What we do first can help establish habits of thinking, feeling, and creating.
BRUSH EXPLORATION: Can you make a list of simple things you can have them DO with a brush without any showing or demo? This honors the notion of experimentation. It allows for the discovery of unknown outcomes rather than the notion of following instructions. What if you see what they discover based on your list of things to DO. I find that each one does things differently and there can be a lot of peer learning. Can they compare their own results and describe the visual effects in terms of sound, taste, tactility, and all kinds of sensory descriptions other than visual? I avoid comparing one person with another (they do that internally), but I do not want them to do it out loud. I prefer to keep the studio culture one of mutual empathic helpfulness rather than competition.
COLOR: What would happen if you gave them some programmed instructions on what to do with colors without telling or showing the results. No answers. They get the answers if they do the experiments. Again the answers may vary, and we can learn from the diversity of outcomes. Sometimes experiments need to be repeated to check for reliability. Josef Albers painted over 1.000 Homage to the Square paintings in his quest to understand color. He said to never do anything only once. Not until you compare it with another attempt do you learn (paraphrased). What could they learn by discovery? How could they best remember the attributes of their discoveries in order to put them into practice on a painting? What could be your question list they could use to become more aware of how to see and feel the effects of color? Have you referenced any color theory books to to review the various categories of color effects. This helps me design experiments. It helps me think of relevant questions to pose. The best students learn to pose their own questions and design their own experiments.
Marvin (retired teacher)
On Nov 13, 2011, at 10:44 AM, Terri Frohman wrote:
> I am going to start my painting unit and i would like to dedicate one
> day to a paint brush exploration and one day to a mixing exploration.
> Does anyone have any resources, handouts, ppt, or pictures/examples of
> this kind of thing that might push me in the right direction?
> Its so hard to teach something that comes so naturally to me and I am
> stuck on where to begin!!
> Terri NYC
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