What is going on in the inner court?

Get on all the busses

A long standing tenet of the CHS VPA department is that we
value our disciplines as necessary to help balance daily life against the
growing forces of technology.  We don’t
think of them as fun options, although we do hope that we are fun. We also do
not think of ourselves as providing supplementary courses. We value whole brain
learning and we are concerned with what device are doing to our student. I am
not a Luddite; I highly value mobile banking from my phone, map apps when I am
in a hurry and the joy of being able to compose and post a murky blog about art
from the comfort of my favorite chair. 
But along with these conveniences, we also suffer some
losses.  The streamlining of some learning
processes, despite the sales pitches of expanded learning through efficiency,
may be depriving many students of the struggle of process.  Screens may also be reducing their field of
vision from panoramic to immediate. 
Through multiple pathways, the VPA department is attempting
to help students maintain a sense of invention, a sense of methodical process
to unlock the unexpected and the reward of discovery.  Most often, our plans affect the maker more
than the viewer.  Once in a while we can
turn that outcome around.
When Natalie Terry asked me about a public space project as
part of the school’s celebration of Lent through service, I doubt I let her
finish before I agreed.  I love the idea
of art as intervention, as disruption, as spectacle.  In those moments, the value of art shifts
from micro to macro, from maker to recipient, and everyone wins a prize.
I think she asked for consultation and support for her
groups to get a public piece going for Lent. 
Of course, I misunderstood that an opportunity to go a bit bigger.  My sculpture class had just finished a
project where they began to understand conceptual ideas within art on a small scale.  I thought this collaborative project could
work to support that lesson.  They liked
the challenge and dove in the design process. 
I encourage the value of disruption and mystery as
tools.  In the end, we designed an
abstracted bus design that had functionality. 
We kept it somewhat simple for construction speed and conceptual
strength.  I tried to challenge to
improve but I let them make decisions.
I also tried to minimize adult assistance.  The girls did great!  A combined task for sculpture students,
student leadership, SLC members and volunteers responding to a schoology update
pooled their energies to get it done in 5 working days. That was success no.1.
We built it publicly to generate interest and demand some
questioning. We orientated it to interfere with traffic, to disrupt flow and to
be cutely inconvenient.  Our concept is
that is the role of artists includes to boldly teach and expand ideas through
our work. We worked here to shatter near-sightedness, to penetrate the
awareness and to contradict the rapid image with a solid, immobile moment. That
was success no.2.  
And, as an extra prize, it looks sweeeeet! Bonus no.3

Frosh Creation: Thinking, Making, Sharing – Sample Project Timeline

Students focus on exploration and process.

The end product is the souvenir from their journey. 

Leah Boyle
Leah Boyle

Branna Sundy
Liv Drey
Analisa Pauline
Kayla Nuti

Day
1
Learn: terms and concepts: rhythm, pattern and pattern terms, motif, shapes vs. forms, synthesis
x1
Explore and gather evidence: photography (this is one of those cases where looking through the viewfinder actually makes the students see more!)
x30+
Day
2
Identify and indicate: digital drawing over the photograph to recognize and mark the pattern
x20
Day
3
Modify/enhance: remove the photographic layer and add new elements that maintain the original patterns
x10
Day
4
Synthesize: Create transparencies of the drawings and stack them in groups of 3 making complex results, modify as necessary to unify
x3
Modify/declutter: Repeatedly subtract a minor element from the field to strengthen the patterning
x3
Day
5
Identify and indicate: using a different color, mark the repeating motif
x3
Convert: Reimagine the motif as a form and draw it
x3
Day
6
& 7
Learn: what is a prototype? What it is role? What can it be?
x1
Build: create a sculptural prototype of the motif with cardboard and tape
x2
Self-assess: complete rubric and end of unit evaluation
x1

Digital Sketchbooks

Sketchbooks, like journals, are often fertile fields from which great works are developed. They are also a dumping ground for mental clutter that can clog our thoughts.  The polymath Leonardo da Vinci knew that.  His sketchbooks are an amazing collection of observational drawings, improbable inventions, calculations and even a few thoughts on love. The blend of sciences, arts and occasional nonsense in his work were a direct reflection of his thinking.  (I actually advocate a personal sketchbook for everyone.  I think it is a healthy exercise)

The important value of a sketchbook is not that it is a place to jot down an idea or sketch out a vision.  Scratch paper and meeting agendas also serve that purpose.  The true value of a sketchbook is that it is a keeper of past ideas and visions.  It creates a context and history for the latest ideas.  It is this continuity that promotes the strongest progression of ideas. Regular use of one is a discipline that rewards.

I have been unsuccessful in my efforts to have my students to work in sketchbooks as preliminaries before sculptural projects. It is a little tricky.  I don’t want to assess planning. I also respect the differences in creative arcs we all hold. Collecting the books could easily disrupt this still forming discipline. Spot checks are distracting and time consuming. Without points at stake, many opt out of having this treasury of ideas an attempts at their fingertips.

Suddenly, on of the gifts of this year gave me an idea. This year I have only one, small section of sculpture students. This seemed to be a great opportunity to try out a new process.  We will now be exploring digital sketchbooks (DSBs in our classroom).  We are using the free Autodesk app called Sketchbook. It is a great app – TRY IT.  The image archive on that app is called a Gallery.  We will make a separate folder in the gallery for each assignment.   They will jot rough ideas and more developed sketches as the concepts expand. Each page, good and bad, will go into the folder. The progression of ideas is often easier when an array of all attempts is available.

When this idea first came to me, i was happy simply because their iPads are already daily tools and many expect to use them for each class.  I was no longer adding weight to their packs.  Then I realized three bonuses for my class. 

I am fascinated by the creative arc.  I love to watch it unfold in class. I see it as a type of metabolism, a process of intake and output. Like our bodily metabolism, your creative metabolism can be modified with proper attention. Understanding your personal process is essential in getting your bet results.  To assist that understanding, students will take photos of their projects at various midpoints. These process photos will go into the gallery folder for each project. Later, presentations on their personal creative processes will be their gift to their classmates at semester finals. Their DSB will hold all they need to convert to presentation form.  Because gallery is too large of a file to upload on schoology, the students will take a screenshot of the portfolio (thumbnail page) for uploading. We will see the arc of their project on one or two pages!

Also, I try to emphasize process over product everyday in my classroom.  This condensed combination of drawing and process documentation will make it easier for me to assess their efforts towards the goals. In a manner of thinking, this portfolio will be more important to me than the finished piece.

The final bonus is identification.  Some of our sculptural materials do not allow for their names to be easily attached to the work.  We make tags and such but their is always a piece or two that it unnamed and difficult to credit.  Now, their project folder can have some images of the result and I will have an easier time tracking down the artist when the tag falls away.