Community Arts Project.

My group's Community Arts Project was the importance of the youth vote and the effect that voting has on the field of Early Childhood Education.

Source: Diana Menalo

We chose this as our issue because with 18 to 24 year old citizens being the lowest voter turnout group for the last election, our decisions are being made by an older age bracket. More youth need to exercise their right to vote.
It is essential to also understand the impact the government has on Early Childhood Education as well. With different political parties promising different thins, and with some not focusing on child care and education at all. It is important to make an informed decision, which is why and how we came up with our sort of tag line "USE YOUR ECE VOICE AND MAKE A CHOICE".


We were able to cover the youth vote and impact on ECE by presenting this to our class, and the big idea would be to have the department involved, as well as a video featuring student, created by students.


I think we were successful in our presentation as we focused on an important, social issue and created a fun, creative way to get the point across. It is an issue that does and will affect us directly, and it is essential that we have our voices heard throughout the country.


When I think of art words I can associate with this project, I think of colour. Especially in regards to our topic. Colour "makes us each respond with feeling" (Schirrmacher and Fox, 2009, p136). The response could be good, or it could be negative. How do you feel when you see a sign on a neighbour's lawn or in their window supporting the candidate the are voting for? Their sign will be their party's colour, and at least during campaigns, that colour will make you think of them. Colour can have such a powerful impact. They can happen naturally in the beauty or be strategically chosen to make you feel a certain way. "Children develop their colour preferences and palettes early in life" (Schirrmacher and Fox, 2009, p139). Everyone has a favourite colour (I hope), and it is something we carry with us for our entire life. It can have a great influence on aesthetic decisions, which I think is amazing... because it's colour!


Reference

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

Guerilla art.

Being bogged down with work and school for the last little while, I really had to think of something I could do one day that could coordinate with one or the other. One day when sitting at work, I saw a pack of Post It notes. I love Post Its. I am a big fan of drawing little pictures and leaving them behind for people, as something funny for them to find. So that is what I did.

I didn't really have an intention with the drawing. Something simple, cute. When someone looks at it, they will probably smile. Anyway, I posted this on the desk at work on a Saturday. I came back during the week, and made an awesome discovery.

More animal Post Its! It's kind of hard to see, but there is a penguin, a lion, my cat, then a bear. All accompanied by their sounds. Apparently, penguins go "meh meh". I laughed heartily. I thought it was amazing that people joined it. I love doodling, and having evidence of someone else taking a minute of their day to draw a little picture meant a lot to me.


Today when I was working, my supervisor asked me what the notes were for. I explained to her, and she decided she wanted to join too.

And after that, another staff member decided to add her own art as well.

Post It note art or messages is an easy activity to incorporate in the classroom. Having a child write a short message or draw a small picture and leave it for someone to find could be the one thing that makes the person who finds it smile that day. The art does not to be big to have a big impact on a person or on the environment. 

Design is an important aspect of art, but sometimes it does not need to be a meticulous process. Sometimes, a spur of the moment art design can have the same beauty and impact as something planned out over time. Design brings up issues such as the artist's intentions, their success in delivering a message, and the overall sense of the artist's work (Schirrmacher and Fox, 2009, p142). Even a child's art has a message. Whether they are communicating their inner feelings or just having fun, that message is sent to the viewer and it is up to that viewer to figure out. Children and adult use different elements of design, but both have similar goals. An example such as my own is very simple, but it is a happy message.

References

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

Gloria. (Magical Thinking)

This is Gloria.


Gloria is a sweet lady. A little older than you'd expect, but who's counting?


She has lived in the city for a while. She spent her younger years in Kensington Market, but eventually moved in with me a little more east.


She has a cat named Bruce, but I tend to take care of him for her.


Some of Gloria's favourites...


Favourite colour: lilac
Favourite food: crumpets with home made fruit compote
Favourite animal: a tie between cat and rabbit
Favourite artists: Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley


Gloria is kind hearted and gentle. She is always there for you to lean on when you need her. Gloria is a nice friend to have.

