Ponderings on Art Ed.

As I sit in a room as an acting authority for my school's Saturday detention, a few thoughts run through my head. The most notable of them deals with how I see myself as a person who has reached some levels of success in my field, a field to which I coveted very much and for a great deal of time, and had only recently become immersed in. The question is, what is my personal measure of success, is this an arbitrary measure, and even more, what does it mean?

I find that there is an inner dialogue, or even argument in some cases, between my actual self, perceived self, and potential self. I begin to looking back into past years as a source for information, or truth on the matter. Who was I before, what were my aspirations, and how has this changed? What could I have done differently to obtain greater successes in life, and have the choices made by past selves impeared my ptotential self from a better condition today? And ultimately, how does my true self fit into the context of society and reality, whatever my true self is?

Awfully large and deep questions to be maulling over, and without much hope for answers. It does however bring me to a few greater connections, and they might not be in a driection that you would have guessed. Simply, it gets me thinking about the role that art has played in my life and how this relationship has brought me some of the greatest accomplishments and gifts I have received in my short time, and will most likely continue to be my greatest source of reward for the rest of my life.

I also find it funny to read my thoughts as they spew from my brain. One of the largest points of advice I make to other educators, potential and experienced, is to know thyself. Be yourself, and know who you are. Ironic that finding those answers can be found in building greater uncertainties.

What is the state of Art Education?

This is the age of capitalism, of digital design, youtube, facebook, etc, etc, etc.....and of the global world.
Does the move into a digital age curupt the Arts by its mere existence? Or, have these changes in society and technology only made Art more accessible, and therefore, even more necessary to understand?

Society is in a state of mental and emotional flux, and seemingly without end. As a result, our assumptions and practices towards how we teach need rethinking. Especially given that changes now are more frequent and dramatic. It is exactly in this kind of condition that the Arts serve an even greater role. Because, Art is humanity expressed through the many voices a person can have. It is the proccess by which we attempt to understand ourselves, and our roles in society. Art moves us towards change through creativity and imagination, through inspiration of others, and by making the personal connections involved in giving yourself to a greater good. I ask again, how does one measure success?

The disconnect between values essential within the Arts, or society, or humanity, or culture is where we head down dangerous paths, and roads that venture away from our true potential as a person and a species. Many of the roads that the education system foster move away from self-reflection, commitment to an ideal and procces, and away from teaching people how to truly assimulate their world as it exists today. Education is just another form of control and obediance if it is not teaching how to understand the inner workings of our current condition as human beings, and not how to become motivated participants in the changes of the future.

Are we teaching the Art of now?
We must be aware of ourselves, ourselves as we are now in state of continual flux, as much as who we were in our past. Teachers must attend to the power of the present in order to help students understand and communicate with that world.

We must create a curriculum which involves Art as a reaction to our world, and as a proactive part of that world. This allows and helps cultivate a person who can become a creator of visual works that teach others, provide new and unique perspectives and complete the circle of a healthy community of learning and understanding. Art is not the only subject capable of building on these principles, but it should be valued as one of the most powerful.

What does it mean to be creative in todays world of cyberspace, and do the many educators occupying space within our schools have the right type of literacy to deal with it?

Art is not a silent bystander to society. It is now, a large force and embodiement of society. A mirror if you will. The Art of the "old" is dead and has been reborn in a new highly visual world. This visual world demands understanding by the masses so that it can be cultivated by the people and not become a system of control.

To state, and re-state,
Art ED needs to move beyond old thinking, and break through the bars set by a severely outdated education system.
Emphasis in schools should be on creative thought.
We can only expect value and support when what we do is understood.
The criteria changes as the form changes.
Assert and realize our humanity within the curriculum of all subjects.
There can not be a seperation between theory and practice.

Art is an experience.

Moments in Art

It has been quite a while since I last updated. Saying that things have been busy would tell a portion of the story, but leave out the good stuff. Lets just say that my attention has been lost in translation. The translation of productivity.

My last entry detailed the creation of a mural in Brynford Park, Chicago. So, as I make an attempt to add content to this blog in the name of education, it seems almost fitting to start by showcasing a mural that has recently caught my attention.

I know. Beautiful, right? It was done by a creative marketing firm called I Love Dust based in London. Check them out at that link provided. If there ever was a question about the practical applications for art in the global economy, this place delivers sparkling answers. Creating illustrations, graphics, product designs, typography and anything under the sun for their clients, I Love Dust is a wonderful example of creative problem solving. Here is another example of their work.

I can only dream of producing something of this quality in my lifetime.

