Artistic Thinking: Week 13 - Read and React

Studio Thinking – Stretch & Explore

Read:

Chapter 11: Learning to Stretch and Explore by Hetland

            In this chapter, Hetland gives examples of how two teachers encourage students to explore and experiment with materials. Both examples are ceramic sculpture classes in which students are encouraged to go beyond what they know already about materials to play with alternative possibilities. The teachers talk with students about their experiences with stretching their abilities to explain that it involves getting out of their comfort zones. The author describes one project where students experience clay by quickly creating creatures and then destroying the results. Without the worry of how the final piece will end up, students are free to experiment with the material without judgment. Students are encouraged to create unique tools, take advantage of “happy” accidents, and to experiment with multiple versions of an idea.

The Role of Artistic Play in Problem Solving by Pitri

            In this article, Pitri discusses artistic play for children in the art classroom. Arguing that pleasure and recreation are a part of, but should not be the only definition of play, the author states that players are concerned with the process of the activity over its final results (p. 47). Pitri gives an example of artistic play through a project in which children explore, design, build, and problem-solve ways to keep an imaginary Princess dry in an unexpected rain shower. While problem solving the young students unconsciously create and test hypotheses. By being encouraged to make use of knowledge acquired so far during their childhood, they were able to encounter new evidence to test their knowledge and create new knowledge. Through artistic play, children can experiment and develop reasoning and problem solving abilities.

Chapter 8: Play by Pink

            In this chapter, Pink describes the importance of play for personal well-being and emotional intelligence through games, humor, and joy. Pink cites James Gee, author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, who says, “When kids play video games they can experience a much more powerful form of learning than when they’re in the classroom. Learning isn’t about memorizing isolated facts. It’s about connecting and manipulating them” (p. 193). When discussing the importance of play, Pink also describes how the comprehension of a joke involves both the logical left-brain and the metaphor-loving right brain. Research into laughter shows it to decrease stress hormones, boost immunity, and activate the cardiovascular system. Pink argues that play through games, humor, and joyful laughter can lead to improved creativity and productivity.

TEDtalk: On Creativity and Play by T. Brown

            In this talk, Tim Brown discusses three aspects of play that contribute to increased creativity: (1) working in quantity, (2) construction and prototype building, and (3) role-playing. He encourages being open to all possibilities by asking simple questions such as “What is it?” and “What can I do with it?” As a reminder, Tim Brown encourages productive play by the creation of agreed upon rules by all players and making play activities into a game.

TEDtalk: Play is More than Fun by S. Brown

            In this talk, Stuart Brown encourages play that is social, physical, inquisitive, involves rituals, and uses narrative. He is currently interested in the effects of play on the human brain. For Brown, play is not one thing, but many things with no particular purpose or goal other than experimentation and exploration. He also describes the increased ability to problem-solve in adults who have played in ways that are physical and involves hands-on construction activities.

React:

            For the most part, all of the readings have aspects of play that are consistent across the texts/talks: (1) the importance of exploration and the process of experimentation over the final product and (2) that play should involve hands-on construction. These aspects are already a part of art education as we explore materials! As I was exploring and “playing” during this week’s activities I found myself looking for a way to keep the “hands-on” benefits of play and problem solving when using computer software. There are already ways to simulate the feeling of drawing in software programs through devices such as Wacom tablets. I have a small tablet attached to my home PC that I bought almost 5 years ago that I love using and still works great! The iPad (which I experimented with the play concept of quantity with) also allows the user to interact in a more “hands on” way with applications. It would be interesting to see if the same parts of the brain are activated when working with these types of computers/devices as when performing activities involving our hands!

References:

Brown, T. (May 2008). On creativity and play [Video file]. Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html

Brown, S. (May 2008). Play is more than fun; it’s vital [Video file]. Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital.html

Hetland, L. (2007). Studio Thinking. New York: Teachers College Press.

Pink, D. (2006). A whole new mind. New York: Riverhead.

Pitri, E. (2001). The role of artistic play in problem solving. Art Education, (54)3, 46-51.