To me, Gloria is a work of art. In all honesty, I found this chair on a street in Kensington Market when I lived there and I could not just leave it there. I loved the pattern, it made me think of a little old lady (hence Gloria). Shape (Form, when talking about 3D forms) wise, she kind of makes me think of one as well. Shape refers to the outside form of the object, the defined lines that surround it and has its own personality (Schirrmacher and Fox, 2009, p140). Gloria is small in stature, angular, and soft. When you look at her as not a person, she is made of a lot of lines and rectangles. Shapes are visible in all objects, and it is fun thing to observe with children. Pointing out every day objects and listing the shapes they recognize is a good way to build creative thinking skills in children. This will help them recognize the art and beauty in all things.

References

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

Grocery shopping with a twist.

I love grocery shopping. I did when I was little, going with my mother, and I do now, going by myself. I find it relaxing, and always interesting. Sometimes I make a list, but usually I like to go and find things that catch my eye. I have to shop at a nearby Metro. I miss the days of living in Kensington Market, and shopping in the open markets. Oh well.


I am on a super health kick lately. I am trying to eat as well as I can, given my funds, since I have some personal health goals I am working towards. So my food category is... healthy goodness.


Things that usually appear in my cart at the store:


- apples
- bananas
- frozen berries
- lettuce
- radishes
- grape tomatoes
- peppers (all colours!)
- asparagus
- onions
- whole grain bread
- whole grain cereal
- tofu
- low fat milk
- yogourt
- orange juice


Time for sketches...

Texture is a very noticeable aspect of grocery shopping. Texture refers to how the outside or surface of an object feels (Schirrmacher and Fox, 2009, p144). The freshness of produce can be determined by its texture. You pick up a pepper, feel it in your hand, then decide whether you want to take it or not. I think that would be a fun activity to plan for a classroom. A trip to the grocery store to discuss the textures of fruits and vegetables. Talk about the difference between a tomato and a pineapple. This will help build creative thinking and language as well.

References

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

Composing with Scissors.

If I had to choose a favourite art form (a hard thing to do), I would go with music. I find it so enthralling and exciting. I've always wished I had more musical talent (I am friends with my ukulele). Inspired by Honigman and Bhavnagri’s (1998) article titled, Painting with Scissors: Art Education Beyond Production, I created a plan for an activity where those involved construct their art, which in this case is music, with anything they can find.

Source: Armatage Montessori

Anyone can participate in this activity, and I can see it working amazingly in an early childhood classroom. The task would be to find any kind of object, and then as a group, we would compose and record a song using the sounds we create with our found objects. Every one would explain what they would do with the object, and we would use technology, such as a computer program, seeing as most classrooms have a computer, to record the sounds we make, and then would take all of our samples and create a song.


The essential part of our song would be the beat. The beat of a song is like a pattern. Pattern "suggests flow, rhythm,, motion, or movement" (Schirrmacher and Fox, 2009, p142). As opposed to a visual pattern, music is an auditory pattern. it is what makes us tap our feet or nod our head in time with the music. As with visuals, a beat can be "plain or simple, regular or irregular, sequenced or alternating" (Schirrmacher and Fox, 2009, p 142). Learning about patterns in music can be a beneficial music lesson for children, allowing them to get in touch with the rhythm and help them understand what creates music.


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

Film Chat - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

As a group, we watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), directed by Michel Gondry. The following is our over the internet chat about it.

Source: Shumrock

Diana: What caught my attention in the movie was the fact that they were erasing people's memories. Even if something bad happened, don't you want to remember it and learn from it? Even though they end up with a "Spotless Mind", it doesn't seem like the most pleasant thing to go through. Nothing can be perfect, and stuff happens so you just have to go with it. Mary had her mind erased and she just went down the same path with Howard not knowing that it all happened before. To me that's just inconvenient (and embarrassing).

