Using Project 52 in the Classroom

I teach an introductory high school art class where the focus is on drawing. However, I believe the students are served better by exposing them to several artistic media. With photography, I like to include it in our daily art analysis or in extra credit offerings. In the past, they could photograph any public art they saw and print that out for extra credit. However, many of the students have camera phones, some have access to DSLRs, and most are connected online into social media groups so we started a Project 52. Each week a new theme is given and at any week a student can jump in or out of participating. They submit their work to a Facebook page (Skye Snyder Photography  or NvArtworks) or hashtag (#skye52) on Instagram. Friends can post for other friends if they are not members of those social media groups. I like the idea of sharing our inspiration. It's extra credit. It expands their artistic eye by having the tool so readily at their fingertips--the moment of inspiration can be captured and shared easily.

This week's theme is organic. Last year I was fortunate to have a box of educational skulls delivered to my studio by the wildlife department. My K-4th grade students used them not only to learn about mammals but as studies for our Georgia O'Keeffe inspired paintings. I knew I wanted to photograph them while I had them but didn't know quite what I wanted from them.

I, too, am participating in the project. I want to be more mindful as I am composing and spend more time turning over themes in my head. I want to improve my storytelling skills in one single image and force myself to improve my technical skills. I tend to avoid using techniques that I am not familiar with instead of learning them.

From another trip to the California Academy of Sciences, I photographed a wall of foliage in the biosphere area. Again, thinking for a future project. The formulas are from a partially erased chalkboard.

The results are the compilation of these two moments.

2/52  |   O R G A N I C
puma concolor  |  the mountain lion

ursus americanus  |  the black bear

If you would like to share your ORGANIC inspired art, upload to the Skye Snyder Photography Facebook Wall or tag using the hashtag #skye52 on Instagram. I am @skyesnyder on IG. Look forward to seeing your images!! This is open to anyone who is looking to participate in a supportive, creative online community.

Missed week one? Here is the link

alt-J - Tessellate | Music Videos in Art Classroom

Welcome to Part III Tessellations and Alt J | Using Music Videos in the Classroom

 If you haven't read parts I and II, I encourage you to do so before watching the video below. 

Without any backstory, the students watched (at the time, many had not heard of this band yet) and I opened up the floor with one question. A question that seemed necessary to ask considering the snickering and comments being whispered in class. 

"Would your parents have approved of this video being shown in class?"

Which led to, "Would they think it is educational? Why or Why not?"

They were in two clear camps. My parents wouldn't "care" (their chose of words not mine) camp and "Uhhhhh-NO! They wouldn't think it was classroom appropriate!"

Teacher:  Why not?

Students: I don't think they would like that kind of dancing and that you were showing it in class.

Teacher: Dancing or swaying? How many people were dancing?

Students: A lot. Most of them.

Teacher: I only saw a couple. Were they male of female?

Students: All of them were dancing.

Teacher: Perhaps it was the filming they would be opposed to not the actual movement? The close up shots, the pace to imply movement,  etc.?

Students: Exactly.

But that is not exactly what they said. I find their communication skills to be inferior to what they actually want to express (The students have a lot to offer. They think there is one "right" answer so they avoid giving possible suggestions) OR they haven't really LOOKED, therefore their opinions are vaguely informed.

Keen observation and critical thinking plays a major role in understanding the role of art; either as an artist or as a person appreciating art. Art cannot be observed quickly and reap its benefits. We are working on slowing down in the studio to improve our skills as well as our thinking. We need time to develop our thoughts. Here is link to the video I use for the opening lesson of the year that embraces the concept that "creativity takes time".

The simple dialogue above expresses quickly that I expect the students to really look and draw conclusions based on what they have observed--not judgements they have assumed to quickly.  Basically, we started with a Who, What, Where, When, Why approach to reveal the multiple layers happening in this video.

Let's start with the video's setting, Raphael's School of Athens, one of the most treasured frescoes in Italian art history.

A Brief Description of the Fresco

The fresco is the second of four representing the four branches of knowledge: poetry, philosophy, law, and theology.  The characters are the leading thinkers of the past and present time. The central figures are Plato (left) and Aristotle (blue), the fathers of Western philosophy. Both thinkers are referencing where knowledge is received. Plato points up referencing knowledge is received from an eternal, spiritual power. Aristotle gestures to the ground as his philosophy was based in earthly experiences of what we can see and touch.  Other notable figures are Ptolemy, Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Michelangelo, and Raphael himself. The figures on the left side of the composition are interested in mathematics, whereas the right side are scientists trying to explain reality. The sculptures of Apollo and Athena in the back upper niches parallel this duality or balance.

How It Went Down in the Studio Class

(The students have no prior knowledge about this fresco)

Teacher: Why does the video take place within this setting?

Student: I don't know. They are thugs. No one in this picture looks like a thug.

Student: They want to seem important.

Student: Yeah, you said these were the most brilliant minds of the time. They think they are or they want us to think they are. Thugs want to feel this important.

Student: Why does the one guy pour his liquor on  the ground? Is he saying he doesn't buy into this rich white guy story?

Student: No. Where I come from pouring liquor out, like that, or on a grave, is showing respect. This painting or place is like a grave. It has ancestors in it. I don't think they are thugs.

Teacher: You mentioned 'thug'. Why would the band choose that look or give that impression? (* the characters in the video are not the band members.)