Artistic Thinking: Week 13 - Play Assignment

Granimator is an app for the iPad that allows the user to create wallpapers for their iPad and iPhone. By manipulating stamp-like elements in the artists packs the user can create a variety of compositions. The background to this blog was originally created in Granimator.

Screen Shot of Styles Palette

The following are some of the images created during my play with a few of the new Granimator packs. I gave myself 1 minute to create an image using the app, then created 5 images per pack, had 6 new packs to explore, and made a total of 30 images. I was exploring the play concept of quantity to learn to work spontaneously without editing. Here is a link to a page showing all 30 experiments: http://bunniesthatquack.blogspot.com/p/granimator.html

Reflection: I decided to work with quantity as it has been described as a way to boost creativity and play by Hugh MacLeod in the first of my creativity books "Ignore Everybody" and by Tim Brown when describing the "30 Circles Test" in this week's TEDtalk video. Tim Brown describes working in quantity as having the mindset to just go for it, even when the results don't seem that different from each other. To work quickly, without allowing for opportunities to self-edit, allows ideas to flow into each other. I found myself building off compositional ideas and approaches to work flows that I was discovering as I played with the program. I even found a randomize button in the styles palette that allowed for less "set-up" time and contributed to a better flow of ideas between canvases. Having to think in terms of quantity let me work freely to discover, explore, and purposefully apply new ideas as I moved from canvas to fresh canvas. I think working in quantity would be a good way to quickly explore the possibilities of a software program. For example, Adobe Premiere (the non-linear editor we use in the AV courses) has many video effects. I could easily see students take a handful of clips and start exploring the available video effects to discover their possibilities. In our Hetland text, Beth Balliro describes the importance of this kind of exploration by saying that, "If I had more time, I would have them learn entirely from the materials. And let them learn, and then fail... It's not about perfection and dominating [the] material, but it's about letting [the] material do what it will" (p. 75). While she is describing large projects, in my classroom practice I think software exploration could be broken into smaller chunks that can be explore in single class periods.

Artistic Thinking: Week 12 - Systematic Methods for Envisioning in the Classroom

Teaching the idea of Generation: Students should be encouraged to actively hunt and scratch for ideas, not just wait for inspiration to find them. Old art textbooks and magazines can be great places to scratch (rather than just searching the web) as there is physical movement when handling books and can provide students with a new method of scratching. Taking a “field trip” and getting out of the classroom can also provide students with a way to generate new ideas.

Teaching the idea of Retention: In the art classroom, ideas can be held onto through journaling. Journals could contain drawings, photographs, magazine clippings, etc. In an art classroom with access to technology, journaling can take the form of blogging, where ideas can receive feedback from others.

Teaching the idea of Inspection: By blogging and receiving feedback from peers, students learn how to make decisions about what ideas are good and which are the best to implement. Through physical journals they can circle and make notes about which ideas, or parts of ideas, are good.

Teaching the idea of Transformation: Ideas can be implemented into future artworks. If the journals or blogs are started at the beginning of the semester, these early ideas can serve as jumping-off points for artmaking throughout the semester.

Scratching: Research via TEDtalks

Reflection:

As I'm creating the intro videos for course content I will be creating over the summer, I decide to scratch through some TEDtalks for inspiration and to get my brain thinking about why video content is important and how it is best utilized. Although not all of my posted "scratchings" stayed specifically on this topic, the beauty of TEDtalks lies in their ability to make you think!

In looking at the TEDtalk by Salman Khan: I was inspired by his thoughts on "re-scripting" the everyday classroom by delivering content through video as assigned homework and working through problems as class time activities.

Ze Frank discusses the intriguing idea of connecting online and remixing content via voluntary "assignments." I have been looking for ways to keep past AV students (who often tell me how much they miss AV class) in touch, inspired, and working with video. Frank's TEDtalk and his informal "assignments" given to his following have me inspired to start using my AV blog on our IT Program website for fun assignments.

The TEDtalk by Adam Sadowsky has me connecting studio "minds" and studio thinking to Engineering activities. As I teach in the College of Engineering I am always on the look out for ways to communicate with the students that connect engineers and artists.

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock talks about working on his latest documentary that examines marketing and advertising. Although off topic it is worth watching and makes you ask the question, "What's your brand?"

