‘’ we do not of course have to accept what others say but there is every chance that our response to art will be enhanced by a variety of opinions and responses.’’ ( Fleming, 2012.) There is often no right answer when it comes to Expressive Arts. ‘Thinking is sculpting’- we discussed this term in todays lecture. My interpretation of this is we need to let our imaginations run free when it comes to visual arts. In some cases, a picture can provoke many more thoughts and feelings than simply reading an academic text can. Hence- the importance of ‘visual essays.’ We analysed a text bombarded with quotes and academic language which we then depicted through drawings.
Personally, I found this task quite challenging as I had a text with very little similes or metaphors so it was difficult to visualise what the writer was trying to portray. On the other hand, what amazed me was the different interpretations individuals had on the same text.
As you will notice from the picture above. Our art workshop today would seem very absurd to many but I engaged very well with this task. We had to create prints with our hands using black paint. We were able to form anything we wanted out the prints. Rotating our creations round the cohort to provide everyone with the chance to add anything they believed was missing. The rotation concept might not appeal to all learners as they usually take pride in their own work and would not want someone drawing all over it. However- as the teacher – we can emphasise how this might enhance the piece of work through allowing another person illustrate what they see. A fresh pair of eyes can often identify new ideas.
We were provided with the picture above as a stimuli for our allocated drama activity’s today. This is a famous painting by Avril Paton known as ‘Windows in the West.’ Through the use of four drama conventions: Still image/ thought tracking/ flash back and flash forward we visualised the different events that could occur in the tenements. This could be used in the classroom for social subjects’ through the use of: flashback/ flash forwards to represent a timeline. In addition, it could be incorporated into literacy by implementing ideas for a creative writing piece by using this as a stimuli for the beginning or end of the story. This highlights the importance of introducing drama to our classroom as it supports other areas of the cfe framework.
References:
Fleming, M. (2012) Justifying the Arts [online] available: https://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/36831/mod_resource/content/1/Fleming%20M%202012%20The%20arts%20in%20education%20an%20introduction%20to….%20ch1.pdf
