Integrated Arts Blog 02/10/18

Integrated Arts Blog – 2/10/18
This week involved “Room 13”, doing art inspired by Bob and Roberta Smith and the first input of dance.

The lecture focused on a school in Fort William in the north-west of Scotland which had a spare classroom used only for art. The room allowed pupils to be expressive and very creative with their drawings and paintings. Not one of the children’s paintings were the same which meant there was a lot of individuality and there was plenty of space for their own imagination to come through. “Room 13 is a social enterprise model of art education. Where this model exists, socially engaged and enquiry based pedagogical practices flourish.” (McAuliffe,2013). Learners manage their own learning and have ‘creative autonomy in determining the subject, media and direction of their work’ (Adams et al, 2008) The students doing art in this room are in control of their own learning and it can help their creativity flow into other subjects. I feel “Room 13” is very important to have in other schools, it has had clear benefits to the pupils working within this environment. It can let children who have development needs in other aspects of the curriculum, like numeracy and literacy, thrive in this area and improve their confidence. This is very beneficial as it provides extra opportunities for these children who might not have had these experiences before.

Visual arts was the first workshop. We focused on making “Slogan Art” inspired by Bob and Roberta Smith (which is his fictional name, his real name is Patrick Brill). We had to think of inspirational quotes to trace through polystyrene and then paint so it will hopefully in print onto a sheet of cardboard. I chose “Think Outside the Box.”


This could be linked well to the “Room 13” as we could choose any slogan we wanted, choose the colours we wanted and go at our own pace. If a child was given this task, it would enable them to choose exactly what they create and allow them to be creative in both their writing and their artwork which is also integrating arts with other important aspects of the curriculum, therefore making their learning more interesting. This task linked in well with the lecture and with the second workshop.

The second workshop was the first input was dance. The focus of the workshop was knowing the different parts of your body, bones, organs and ligaments which are in use when you do physical exercise. Another part was working in groups and getting a list of types of dance moves, but we were allowed our own specific moves within the types of moves. This allowed us, the learners, to control our own learning and add individuality into each of the different moves. This linked in well again to the “Room 13” lecture and the visual arts workshop as it was, theoretically, “pupil led” and there are lots of opportunities to be creative.

There are clear links between visual arts and dance. Dance could also be considered a visual art as it is all about formation and is seen by an audience. There are lots of different types dance which vary in very different things. Visual arts are the same and no one piece is the same. Both art forms can be original and unique which help people who have deep interests in these arts become more confident and creative.

References
Adams, J (et al) (2008) Teaching Through Contemporary Art: Report on Innovative Practices in the Classroom. London: Tate Publishing
McAuliffe, D (2013) Art and Design Education. In T. Bryce and W. Humes (et al eds.) Scottish Education (4th Edition): Referendum, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Pres

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