Scratching.... TEDtalk: Engineers use Studio Thinking?

"The band "OK Go" dreamed up the idea of a massive Rube Goldberg machine for their next music video -- and Adam Sadowsky's team was charged with building it. He tells the story of the effort and engineering behind their labyrinthine creation that quickly became a YouTube sensation."

Scratching.... TEDtalk: Connecting Online

"On the web, a new "Friend" may be just a click away, but true connection is harder to find and express. Ze Frank presents a medley of zany Internet toys that require deep participation -- and reward it with something more nourishing. You're invited, if you promise you'll share."

Scratching...... TEDtalk: Videos in the Classroom

"Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help."

Scratching.... TEDtalk: What's your brand?

"With humor and persistence, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock dives into the hidden but influential world of brand marketing, on his quest to make a completely sponsored film about sponsorship. (And yes, onstage naming rights for this talk were sponsored too. By whom and for how much? He'll tell you.)"

Artistic Thinking - Engage & Persist: Studio Update

 Sony Acid Pro workspace showing original 20 second cut

Sony Acid Pro workspace after editing down to 10 seconds

Reflection:

I took my original 20 second long music bed and re-cut it down to be 10 seconds. It was not as straight forward or simple as it would seem. There was a lot of content that had to be scaled down or removed from the original. A lot of choices had to be made and experimented with. It was an extremely frustrating, but a necessary step. As this is potential music for the intro of the videos it may need to be cut down more, but I'll see what it's like when placed with video first.

I find that my students have similar frustrations when they create their first few projects. They want to use every clip they shot, use entire soundtracks, etc, and produce excessively long videos. I remind them that this is video editing and choices have to be made about what should stay and go. Only the absolute best footage that tells the story in the clearest way should make it to the final cut. I understand, though, that editing anything down is always a difficult task, no matter how many times you have done it before! Cutting down this audio track was a good reminder.

Artistic Thinking: Week 12 – Engage and Persist

Reflection on own strategies for:

1)    Motivating and instilling passion – To get motivated I usually require some kind of deadline to get me started. Sometimes they are deadlines set by myself and sometimes they are course deadlines, etc. Once I get started and have warmed up my eyes by looking at new and inspiring visuals, passion to work and create comes easy!

2)    Cultivating sustained attention – To be able to work for sustained periods, requires me to be in my studio space as described in an earlier post. Anything outside of those parameters won’t enable me to find my focused/unfocused rhythm.

3)    Combating frustration – I’ve found that stepping back, or taking a break, is the best way for me to combat frustration. Often, I will leave the work for a day and come back to it with fresh eyes and a new perspective. I usually find that whatever was frustrating me about the work isn’t as important or overwhelming as I was thinking at the time.

4)    Working hard to meet a deadline – The biggest distraction I have when a deadline is approaching are my family and friends. This is one of the times I have to shut the door (physically and metaphorically) on the outside world. Deadlines usually create a form of frustration that will require several mini-breaks. My family and friends will often see a break as time that I’m not working, however I’m still mentally working.

5)    Delayed gratification – As I like to be spontaneous at times with artmaking, not necessarily knowing the endpoint is not frustrating or scary. I can always pause during a piece and experiment to work through ideas.

Strategies applied to the classroom:

1)    Motivating and instilling passion – The undergrads I teach are experts at procrastination and poor time management and I have tried many approaches to motivate. Sometimes I’ve created tight deadlines and other times I’ve deducted points for not making consistent use of time set aside to work. I’m having difficulty getting the engineering students to understand the importance of process. I’m getting some good ideas from what we’re doing now and think that I may need to require set progress updates (other than informally meeting with them during class) and maybe even an “experimentation” week where they formally work through one of their identified challenges.

2)    Cultivating sustained attention – The students develop work station habits that help them concentrate in the lab and I’ve also found that the students will often help get each other back on task by giving each other feedback about their work and talking each other through problems they are experiencing.

3)    Combating frustration – A strange trick that I’ve found to help frustrated students to “reset” their brains if they get frustrated with using the computer (our media) is to have them save their work and restart the machine. There is seldom any technical reason to do so, but the pause while the machine restarts, logging on to a fresh desktop, and reopening the software program seems to be like giving them fresh air! And if the software was the source of the frustration, it usually clears up after a restart anyway.

