Creative Minds

The challenge of teaching where I teach is that you have wide variety of skill levels, and also really incredible creative minds.  It's important to try to reach as many students as I can by providing open ended lessons and some parameters for those who need it.  It doesn't always work out.

Some students might see even one direction as boxing them in, while others might choose to look at one direction as a spring board.  Either way, I see a lot of courage.

It takes courage to create.  And things that are supposed to have some visual sense is extremely different.  I don't want my kids to feel judged for what they do, I want them to feel empowered by the choices they make.  After all, in their daily lives they may not be able to make any choices...or may not see any choices.

I hope my class can act as a catalyst for free thinking and choice making, even when they think they do not have any.

The student above is working on a piece called "Perseverance".  He's using 3 leaders who have influenced him to keep moving forward:  Gandhi, King, and Obama.  This student has worked hard on representing the 3 world leaders using pencil shading, and will add lettering and a quote.

Every year my students make a "tree".  We look at a variety of trees, how artists render them, and how they can create a tree based on their personality.  We discuss mood and how color can symbolize different types of moods.  Students are usually awed because of the complexity their own patterns make, and how the "tree" really does seem to symbolize them.

I can't post the whole picture, but students love to draw themselves.  This student is working on a self-portrait in pencil.  He has created a border above and below his face to create a "letterbox" effect. Is he copying a movie style?  What does that say about his own personality?  Students often face a lot of unanswered questions when working in art.  They come across a lot of unexpected results. 

I love when that happens.  I just have to get them to appreciate them.