Student: Because that's what a philosopher looks like today. Look at the rappers who have important stuff to stay about all kinds of things. It's just a look. It doesn't mean they are thugs.

Student: I think they are challenging our prejudice about that. By being in this place, we have to assume they are great thinkers. We shouldn't judge them by their appearance. But everyone does that today.

Student: I think putting them there elevates who they are. Just like the painter did. By putting them there, he elevates their role in society.

Teacher: What is philosophy? Who is Pythagoras, etc. Talk to those at your table and discuss.

Eventually each table peer taught one another about the characters with a little help from me regarding Ptolemy( mathematician and astronomer - his back is to us on the lower right side in a yellow robe) and Zoroaster (founder of the first world religion - holding a celestial sphere in front of Ptolemy). Raphael is standing amongst that group looking out at the viewer. In the video, a character gives a nod to the painter by wearing a Raphael t-shirt.

We held a discussion how once upon a time arts and science fed one another. Balanced one another by being equally important and relevant. Today our schools are focused on the analytical world of Aristotle and less on the ethereal world of Plato. School of Athens suggests both existed and created a balance.

At this point, I really don't need to be there. The students are conducting their own think tank and proposing new questions based upon their investigations.

Student: What role do the girls have? There are no girls in this painting?

Student: Exactly. Because women weren't important so they didn't make it into the painting. I mean, they were important but not considered to have anything important to say.

Student: That's why their mouths were blurred out when they were singing in the video. We still don't have a say.

Student: That one girl's mouth wasn't blurred out.

Student: Because only some girls have a say. It's better than when this painting was done but it's not equal. The girls look like they are just arm candy. They don't respect the women. They are there to get our attention and look sexy.

Teacher: Which worked since the first response was "This may be inappropriate". But they placed a woman in the position of Aristotle. Does that matter?

Students: Thinking...why do they keep making triangle signs?

Student: The Illuminati, dude.

Teacher: Branding? Self-promotion?

Teacher: Where are my IT kids? What happens when you click Alt + J on a Mac?

Students: ????

Teacher: This ∆. Delta, the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet and in mathematics the "change in" or difference of.  Visually, a triangle. Conceptually, leading us to love triangles, the Trinity, Egyptian concept of a universal nature (Isis, Osirus, Horus - Egyptians adopted from Pythagoras)

Students: Cool.

Teacher: Do you think we are right? It doesn't matter. It's our experience with it, so we are "right" to have it. We absorbed it and tried to have an experience with it and we didn't even touch on the lyrics. We did touch on assumptions, stereotypes, socioeconomics, feminism, equality, art history,

history, mathematics, philosophy, communication, etc. I believe we did something more valuable than filling in the blank of who painted The School of Athens. You engaged yourselves. You didn't accept your first observation. You contemplated. In my opinion, that's what going to School should be. You discover it. I don't do it for you.

If you enjoyed this post (or would like to add corrections, etc), please be sure to comment below. I'd love to hear from other educators using music, videos, pop culture in the classroom.

Skye

Stay tuned for more Film Friday features and be sure to follow the blog or like our FB page to get updates of new lessons.

And then several of us got to see the magic live on Dec 3rd at Grand Sierra in Reno, Nevada. Photo by Annalise Gardella (part of our concert tribe) on Instagram.

* There are several other elements: the lyrics, the shark, the filming style of speeding up the film and reversing it, that we could revisit.  What else?

Art Studio 508 in Tessellations | High School Art Lessons | Reno Nevada

MC Escher Metamorphosis 

Let's talk TESSELLATIONS. Tessellations are tilings created by juxtaposing shapes next to one another.  I'd love to see students discover tessellations through an open ended question and the internet. As a teacher, I feel we often give so much away. It's in the discovery that we learn so much. One fact leading to another connection and so on. For example, a quick Google search will bring a student to understand tessellations in math, science, nature, folk arts, metallurgy, artists, history, and materials conservation; well, beyond simply placing colored hexagons on paper. My role as an art educator is to develop their artistic skills by developing their own critical thinking abilities.

I want to encourage the role of discovery and research in my students' learning. Let me give a brief example. After this project, I was driving to school and a song I had never heard came on the radio, Tessellate by Alt J. It was a sultry rhythmic song whose chorus struck a chord in me;

Triangles are my favorite shape
Three points where two lines meet
Toe to toe, back to back, let's go, my love; it's very late
'Til morning comes, let's tessellate

With the sheer mention of tessellate, I hurried into the studio (classroom) and Googled the song. What happened next propelled our class into what became known as Film Friday--a day of thought provoking issues and think tanks through art. In my opinion, exactly what learning should look like. Pose a question, offer an image, a problem and let them discover its meaning.  If I had given them a worksheet or explain everything in a powerpoint, I'm robbing them of this multi-faceted, connected, hopping from lily pad to lily pad approach to learning. Learning should be an experience, not an activity that scores a 70% and time to move on.  According to my report cards, I did well in high school but no one could assess the merit of the real and most valuable experiences I learned in Ms Burnett's Sci-Fi/Fantasy class. She allowed us to discover and explore the big questions through literature. We discovered ourselves and our ability to navigate tough questions in life. She showed us how to look deeper, to investigate the possibilities. I want to teach guide like her. I want to see less handouts and more discovery.

Next year, this is the approach I will be taking with this opening project. For additional math connections, check the Math is Fun site for examples and play with the tessellation creator.

Click here to read more about using music videos in the classroom and how Alt-J helped me become a better educator in part II.