Our morning was spent with the museum's conservator on Tuesday. This behind the scenes look at art preservation and conservation was a rare treat for any art lover. In the afternoon we went back to the studios to begin work on a plaster ecorche carving. We were each given a plaster cast of a face and asked to carve away the excess material to show the muscular structure of the face. I chose to split my face in two - depicting the skeletal structure on the left and the muscular structure on the right. This traditional academic assignment allows students to gain a deeper understanding of how the face is constructed and why light hits the surfaces int he way it does. This activity will be completed on Wednesday morning.
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Over the years I have made it a priority to reinvest in my teaching practice by attending workshops, seminars, conferences and classes that relate to art education. Sometimes these professional development opportunities are theoretical and other times they are materials based. This week, I am attending the Summer Academy for Teachers at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA). If you are unfamiliar with PAFA and their offerings, I urge you to visit their website for more information. The focus of this year's program revolves around the museum's collection of historical American paintings. I saw this as a chance to learn some new approaches to teaching art history, collaborate with other art educators, and spend some time being inspired and making art (the program leans heavily on art making - yay!). I also felt this was a great opportunity to expand my knowledge of this genre of art history - our 8th grade Social Studies Curriculum focuses on American History and I try to collaborate within my building as much as possible. Today we started the day with a brief tour of the museum. Our guide refreshed our understanding of Visual Thinking Strategies (VST) using Benjamin West's monumental painting, Death on the Pale Horse. VST is a great technique for looking at art with children because there are no wrong answers. VST is also an invaluable tool for today's learner as it helps to increase visual literacy. We also spent some time comparing and contrasting two of the museum's portraits of George Washington. In the afternoon, we visited the studios and began work on a grid enlargement drawing. This may sound odd and you may be asking yourself, "what art teacher doesn't know how to do this?" Well, you are correct, and I would bet that ALL art teachers know how to do this and have taught their students using grid enlargement at some point during their career. However, PAFA's summer academy is open to any TEACHER, thus not all of the participants are working as art educators.
I chose to work from Modigliani's La femme a l'eventail. Having three hours of uninterrupted time to draw was glorious. This is a luxury I do not often allow myself and I found the experience to be refreshing and inspiring. I'm not quite finished, but you can see the progress and the resemblance. I increased the image size by 2.5 - the drawing is 15 by 23.75 inches. Let's face it, we are all easily distracted by the pace of the 21st century. On a day to day basis, I am bombarded with information almost constantly. I find this overload of content can dull my senses, leaving my brain a bit cluttered, dusty even! If I do not consciously stop to be inspired by the world around me, I can see my creativity dwindle.
I spend most of my days in a middle school art room, so my goal here is to take a moment each day to dust off my soul and reflect on the moments that made me stop and think about the art that is being made in my classroom and how those experiences can inspire my life. What I hope to do: Write an observation of and document my response to an event from each day in my art room. Some days this may be a big event, like an artistic breakthrough with a troubled student. Other days, this may be a challenge that I struggle to overcome in my teaching practice. After 12 years as a middle school art educator I can guarantee this: you NEVER know what can happen in the art room. My goal(s): To become more observant of the little things that may inspire my life (or my own artwork) while I am teaching. To pay closer attention to my daily life. To dust off my soul and my mind so that my creativity can have a fair chance in this busy world. To learn from my triumphs and stop repeating my mistakes. To grow as an art educator, as a writer, and as a person. |
Lora DurrMiddle School Art Educator. Adjunct Art Education Professor. Non-Profit Arts Organization Board Member. Artist. Arts Advocate. Dog-Mom. CrossFit Enthusiast. Archives
October 2015
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