Arts Explorer #6: Painting with Scissors

For this Arts Explorer we had to fill in the blank “_______ with Scissors”.  We had to choose an art word and then create an activity that would communicate “personal identity and understanding of the world”

For my activity I chose the word collaging.  Therefore, the title of this Blog should actually be Collaging with Scissors.  If I were to do this with children I would begin the discussion by introducing/reintroduce the concept of senses. Sight, smell, hear, taste and touch.  We would talk about what each of these senses do and why we think they are so important.  I would ask the children to choose the sense they valued most.  Do you like to taste things? Touch things? Hear things? Etc.  For this activity I would give the children stacks of magazines, newspapers, postcards, anything that had pictures of people and the children would be able to cut out whatever sense was most valued personally and create a collage.  Other than personal identity and artistic creation this activity also allows children to be exposed to the variety of different people and how physical characteristics are different on every individual.  When this activity is finished I could continue by talking about people who may not have the ability to see, hear, taste, etc.  We would talk about what this meant for these individuals and what services are available to assist them. 

This is what I created:

At a future date another concept we could get out of this activity is the artistic concept of line. 

ART WORD OF THE WEEK: The element of LⁱNE

Schirrmacher and Fox (2009) describe the dimensions of lines as “including size, direction, length, width and weight” (p.135).  With the children I could go over some of their artwork and discuss with them how they chose to use lines to create their pieces.  Did they make straight parallel lines (like I did) or did they choose to make many different types of lines going in my different directions.  Did they make small lines and cut directly around their objects or did they choose something else? 

There are always many learning outcomes for a single activity.

Honigman, J. J., & Bhavnagri, N. P. (1998). Painting with scissors: Art education beyond production.  Childhood Education, 74(4), 205-212.)

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.

Arts Explorer #5: Watch an ‘art film’ and chat about it

Discussion of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Megan: Hi

Figure 1

Ellaine: Hey. So - what did you think of the film?

Megan: I liked it.  How about you?

Ellaine: I liked it too.  It was interesting to watch and entertaining too

Megan: It was definitely a movie that you had to pay attention too.  The time line bounced around quite a bit.

Ellaine: Yes.  You have to suspend your confusion and have faith that it will all come together in the end.  Which it did, don't you think?

Ellaine: I looked up the title because i was curious what it meant.

Megan: What did you find?

Ellaine: It is a quote from a poem by Alexander Pope just like they said in the film.

Megan: Oh right...

Ellaine: The poem is about Abelard and Eloise.  The story is a little long... give me a sec.

Megan: Sure.

Ellaine: Eloise is writing to Abelard about her love.  I think it is based on two real people.  He was her teacher and they fell in love.  They married and had a child.  But her family was against it.  They castrated him.  He went to a monastery and she became a nun.  Because he was castrated, he didn't feel tortured by their love but she did. She is writing about her feelings.

Megan: “How happy is the blameless Vestal’s lot!
                The world forgetting, by the world forgot;
                Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
                Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d.”

Ellaine: The poem is a long one but the part about the Spotless Mind is about how easy it is for a caste virgin to have a pure mind the virgin can forget the world easily have a happiness.

Megan: I think that the film is saying that relationships have good and bad and that people are both good and bad.  You can't forget the bad without losing the whole person.  It's not worth it because then there is just emptiness. "The world forgetting, by the world forgot"

Ellaine: They are both quite flawed people but they are better off together than just forgetting that they ever happened to each other.

Megan: Do you think you would erase your memory?

Ellaine: No - really for everything that you regret in life, there is the depth of relationships and the impact that events and feeling have on who you become.  How can you forget without erasing the person that you are.

Megan: I agree. When you erase that bad, you also erase the good.  I think that experiences and memories shape our personalities.  I mean, I can see the benefit in erasing something that just makes you feel awful but really, eventually everything passes.  Things that were really important to you several years ago are not necessarily something that is really important to you now.

Ellaine: I think that Joel and Clementine realize that as well.  They hear the worst that the other thinks of them but they cannot go on without each other.

Megan: Yah, even though he knows all the things that bothers him about her, he is willing to have a relationship with her anyways because he still sees all the good things about her.  Clementine admits that she is impulsive.  I think that the Lacuna Corporation takes advantage of that which affected both her and him.

Ellaine: I like the way the film represented his memory being erased... things just disappearing.

Megan: I agree.  I loved how they depicted memory loss by things just melting away.  I also love how memories became entangled in each other, because with the passage of time that is what happens.

