Arts Explorer #6 - Painting with Scissors

When thinking about this blog entry, I considered many possibilities of how to fill in the blank "________ with scissors".  When we think of what we can do using scissors, the first thing most people think is cutting.  Children are encouraged to pick up scissors and cut out designs and pictures, usually to glue onto something else to create some sort of picture or collage.  I considered different "art" verbs and matched them with activities using scissors. 

I decided that I wanted to use scissors in a way that I have never used them before.  For this activitiy, I chose to DRAW with scissors.  After making this decision, I found myself stuck on HOW I was supposed to draw with scissors.  I thought long and hard, and decided to make playdough.  Playdough is soft and smooth, so I figured a pair of scissors would smoothly run through it and leave a picture.  I added blue food colouring to my playdough because it is my favourite colour.  Once I had my blue playdough ready to go, I realized I had to think of something to draw.  Thinking back to my childhood and activities I did at school and camp, I knew exactly what I wanted to draw.  The one thing that I always incorporate into activities was memories from my cottage!  Having a blue sheet of playdough rolled out in front of me, I grabbed my scissors and began to run my scissors along the playdough to create waves.  This sparked an idea in my head.  On one half of my sheet, I drew out me and my sister playing in the waves at my cottage.  I continued the waves on the second half, but made them bigger.  With the recent news about the tsunami in Japan, I made a connection between my experiences playing in the waves at my cottage to these HUGE waves desroying the villages in Japan.  On the second half of my page, I illustrated (well I tried) waves crashing down on houses and wiping out cars, and a helicopter rescuing a person off the roof of a house.

Art word of the week:  L

                                     I

                                    N

                                    E

I used lines to create a picture in playdough.  A line is a marking created by a tool.  In this case, I used scissors.  Lines create shape and dimension.

Arts Explorer #5 - Art Film

Movies are a fun and entertaining way to express one's creativity and relay a message accross to a wide audience.  I chose to watch the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  I highly enjoyed this movie, although it turned out to be quite different than what I epected it to be like.  This movie requires the audience to pay close attention to small details in order to follow the story line and not get too confused.  After watching this movie, I discussed it with my classmate Melissa Edwards.

Erikka: This weekend I watched the movie called Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it was really cool.

Melissa: Yeah I watched the movie this weekend as well, it was very interesting.

Erikka: At first, I was really confused as of what was going on.

Melissa: Yeah, after I talked to you I really took note of Clementine’s hair colour and it helped make more sense, especially because it was a very detailed movie.

Erikka: I thought that it was really clever how at the beginning of the movie when they met on the train, Clementine said you may not recognize me because my hair colour changes a lot. After the movie it turned out that they had known each other in two different times and her hair was blue during one encounter and red in the other encounter.

Melissa: I agree, I think it was very creative of the writer of the movie to think of that concept. I found as the story continued that I had to keep an open mind and allowed myself to be creative throughout the movie.

Erikka: Yeah, I agree that we had to keep an open mind. When Joel got the note saying Clementine had brainwashed him out of her life I was completely confused. Since they incorporated brainwashing into this movie I was just shocked since it is something that does not actually exist.  But as I continued watching the process of the brainwashing when Joel got it done, I thought that it added a great touch of creativity to the movie as we had to follow them through past and previous encounters and made the viewer have to be that much more attentive.

Melissa: Brainwashing definitely was a surprise in this movie. I thought it added uniqueness to the movie by creating a concept that is not real. I really think that this movie displays a great deal of creativity. I liked how Joel could hear the two lab technicians while his mind was being erased. This created an extra dramatic effect.

Erikka: Yes, I agree as well.

Melissa: Something that I wanted to mention was how the movie showed that memories can be erased but people’s feelings toward each other can never change. Even though Clementine and Joel’s memories were erased, when they saw each other their feelings stayed the same. This showed how memories are so powerful and impact you either negatively or positively.

Erikka: Yeah after the fact of both Clementine and Joel being brainwashed, they were still able to find a connection between the two of them. During Joel’s procedure, he was able to stay true to his feelings for Clementine and they were able to change his memories to prevent her from being erased.

Melissa: That is a great point Erikka. I really think this discussion proved how creative this movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is.

Erikka: Yeah, it was kind of confusing at first, but once I caught on to the twist of the movie I really enjoyed it.

Art word of the week:      COLOUR

Colour is a combination of different light waves, hues, and intensity/brightness that our vision perceives.  We tend to match colours to moods or feelings.  Blue, red, and yellow are the three primary colours, and with these three colours any colour can be made possible.

As an educator, it is important to incorporate fun, creative, and engaging lessons into your daily plan.  There are many movies that can be brought into the classroom to help teach lessons and encourage children to make connections.  Movies allow us to use work our brians by following story lines and making connections between events that are taking place.

Arts Explorer #4 - Patterns

Art word of the week:   PATTERN!

A repeated image or design seen in nature, objects, colour, and texture.

PATTERNS CAN OCCUR NATURALLY!

Patterns can be seen in nature.  This is a picture that my friends and I were able to capture at my cottage of the big dipper.  Constellations are patterns naturally formed in the sky by stars.

Patterns can be seen through genetics.  This is a picture of my kitten, Toby.  He has a very distinct pattern in his fur.  He is not one specific colour; however, his fur shows a light brown and black striped pattern.

PATTERNS CAN BE MADE!



This picture demonstrates a pattern that my friend arranged for a photography project.  We stood according to height, from shortest to tallest. 

This pattern was created during a tie-dye project.  A circular pattern created in an outward movement was created by wrapping rubber bands on a white sheet and dipping it in coloured dye.

Patterns can be seen EVERYWHERE!  Keep an eye open and patterns will pretty much jump out at you.  Whether it is in the sky, on a wall, on your clothes, or in your food, repetition and patterns can be see on a daily basis.  These pictures show how natural patterns can be found and how patterns can be created.  Just use your imagination and look at things differently and notice the patterns in your life!