Unit 3: Stories
Unit 3 Group Popplet
Studio 1:
· Political/Editorial Cartoon: Drawing and/or Collage
Artists: Thomas Hart Benton & Diego Rivera
October 17, 2013
Studio 2:
· Painted Story Quilt: Crayon Resist
Artist: Faith Ringgold
October 24, 2013
Studio 3:
· Mini-Sculptures from Found Objects
Artist: Jean Shin
October 31, 2013
Unit 3 Reflection:
The first studio in this unit that reflect the artists Thomas Hart Benton & Diego Rivera really did a fantastic job in reflecting the big idea of stories. Diego Rivera and Thomas hart Benton created art that had meaning and a lot of stories behind it. Thomas Hart Benton painted artwork that reflected every day America while staying true to the Regionalist art movement. Diego Rivera painted stories, but was a little more political with his pieces. He liked to create a little bit of political controversy in his pieces that show this grand story and many mini-stories within each detail of the piece. The political or editorial cartoon we created did just that. It told a story or made fun of everyday life things. My political cartoon was about a boy named Max that played sick so he didn't have to go to school and then when his mom told him that school was cancelled because of snow he feels silly and that he went to all this work to play sick and now there is a snow day and he feels foolish for his attempt to get out of school. The cartoon portrays a story and talks about the things that children do when they are young and sometimes how insignificant sometimes their attempts can be. I would really like to use this studio in my classroom lessons to talk about story because I think it is a great way to get students to put in chronological order a story and put a lot of creativity into the greater story or meaning behind it. For younger grades instead of giving them a whole blank sheet of paper I would probably create three or two squares for them to draw in that are smaller so it is less daunting to draw a picture using the whole piece of paper.
This next studio was one of my favorites so far. I loved the painted story quilts. This studio reflected the artist Faith Ringgold's artwork that is mainly done in a way for her pieces to look like quilts even if they are not completely done with fabric, but canvas and paint, too. This studio has the ability to create so many stories or memories because it is a quilt. Quilts are special to people if they are made with things that are theirs or within their family and reflect themselves or the people around them. There are so many ways to create a story using a quilt. I agree with Pink (2005), who states "but personal narrative has become more prevalent, and perhaps more urgent, in a time of abundance, when many of us are freer to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose" (p. 115). People need to somehow tell their stories and their families stories and stories about the things they experience in their everyday lives. Quilts are a fantastic way to do that. I would definitely incorporate this studio into a lesson plan that I create because you can tell the story of yourself or you can even create a quilt that has to do with the history lesson or subject matter than I am teaching and have elements of those stories in a quilt form. I just love the way quilts tell stories, and I believe that would be a great activity to showcase the thoughts of the stories my students are trying to convey.
I loved all of the studios and artists that we talked about in this unit. Jean Shin was such a cool artist to me. I thought her work was so compelling, and it just made you think so much. There were so many ways of analyzing and interpreting her work. The artwork of the many trophies with the people on the trophies doing everyday jobs and the city made out of lottery tickets was just fascinating to me. I just loved her work and there is so much that we can get out of it and stories that come to mind. Each one of those lottery tickets or trophies reflect a story and the story of why people bought the lottery ticket just to lose or got the trophy from earning something and all of those people having a common story that they all bought a lottery ticket in hopes of winning and received a trophy for something they accomplished connecting their stories to one another. I thought this studio was great and something that the students could really enjoy. First, they had to thing up a creative item that was useless for them to bring for it. I just thought it was so cool the things people brought for this studio. I think the kids would love the way they could look around and chose another student with an idea that helped tell the story of their item and collaborate with another student to create art and a story through both of the groups of useless items. Bang (2000) states "do not worry about whether the picture is pretty" but "worry about whether it is effective" (p. 94). Those are key to this assignment because price tags and coupons are not pretty things, but the piece and story that we created in this studio is effective to show that we try and have material things run our lives and attempt to make us happy, but those things will never make us truly happy but in the end feel empty and have a sad ending. I would definitely integrate this studio into a lesson that I create to showcase a deeper story or to create a story using menial things that our society and culture label as useless and unnecessary and making them into a significant, effective, and relevant piece of art through the story we tell through it.