Michelle: I agree with Diana. I don't think I could go through erasing my memories (even the bad ones), because I think that they are part of who you are. Also, I don't think you can escape fate, which would make erasing your memory pointless because the same things would end up happening (a point in case with Mary). I also cannot imagine what the world would be like if you were actually able to erase your memory. I think it would be interesting to see who would do it and for what reasons. Just like to point out there's a new movie coming out that reminds me of this....the adjustment bureau and for some reason inception.

Sam: Ha ha, yeah. The whole thing ends up with them realizing what they had in the beginning. Any relationship, no matter how crappy it may have/did/could (I don't know how to phrase this, ha) become, had to have some good points or it wouldn't have manifested into a relationship at all. Those memories are certainly worth having, in my opinion. I love memories and nostalgia.

This movie won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. I love when little indie-ish (I hate using the word indie) movies win Academy Awards. The Oscars is by no way a means of judging whether a film is good or not since it's run by old people, but when a film like this wins, it's cool. Especially when it's screenplay awards. It demonstrates that many people appreciate the film for its uniqueness. To me, the story is most important in a film. Visual effects? No thanks. The story is the foundation, and then you build on top of that. Big time blockbusters are so cheesy these days, and I feel half of the movies nominated for awards were produced solely to win awards. Which is why The Social Network won't win anything at the Oscars this year and it'll be The Kings Speech and stuff like that. Sorry, I am getting personal now (NOT DIMINISHING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STORY BEHIND THE KING'S SPEECH, because I like it).

POINT IS, the team behind it makes this story interesting. Charlie Kaufman was a writer for the story and adapted it into a screenplay, and he did Being John Malkovich which is AWESOME (among other good films). Michel Gondry was a writer, and does awesome stuff on his own, especially music videos. I see a lot of his influence in the visual style of the film. There is a third writer dude, but I don't know much about him. I am pretty passionate about film, writing and directing. Not only did they write an interesting story, they made it visually appealing as well. Anyway, I love the idea of them working together, it's like a collaboration piece. Writing is art, film is art. Yay art.

A world where we could erase our memory would be...

horrible
pointless
unemotional
vapid
boring
heartless.

I like feeling feelings, which goes hand in hand with thinking thoughts and remembering memories.

Diana: I can't really touch upon the awards and people behind the making of the film because I don't know anything about anything when it comes to that. But EXACTLY. You can't run away from what is going to happen, change what has, or make yourself permanently forget it all. The words you have for a world where people could erase their memories are PERFECT!! If someone passes away and you can't take the pain anymore, or if you break up with someone and you just want to forget it, you're not only erasing all the bad, but you're erasing all the good. All the wonderful memories and emotions would be gone. It would be such a waste of your life to have memories and then erase them. You look back on it, you laugh about it, cry about it or regret it, whatever. It makes you who you are.

Michelle: I think that although you can't (and I wouldn't want to) erase memories, I'm sure there are definitely some people who would disagree (there always are). I think that doing this would make the world as sam described it, and these people would rethink their stance on the issue. I think though this is one of these issues where if people did want to erase their memories, the only way of making them see the effects of their actions would be for it to actually happen, because we will truly never know...

Natalie: Well, since all the good comments have been made, I will try to reiterate my similar thoughts. Erasing your memory no matter how painful some are, is a terrible thing. Those memories are a part of who you are! They make/break/ define parts of your life that shape who you become and how you got to that. The movie in itself shows a fair representation of a world where that is possible but I don't agree with the concept whatsoever. It's a disturbing idea. But I actually did enjoy the movie... AND just for you Gustav, Kirsten Dunst was excellent comic relief! :P

