maea nov 2013 rich kim - sculpture information: authentic artmaking experiences in 3d design

Richi Bee KimWalpole High SchoolCeramics & Sculpture

A rtistR esearcher T eacher

Regis MayotSally Mankus

Dan Steinhilber

Do Ho Suh

Practice in discovering for oneself teaches one to acquire information in a way that makes that information more readily viable in problem solving.

~Jerome Bruner

Discovery learning is a process that involves preparing the learner for the discovery learning task by providing the necessary knowledge needed to successfully complete the task. In this approach, the teacher not only provides the necessary knowledge required to complete the task, but also provides assistance during the task.

Robert J. Marzano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyoh7yyB2Ms

COLOR SCAVENGER HUNT

Go anywhere inside our school and find 5 objects, each object being a different color (no black, white or metallic)

Do not interrupt classes in session, Work alone, No Talking in the halls

Using only primary colors, white and/or black, make a perfect match to each of your 5 items.

Raise hand when you get a match.

You must be done by end of class.

FINDINGS

-Curiosity kept students engaged & focused-Level of engagement was at the highest level it has ever been-Students could recall content better (learning by discovery)-Students starting mixing and making original colors in subsequent projects…-Students communicated/shared information with each other, more so than in the past…

STYROFOAM PLATECHALLENGE

STYROFOAM PLATE CHALLENGE

-Turn this 2D object into a 3D sculpture. Should be interesting from any angle.

-Should look “cool” when hit with a light source

-Everyone has 20 minutes only to complete this task.

-Tenacious for full 20 minutes = A-No Seriousness of Purpose = Zero

Constraints shape and focus problems, and provide clear challenges to overcome, as well as inspiration. Creativity loves constraints, but they must be balanced with a healthy disregard for the impossible.

The idea that boundaries and limits can produce boundless and limitless thinking seems counterintuitive and paradoxical. But if we further examine the mechanisms at work when we face constraints, perhaps we can identify which kinds best promote, rather than diminish, creativity.

~BusinessWeek, Marissa Ann Mayer

Rules For Coming Up With Creative Restraints

-Helps to access & focus the creative process, not limit it

-No penalty for “breaking” the restraint-The constraint can only restrict creativity

in a very small sense, & allow multiple possibilities in other ways

TINY, INTRICATE

Creative Restraints:

- Should fit in the palm of your hand- Should be considered “extremely

detailed”- Try to limit yourself to 3 or less

materials (excluding wet/dry media)

FORMSTUDY

ELEMENTS: shape & form PRINCIPLE: movement & balance

Which sculpture received the better grade?

Teachers should teach the basic principles of design but are, by teaching what they were taught, teaching the artists of the 21st century how to be mid-20th century artists.

~Gunnar Swanson

Dow advocated a new system of art education because he believed that it would bring to the student “an increase of creative power”. Seventy-five years have passed since Dow wrote those words. We owe it to our field and our students to study the art of our times and to begin, as he did, with probing questions and far-reaching goals. What do our students need to know to understand art in the past and in the 21st century? What knowledge do the students need today to stimulate and increase their creative powers?

~Olivia Gude

ODE

Create a trophy, monument, or statue that commemorates something important about yourself.

Creative Restraints:-Cannot look like a traditional trophy, monument, or statue-Can only be made out of matboard or posterboard and any wet/dry media

Consider:-What would you want to be honored for?

-How is your “award” non-traditional?

NO MORE PASSIVE STUDENTS

Challenge: To allow all students to achieve

the objectivity and consistency of a serious art-maker without

stripping them of their personal convictions.

BIO(graphy)SHOE

Choose a shoe.Who might have worn this show?Write an entire page about this

person. Include the most obvious and the most random, the most significant, and the most useless information about this person.

Creative Restraints:

-You should use the shoe.-You should rely solely on the information initially created in your sketchbook, and not on

after thoughts or edits.

YOUR WORSTNIGHTMARE

Two Challenges

1) Word Association: What are things you are afraid of? That you fear?

2) How many “things” (actions) can you do to a piece of plain white paper?

Create a sculpture that would combat your

biggest fear. What is your sculpture protecting you from?

Creative Restraints:-Should be made entirely out of

wood, no surface treatments-Should communicate an idea from the word association list

-Should apply “artmaking verbs” to your process

What about Local, State, and National Standards? Standards were developed by sincere people reflecting their best understanding of art and culture at that time. TIMES CHANGE. It is our job as contemporary artist-educators to teach the most useful, complex, and artistically sophisticated version of art education that we can now imagine. Art education will change from the bottom up, not from the top down.

~Olivia Gude

COMMON THEMES from FINDINGS

- Authentic Experience- Element of Curiosity- Creative Restraints- Slim down terms, theory, to their Simplest Form- Learn by Discovery- Consider Importance, Relevance, Currency for 180 days- Teach HOW to make meaning - Self Assessments were insightful & “serious”, more like

artist statements/catalogs - any project you want to “hold onto” can be translated

into a more Contemporary approach

This Research Has Inspired…

-New ways of thinking about the “self assessment”-New ways of thinking about grading criteria & objectives-Making art in the classroom w/ the students-Showing more video-based media: ART21/artist interview clips-Researching Student Work on college art sites; FLICKR/photobucket accounts of art professors who post student work-Sketchbook Homeworks where students research Contemporary Art blogs: sweet station, I like this art, the jealous curator, who killed bambi?-Practicing critique and how to interpret meaning(ful) making by looking at a series of images of Contemporary Art works

Richi Bee Kimrichardbkim@gmail.com

http://www.slideshare.net/richardbkim/maea-nov-2013-rich-kim-

sculpture-information-authentic-artmaking-experiences-in-3d-design