4)    Working hard to meet a deadline – Like the teachers in the Hetland text, our lab is open outside of class time. The students understand that they may need to come in outside of class to complete an assignment. As I have a mixed group with varying skills and experience with video editing, I find that having additional times to work allows those with less experience opportunities to experiment with the media without the fear that they may run out of time.

5)    Delayed gratification – Most of the work assigned to my students involves them to pre-plan and script out their project before they even pick up a camera, so there are not really any times that they don’t know their endpoint.

Artistic Thinking : Week 11 - Read & React

Read:

Chapter 4: Multitasking Madness by Rosen

            In this chapter, Rosen describes the multitasking habits of today’s generation. Research in laboratory settings have shown that multitasking leads to slower performance and increased errors than focusing on one task at a time (p. 75). However in realistic situations with “slack” time between tasks, multitaskers can perform just as well as others who are unitasking (p. 76). In a school setting, the author points out that kids are use to shallow information that comes at a fast pace and can become bored when trying to absorb information given at “normal” rates. For educators, this means that learning environments may need to be restructured to let students learn at their own pace. The author gives three guidelines for creating a learning environment that maximizes motivation and learning: (1) allow students to multitask while understanding that students are capable of self-regulating this behavior as necessary, (2) minimize the possibility that dualtask interference may arise by avoiding multiple tasks that share basic mental resources, and (3) allow interruptions that are constructive and enhance the learning process.

Studio Thinking by Hetland

Chapter 5: Learning to Develop Craft

            The author describes learning the studio habit of technique/craft. The author observed that technique was never taught as an isolated skill meant to be mastered for its own sake, but were taught in the scope of larger projects that required students to think using the techniques and skills (p. 33). In learning to develop craft, students learn to develop technique through distinguishing between theory and practice, and to understand studio practice through learning to maintain their studio and work environment.

Chapter 9: Learning to Observe

            In this chapter the author gives examples of teaching students to observe and look more closely than ordinary people do to develop the studio habit of mindful observation. Students are taught to not only look closely at the source they are working from, but to also look critically at the work they are creating, the work others have created, and historical/contemporary works. In the examples provided, teachers use viewfinders to help focus students eyes and to crop or minimize the area around their source. Critique is also described as important times for students to observe and reflect upon their work, as it is in-progress and completed.

           

React:

            I was relieved to read the Rosen chapter on Multitasking. In the past, I’ve found information and “studies” into the effectiveness multitasking to always be contradictory and unclear. I think Rosen brings up a good argument by pointing out that whether or not tasks create dualtask interference is a major factor on a person’s ability to multitask. In developing the studio habits of craft and observation, it may be necessary to provide students for opportunities to pause during tasks by encouraging them to observe each other’s work, to reflect on their own work, and to experiment and explore. As long as multiple tasks do not use the same basic mental functions, students can be encouraged to complete multiple tasks each studio session (reflective journaling, working on larger projects, experimenting with materials, and progress critiques) that can be completed in any order and at individual paces.  

References:

Hetland, L. (2007). Studio Thinking. New York: Teachers College Press.

Rosen, L. D. (2010). Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the way they learn. New York: Palgrave Macmillion.

Technical Research #2 with Reflection

For the second exploration of craft/technique, I decided to explore the program we use in the AV classes - Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 - to create overlays.

My experimentation:

Reflection: It has been awhile since I've made complex graphics in a non-linear editor (NLE) instead of turning to a motion graphics program like After Effects. It can be both satisfying and annoying! Sometimes it takes the NLE forever to render so I can watch what I've created and better understand where I need to make changes. When my students comment about time spent waiting for rendering or exporting their files I usually laugh and say (in my elder voice), "5 minutes to export?... While back in my day we could have went out for a cup of coffee and come back with time to spare..." (Rendering and exporting of video from NLEs has been getting faster and faster as technology evolves.) Rendering and exporting this exploration reminds me how and why the students get fidgety waiting for the software to process video!