You might be asking, So Captain Solo, what is new in your classroom these days. To which I would respond, "glad you asked." As we speak, my Intro to Photo students are out taking pictures with the cameras they have just learned to use for the first time. I anticipate some breakthroughs for many and learning opportunities for all. I will be posting many of the results of their photographic journeys on my website ChrisSykora.com under the student artwork tab.

Just 2 days ago I showed the students a short 25 minute video in which world famous photographer, JR delivered a speech after accepting the TED Award last year for his humanitarian and activist focused photography. The response was filled with excitement, and I hope the students are anxious to create work similar to his in the near future. Here is the video:

Turns out that JR is now working on a show with another artist favorite of mine, SWOON. I love when artists I speak of to the students show up in the main stream after learning about them. They come running to me with newspaper clippings, or a story of how they saw him or her on the news and the experience builds a crystallizing moment for them.

 SWOON is currently working on a new project in Sao Paulo for De Dentro e De Fora called The Encampment Ersili, where Swoon has created a temporary city amongst the festival that has invited 8 international artists to create site-specific work in the city. De Dento e De Fora, "Inside Out Outside In," takes place at Modern Art Museum of São Paulo.
The De Dentro e De Fora festival brings Swoon, JR, Space Invader, Remed, and others to create installations and other site-specific works. The festival opens on Saturday, September 24, and ends in December.

Here is the press release on Swoon's work.

1 The city crumbles beneath its own weight. It flexes its pavements and bleeds from its sewers. People in places no one ever expected to find them. The buildings multiply, their materials thinner and more brittle as the city grows past the edges architects never anticipated. It quakes with love and reason. And a new city emerges, a delicate quiet song, a temporary freedom, a meeting place where words stitch a new reality and children are born in unexpected ways.

Welcome to Encampment Ersilia2. We invite you to a slice of the present and window into the future. We have come as visitors and have found treasures. We gather them together for you to discover and lead you back to the caverns and clouds from which they emerge. The city eats itself and is reborn as fertile compost.

From September 24 to December 14, the vacancy beneath the MASP will be the site of occupation. The artist Swoon will build a home for the ideas, for the strings of inspiration with which the landless people of Sao Paulo have already started to weave their futures.

The Encampment Ersilia, our temporary city and a part of De Dentro e De Fora, is an invitation to join us outside to explore the interior life of Sao Paulo. The include a series of programs that reflect work being done by those that have inspired us here. Conversations that begin here will connect Ersilia with occupations around the Sao Paulo city center — occupied spaces under the freeways, homes in empty factories, farms under the electric lines, and temporary sites of culture in the streets.

We will also invite you to join us on a series of walks through the city to view it in its current and everlasting moment of metamorphesis — Expedições para Comer Concreto. Each walk will be a mobile open meeting that tackles the metropolis and its questions, drawing a series of paths of conceptual debate and active intervention.

Here are some examples of both SWOON, and JR's work:

That was JR, and now for Swoon:

Given the press release of Swoon's vision for festival's art above, I think you can make the connections between the words written and the images shown here. My hope is that my students can make connections to these artists in their own lives and in the work they create during the semester.

Solo out.

Brynford Park Mural

This summer, I had the pleasure of taking part in the designing and application of an outdoor mural. This was my first experience with a project of this magnitude and the first time painting large scale outdoors. My hope is that this leads to further experiences and opportunities as the mural process is something I admire and enjoy thoroughly.

This blog post will serve as a detailing of my experience with the project from start to finish, including the sketching and design process, as well as the planning procedures within a group mentality.

First off, here was the wall before any paint was applied.

Everyone who was signed up for the project walked over to the wall. We took measurements and then walked around the community searching for inspiration, although I must admit that I already hoped to paint something that stood outside of the environment and added elements that weren't already a part of the community.

Now for the sketches:

We met with some folks from the community at Northeastern University and sat in a room while they spoke to us about what  they felt was important to Brynford Park. While this was happening, I was sketching in my notebook ideas as they popped into my head. 

From the very beginning I wanted something that focused on the children and around the idea of learning and play. I also wanted to incorporate abstract elements that added to the playfulness.

After completing a few preliminary sketches, I attacked a bigger design concept:

This was the result of drawing things as they came to mind and trying to put an overall layout that had movement. Again, I thought of the child as the client, something that was also echoed in a few of the others who were a part of the mural's creation.

Then, I made another more scaled design sketch to present to the group:

This was shown to the group where we discussed the themes and worked out new ideas and decided on elements that needed o be a part of the finished composition.