Figure 2

Ellaine: I also think the film showed that it is a futile pursuit to try to forget.  Clementine still remembered things so that when the weasel guy tried to steal Joel's relationship, Clem was disturbed.  Plus they both ended up at the beach without knowing why they were there and were attracted to each other all over again.

Megan: Yes, it kind of reminds me of the sixth sense idea.

Ellaine: Plus all the work of the Lacuna Corporation started falling apart when Mary found out her memory had been erased.  And she was still attracted to Howard in the end.  It suggests that some things are inevitable.

Megan: Yes, and it also shows how a system like this can be taken advantage of.

Ellaine: What do you mean?

Megan: Well you could tell that Mary didn't exactly feel sure about having her memories erased.  She was angered.  In the tape you can hear Howard say, "We agreed this was for the best".

Ellaine: She had agreed to it I think, but perhaps she was pressured.

Megan: That's the feeling that I got out of it.  She agreed out of a pressured situation.

Ellaine: We don't get those details but can imagine from the wife’s reaction.

Megan: I know! That's most people’s reactions though isn't it?  Like Joel finding out that he had been erased.

Ellaine: I think that the secondary story is saying that betrayal is also something that can't really be forgotten as well

Megan: Yes, it was a main theme in the story.

Ellaine: The wife has never forgotten and is looking for more betrayal.

Megan: She never trusts him. I wonder if he pressured her to have her memories erased as well.

Megan: Imagine if that technology really existed.  You would never really know if you had all of your memories.

Ellaine: Except in the film it was an imperfect process... Which is the same in any sci fi type story that I have ever seen.  The process doesn't work and the problems return.  You have to deal with things in life, don't you think?

Megan: I agree. It makes us who we are.

Ellaine: Anyway, I liked the film in many ways.  The construction of the story was interesting and the themes were worth discussion.

Megan: Thanks for talking about the film with me.

Ellaine: You are welcome!

Figure 1. Joel and Clementine lying on ice. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (unknown photographer). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/

Figure 2. Joel and Clementine in bed. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (unknown photographer). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/

Arts Explorer #4: Spot the Pattern

Pattern is everywhere! From where you are sitting look up and count the number of patterns you see.... 16 from my living room couch (and that was a quick scan too).  After that little introduction I think you can probably guess what my art word of the week is...

ART WORD OF THE WEEK: The element of PaTtErN

Schirrmacher and Fox (2009) describe pattern as something that “suggests regularity and repetition”.  This week for our GoBlog Assignment I decided to take my camera with me wherever I went last Saturday and take pictures of the most interesting “regularity and repetition” I could find.

My weekend started at home, eager to start the assignment I went for a walk around my house and found a huge amount of patterns.  Many more than I had anticipated!  Throughout the day I went shopping with my mom, to my brother’s semi-final hockey game (they won) and a walk around my neighbourhood.  Not the most exciting Saturday, but I didn’t have to go far to find an abundance of patterns!  The two photographs below are what I found.



Schirrmacher and Fox (2009) also describes the benefits of patterns for children as they can use them to “enrich their artwork... (and) will also facilitate learning in the curricular areas of math and reading” (p.142).  When I was working in a grade 1&2 class at a local public school a few years back I was working with a child who was having a difficult time grasping the concept of patterns.  He did, however, love art.  I realised the teacher and I had been approaching patterns from a very mathematical point of view so I grabbed some tangrams and found a spot of the floor.  The two of us together used tangrams to create a huge piece of artwork.  The trick?  The only way we could create lines was to use patterns!  The child and I started with simple two symbol patterns and continued to become more and more complex.  We took turn starting the patterns and I watched as he slowly grasped the concept that in order to continue a pattern you must look at what has already been established.  This activity did not miraculously fix his difficulty but because I tied it to something he loved, art, and allowed him to create a picture with the tangrams, he was much more willing to understand and try.  

THE PICTURES ARE AS FOLLOWED: (1st Picture) Blinds from my kitchen, tiles from the front enterance table, decoration from the wall in my kitchen and a ceiling fan and light from the bedroom.

(2nd Picture) A wheel from the car, a criss-cross fence, a close of up a drain, cans at the grocery store, a light in from the parkinglot, red tiles from the outside of a Wendys, tiles from the neighbors house, and tiles from our backyard.

Patterns give consistency but they are also a lot of fun and they really are everywhere!

Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009).