This week in Integrated Arts, we focused on interpretation of images. This was done through using our imagination and creativity, by looking at different pictures in depth.
In art we printed ink from our hands onto a piece of poster paper and drew what we could see within. For example, I used the side of my hand to create a thick, curved line and transformed it into a butterfly by drawing wings. Through a demonstration task this emphasised that everyone uses their imagination differently as everyone had different ideas of what they could see in the print. We discussed the idea that something as small as a dot or a mark could end up as something much bigger and more creative than intended. This allowed us to be creative as we generated individual, unique ideas (Education Scotland, 2013).
As a future teacher, I liked the idea that it could be so simple in order to create effective artwork as all we used was ink, paper and a pen. Kear and Galloway (2000, p5) state that “the arts can be noisy, messy and profligate consumers of time, space and resources”. Therefore, it is important to remember when teaching art within a classroom it is crucial to dedicate time and attention to being active and creative, as well as encouraging the use of aprons to prevent pupils from being covered in paint or ink. If I were to do a lesson like this I would ensure that pupils had time and space to be messy as when we participated in the task in University it required thinking time and space to print.
In addition to this, if I were teaching this with a younger class I feel that reading the story ‘The Dot’ would be appropriate as it emphasises the idea that no art work is bad art work. This is a simple, visual book that I believe children could get a lot out of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5mGeR4AQdM
In drama we looked at ‘Windows of the West’, a painting by Avril Paton. Similar to art, we looked deeper into the image and used our imagination to think about what could be going on within the painting. In this case we had to think about what could be happening within the tenements in the painting and act out our ideas through a frozen image, freeze frame and improvisation. This was an interesting task to do as everyone had different storylines and no two preformances were the same. As a future teacher I think that this lesson would be appropriate for middle/upper school children to do as it allows them to work from a stimuli and use their collaborative skills in deciding what ideas are discussed and how they are portrayed. This idea is supported by Education Scotland (n.d., p7) as the Expressive Arts ‘Experiences and Outcomes’ state “Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express my ideas, thoughts and feelings through creative”. This allows pupils to use their imagination and interpretation skills to develop a drama piece supporting a specific topic.
I believe both tasks we did today would be effective and appropriate to do within a primary class as they allowed us to use our imagination, get messy and be creative. According to Fleming (2012), teaching the arts can provide feelings of happiness and fulfilment, allowing individuals to develop their imagination and creative skills. Taking part in these activities differ to the typical work within a class so I think that most pupils would respond well to it as it is different and allows them to be more involved and effective learners- as promoted by the Curriculum for Excellence.
In order to improve, I feel that I need to work on becoming more confident when participating in the creative process and stop comparing my work to my peers. I struggled to use my imagination fully when participating in art, however, after attempting it a few times I became more comfortable and was able to complete the task. I aim to become more confident by participating in every workshop to the best of my ability to allow my confidence levels to grow.
References-
Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence: Expressive Arts Experiences and Outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [Accessed: 20 September 2019].
Fleming, M. (2012) The Arts in Education: an introduction to aesthetics, theory and pedagogy. London: Routledge
Kear, M. and Callaway, G. (2000) Improving teaching and learning in the arts.London: Falmer Press.
