15/03/08 11:07
Honors Art
Reflection, May 2008
Cultural Narrative
Fall Semester, 2007
The goal of this investigation was to address literacy relevant to the world around us. Our objects, rituals and relationships are texts reflecting cultural positions relative to class, gender, power, privilege and race. A sophisticated literacy is required to read our world and if we don't learn how to 'read our world' we will indeed be left behind. We can't afford to remain visually and culturally illiterate.
Our investigative methodology typically involved four steps per topic. We wrote a paper responding to a prompt, which informed our artifactual response. Our artifactual response was explained in a rationale paper, which was followed by a group reflective exercise involving, formal, contextual and intuitive criticism.
Still-Life as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: What cultural narratives might be reflected in the individual or collective objects found in our still life?
Art Classroom as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: How do various cultural narratives observed in our art classroom relate to cultural narratives observed in society in general?
Transportation as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: What cultural narratives are reflected in the ways we go to and from school?
Eating as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: What cultural narratives are reflected in our eating environments and rituals?
Bag as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: How can cultural narratives be represented in one's choice or use of bags? What "baggage" is reflected in our choice/use of bags?
Personal Identity
Spring Semester, 2008
The goal of this investigation was to address literacy relevant to our individual identity. Questions such as Who am I? Who was I? and Who will I become? are central to identity construction and projection. If we are able to read our own feelings accurately we will be happier, more productive and more enjoyable for others to be around.
Totemic Identity
Prompt: How do your objects define you and how do you define your objects?
Palimpsestic Identity
Prompt: What have the layers of your life contained? What remains and what has been left behind?
Other Identity
Prompt: In what ways have you felt "othered"?
Avatistic Identity
Prompt: What graphic image would you create to represent yourself and why would that image represent you?
In addition...
Community Connections
We go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. We then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which we complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook each marking period. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval.
Honors Art
Reflection, May 2007
Signs of Influence, Sites of Meaning
Fall Semester, 2006
Fragmented Self
The goal of this investigation was to address the influence of print media on our sense of identity. Two essential questions were:
At the beginning of the investigation some of our classmates denied that the media influenced them, but our reflective papers indicated that it is virtually impossible to avoid such influence so media literacy and semiotic awareness are primary tools for survival in contemporary society.
Recontextualized Object
Students investigated visual communication in terms of the semiotic relationship between the sender and receiver of information. Some essential questions were:
We created a series of drawings of an everyday object of our choice. We delineated visual relationships of personal interest throughout our drawing series and extracted them with scissors. We composed collages of our extracted delineations and created drawings of the collages that included text as a design element. We returned to our original collages and embellished them as we wished. We then returned to our original drawings, revising, recycling and recontextualizing.
We engaged in formal, contextual and intuitive criticism of the products created. It was obvious that the objects originally selected had been represented in such a way as to create a completely different frame of reference. We revisited our essential questions considering the significance and implications of the design experience and its relationship to communication in the world at large.
Monumental Obstacles, Narratives and Texts
Spring Semester, 2007
Monumental Obstacles Book
The goal of this investigation was to identify and challenge obstacles of monumental proportions in our everyday life.
Prompt: What must I overcome to become who I wish to be?
Using quotidian ephemera we relied on our powers of bricolage to palimpsestically construct a book (from scratch) that haptically communicated our message and/or reflection.
We wrote prompt papers before and reflection papers after making the artifact.
Monumental Community Connections
The goal was to become familiar with the historical narratives of our community. Mr. Miller made a podcast with Mr. James Malley (an administrator from Central Office) that provided insights into our communal past. We then used corrugated board and hot glue to construct "monuments" to a real or fictitious person of local historical significance.
Prompt: To whom do monuments "speak" and through what language?
As usual we wrote prompt papers before and reflection papers after making the artifact. This time we had great fun with the reflection papers because we were instructed to explain who our monuments commemorated and where we envisioned the installation of our monuments and why. After hearing the made - up "histories" of our classmates we questioned the "truth" of universally accepted narratives.
