Islamic Calligraphy- Arts Bridge

The main point of this lesson was to talk about respect. After a lot of thinking, I ended up defining respect as “understanding that other people’s feelings, thoughts, traditions, etc. are just as important as your own.” This certainly isn’t the perfect definition, but I think that it was simple enough for the 3rd graders to understand, while still retaining important parts of its meaning.

I illustrated this by talking about Islam. My cousins lived in Morocco for a couple years when I was a kid. My family and I went to visit them while they lived there. I remember learning that Islamic countries don’t have any pictures of animals or plants in their art and I remember realizing that their different beliefs had led to art that I couldn’t have imagined. It is my first clear memory of understanding that different could be desirable and beautiful.

There are many traditions and beliefs in Islam like this one that are not common in mainstream American culture. However we need to respect those differences, we need to understand that their beliefs are just as valid as our own.

This is the signature of a sultan from the Ottoman Empire. The art project was for the students to write their names sort of like this calligraphy. This turned out to be a great opportunity to talk about unity and contrast.

For the project, the students make art using their own names. They practice writing their names in different ways till they found one they liked. Then they drew their names in big letters, and used pattern to fill in the spaces.

I don’t think that this week’s lesson when as well as previous lessons. I ended up doing a lot of talking. I wish that I had prepared more questions to give the class a chance to discuss what we were talking about. I certainly learned how to be more clear and focused for the next time I teach a lesson about respect.

When they were working on their art, I spent a few minutes reviewing what we had learned in the lesson. This ended up being a great way to emphasize the most important points of the lesson, especially because I had spent so much time talking.

#artsbridge #elementarylesson

Arts Bridge- Printmaking

Today’s lesson was all about printmaking and it was super hectic.

First I gave a quick overview of Printmaking. Printmaking is when you create an image on one surface and transfer it to another. It is useful because it can be a cheap and fast way to create multiple copies of one image.

I illustrated this with an art movement called Japonisme (which is a particular interest of mine). The long story is this: For a long time, Japan didn’t allow legal trade with anyone, outside of a few close connections, because they were afraid of western influences on their culture. But in 1854, America decided they wanted to trade with Japan anyways, so they forced trade lanes open. From there Japanese art flooded the world. Japanese woodcut prints allowed Japanese aesthetics and design to spread faster and farther than other art would have permitted. This art when on to have a profound and lasting impact on artists such as Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh. I have examples in the slide show.

When I taught the lesson I focused on how the prints allowed art and culture to travel quickly, and on how artists combined old styles with new ideas.

Rather than being worried about creating a complicated image, I wanted to give the kids a chance to experiment. They drew their image on a piece of paper, and then tranced the image onto a styrofoam sheet. Then they went over to where we set up ink and rollers to roll on ink and make a print.

Next time, I would try to give myself more time, so that I could make sure that the kids understood and could follow the directions. I would also have it set up so that all of the rollers were in one place, with one teacher making sure that the kids were following directions. Once they have rolled the ink on, they could move to another station to get a piece of paper and make the print. However, all the students had managed to make an print by the end of class, and there wasn’t a huge mess at the end, so I count it it as a success.

Google Slides

#artsbridge #elementarylesson

Arts Bridge- Hopi and Kachina Dolls

The students are learning about Native American tribes in their usual classes, so we did a project focused on a nearby tribe, the Hopi. This lesson took two days.

Day 1

The first day was an introduction to Hopi culture. The previous lesson had been about the Navajo, and they lived near the Hopi, so we reviewed them first. They didn’t remember much at first, but they remembered a few details once they got started.

Once past the general introduction, we talked about Hopi myths and stories. In Hopi culture, they use kachina dolls, to teach their children about important things such as religion and good values. This was a great way to show how art can tell a story through symbolism. For example, clothing can tell us that a kachina is an animal or a element of nature. We also talked about why it is important to remember and show gratitude, because Thanksgiving was coming up.

The assignment was to think of something that they are grateful for, then make a kachina doll that represents why they are grateful for that thing. The first day, we focused on conveying body language, facial expressions, as well as creating clothing and other items to help symbolize their message

.

Day 2

The second day started with a review of what they learned last time. I was surprised how much they remembered.

Last time, I asked if they had any stories that had been passed down to them, in the same way that the Hopi pass down their legends. They were not able to think of any. This time, I had images of Hercules and The Tortoise and The Hare, and told them that these stories had been passed down to us for thousands of years, just like Hopi legends.

We also reviewed symbolism, but then went on to color symbolism. The main idea is “colors can remind us of objects or emotions.” Mr. Smith had the idea to talk about the characters from Inside Out, which worked out well. I found a website that talked about colors in Hopi culture, and it was great to talk about ways that symbols differ between cultures.

Then we passed out chalk pastels. I had planned on guiding the students through different techniques for using pastels, but Mr. Smith told the students that they should use the pastels to “create their own piece of modern art.” This ended up being really fun. We encouraged them to learn by experimenting and trying new things. If we saw a student use a cool technique, then we held up the artwork to show the other students.

Then we went on to color the actual kachina dolls. It was hard to be neat, and many of the students had trouble coloring small details. These are things that, next time, I will warn the students of ahead of time. However, the kids had a lot of fun, and did some great work.

#artsbridge #elementarylesson