Gustav: I think that it is interesting how Patrick(Elijah Wood) wants to take over Joel pretty mundane life. As an observer, Joel´s life is not really that desriable, maybe with the exception of his girlfriend. But he could try to start dating her without trying to be Joel. Because since Clementine wanted her memory earesed, Joel is clearly not the optimum fit for her. So is it an expression for "that the pasture is always greener on the other side" and he cannot get rid of the thought of being Joel before he tried? Or is he only a very weak individual unable to create a life for himself that he feels that he needs to take over someone elses? From what we can see in the movie he constantly seeks validation from other people to give him a right to exsist.
So I think its fair to say that there is a general agreement about not erasing your memories. But what if you where abused as a child? Raped? Bullied, like really bad, in school and it limited you as a person? And if the technology was available wouldnt it be fair to let adults choose for themselves what to do with their lives? I dont believe in fate as in that things a pre-determined, things happen far to much by chance. So to explain how Mary fell in love with the doctor all over again is because as she grew up she aquired a taste for certain things and therefore she will make choices that would nudge chance at the direction she would want, so I think he could be exchanged for someone fairly similar and she would fall in love with him, because she likes those qualities that he poesses like being kind, patient and secure.

Karishma: Well to start off... I see this movie as a realization that you never really know what you have until you begin to lose it and it’s gone. As much as I did enjoy this movie, I also found it to be terribly cliché. It begins with the message that you can’t fight fate; it is something beyond our control, and even in a world where we can erase memories and alter our minds in ways we feel might benefit us, destiny will only cause these events to re-occur all over again. Which brings me to my next point, and the second cliché; everything happens for a reason. Every conversation, thought, action, etc. in our life is for a reason, it is the result of one thing, and the cause of another. Every moment is connected and for us to simply erase one or more of these occurrences, it kind of breaks the chain. So in the movie it kind of makes sense that fate would intervene and make Joel and Clementine meet again. Then comes the third and final moral of the movie; if we don’t learn from our mistakes, we’ll only repeat them. Or as many would say, those who don’t know their history are bound to repeat it. In the movie, Joel and Clementine hesitate before deciding to re-attempt their relationship, we don’t know if they are meant for each other or if they really will end up the same way as the first time around. However, the point is even if it is a mistake, it’s one that they were supposed to make. By forgetting the relationship, they forget the experience and everything that came with it, including knowledge, emotion, and development. Personally, I feel like it is our mistakes that make us who we are. Our memories are what help us advance and grow as individuals; we use them as precedent in our everyday life. That might be why I’m completely against the idea of memory erasure. I kind of see it as a form of regret; which it actually is...and I think that’s the worst thing for someone to have. Either you do something and you live and learn from the outcome, or you refrain from doing it at all in the first place...but otherwise, what Clementine did—erasing Joel from her memory, I think it was just plain stupid and cowardly. He did it, too, but not as a form of regret, but kind of a rebuttal. He was hurt and this was his response. Nevertheless, in one sentence, I disagree with the concept of “lacuna implementation.”

Patterns.

I was not able to find my own photo, but this is a good representation of one my favorite patterns I have observed in my environment before. Power lines.

Source: The Argosy

While not apparent in downtown Toronto, where I currently live, they are easily found in the suburbs, where I grew up. They come in many different shapes, the signifance of each one is beyond me. When I was little, I would always look at these and think they they resembled tall men, holding the wires. Some even have the clear shape of a big, macho man.


Source: hughstimson.org

They cross the expanse of an open, rural field, one ofter the other, holding up the wires that transmit power to neighbourhoods everywhere. They seem kind of lonely, standing there in the middle of nowhere.

I've always wanted to climb one. I almost did once... but eventually decided it was a bad idea.

What I see when I look at these are lines. Long line disappearing into the distance. Line is an essential part of art, as well as an essential part of this pattern. A line can be many things. It can represent an edge, an elongated dot, be created by an artist, a definition surrounding an object or be used to create a symbol (Schirrmacher and Fox, 2009, p135). In my example of a pattern, this line is powerful. Literally. Lines are even apparent in the structure holding up the wires. These lines are powerful as well because it is the shape that the lines create that make the structure so strong.
Early scribbles and doodles created by children are mostly line. All art begins with a line. Having a child draw a line and ask them what it is opens a door of infinite possibilities. A line can be anything, as it is a part of everything as well. It would be a true exercise of creative thinking.

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