Monumental Text Diptych
There were two goals for this project: one was to monumentalize text as a graphic image and the other was to communicate with our ancestors and descendents.
Prompt: What would I like to say to or ask of my ancestors? What would I like to say to or ask of my descendents?
The sides of our diptychs addressed each of those questions. Again we wrote prompt papers before and reflection papers after making the artifact. This project is due this week so you are the first to see the artifacts.
Community Connections
We go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. We then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which we complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook each marking period. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval.
We wish to fondly acknowledge Mel Antler, our student teacher this spring from the University of the Arts. Her future students will be very fortunate to learn from her...
Honors Art
Reflection, May 2006
Cultural Narratives
Fall Semester, 2005
Key Terms
We kicked the year off with an awesome student teacher, Erika Gehringer, and a vocabulary list. Both set the pace for the year. Aesthetics, Biedermeier Aesthetic, Vitaly & Melamid: "The Most Wanted Painting, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Paradigm, Linear Thinking, Non-Linear Thinking, Readymades, Multiculturalism, Ethnocentrism, Zeitgeist, High Art, Low Art, Appropriation, Nihilism, Ideology, Hegemony, Semiotics, Hermeneutics, Pastiche, Epistemology, Context, Reactionary, Pluralism, Avant-garde, Collage, Assemblage, Studium, Punctum, Ethnography, Bricolage, Haptic, Diaspora, Visual Culture, Modernism, Postmodernism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, Fauve, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art became key concepts and the basis for our dialogue.
Still-Life as Cultural Narrative
Mr. Miller and Erika, our student teacher, arranged a group of items on a table in the middle of the room and challenged us to "read" them as a text. We began to identify cultural positions relating to class, gender, power, privilege and race in our own still life as well as still-life representations from the history of art.
We began this investigation with very aggressive charcoal studies incorporating additive and subtractive approaches to mark making. Mr. Miller referred to these as Haptic, or Full-Contact Drawings. Chris Henkels enjoyed teasing Mr. Miller about his frequent reference to "subtractive mark making".
Erika showed us how to do monotypes and monoprints. We also studied some popular dolls with respect to packaging and clothing, which opened our minds to the unspoken messages of popular toys regarding gender, race and privilege, etc. Our favorite was Blaine. We thought he would fit in at our high school.
We then explored some very typical drawings of the still life. We stepped away, or tried to anyway, from contextual content and focused on traditional, formal aspects of the objects. We called these "Typical" Oil Pastel Still Life Drawings.
Our final piece of this investigation focused on a social commentary reflected in the still life objects and arrangement. This was called Still Life as Cultural Narrative. We enjoyed a variety of readings including comments on colonialism and gender relationships.
Ethnographic Research
Our exploration of cultural narratives moved from objects to people. We became involved in ethnographic research. We wanted to observe group dynamics in terms of power, authority, leaders followers and sub-groups so we spent several days observing life in our school's choir room and band hall. Mr. Conahan and Mr. Hood graciously allowed us to collect many field notes in the form of sketches. Our Ethnographic Research Studies provided the basis for a graphic "outline", or Ethnographic Research Working Drawing. Mr. Miller used the analogy of the research paper, but we were using graphic texts rather than alphabetic texts. Our graphic "notes" and "outlines" provided the basis for our final Ethnographic Research Piece.
Our investigations and conversations yielded a clear understanding of ideological differences. We concluded that dominant ideologies exist in a state of tension and are far from universal acceptance. We had many discussions involving the notion of appropriateness in the context of art. We never had a complete consensus of what appropriate imagery and content might look like. Our final piece of the fall semester was titled Appropriateness: Traversing the Hegemonic Minefield. We expressed our feelings through two forms of text: graphic and alphabetic.
