Fine Scottish Art.co.uk, (2006)

During today’s first lecture we were introduced to a painting called “Windows in the West” by an artist named Avril Paton. The painting is of a tenement building situated in the West End of Glasgow during a winters day. After becoming aquatinted with the painting we were then asked to discuss it using a model which is broken down into four categories which are as follows: process, form, content and mood.

For example if I were a teacher trying to engage a pupil in a discussion about this piece of artwork I would ask questions such as:

Process

• How do you think this painting was made and what materials do you think it was made with?
• What type of skills do you think the artist required to produce this painting?
• How long do you think it took for this piece to evolve? Was it a slow/rapid?
• Do you think the artist used supporting studies like sketches, photographs, stencils or collages?

Form

• What kind of colour scheme has this artist used?
• How has the artist arranged this painting?
• Does the artist use one main overall shape or has she used inter-relating sequences of shapes?

Content

• What is the subject matter of this piece of artwork/ what is it about?
• Do you think the artist observe this subject matter directly or was it remembered or imagined?
• Do you think this painting has been painted representationally or is there deliberate exaggeration, distortion or abstraction?

Mood

• Does this painting affect you in any way?
• Do you think this painting is quiet?noisy/; soothing/disturbing; happy/sad in the mood it projects and the feelings it inspires?
• Does this painting capture a specific mood, feeling or emotion you have already experienced?

Following the lecture, we took inspiration from this art piece by choosing a specific section of the painting and using it to make prints. For example I chose to print the middle section of the building  and did so by drawing it on a piece of polystyrene as shown in the image below:

Once our drawings were complete we began the printing process by rolling paint onto the polystyrene and placing the image face down onto different coloured pieces of paper.

Finally after doing this we then cut out parts of the image we had carved into the polystyrene and rolled over it again with a different colour of paint. We then placed the print on top of the prints we had made previously which gave the finished product a dynamic effect.

We also had our first drama input today where we were tooled with several different techniques to teach drama. Our drama was based on a story called “The Dragon” which entailed villagers being terrified by a dragon flying over their village.  The first technique we were introduced to was Teacher in Role; Andrew used a prop, which in this case was his lanyard, to identify to us that he was in role and no longer the teacher. For this exercise Andrew was the chairman of the meeting held by the villagers and was asking us for ideas on how to steer the dragon away from the village. One of the ideas mentioned was to perform a tribal dance to scare the dragon away from the village. Therefore in groups we then had to create our own tribal dance, where we were then introduced to the second drama technique called Freeze Frame. Once we had choreographed our dance we then had to perform a freeze frame of our actions; as the rest of the group stood still, another pupil told the rest of the class what was happening within the freeze frame. For example, our group tried to mimic the movement of water as we thought this would be what the dragon feared most. After doing this we were introduced to another drama technique known as Process of Drama where we had to create an imaginary situation. In this case we chose to try and find where the dragon lived and so began walking around the room to search for it. As we walked we pretended to wade long grass by cutting it down and pulled our legs from the thick mud.

Hot Seat: Hot seating is where a character is questioned by the rest of the group involved about their background, motivation and behaviour. For example in a classroom a child can be seated in front of a group or pairs in which they are then questioned by their peers. This can be particularly useful when trying to develop a role in a drama lesson. Finally we used a technique called Hot Seating to question the dragon’s reasoning for it’s actions. By doing this we were able to understand that the dragon’s intensions were not ill willed and so we were able to communicate with the dragon a solution to the problem.

The following drama techniques can be defined as follows:

Freeze Frame: Freeze framing a technique used in drama when an action in a play or scene is frozen. This particularly useful when pupils want to highlight a pinnacle scene.

Teacher in Role: Teacher in role is when the teacher uses a particular object, such as a prop or a costume piece, to show that they are in role.

Improvisation: This is a technique used to create a performance spontaneously or without preparation.

Thought Tunnel: A thought tunnel is used when a character faces a dilemma and the children need to provide advice. It can also be when a character walks through a thought tunnel and the children can reflect their feelings towards the character. The thought tunnel is created when the class forms two lines facing each other and the character walks between them and each person speaks to the character.

Process of Drama: This is when the teacher and pupils work together to create an imaginary world or situation. For example the scene where we were villagers trying to scare away a dragon that was terrorising our village.

Throughout this module it has been continuously instilled into me that in order to become a successful teacher we must allow ourselves to abandon the need for practicality at times; more importantly we must occupy a tolerance for mess.  Having a space where children can express their creative talents has proven to be beneficial, such as Room 13 international.  Room 13 international is a network of student-run art studios in schools, which provides children with a creative space to indulge in their own creativity. As well as this, local artists are also invited to come and work with children to teach them different artistic techniques and styles. A case report was published by Room 13 International, (2006) which proved that children who worked in this room showed excellent communication skills; the childrens’ language was complex, elaborated and the volume at which they spoke was in depth and in paragraphs. This research is remarkable when comparing it to research founded by DfEE, (1998) which highlighted that during the literacy hour only ten percent of childrens’ responses observed consisted of more than three words. This case study also showed that children who use Room 13 are hugely independent. As this is vastly a pupil run project, the children conveyed skill sets that exceeded the expectations of a conventional child of this age. Children were responsible for issues such as responding to emails, writing real cheques and ordering materials for their shop (Room 13 International, 2006). Therefore this emphasises that our role as future educators should ensure that we are not limiting children, whilst aiming to encourage them to be self-sufficient when engaging in an expressive arts programme.

Art and drama can be linked as both of these expressive arts can be used to tell a story. Therefore a lesson plan could involve the children creating an image using different materials. After this, the children could follow that lesson by performing a drama to explain the story of the image. This could be created using techniques such as freeze frame and mime. As result of this, we as educators can allow children to develop creative skills such as critical thinking, synthesising, innovation and collaboration (Harris, 2016), by allowing them to engage in expressive arts programmes.

References

Fine Scottish Art.co.uk. (2006). [online] Available at: http://www.finescottishart.co.uk/Windows_in_The_West.php [Accessed 16 Oct. 2017].

Harris, A. (2016). Creativity and Education: Creativity, Education and the Arts. Springer, 2016, pp.42-43.