References:
Bang. Molly. (2000). Picture This: How Pictures Work. San Francisco: Chronicle
Books.
Pink, D. (2005). A whole new mind. New York: Riverhead Books.
The first studio in this unit that reflect the artists Thomas Hart Benton & Diego Rivera really did a fantastic job in reflecting the big idea of stories. Diego Rivera and Thomas hart Benton created art that had meaning and a lot of stories behind it. Thomas Hart Benton painted artwork that reflected every day America while staying true to the Regionalist art movement. Diego Rivera painted stories, but was a little more political with his pieces. He liked to create a little bit of political controversy in his pieces that show this grand story and many mini-stories within each detail of the piece. The political or editorial cartoon we created did just that. It told a story or made fun of everyday life things. My political cartoon was about a boy named Max that played sick so he didn't have to go to school and then when his mom told him that school was cancelled because of snow he feels silly and that he went to all this work to play sick and now there is a snow day and he feels foolish for his attempt to get out of school. The cartoon portrays a story and talks about the things that children do when they are young and sometimes how insignificant sometimes their attempts can be. I would really like to use this studio in my classroom lessons to talk about story because I think it is a great way to get students to put in chronological order a story and put a lot of creativity into the greater story or meaning behind it. For younger grades instead of giving them a whole blank sheet of paper I would probably create three or two squares for them to draw in that are smaller so it is less daunting to draw a picture using the whole piece of paper.
This next studio was one of my favorites so far. I loved the painted story quilts. This studio reflected the artist Faith Ringgold's artwork that is mainly done in a way for her pieces to look like quilts even if they are not completely done with fabric, but canvas and paint, too. This studio has the ability to create so many stories or memories because it is a quilt. Quilts are special to people if they are made with things that are theirs or within their family and reflect themselves or the people around them. There are so many ways to create a story using a quilt. I agree with Pink (2005), who states "but personal narrative has become more prevalent, and perhaps more urgent, in a time of abundance, when many of us are freer to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose" (p. 115). People need to somehow tell their stories and their families stories and stories about the things they experience in their everyday lives. Quilts are a fantastic way to do that. I would definitely incorporate this studio into a lesson plan that I create because you can tell the story of yourself or you can even create a quilt that has to do with the history lesson or subject matter than I am teaching and have elements of those stories in a quilt form. I just love the way quilts tell stories, and I believe that would be a great activity to showcase the thoughts of the stories my students are trying to convey.
I loved all of the studios and artists that we talked about in this unit. Jean Shin was such a cool artist to me. I thought her work was so compelling, and it just made you think so much. There were so many ways of analyzing and interpreting her work. The artwork of the many trophies with the people on the trophies doing everyday jobs and the city made out of lottery tickets was just fascinating to me. I just loved her work and there is so much that we can get out of it and stories that come to mind. Each one of those lottery tickets or trophies reflect a story and the story of why people bought the lottery ticket just to lose or got the trophy from earning something and all of those people having a common story that they all bought a lottery ticket in hopes of winning and received a trophy for something they accomplished connecting their stories to one another. I thought this studio was great and something that the students could really enjoy. First, they had to thing up a creative item that was useless for them to bring for it. I just thought it was so cool the things people brought for this studio. I think the kids would love the way they could look around and chose another student with an idea that helped tell the story of their item and collaborate with another student to create art and a story through both of the groups of useless items. Bang (2000) states "do not worry about whether the picture is pretty" but "worry about whether it is effective" (p. 94). Those are key to this assignment because price tags and coupons are not pretty things, but the piece and story that we created in this studio is effective to show that we try and have material things run our lives and attempt to make us happy, but those things will never make us truly happy but in the end feel empty and have a sad ending. I would definitely integrate this studio into a lesson that I create to showcase a deeper story or to create a story using menial things that our society and culture label as useless and unnecessary and making them into a significant, effective, and relevant piece of art through the story we tell through it.
References:
Bang. Molly. (2000). Picture This: How Pictures Work. San Francisco: Chronicle
Books.
Pink, D. (2005). A whole new mind. New York: Riverhead Books.