Personal Identity
Spring Semester, 2006
Fragmented Faces
This semester began with a second, very awesome student teacher, Jamie O'Neill. Mr. Miller and Jamie determined that some of us were "face wimps", often avoiding facial features when representing people in our graphic imagery. They were determined to desensitize us and had us do about 50 drawings each of eyes, noses, mouths and ears. These were studies aimed at overkill, but we playfully created some collage pieces titled Fragmented Faces.
We then began to investigate our personal identities through several different, yet overlapping, avenues. Our method involved four steps per topic. We wrote a paper responding to a prompt, which informed our graphic response. Our graphic response was explained in a rationale paper, which was followed by a group reflective exercise involving, formal, contextual and intuitive criticism.
Cultural Self/Identity
Prompt: How do you define culture and how does culture define you?
Stereotypical Self/Identity
Prompt: What is your perception of how you are perceived by others?
Familial Self/Identity
Prompt: How are you positioned within your family dynamic and how does that influence your identity?
Heroic Self/Identity
Prompt: What defines a hero and what is heroic about you currently, or what heroic qualities would you hope to develop as you age?
Community Connections
We go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. We then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which we complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook each marking period. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval.
We wish to fondly acknowledge Erika Gehringer & Jamie O'Neill. Their future students will be very fortunate to learn from them...
Honors Art
Reflection, May 2005
Visual Culture: Welcome to the Zeitgeist
Fall Semester, 2004
Portraits Beyond the Edge
This began as a series of studies of classmates observed from within the classroom. It was started while Mr. Miller was absent for a few days at the beginning of the year. When he returned he asked why our studies were limited to the surface of the page defined by four straight edges. He reminded us of linear perspective, foreground, middle ground and background and asked why we were edge wimps. We talked about how we often limit ourselves to cultural norms and miss opportunities to express ourselves. We began to view our artistic production as a text that can be manipulated by its author in a manner similar to the written word.
Still-Life as Cultural Narrative
Mr. Miller arranged a group of items on a table in the middle of the room and challenged us to "read" them as a text. We began to identify cultural positions relating to class, gender, power, privilege and race in our own still-life as well as still-life representations from the history of art.
We composed an essay titled "Who is Howard Gardner and why should I care?" This made us realize that education in our culture privileges only a few of what Howard Gardner refers to as intelligences and generated many questions and observations regarding pedagogical authority.
We also participated in an exercise called Everyday Privileges (authored by Wanda Knight from Penn State University). We made a list of ten things we typically do during the course of a week. We then imagined awakening one morning to find our "race" or gender had changed. We went back through our list to analyze how each aspect of our current life might be different.
Our still-life representations became visual essays with many "observations" about life. None of them were square or rectangular...
Victimization
We were very affected by societal unrest. We explored the notion of victim-hood and began to see how cycles of behavior appear endless. We explored the idea of protection and why it fails. Power, privilege and hegemonic disconnects became the informing text for our artistic production.
What is a Book?
This question was posed by our student teacher, Sarah Clum. Again we observed our cultural definitions and habits. We deconstructed the physical and textual hegemony of an object that has a profound presence in our lives. We made objects with physical and textual readings that Howard Gardner might like to "read".
Further Investigations
Spring Semester, 2005
Me as a Learner
This was an exercise requiring us to cast our gaze inward. This served as segue between our semesters and prepared those of us continuing the course into the second semester to engage in self-reflection on a very personal level.
Significant Life Event
We reflected on our personal histories and created a visual representation of a significant event from our own life; something that affected our current contextual position and/or grounding. We discussed the concept of significance and discovered the many different readings of the term. We also explored the notion of history as a story told from many, and perhaps conflicting, perspectives.
Mask Project
This was something we did for the Ambler Rotary Club. We were given ceramic masks to embellish as we wished. They were then auctioned off to raise money. It was very fun to compare our work with that of two neighboring schools: Upper Dublin High School and Germantown Academy.
