Art’s Explorer #4: Looking for Patterns in Urban Settings & Nature

Art Word of the Week:  Pattern

v Refers to the treatment given to a surface

v Suggest flow, rhythm, motion and movement

v Suggest regularity and repetition

v Can be made with forms, shapes, lines, colours, textures or symbols that move across a surface in a recurring sequence

v Symmetrical or Asymmetrical

  I had a lot fun doing this week’s art’s explorer. This art’s explorer reminded me of all the amazing and exciting assignments I use to do when I took photography back in high-school. Photography was a passion of mine and I still enjoy taking picture where ever I go. The pictures I took for this week’s art explorer was taken in my neighbourhood in Scarborough.

This first pattern here is taken outside my house. The houses in my area all look the same and I believe they are pretty odd because they are only the bottom half of the house is constructed out of bricks while the other half is constructed with something different. This picture here of bricks is the bottom half of my house by the front door.

This second pattern is also taken outside my house. This is the pathway that leads from my front door steps down towards the driveway. I am glad that I could finally see this pathway again since all the nasty snow has finally started to meltJ.

This third pattern I took while walking towards the mailbox. I was looking around for different patterns and noticed this nice pattern around the top of my neighbour’s fence. I thought it was different than just taking a picture of an actually fence.

This fourth pattern is the fence surrounding the field across from my house which has been here for 3 years. Nothing has been build here yet and hopefully nothing will be built. I like this photograph because the sky is so blue and the snow looks so white, fresh and untouched.  

Lastly this photograph here was the gold heart patterned lace that was placed around my roses for Valentine’s Day. I thought this pattern was so beautiful especially when it was placed around the red roses. So I decided to take a picture of it and use it as one of my found patterns.

Through this Art’s Explorer, I have noticed that everything around us is a pattern. Some are more clear and evident while others make you dig deeper to allow you to see how beautiful a particular pattern is.

As an educator, finding patterns in your local neighbourhood setting is great for children. As a class you can walk down the street in the neighbourhood or to your local park and allow them to expand their minds by looking outside the box in an environment  that is familiar to them. Bring your camera or even allow children to bring their own disposable camera's that can be processed later on.  After photo's have been taken and processed, allow children to express why they took these photo's and why these pictures are patterns.
Now check your neighbourhood setting for different patterns that you haven't took the time notice!!! 

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J., E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6^th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.

Art’s Explorer #3: Fine Art Critique

Art Word of the Week: Texture

  On January 25, 2011 I had visited the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) for the first time. I was very excited to go to a place where I had never been before. While looking through the AGO plenty of art work had caught my eye but one in particular made me feel something different. This particular artwork initially reminded me of my sister and I when we were young explorers.

This art work above is named Picking Flowers by Helen McNicoll and was created around 1912. Helen McNicoll is a famous artist that was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1879 but grew up in Montreal. Throughout her career, Helen studied art in Montreal, England, Italy and France. Helen’s canvases portrayed pleasing domestic scenes, peaceful afternoons at the seashore, and loving interior scenes. Helen passed away in 1915 at the age of thirty-six in Swanage, England.

My initial reaction to Helen McNicoll’s canvas was warmth and happiness. I really like this canvas because it reminds me of my childhood summer days for my sister and I. The sunny is shining brightly and I feel like I can feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. The materials that have been used are oil on the canvas and possibly different types of soft brushes to get different texture effects on particular objects in the canvas. My senses can smell the fresh summer afternoon, the freshly bloomed flowers and my skin can feel the warmth of the sun shining brightly. The one thing that stands out to me in this canvas is the sun above shining on particular objects and the shadows it produces.

  I believe the Helen McNicoll could have seen this real image on one of her travel studies in Italy. I believe it was done in Italy because of the atmosphere and season this canvas in created in. This canvas looks like it was created by hand and took a great amount time to get every aspect right such as if there was a bit of wind and what was moving, where and what objects were giving off shadows etc. The overall theme in this particular Ago art room was landscapes and people mixed together along all four walls.

 The art word of the week I have chosen for this canvas is texture, which is the “surface quality of a work of art” (Schirrmacher & Fox 2009, P 144).When looking at this canvas in the art gallery it looked so soft and smooth. You can tell that Helen was trying to get that soft and warm summer day. Everything looks so fresh and you get a joyful feeling when looking at this canvas.

   For educators, this would be a great hands on experience for children. Field trips are always a great way for children to learn about new and exciting things that are not present in their every day lives. Field trips give children the opporunity to explore and learn from the environment physically but also visually learn. Taking children on a field trip to the AGO allows them to gain appreciation for the fine arts but also allows them to open their eyes to the wonders of the artistic world. Educators can educate children on how important a painting is to an artist through the personal meaning of their painting. This also educates children that their artist creations should have personal meaning to themselves.

  In conclusion, I had enjoyed my experience at the AGO. I love seeing new, exciting things especially that are different from what I usually do with my time. I would definitely like to experience and see new and exciting things that I have not seen or done before.

If you are interested in visiting the AGO take a look at there offical website for more information :)
                                            http://www.ago.net/

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J., E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6^th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.

Art Explorer #2: Instant Sculpture with Found Objects

Art Word of the Week: Colour

“Is the visual sensation of light caused by stimulating the cones of the retina” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, P 136). In my sculpture I have lots of colour. I used two different colours for the cupcakes, pink and white. To make the colour pink I had to use white frosting with red food colouring to make it pink which would make pink a secondary color.

  I found this blog very challenging for myself because I have been thinking for weeks on what I could make using the materials in my house. While looking around my house on my day off I noticed that my house is full of flowers. From the walls in my hallway to the kitchen, family room and dining room, real and artificial flowers are placed EVERYWHERE. So since I love flowers and so does my mom apparently I have decided to make a flower out of materials in my house.

The materials I chose to use were miniature cupcakes and cinnamon hearts. I decided that since Valentine’s Day is coming up that this would be cute if I made a pretty flower out of Valentine’s Day cupcakes and cinnamon hearts. I decided to make these little tiny cupcakes and use pink and white frosting because these colours represent Valentine’s Day to me. I then thought it would be pretty neat to test out and see how this flower made out of cupcakes and cinnamon hearts would look. By looking at my picture you can see that I used the cupcakes to make the flower and I used the cinnamon hearts to make the stem and leaf part of the flower. Overall, I believe this little sculpture of mine turned out good! It looked and tasted delicious and I also had fun making it J 

Instant sculptures are great for children. Here they can begin to use their creative minds with a variety of materials we provide as educators. Instant sculptures are open-ended and have no instructions, therefore allowing their creation possibilities to be endless. Children enjoy these non-instructional based activities because they are free to do and create on their own.

Now hopefully I get a bouquet of real roses for Valentine’s Day from my special someone!! Love the way they smell & look in my bedroom J  

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J., E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6^th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.