Collaging with Scissors [Art Explorer #6]

An old mini collage I made for a school assignment

        Collaging can be used in various ways. In the past, I've always enjoyed making collages for school projects to express myself and help others get a glimpse of who I am - the things I'm interested in, things I like and enjoy. It's definitely a good approach to communicate personal identity because collaging has no boundaries. Children can be as creative as they want; they can add anything to a collage that depicts who they are and what they want others to know about them. The activity I thought of is inspired by an old project I completed back in highschool. It's called a 'ME BOX'. The collage idea is still the main component, but instead of using a a large piece of paper for children to glue all their materials on, children will be creating their collage on a box (ie. shoe box, small cardboard boxes etc). Similarly, it can be used to communicate children's understanding of the world. A collage about the

         Inside this box they can store trinkets of items that they might want to bring in to share with the class. For instance, in my mini collage I glued stamps and an origami heart. So, I might decide to bring in more of my stamp collection to show to my classmates. The heart represents my interest in origami so I might choose to bring in other origami creations into the box.

Art Word of the Week
Line [lahyn]
According to Schirrmacher & Fox (2009), "lines can be used in many different ways, they have their own dimensions, including size, direction, length, width, and weight, as well as their own personality" (p. 135). A line is:
- something we use to make letters, words, numbers, symbols and signs
- a continuation of a dot
- helps artist define shapes and contours or represent edges
- a visible mark made by an artistic tool, such as a crayon, moved across a surface, such as paper
         In this activity, a line may or may not be made by crayons or pencils. In fact, it may be made with scissors as children create various shapes and sizes of lines by cutting out things that they might have found in magazines, newspapers, or drawings.
Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & creative development for young children (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Thomson/Delmar Learning

Art Film [Arts Explorer #5]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

FILM DISCUSSION.

shereneee. says:hello my fellow groupmates, It's now time to begin our discussion
jessie says:
Okay =)
shereneee. says:
so the movie that we have chosen is Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind
jessie says:
Who is in it again?
Their names
shereneee. says:
Kate Winslet
Jim carey
'ANGIE; says:
yeah.
what did you guys think of the film?
jessie says:
I enjoyed it..it was unique.
never heard of it until class
but i found the story line refreshing..it's not common for movies to mix love stories with actual brain washing
shereneee. says:
actually for myself this was my 3rd or 4th time watching it.
in english class for high school we watched it
'ANGIE; says:
to be honest, I was so confused. Especially during the first half of the movie. I didn't understand what was going on... but then near the end it started to make more sense after I put all the pieces together.
jessie says:
hahaha for myself i actually understood it from the beginning
which is surprising cause i usually get lost in such movies (aka inception)
but like Sherene witnessed, when we first started i was so sleepy but by the end i was sitting up and really enjoying the movie
shereneee. says:
yeahh i feel that it can be quite confusing due to the transitions between the scenes
like i was confused if some were flashbacks and all
'ANGIE; says:
I was a little bit of both. haha. At first when i didn't understand it i was ready to fall asleep, but towards the end when it began to make a little more sense the whole idea of the movie seemed pretty interesting. oh yeah, the flashbacks confused me as well...
shereneee. says:
ohh and kate's hair, everytime it changed color!
jessie says:
hahaha it was what, four or five different colours?
green, orange ...
red..what else?
shereneee. says:
what did you think those colors signified?
jessie says:
yellow?
Hmm thats a good question
I think it really brings out her personality
and willingness to try new things
shereneee. says:
i mean of course it could just mean different times, and the colors may not have actual meaning to it.
interesting...
'ANGIE; says:
yeah, i never really thought about that or paid much attention to the color of her hair to perhaps something important in the movie
jessie says:
Do you guys think the movie reflected a lot of creativity in respect to the director and those who thought of the move line?
shereneee. says:
well if u look at the movie in general,
its not does not fit into stereotype love stories
not like a chick flick type, it focused a lot on the male character's prespective
i mean it was creative in the way the director incorporated an invention that doesn't really exist in our world
in simple words, brain washing.
'ANGIE; says:
yeah. I mean for someone to think of a plot as unique as this one, that alone is creativity right there
shereneee. says:
i mean if that existed in our world to help people move on from relationships.. i think that is just corrupt
jessie says:
which im sure lots of people would perform if it did exist!
'ANGIE; says:
i think that this whole movie involves a lot of creativity. Strategically planning how to basically 'rewind' his past as it flipped back and forth between Jim Carey's memory and his reality.. for that all to come together and make sense is kind of cool
shereneee. says:
to my surprise it wasn't as difficult to decode at the end as i thought
like you guys said, all the pieces made sense at the end.
but as the movie progressed, each turn of event caught the audience's attention
'ANGIE; says:
yeah, I had to ask Jessie a few times what was going on... haha. But like I said, in the end it all just clicked. I really liked how they introduced the movie in the same way that they ended it
shereneee. says:
why in particular did you like?
sorry, what in particular did you like
jessie says:
The part I liked in particular was when he started to try to escape them from erasing his memories by thinking of things and places that they wouldnt expect. For example his shameful things like when he killed the bird
its amazing how people can take an idea and create so many different concepts and "steps" to it..when really it doesnt even exist!
'ANGIE; says:
I think that part confused me a little. It didn't really make sense. Maybe I was overanalyzing the scene and thinking too deep about it when it was supposed to be a very plain and simple idea..
shereneee. says:
well i think the purpose was to get the audience thinking,
its actually kind of funny, that for once a movie helps exercise the brain, you know, usually the audience just sit there in their seats and are spoon fed the plot, but this movie was different
and you know, applying it to ourselves, say if this invention did exist, would you go through with the process?
jessie says:
Hmmmm ..honestly i think there would be many times in my life where id highly consider it
but at the end of the day each experience shapes who we are
shereneee. says:
agreed.
jessie says:
so I dont think so
'ANGIE; says:
I think when we're in that position of losing someone so close to us, it's easy to say "yes, just get him/her out of my head! I don't want to think about it anymore, I don't want to keep dwelling on the past", but like Jessie said, every experience contributes to who we are as an individual. It may feel like an eternity to get past those feelings, but eventually they will pass, you will move on perhaps and in the end it's just something we can learn from, and maybe even smile back at
shereneee. says:
good point. Who would have known a movie would get people to think back and apply it to their own life.
jessie says:
I know right?
'ANGIE; says:
yeah.
jessie says:
Can you imagine a world where everyone could actually set up an appointment to get brain washed
it was so simple! as if it were a dentist appointment or something
'ANGIE; says:
If only everything was so easy. But, it's not!
shereneee. says:
i know, but its not
truly we encounter hardships in our life for a reason
and it is for us to learn from, to help us become a better person, make us stronger
jessie says:
I guess the 40 min. of searching for this movie was worth it afterall!
shereneee. says:
To be honest, this was not my favorite movie, I'm glad that we were able to use the film to apply it our own life, whether or not we would be able to relate to the protragonist
'ANGIE; says:
This now concludes the end of our movie discussion