Encapsulated Dream
What are dreams? Do they only occur during moments of slumber? Are they projections into the future? Why are some dreams encapsulated while others appear free to roam and grow? We were instructed to reflect on or generate a psychic environment in an enclosed space. We haven't reflected on this project yet, but I suspect questions regarding the space between the dream and the outside world will be raised. Why are some separated by glass and others aren't. Why is the glass sometimes very clear and others opaque? What's up with the information that resides within the barrier? This will be a fun discussion, and no - they are not Joseph Cornell shadow boxes...
Community Connections
Students go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. They then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which students complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval.
We wish to fondly acknowledge Sarah Clum, our student teacher this year from Arcadia University. Her future students will be very fortunate to learn from her...
Honors Art
Reflection, May 2004
Context and Content
Fall Semester, 2003
Communication
Students investigated visual communication in terms of the semiotic relationship between the sender and receiver of information. Some essential questions were:
Recontextualized Object Drawings and Mixed Media Collages
We began by making a series of observational drawing studies of people in our class using additive and subtractive techniques. Next we reviewed each other's work and wrote ten-line narratives based on our observations of the artwork.
We then created a series of drawings of an everyday object of our choice. We delineated visual relationships of personal interest throughout our drawing series and extracted them with scissors. We composed collages of our extracted delineations and created drawings of the collages that included text as a design element. We returned to our original collages and embellished them as we wished.
We engaged in formal, contextual and intuitive criticism of the products created. It was obvious that the objects originally selected had been represented in such a way as to create a completely different frame of reference. We revisited our essential questions considering the significance and implications of the design experience and its relationship to communication in the world at large.
Recontextualized Skeleton
This project encouraged us to consider the effect that cultural orientation has on communication. We compared the visual significance of a human skeleton in Mexican culture to that of our own. We found the contextual significance to be different. We explored ways to visually communicate a variety of messages with images that utilized the human skeleton as an icon of contextual value.
Recontextualized Still-Life Drawing
Drawing from an arrangement of objects is not only one of the most used training practices in art education it is a very common theme in itself. We investigated possible ways to use still-life iconography as a means to communicate a variety of messages.
Recontextualized Furniture Assemblage
One person's junk can be another person's furniture and vice versa. We discovered that we could not collectively agree on a definition of furniture. We had very intriguing conversations deconstructing and reconstruction our contextual views regarding art, function and furniture.
Art and Society
Spring Semester, 2004
Relationships
Students investigated the relationship and the impact one has on the other. Some essential questions were:
We began the semester with an investigation of Manifest Destiny. We collected visual examples that related positively or negatively to the notion of Manifest Destiny. We studied our images and decoded them verbally and in writing. We discovered that some people were more visually literate than others and that iconography can be and has been used as a powerful communication tool.
Ethnographic Research
This project involved the study of group dynamics and necessitated graphic note taking. We were instructed to create a visual report on the dynamics of either the Chorus room or the Band Hall while their classes were in session. We compiled visual notes on location that were then compiled and edited before creating our final piece. This was primarily a painting, but we were allowed to use any materials we desired.
Voices: No One Left Behind
Our investigation of the relationship between art and society led us to the No Child Left Behind act and its ramifications. Student research led to the discovery that funding for curricular subjects such as art, music, and foreign languages has been cut or curtailed in parts of the United States in the effort to promote skill development in other areas such as reading, writing and math. Students became fearful that curricular offerings of the future might have very little in common with those of the present and voiced their opinions through written and graphic essays. Most of the work from this project is currently on display at the Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Avenue, in Chestnut Hill and will remain on exhibit until June 20, 2004.
Community Connections
Students go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. They then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which students complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval. Read More...
Reflection, May 2008
Cultural Narrative
Fall Semester, 2007
The goal of this investigation was to address literacy relevant to the world around us. Our objects, rituals and relationships are texts reflecting cultural positions relative to class, gender, power, privilege and race. A sophisticated literacy is required to read our world and if we don't learn how to 'read our world' we will indeed be left behind. We can't afford to remain visually and culturally illiterate.
Our investigative methodology typically involved four steps per topic. We wrote a paper responding to a prompt, which informed our artifactual response. Our artifactual response was explained in a rationale paper, which was followed by a group reflective exercise involving, formal, contextual and intuitive criticism.
