Natalya Bernstein

March 27

Response to class—After reviewing your videos, rough-cutting, and fine-tuning, identify your most interesting clips and explain why. Begin to outline where you want to go with your final presentation.

My final video outline will be as follows:

1. OVERVIEW OF SEMESTER
1. Shots of class, Boys and Girls Club, and research
2. Opening Statement about Semester
2. WHO I AM AS AN ARTIST
1. My work
2. My work this semester
3. HOW BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB HAS IMPACTED ME
1. Working with urban children
2. Working with a team of teachers
3. Laid Back- My style
4. HOW I HAVE GROWN AS A TEACHER
1. Challenges: How I conquered them
2. Strengths: Old and new
5. CLOSING STATEMENT OF SEMESTER
1. Semester 1 vs. Semester 2

One of my favorite clips, was when Jessica interviewed a young Latina girl named Pamela. Shy, independent, and self-conscious; she merely answered the questions that Jess asked about her drawing. She explained the drawing was that of her friends, and not much else was defined in the conversation. Pamela, we soon learned, had a lot to say, and not just about her drawings! Watching this shy girl turn into a (still independent), but confident young lady was so exciting to watch throughout the weeks spent at the Boys and Girls Club. I still look forward to seeing her smile as she enters the art room, and moves her eyes around, deciding what project she wants to tackle next!

I also love watching the clips that Jess took that involve me doing the work with the children. I find that working alongside the kids finds it inspiring to them, and makes the task at hand much less intimidating if its something they have never tried before! Another point I make, watching myself create, I remind myself of the art teachers that have inspired me to teach throughout my childhood, and how calm they were in their favorite environment.

This article reminded me of the many touch screens that are available at the MFA today that grab the attention of technology lovers of all ages. Opening art experiences to the high-tech world we live in today is an important aspect that many museums and artist galleries have begun to make available to the public.

Contemporary art has been criticized by art lovers allover the world. These contemporary sightings at the Whitney Museum of American Art have become so extreme and outrageous over time, and now are being seen as the average way of creating today, though the public way not always respond to it in a positive way. That is alright though. Finally, the 21st century has brought art to the level that asks, “Is this art?”, “What makes it that way?” and “How should I respond to it?”. These questions are always valid, and they present the idea that the artist has made a bold statement to its viewers, which is always great!

Another statement that caught my attention that I always try to focus on in my teaching studies is the method of “trying to break down hierarchies.”

Outward Bound in the Fens!

Day 1:

1. Meet your kid!

1. Chat it up
2. Talk about their ART, artist statements, what they are working on these days.
3. Talk about the Fens, Have you been here? What do we like about it? What kind of nature interests you?

2. Lets go for a walk!

1. Let the student lead, with FLIPCAM!
2. Why are we going this way? What do we love around us?

3. Lets pick top 3-5 favorite nature things!

1. Watch videos on Flipcam, maybe upload to my laptop.
2. Pick favorite!
3. Draw! (If the student wants to, or write, or talk and I will write)
4. What other types of art can we use to reflect this piece of nature?

Goals for next Class for me: Do research about their nature and how we can be creative with our drawings next week!

Goals for Student: Think about your piece of nature all week! Collect or write down things that you would like to share and help enhance your art experience next week!

Open Discussion Questions (If we have time we can find a nice place to sit and chat)

-How do you feel about nature? Nature in the city?

-What is the importance to nature to you? How does the Fens add to this? Relate to this?

-What is the importance of the object they chose? How does this relate to nature as a whole in this urban environment?

Day 2:

BRING RESEARCH MATERIALS FOR YOUR STUDENT.

Artward Bound Collaborative Project:

Work with your student to generate illustration materials for field guide.  Set goals for creative 2D upcoming project.

Drawing Week!

-What is your object?

-Draw it:

The way YOU want to draw it

Direct Observation

With your Left Hand

With your eyes closed

With new drawing materials

On new surfaces

Abstractly

This will get the student comfortable with drawing, and to loosen them up and to get creative with drawing. Then we can focus on a direct observation approach for the field guide. Starting with thumbnails, then working on the larger shapes, and focusing on details last.

After the direct observation drawing is created, maybe some smaller or other drawings of zoomed in areas or cropped pieces of the object.

Afterward, talk to student about how they would like to use their nature piece as inspiration for an art piece that they would like to work on and explore. What materials would they like? What can I do to make their vision come true?

Day 3: 

Create their art piece! I will bring in materials we discussed the class prior. Open creativity!

Working at the Boys and Girls Club, the children come into the art room at their own free will, ready to create, laugh, learn, and become inspired by the activities we have planned for them. Often large, white pieces of paper cover banquet tables, with bins of markers and crayons line the tables, ready for children to pick out their choice color and fill up the paper before them. Sometimes the children have trouble deciding what to draw, or how to create with the materials before them, such as pen and ink, or plaster. Thinking of swoon, and her delicate approach to paper cutting, or the Lead Pencil Studio, and their large, mathematical wooden structures, I realize there are many approaches to art. The part we as teachers need to figure out is, how do we open up our students to these new materials depending on our classroom.

When I was a camp counselor this summer, I was also an art counselor and teacher for the rest of the camp. Often, I would relate the artwork that I did myself to the lesson plans I created for the students. Mixed media collages, large drawings, and jewelry were all in the curriculum. At the Boys and Girls Club, I have been showing the kids techniques with pen and ink, using markers and crayons collaborate together, and using patience while creating plaster sculptures. I also explain to them that patience, freedom and confidence in their work is always important, no matter what they work on.

Some boys need that large paper to quickly express their excitement, and some girls enjoy taking their time to focus on the smooth lines of ink. Learning about their passion, and figuring how to relate that into the art world is both exciting for me and the students, and their work shows that.