Looking for Patterns in Urban Settings...

A snowy walk, an urban landscape... concrete structures that align symmetrically, and through shadows on the snow - like trees in a forest.  It seems like the human eye is naturally drawn to pattern (Gardner's 'environmental intelligence'?) - that the elements of design we admire in urban landscapes are inspired by/intertextually linked to patterns found in nature.

 

What are the implications for little ones, growing up in urban spaces?  When the 'trees' you see most often are constructed, synthetic imitations of trees?  When a 'leaf' is a cardboard cut-out on a classroom wall? When an 'apple' is an image most often seen on a clothing label or as a brand of a laptop computer - rather than in a fruit bowl or being picked from a tree?

Children are adept at recognizing and making sense of symbols - how does exposure to artistic symbols (objects 1 or 2 times removed from the 'real object') impact their artistic sensibilities and their connection to nature (i.e., the original object)?

Pattern: a mark or design that is repeated in some recurring sequence

Sensory Literacy: using all the senses to become aware of one's surroundings and experiences

Our AGO Field Trip...

This was a really wonderful afternoon... some of our class members had not been to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) since childhood field trips... for others, this was their first visit.  Many had been a number of times, and a reminder of free Wednesday nights at the AGO - http://www.ago.net/visit - seemed to provide an incentive for making time in their busy student schedules for some return trips.  Some students shared stories of travel - visiting the Louvre, or the Chicago Art Institute... some didn't know what to expect, as our co-instructor, Arts Specialist Patricia Gora - http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/patricia-gora/17/863/b37 -, led us on a tour throughout the galleries.  (Patricia... one of my "creative heroes" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 12)... an inspiring artist and 'creative disrupter'!)

Patricia is the ultimate arts role model - immediately disrupting stereotypes or traditional ideas, if any of our students thought that viewing fine art would be stuffy, stodgy, formal, or sedate!  Buzzing us through a number of galleries in quick time, Patricia brought us directly to some 'high interest' artwork - The most expensive painting in the gallery...  The most popular sculpture...  The latest exhibit... - Handing out art "collector cards" (like hockey cards!), Patricia describes/models how to guide children toward making personal connections to artwork of all kinds... how children (and adults) may respond to nudity within artwork... And also offered us 'behind the scenes' explanations as to the galleries design and history...

My favourite moments?  Visiting the Maharaja Exhibit with a small group of students making personal connections to the names, places, and images...  ("This is where my family comes from..."  "My family is related to these people - my father could tell you all the stories and knows all the names...") and "ooo-ing" & "ah-ing" together over the beautiful jewelry and textiles/clothing.

Entering a gallery toward the end of the exhibit, a huge wall mural took my breath away... when I stood at an angle, I could imagine myself a spectator at a royal procession - beautiful colours, and a grand procession!  What it must have been like to have been there!!... then, viewing the image more closely, it was chilling to realize that the leaders of the procession were white, British elite/colonialists - and I read more about the complicated history of colonialism and power relationships... these were personalized within the final gallery, depicting 20th century Maharajas as wealthy, modern, privileged, sexy/romanticized individuals - the struggles with power, privilege, racism and colonialism seemed lost in the splendor of this final collection of artefacts.  I wonder how school children and youth will make sense of this exhibit (free to people under 25 years of age)...

Role Model... the role of the teacher: "It is important that the teacher personally invest the time and effort to become aesthetically responsive" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 161).

Arts Explorer #1... Creating a Sculpture from Everyday Items...

It doesn't look like much, does it? LOL  But it came to mean something to me, as I arranged and re-arranged towels on the floor.. twirled them, piled them, threw them around.  My first thought had been to wonder what sort of 'everyday' items to use for this Arts Explorer experience?  

I thought about stuff from the kitchen, or the recycling bin.  I had a bunch of left over Christmas ornaments, and thought about playing with those... It was a busy weekend, and I decided that it would make a lot of sense (and reflect my 'everyday life') to combine my 'everyday art' with 'everyday housework' items... before folding the laundry, I began tossing and layering towels.  At first I used all different colours... then the pink towel, with its pastel tint caught my eye, as I thought about all the different 'layers' of my life and responsibility... about work-life balance.  And so, I used the pink and blue towels, to play with those colours and what they sometimes represent.  That green towel is meant to ground things with its earthy shade, I suppose.  

Mostly, I simply enjoyed the touch and feel and smell of the clean laundry - and the silliness of throwing it all over the floor, to create pattern and combine colour... when photographing, I turned on all the lights and opened the window blinds, bringing the room to life with light... created a cheerful feel to the room, and morning.

From 'pop culture', this colour test pattern T-shirt cracks me up... coming from/living with a family of nerds, I can relate to the Big Bang Theory's characters (and wardrobe)... isn't it funny that a TV test pattern is instantly recognizable and has a meaning (and creates a joke, when put out of context!)...

Colour: the visual sensation of light caused by stimulating the cones of the retina...comes from the sun... with no light there is no colour.. We see colours becaus of the way certain objects reflect colour rays to our eyes... makes each of us respond with feeling... Children develop their colour preferences and palettes early in life.  These influence the colour that we use to select articles of clothing, home furnishings, and cars, and to do art (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 136).

More to think about and experience, considering primary, secondary, intermediate, complementary, neutral, hue, value, intensity, tint, and shade in future experiences.... 

Creativity

Creativity... what is it?  How do I experience it in my everyday life?

I think of it as something that is innate - like language - to us, as human beings... It's a process of imaginative thinking/acting/seeing/being, that allows us to respond flexibly, in a range & number of ways to solve problems, respond and express ourselves...
For 'food for thought', see this article in Psychology Today:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200910/everyday-creativity?page=5&%24Version=0&%24Path=%2F&%24Domain=.psychologytoday.com

Many 'realities' of life - through childhood or adulthood - may have inhibited our sense of creative 'self'... harsh experiences in music or dance class?  ...schooling which narrowly defined and rewarded 'acceptable', 'right' answers?  ...lack of materials, time, space, or creative community/playmates?

But I believe that we all have 'touchstones'... memorable creative moments or experiences, in which we most fully know ourselves as 'creators'... and they are often associated with special people and times in our lives, in which we felt most fully loved and recognized.

When I work with adult learners, I try to create situations that will connect with (or even create!) creative touchtones... we play creative games, experiment with arts materials and everyday 'stuff'... we read interesting (I think!) stuff about art and creativity, question ideas, and share personal experiences...

I LOVE playing with imaginative educators... talking, representing and writing about ideas and ways of looking at the world of kids and education...
And, as a researcher and professor, I love taking pictures of kids at play... aiming to 'make sense' of their creative and imaginative worlds.  ...that is my favourite form of creative expression!

Creating a PlayFULL Learning Community...

Welcome!  This blog is meant as a space, inspiration, and connection to this year's Creative Arts class at Ryerson University's School of Early Childhood Education.  Together, we'll be engaging in hands-on Arts Experiences - messy, fun, engaging, outside-the-box sort of stuff! - and then documenting, reflecting on, and celebrating these experiences...
This is an invitation to re-connect to memories of early childhood.... perhaps experience these sorts of materials and activities for the first time... relate our thoughts and feelings to other 'creative spaces' in our lives... we'll all be considering "What does it mean to be a creative educator?"

This year's Creative Arts ECE students will each be creating and linking their own blog... I, along with my teaching partner Patricia Gora, invite folks to follow along with us this semester....

Visit us at Ryerson University's School of ECE, featuring Scholarly Research in the field of Creative Arts in Early Childhood:

http://www.ryerson.ca/ece/