Still-Life as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: What cultural narratives might be reflected in the individual or collective objects found in our still life?
Art Classroom as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: How do various cultural narratives observed in our art classroom relate to cultural narratives observed in society in general?
Transportation as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: What cultural narratives are reflected in the ways we go to and from school?
Eating as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: What cultural narratives are reflected in our eating environments and rituals?
Bag as Cultural Narrative
Prompt: How can cultural narratives be represented in one's choice or use of bags? What "baggage" is reflected in our choice/use of bags?
Personal Identity
Spring Semester, 2008
The goal of this investigation was to address literacy relevant to our individual identity. Questions such as Who am I? Who was I? and Who will I become? are central to identity construction and projection. If we are able to read our own feelings accurately we will be happier, more productive and more enjoyable for others to be around.
Totemic Identity
Prompt: How do your objects define you and how do you define your objects?
Palimpsestic Identity
Prompt: What have the layers of your life contained? What remains and what has been left behind?
Other Identity
Prompt: In what ways have you felt "othered"?
Avatistic Identity
Prompt: What graphic image would you create to represent yourself and why would that image represent you?
In addition...
Community Connections
We go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. We then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which we complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook each marking period. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval.
Honors Art
Reflection, May 2007
Signs of Influence, Sites of Meaning
Fall Semester, 2006
Fragmented Self
The goal of this investigation was to address the influence of print media on our sense of identity. Two essential questions were:
- How is our social/cultural identity framed by projections of visual culture in the forms of advertising and graphic design?
- How does mass media influence our identity and inform our views on class, race, gender, privilege and need?
At the beginning of the investigation some of our classmates denied that the media influenced them, but our reflective papers indicated that it is virtually impossible to avoid such influence so media literacy and semiotic awareness are primary tools for survival in contemporary society.
Recontextualized Object
Students investigated visual communication in terms of the semiotic relationship between the sender and receiver of information. Some essential questions were:
- How does communication occur?
- How are context and content related?
- How can the communication process be manipulated?
We created a series of drawings of an everyday object of our choice. We delineated visual relationships of personal interest throughout our drawing series and extracted them with scissors. We composed collages of our extracted delineations and created drawings of the collages that included text as a design element. We returned to our original collages and embellished them as we wished. We then returned to our original drawings, revising, recycling and recontextualizing.
We engaged in formal, contextual and intuitive criticism of the products created. It was obvious that the objects originally selected had been represented in such a way as to create a completely different frame of reference. We revisited our essential questions considering the significance and implications of the design experience and its relationship to communication in the world at large.
Monumental Obstacles, Narratives and Texts
Spring Semester, 2007
Monumental Obstacles Book
The goal of this investigation was to identify and challenge obstacles of monumental proportions in our everyday life.
Prompt: What must I overcome to become who I wish to be?
Using quotidian ephemera we relied on our powers of bricolage to palimpsestically construct a book (from scratch) that haptically communicated our message and/or reflection.
We wrote prompt papers before and reflection papers after making the artifact.
Monumental Community Connections
The goal was to become familiar with the historical narratives of our community. Mr. Miller made a podcast with Mr. James Malley (an administrator from Central Office) that provided insights into our communal past. We then used corrugated board and hot glue to construct "monuments" to a real or fictitious person of local historical significance.
Prompt: To whom do monuments "speak" and through what language?
As usual we wrote prompt papers before and reflection papers after making the artifact. This time we had great fun with the reflection papers because we were instructed to explain who our monuments commemorated and where we envisioned the installation of our monuments and why. After hearing the made - up "histories" of our classmates we questioned the "truth" of universally accepted narratives.
Monumental Text Diptych
There were two goals for this project: one was to monumentalize text as a graphic image and the other was to communicate with our ancestors and descendents.
Prompt: What would I like to say to or ask of my ancestors? What would I like to say to or ask of my descendents?
