a certain time period and it is important for students to recognise this.


Warm/cool: Relate to mood and seasons for example.

Reference List:
Colour Series. (2011). Colour Theory and the Colour Wheel. Retrieved from http://www.malanenewman.com/color_theory_color_wheel.html