Year 5 as Ethnographers

Year 5 students have been investigating the interesting and perhaps unusual occurrences within their everyday and familiar environments. They have been using their iPads to photograph daily events at home or at school, with the intention of using these images for their drawing studies. The purpose is to show the viewer that  interesting stories can occur in the most typical daily events. They are developing an understanding that an inquisitive mind and careful observation are essential for formulating a creative narrative in their art work. To guide them through the process, they have watched videos of Quentin Blake, where he discusses his influences and his process of using an image to create a story without the use of words. These videos have further allowed the students to observed his drawing techniques and his use and application of colour.

The following are some of their completed works. ENJOY!

For their next work, students have been asked to photograph a family member, friend or pet in an action pose. Please be aware that appropriate photography etiquette has been discussed. They must request permission to take a photo, the image cannot be manipulated, shared or distributed. They are to be used solely for the purpose of drawing studies. When no longer required the photographs will be deleted.

This next piece of work will require students to create a collage and it will be greatly appreciated if we could have a donation of magazines that are no longer required. If you would like to donate magazines, please be mindful and ensure that they do not contain inappropriate images or gossip stories as these cause much distraction/disruption to the lessons. Magazines such as House and Garden and Real Living would be most suitable, however magazines such as Women's Day, Cosmopolitan, NW or Cleo are inappropriate.

Year 5 will also be displaying their works in the form of an artist book, with the intention of having the opportunity to exhibit them at the end of the semester.

-Mrs Hiskens

Year 6 have been working through a creative process that has involved building on previous knowledge and skills and developing works that are truly of their own self expression. The students are excited about this project because it is all about THEM! they have been assigned the challenge of expressing who they are and giving their viewers a little insight into what makes them unique. I can't wait to see how they develop their ideas and bring it all together as an artist book.

During week 1 and 2 they explored how to make a simple concertina booklet. The students were encouraged to develop their own ideas about the shape of their booklet and were shown how to create some simple features.

Week 3 involved revisiting the proportions of the human face from Year 4. This time the students explored and compared the proportions, shapes and features of the face. We followed a step by step process which they then used in week 4 to draw an Amedeo Modigliani ( Expressionist painter) inspired self portrait from a photograph.

Student self portrait 2013

 

Portrait of Juan Gris 1915 and Jeanne Hebuterne with Hat and Necklace 1917

In week 5 the students began to use their drawings to create an etching on a flexible perspex etching plate.  Then in week 6, to allow for the printing of their etching in small groups, they began to work on a new piece of work in which they had to depict a personal object, using the visual design principle of Emphasis. The object had to be of personal significance and emotional attachement. Students were asked to bring in a photo of the object to assist them with their drawing. They will be continuing to further develop this work to form the cover of their book.

This week, Year 6 continued to work on their self portrait and etchings with the first group experiencing the process of printing for the first time on the printing press...or as one student commented "the torture machine"

It was lovely to hear the positive comments about their work when they saw their prints take shape. Comments such as: "Ooh, that is my beautiful face!" and "Wow, that looks awesome!"

Normally, students of this age are overly self conscious when drawing themselves and easily become disappointed and frustrated when their drawings don't resemble an exact version of themselves. I encourage them to focus on their lines and shapes and the overall form...most importantly I banish the use of erasers! They are encouraged to keep all their lines and use the ones they classify as errors as an opportunity to problem solve and develop ways in which they can incorporate them or use them as guides. It's a little difficult to break the habit at first, but they soon begin to see the value of not using an eraser at all.

I won't reveal too much or otherwise I will spoil our intended exhibition. I hope you have enjoyed viewing a snippet of their amazing work.

- Mrs Hiskens

Being Creative

The photographer John Loori wrote: “Creativity is our birthright . It is an integral part of being human, as basic as walking, talking and thinking.”

There seems to be an air of mystery and negativity around the word creativity. This mainly comes down to our assumptions and reinforcement of the perception that some people have creative potential and others don’t. Time and time again I hear my students say things such as " but I am not creative", "I don't have the imagination to draw" etc...

It seems that most of my students base their assumptions on their abilities and their technical skills and more importantly, on their lack of understanding of what creativity is and the process of creativity. 

Last year I heavily focused on helping students improve in their technical abilities so that this year we could focus more on the creative process. Before that I was attempting to do both, with very little success in changing their attitude towards their creative abilities.

According to the experts, it is possible to encourage or inhibit the development and expression of creativity in young children. Most theories of child development view young children as highly creative, with a natural tendency to experiment, and explore their physical and conceptual environment. 

However this high level of creativity is not necessarily maintained throughout childhood and into adulthood. The level of creativity declines when they start kindergarten and peaks again when they reach puberty. 

Much of this has to do with how creativity is valued and perceived by their educational, home and social settings. For example there has been a long standing perception that visual art is merely an activity to enjoy and a formula to follow in which all student work basically ends up looking very much the same or a copy of someone else's expression. 

Although copying or following a step by step process has its benefits in developing technical skill, what is often overlooked is the most important element of all... creativity!

I once heard a story about a lady who at the age of 7 was shown by her teacher, how to draw a bird in the sky. So far this story sounds quite logical...a teacher should show a student how to do something. Wrong! This student had a problem, she didn't know how to draw or represent the idea she had in her head. Rather than being guided through the steps required to solve her problem... the solution was offered. Where's the learning in that! Sadly this student was robbed of the opportunity to develop her creativity. For many years after that she continued to draw her bird as shown by her teacher...something that resembled a stretched out letter M. A very simple line drawing that many of you may have encountered before. There is nothing wrong with representing a bird with a simple line, there are times when this is a good solution. But she didn't arrive at this solution on her own and therefore she was led to believe that this was the one and only solution. It wasn't until she was much older...much, much , much older that she encountered the problem again, but this time she questioned the solution given to her so long ago and realised what she had been robbed of. The simple line looked nothing like the bird she wanted to draw, it didn't express her idea and to make it worse she did not know how to come up with a new solution.

                                                           example of the letter M bird

           

bird paintings by Year 3 CCPS (2012)

Creativity is essentially a form of problem solving. But it is a special type of problem solving...one that involves problems for which there are no easy answers: that is, problems for which popular or conventional responses do not work. 

Creativity involves adaptability and flexibility of thought. These are the same types of skills that numerous reports on education have suggested are critical for students, not just in visual art, but also in other areas of the curriculum. In order to maximise children's creative potential, the focus of creativity should remain on process, i.e. the "generation of ideas".

For a proper understanding of children's creativity, one must distinguish creativity from intelligence and talent, but I'll leave this discussion for a future blog post.

We’ve known for a long time that the creative process can be broken down into four distinct processes, most of which can be fostered and augmented. The processes are:
Preparation
Incubation
Illumination
Implementation

For the past few weeks students from Year 4 to 6 have been focused on the preparation phase

Preparation involves what most would refer to as work. A musician , for example, plays scales, chords, or songs first before writing or creating their own music.
Basically, it's the process of practising and researching; laying down the ground work and foundation to launch into the incubation phase.

This semester all three grades will be working towards the production of an artist book with the intention of being able to exhibit their work in an interactive manner. Yes! this means an exhibition... a real one...not a virtual gallery like the exhibitions I have done so far. This means that it will not be me who mounts their work for display. No. the students will have creative control on how their work is to be presented to their audience.

I will now leave you with some images of the lovely 'work' produced by the Year 5 students.

Ps I promise this post will be the one and only longest post for the year. The rest will be purely the documentation of the students creative process via images of their work.