Technical Research Study #1 with Reflection

As I would like to make an original music bed for my opening titles, I decided to explore a software program I haven't used before: Sony Acid Pro. Another Instructor teaches this software and I often have students who ask if they can use it to create original music for their projects (which the answer is "yes," of course!). The students often show me what they are working on and how they did it using the program, so I've seen it many times before, but have never used it myself as it is only available on my work PC. I knew what I wanted the program to do, but it took me awhile to explore the interface and find everything I was looking for!

Here's what I created (video shows a screenshot of what I had going on in the program, audio is the completed experiment with using loops, etc, to create a music bed):

Here is a better screenshot of the program:

Reflection: Using this software for the first time, I felt exactly like the quote from the start of Chapter 5 by Beth Balliro, "You start and you don't know how to do anything. You make a huge mess. You're out of control. You have no technique.... And then like any craft, you have to build and build and practice and practice" (p. 33). I started and restarted and restarted this project again and again before getting to the point that I felt like I had something to work with. And it still needs more work and polish! But at least I can continue to develop craft from this point forward. I think I understand how some of my students must feel when they are not new to the idea of using a video editor, but are opening Premiere for the first time. It becomes a challenge of knowing what you want and finding a way to do it in the program! Good resources to search for specific answers to advanced problems are necessary. Going to have to keep hunting up more resources for those types of students.

Artistic Thinking: Week 11 - Developing Craft Proposal

I would like to create a video work that also has a function. Over the summer I am planning to create an assortment of videos for the AV students to have access to outside of class for reference. These videos would benefit from some awesome opening titles. I have three areas of videos that I will be creating content for (aesthetics, technology, tool) and it would be nice to have unique titles for each. I know that if I don't take the time to create this now, I will probably never find the time!

I like the look of this video:

X-Men: First Class Title Sequence from Joe D! on Vimeo.

I like the colors, the overlaying of graphics and photos, and the music. I would need to keep my opening titles shorter, but I want them to be visually interesting. Each area of content could have it's own color scheme, theme, and unique title.

Artistic Thinking: Week 11 - Reflection on Uni-Tasking

Visual Exercise Completed Piece:

Western Whimsy - 2011

Reflection:
I had the job of working as a uni-tasker for this assignment. It wasn't easy! I tried two 30 minute uni-task sessions: one for capturing pictures and the other for assembling them into a digital collage. I was quicker and more efficient in capturing pictures (even changed lenses several times) and was able to capture images of my horse and set up small still-lifes of her gear during the 30 minute shoot. Assembling the images into a collage was considerably more difficult! I found that I was having trouble making decisions and was over thinking everything. I kept trying not to think about anything else, but working in silence was the hardest part. I actually started singing a song to myself before I caught on and stopped it!

Insights to the working habits of others, including students:
Studio environments defiantly need a variety of opportunities for students to work in the ways that are best for them. Multi-taskers are going to need moments to pause during work (think of them as reflective pauses) and uni-taskers are going to need few distractions as possible. Journals would provide an opportunity for both types of students to "reflect." Multi-taskers can journal continually throughout the process, while uni-taskers can journal and reflect at the end of class.

Artistic Thinking - Week 11: Studio Thinking - Inital Reflection

What are your personal working preferences for artmaking? 

I find that I’m spontaneous during artmaking. I like to have an idea or broad goal before starting, but I find that if I am too well-prepared the artmaking feels mechanical and I lose enthusiasm half way through. My space is full of “toys” to play with if I need a moment to think or a distraction during artmaking, and is somewhat organized and cleaned before artmaking begins. I need just enough organization to know where everything is, but enough visual chaos to keep me on my toes. As most of my work is at a computer, I often work in low light with my stereo on and either a glass of red wine or cup of green tea. I usually work with the door open because if I close it, someone will want something! Creativity flows for me at around 2pm and continues until I’ve finished (anywhere from a few minutes or hours later). I always need to have the TV or Radio on to distract the audio part of my mind and so I can fully focus the visual part. I am a multitasker.

Artistic Thinking: Week 10 - Creativity Book 2

"Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative" by Ken Robinson.

Teacher Resource:
Note - Navigate this Prezi at your own pace. Arrows provided for guidance.

Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative on Prezi