Art Spirit

September 4th grade -1st grade video tour of art work

Enjoy!

Raise your hand...

Fortunately the students I have the privilege  of working with are very polite, so raising your  hand to speak is really most of the time not an issue. There are times when people do get pretty excited. And then, people are reminded of the cardinal rule of hand raising. I wonder if people who are not teachers or in education in any way have an understanding of the value of protocols, the value of systems within systems. Within the studio classroom, these protocols and systems ensure safety. The environment that is safe is expected, is consistent. Then within this consistency we all can think about the art that we are making. We can take risks, we can invent, we can describe  our imagination. Back in the classroom  after a brief period away I find myself embraced by the energy of making again--- and wrapping around the making is the discipline of citizenship.

 

Works with the Sound of Their Own Making

    

  Box with the Sound of Its Own Making Robert Morris, 1961

The 1961 conceptual work by Robert Morris, Box with the Sound of Its Own Making has always been a favorite. It is a humble and beautifully made wood box that contains a three and one half hour recording of the sounds while the box was being produced.  The notion that artwork both contains and resonates a process that is at once fabulous and daily is beautiful.   Entering into the work of the school year I am reminded of Robert Morris’ 1961 piece. It is relevant.  Steps, plans, materials, learning targets, discussions, reflections and all of the daily process and all spaces between that go into the labor we and our students enter into each day. 

1^st grade painting

Student work contains its own making. Often I tell my students that when they are 40 years old they will still have this or that artwork they have produced. We all have a good laugh at the thought of ever being that old and move on to passing out the artwork. What I don't say, and would love to be there when they discover the artwork when they are 40 or 50 … is, they will not only have the artwork but they will also have the experience of making of the work.  

3^rd grade clay works

 

Perhaps the way the room was lit by the daylight, or the sound of the music in the studio classroom or the overlay of other students’ voices as they worked, maybe the sound of a brayer loaded with ink, or the smell of the clay or the plasticity of acrylic paint. Art making is experiential – it is how it really feels to create a 'something' that is the center of understanding and true learning.   When they look at the piece on their counter top, or find it in the back of their closet when they are moving for the 100th time in their adult life they will find the experience resonating from the artwork. Within the memory of the experience, the learning and the making are still alive.  This is a lasting gift to our students. 

6^th grade Altered Books

 

Art is a quiet possible activity that we are lead toward and seek after. Art is already ours to follow and discover. It is about entertainment only in the way that our minds are filled and puzzled and challenged. This is different. And this is good.

It is important that we as art educators keep this in mind. Keep track of our greater purpose. The process of creativity and art making is timeless. In the timelessness, there are daily actions and discoveries, which come to resonate within each artwork. Each student creates works with their sounds of their own making. This is different. And this is good.

 

Also posted in CAEA Collage Magazing 2013