The sides of our diptychs addressed each of those questions. Again we wrote prompt papers before and reflection papers after making the artifact. This project is due this week so you are the first to see the artifacts.
Community Connections
We go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. We then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which we complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook each marking period. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval.
We wish to fondly acknowledge Mel Antler, our student teacher this spring from the University of the Arts. Her future students will be very fortunate to learn from her...
Honors Art
Reflection, May 2006
Cultural Narratives
Fall Semester, 2005
Key Terms
We kicked the year off with an awesome student teacher, Erika Gehringer, and a vocabulary list. Both set the pace for the year. Aesthetics, Biedermeier Aesthetic, Vitaly & Melamid: "The Most Wanted Painting, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Paradigm, Linear Thinking, Non-Linear Thinking, Readymades, Multiculturalism, Ethnocentrism, Zeitgeist, High Art, Low Art, Appropriation, Nihilism, Ideology, Hegemony, Semiotics, Hermeneutics, Pastiche, Epistemology, Context, Reactionary, Pluralism, Avant-garde, Collage, Assemblage, Studium, Punctum, Ethnography, Bricolage, Haptic, Diaspora, Visual Culture, Modernism, Postmodernism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, Fauve, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art became key concepts and the basis for our dialogue.
Still-Life as Cultural Narrative
Mr. Miller and Erika, our student teacher, arranged a group of items on a table in the middle of the room and challenged us to "read" them as a text. We began to identify cultural positions relating to class, gender, power, privilege and race in our own still life as well as still-life representations from the history of art.
We began this investigation with very aggressive charcoal studies incorporating additive and subtractive approaches to mark making. Mr. Miller referred to these as Haptic, or Full-Contact Drawings. Chris Henkels enjoyed teasing Mr. Miller about his frequent reference to "subtractive mark making".
Erika showed us how to do monotypes and monoprints. We also studied some popular dolls with respect to packaging and clothing, which opened our minds to the unspoken messages of popular toys regarding gender, race and privilege, etc. Our favorite was Blaine. We thought he would fit in at our high school.
We then explored some very typical drawings of the still life. We stepped away, or tried to anyway, from contextual content and focused on traditional, formal aspects of the objects. We called these "Typical" Oil Pastel Still Life Drawings.
Our final piece of this investigation focused on a social commentary reflected in the still life objects and arrangement. This was called Still Life as Cultural Narrative. We enjoyed a variety of readings including comments on colonialism and gender relationships.
Ethnographic Research
Our exploration of cultural narratives moved from objects to people. We became involved in ethnographic research. We wanted to observe group dynamics in terms of power, authority, leaders followers and sub-groups so we spent several days observing life in our school's choir room and band hall. Mr. Conahan and Mr. Hood graciously allowed us to collect many field notes in the form of sketches. Our Ethnographic Research Studies provided the basis for a graphic "outline", or Ethnographic Research Working Drawing. Mr. Miller used the analogy of the research paper, but we were using graphic texts rather than alphabetic texts. Our graphic "notes" and "outlines" provided the basis for our final Ethnographic Research Piece.
Our investigations and conversations yielded a clear understanding of ideological differences. We concluded that dominant ideologies exist in a state of tension and are far from universal acceptance. We had many discussions involving the notion of appropriateness in the context of art. We never had a complete consensus of what appropriate imagery and content might look like. Our final piece of the fall semester was titled Appropriateness: Traversing the Hegemonic Minefield. We expressed our feelings through two forms of text: graphic and alphabetic.
Personal Identity
Spring Semester, 2006
Fragmented Faces
This semester began with a second, very awesome student teacher, Jamie O'Neill. Mr. Miller and Jamie determined that some of us were "face wimps", often avoiding facial features when representing people in our graphic imagery. They were determined to desensitize us and had us do about 50 drawings each of eyes, noses, mouths and ears. These were studies aimed at overkill, but we playfully created some collage pieces titled Fragmented Faces.