Art Word of the Week

Com·po·si·tion [kom-puh-zish-uhn]
According to Schirrmacher & Fox (2009), composition is the overall mark of success, and the standard of achievement (p.142) It is the arrangement and blend of artistic elements together to form a unified whole - with the addition of novelty, variety, contrast and an element of surprise to make it interesting (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009).

Patterns in Urban Settings & Nature [Arts Explorer #4]

ART WORD OF THE WEEK:

Pat·tern [pat-ern]:

• ornate and fancy, or plain and simple
• symmetrical or asymmetrical
• sequnced or alternating
• suggests flow, rhythm, motion, or movement
• suggests regularity and repetition
• can be made with forms, shapes, lines, colors, textures or symbols that move across a surface in a recurring sequence

   

                    1. Sidewalk                       2. Inside the AMC Building     3. Lights above the escalator at the Podium

         I have to admitt, I enjoyed this week's task very much; I had a lot fun snapping pictures of the various patterns that I saw in my neighbourhood. Although I didn't purposely walk down the streets of Toronto and Mississauga looking for patterns, I began to pay a lot more attention to the details of my surrounding. We're surrounded by patterns. From the patterns of my comforter, to my clothing, to the brick tiles on my walk to class. It's intriguing how often we tend to overlook these patterns; we just don't really notice them until we're forced to, and only then do we start to find them literally, EVERYWHERE. The pictures I took for this blog entry were actually all taken in and around campus. Now that I've taken notice in them, I see patterns everywhere I go!

        Children create many patterns of their own throughout their play whether through art, play dough, building blocks or puzzles. They sort objects from largest to smallest, by color, shape and/or alternating them to form a series of different patterns. They're intrigued by patterns (as am I), and it's simply wonderful to watch what they can come up with.

Crosswalk on Church and Gerrard St.

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & creative development for young children (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Thomson/Delmar Learning.