Here is a pic of the classroom during planning:

This is around the time that I started looking for inspiration in other muralists. Here are some examples of who I used as personal motivation:

El Mac, Sam Flores, Dabs Myla, Sheppard Fairey, Jeff Soto and many others were the artists that I used as inspiration. The key element in all of their work was the graphic style and nature of their murals.

After discussing the designs I had created, it was time to get back to the drawing board and incorporate the new themes that the group had decided on. Here are some of the sketches leading to the final design:

The Deer became a central element of the work. Making his antlers reflect the symbolization of a tree was an idea I had at the last second of drawing and something everyone decided should become a focal point of the design. Bubbles was another element that everyone agreed should become a large part of the final design.

Here is a picture of me and some fellow artists finishing the final design and a picture of the it:

We used Prisma markers to color in the design and many of the markers did not make it through.

The next step was to prime the wall. Then grid it and the design for easier rendering at the site.

Once everything was ready, it was time to start drawing.

Everyone took a section (or square) and began rendering the images within the boxes. This was where I had to give up a lot of the creative control I had acquired throughout the process. It is quite weird watching others draw what I had already on a smaller format. You have to give yourself to the process and accept the beauty of everyones individual styles and talents. I could not be happier with the end result.

What follows are images taken during the painting process, from starting the outline, to adding color and then line quality and finishing touches. 

Thats me on the ladder.

There is a funny story behind that fish coming out of that rocket. You should ask me if you see me.

Some elements of the mural had to be decided upon in the moment of painting. I free-handed a couple of things after making executive decisions. One such area was the portion above the left Koi fish. Originally, it was to represent a rock pound across the street at the nature center. I felt that it was too detailed and would hinder the flow of the piece, so I painted in wave designs to which Eden colored. This process felt so much more natural and fulfilling. I hope to do things this way in the future.

Adding the finishing touches.

Me painting.

Here is the finished product!

I never actually signed the wall.

FIN

Various Intelligences: Advocating for Art.

It has been quite a while since I last updated this blog. In fact, my writing now was inspired by another Art Education Blog which you can find here: Artadvocado.com , which I am sure those who know me have no question as to why I would have visited such a site based on the title. Reading the posts at this site and commenting on some reminded me of why I started writing this blog in the first place. My recent experiences have kept me quite busy and I seem to have put this blog on the back burner, but I am now reminded of why it is so important to talk about art and education. A response I made on "Artadvocado" sums it up quite well, so here is a copy of it:


Hi Alison, great blog. Thanks for creating a forum to discuss such issues as arts advocacy.
It is frustrating to try and explain why and how the arts are so integral to humanity and education because it really is a DUH kind of statement. It seems so obvious to many, but alien to others. Curriculum really is a "mind-altering device," and the arts are a great vehicle to help people discover new ways of thinking and reacting.
A large part of the issue, from my point of view as a High School teacher, is that the system does not seem to value multiple forms of intelligence. Schools do not try hard enough to discover the individual strengths or potential intelligences that each person possesses. It is easier to aim for a uniform result. As a result, as the article mentioned in your post points out, 66% of High School Students were not exposed to the arts.
Now the issue is that legislators lack the vocabulary to understand the arts because they themselves have never been exposed to its benefits. The more the listener can hear, the greater likelihood of understanding.
We all know that the arts "plunge us into adventures of meaning," allow us to imagine new realms and break through boundaries of linear, logical thinking and go beyond the confines of a singular reality, but try explaining that to someone who has no experience in the arts.


The reason that this blog is called "Crystallizing Education," is that a teacher's main goal should be to help students discover areas where they do have strengths - what Charles Fowler in "Strong Arts, Strong Schools (my teacher bible) called a "crystallizing experience." To build on this, I see it as the moment when things fall into place for a student. Maybe a struggling student has that lightbulb moment, or a student who has been scared of school due to a fear of failure finds that area that they excel in, making the whole educational experience brighter.


I personally believe that school curriculum should consist of 50% Core or General Ed subjects and 50% Specialized "Electives." Every person carries a wide array of intelligences. To not make use of all of them and develop the strongest in each individual is a crime on humanity. A balanced curriculum consists of fields of study that all students should learn, coupled with subjects for which students have particular proclivities and inclinations.


The reason that I have been so busy and unable to comment on this blog is that my teaching experiences have been highly involved. I hope to share some of them with you in the near future, especially the painting of a mural for a neighborhood Elementary School which is in the early design stages.


That is enough for now on that subject, and since this is an Art blog, I will leave you with some art to look at.
How about some Photography?

Andrea Galvani-Lamorte.

Denise Grunstein.

Li Wei.

Nadav Kander.