We then began to investigate our personal identities through several different, yet overlapping, avenues. Our method involved four steps per topic. We wrote a paper responding to a prompt, which informed our graphic response. Our graphic response was explained in a rationale paper, which was followed by a group reflective exercise involving, formal, contextual and intuitive criticism.
Cultural Self/Identity
Prompt: How do you define culture and how does culture define you?
Stereotypical Self/Identity
Prompt: What is your perception of how you are perceived by others?
Familial Self/Identity
Prompt: How are you positioned within your family dynamic and how does that influence your identity?
Heroic Self/Identity
Prompt: What defines a hero and what is heroic about you currently, or what heroic qualities would you hope to develop as you age?
Community Connections
We go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. We then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which we complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook each marking period. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval.
We wish to fondly acknowledge Erika Gehringer & Jamie O'Neill. Their future students will be very fortunate to learn from them...
Honors Art
Reflection, May 2005
Visual Culture: Welcome to the Zeitgeist
Fall Semester, 2004
Portraits Beyond the Edge
This began as a series of studies of classmates observed from within the classroom. It was started while Mr. Miller was absent for a few days at the beginning of the year. When he returned he asked why our studies were limited to the surface of the page defined by four straight edges. He reminded us of linear perspective, foreground, middle ground and background and asked why we were edge wimps. We talked about how we often limit ourselves to cultural norms and miss opportunities to express ourselves. We began to view our artistic production as a text that can be manipulated by its author in a manner similar to the written word.
Still-Life as Cultural Narrative
Mr. Miller arranged a group of items on a table in the middle of the room and challenged us to "read" them as a text. We began to identify cultural positions relating to class, gender, power, privilege and race in our own still-life as well as still-life representations from the history of art.
We composed an essay titled "Who is Howard Gardner and why should I care?" This made us realize that education in our culture privileges only a few of what Howard Gardner refers to as intelligences and generated many questions and observations regarding pedagogical authority.
We also participated in an exercise called Everyday Privileges (authored by Wanda Knight from Penn State University). We made a list of ten things we typically do during the course of a week. We then imagined awakening one morning to find our "race" or gender had changed. We went back through our list to analyze how each aspect of our current life might be different.
Our still-life representations became visual essays with many "observations" about life. None of them were square or rectangular...
Victimization
We were very affected by societal unrest. We explored the notion of victim-hood and began to see how cycles of behavior appear endless. We explored the idea of protection and why it fails. Power, privilege and hegemonic disconnects became the informing text for our artistic production.
What is a Book?
This question was posed by our student teacher, Sarah Clum. Again we observed our cultural definitions and habits. We deconstructed the physical and textual hegemony of an object that has a profound presence in our lives. We made objects with physical and textual readings that Howard Gardner might like to "read".
Further Investigations
Spring Semester, 2005
Me as a Learner
This was an exercise requiring us to cast our gaze inward. This served as segue between our semesters and prepared those of us continuing the course into the second semester to engage in self-reflection on a very personal level.
Significant Life Event
We reflected on our personal histories and created a visual representation of a significant event from our own life; something that affected our current contextual position and/or grounding. We discussed the concept of significance and discovered the many different readings of the term. We also explored the notion of history as a story told from many, and perhaps conflicting, perspectives.
Mask Project
This was something we did for the Ambler Rotary Club. We were given ceramic masks to embellish as we wished. They were then auctioned off to raise money. It was very fun to compare our work with that of two neighboring schools: Upper Dublin High School and Germantown Academy.
Encapsulated Dream
What are dreams? Do they only occur during moments of slumber? Are they projections into the future? Why are some dreams encapsulated while others appear free to roam and grow? We were instructed to reflect on or generate a psychic environment in an enclosed space. We haven't reflected on this project yet, but I suspect questions regarding the space between the dream and the outside world will be raised. Why are some separated by glass and others aren't. Why is the glass sometimes very clear and others opaque? What's up with the information that resides within the barrier? This will be a fun discussion, and no - they are not Joseph Cornell shadow boxes...
Community Connections
Students go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. They then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which students complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval.
We wish to fondly acknowledge Sarah Clum, our student teacher this year from Arcadia University. Her future students will be very fortunate to learn from her...
Honors Art
Reflection, May 2004
Context and Content
Fall Semester, 2003
Communication
Students investigated visual communication in terms of the semiotic relationship between the sender and receiver of information. Some essential questions were:
- How does communication occur?
- How are context and content related?
- How can the communication process be manipulated?
Recontextualized Object Drawings and Mixed Media Collages
We began by making a series of observational drawing studies of people in our class using additive and subtractive techniques. Next we reviewed each other's work and wrote ten-line narratives based on our observations of the artwork.
We then created a series of drawings of an everyday object of our choice. We delineated visual relationships of personal interest throughout our drawing series and extracted them with scissors. We composed collages of our extracted delineations and created drawings of the collages that included text as a design element. We returned to our original collages and embellished them as we wished.
We engaged in formal, contextual and intuitive criticism of the products created. It was obvious that the objects originally selected had been represented in such a way as to create a completely different frame of reference. We revisited our essential questions considering the significance and implications of the design experience and its relationship to communication in the world at large.
Recontextualized Skeleton
This project encouraged us to consider the effect that cultural orientation has on communication. We compared the visual significance of a human skeleton in Mexican culture to that of our own. We found the contextual significance to be different. We explored ways to visually communicate a variety of messages with images that utilized the human skeleton as an icon of contextual value.
Recontextualized Still-Life Drawing
Drawing from an arrangement of objects is not only one of the most used training practices in art education it is a very common theme in itself. We investigated possible ways to use still-life iconography as a means to communicate a variety of messages.
Recontextualized Furniture Assemblage
One person's junk can be another person's furniture and vice versa. We discovered that we could not collectively agree on a definition of furniture. We had very intriguing conversations deconstructing and reconstruction our contextual views regarding art, function and furniture.
Art and Society
Spring Semester, 2004
Relationships
Students investigated the relationship and the impact one has on the other. Some essential questions were:
- How are art, artist and society related?
- What is the artist responsibility to society?
- What is society's responsibility to the artist?
- What does it mean to be an analytic observer?
- What does it mean to be literate?
- What is the relationship between visual literacy and visual culture?
- How can visual literacy empower members of society?
We began the semester with an investigation of Manifest Destiny. We collected visual examples that related positively or negatively to the notion of Manifest Destiny. We studied our images and decoded them verbally and in writing. We discovered that some people were more visually literate than others and that iconography can be and has been used as a powerful communication tool.
Ethnographic Research
This project involved the study of group dynamics and necessitated graphic note taking. We were instructed to create a visual report on the dynamics of either the Chorus room or the Band Hall while their classes were in session. We compiled visual notes on location that were then compiled and edited before creating our final piece. This was primarily a painting, but we were allowed to use any materials we desired.
Voices: No One Left Behind
Our investigation of the relationship between art and society led us to the No Child Left Behind act and its ramifications. Student research led to the discovery that funding for curricular subjects such as art, music, and foreign languages has been cut or curtailed in parts of the United States in the effort to promote skill development in other areas such as reading, writing and math. Students became fearful that curricular offerings of the future might have very little in common with those of the present and voiced their opinions through written and graphic essays. Most of the work from this project is currently on display at the Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Avenue, in Chestnut Hill and will remain on exhibit until June 20, 2004.
Community Connections
Students go into the community twice each marking period to review an art exhibit. They then produce a review of that work in terms of formal, contextual and intuitive criticism. Venues include local sites as well as gallery openings at the First Friday events held each month in Philadelphia. Gallery exhibits from other states and countries have been reviewed over the course of this project.
Sketchbook
This is an on-going project in which students complete a minimum of six thematically related pieces in a sketchbook. Works must use both sides of the binding, incorporate mixed media and use text as a design element. As the result of student creativity and ingenuity, the Alternative Sketchbook has come to exist. This is proposed to the instructor for approval. Read More...