The Inclusion Presentation went really well.  Our project was geared as a response to the Global Goal of Reduced Inequalities.  We chose to focus in on target 10.2: Promote Universal Social, Economic, and Political Inclusion.  We felt the best was to take action towards this goal in the time we were given was to have the class split into groups representing a few of the underrepresented groups listed on the Global Goals website.  We had them work together as a group to create collaborative sustainable collages.  The collages were sustainable in material as they were created by recycling old magazines.  They helped promote sustainable inclusion as the students were required to discuss and interpret the discrepancies between the messages that come through common visual media and the truth of the worth of individual lives.  We got to understand our project did in fact have some impact on our fellow students during the follow up question and answer session at the close of the project.  Students expressed they did in fact recognize many discrepancies in the way certain groups should be represented and how they are represented through visual media.  They also noticed how advertisements in different magazines target different groups whom the advertisers expect to read those magazines.  Students expressed that they had not actually previously taken the time to objectively observe minority representation in visual media before our project asked them too.  They expressed they felt more aware of what they were looking at and what it means to be responsible image makers.  These results made the project very worth while.

 

I am doing five lessons inspired by the work and big idea of Damian Ortega:  Perspective:  where our perspectives on current events, communities, and the material world are altered to see an expansive universe composed of the actions of many.  My lessons are also inspired by the works of Theaster Gates, Michael Rakowitz, and Nick Cage because of the community consciousness and layered meanings in their work and also because of their untraditional use of materials.
The lessons are all linked in that they deal with layering of or rearranging of materials as well as meaning.  This sequence will introduce a number of skills in art making including sculpture, installation, painting, textiles, and clay.  The lessons will also work to introduce ideas of traditional as well as contemporary art making including material usage, content, and context.
The lessons are also all linked in there a expression of the Olivia Gulde’s “Principles of Possibilities: 1. Deconstructing Culture, 2. Empowered Making, 3. Investigating Community Themes, and 4. Play.

Material Research:

1.  Sculptures from One Material Made By Someone Locally:

Researching both projects was a lot of fun, but this one was delicious too!  I had three kids make one each, each one out of a different food material.  These exact materials were not made locally, but I know there are local versions that I would use in a real classroom scenario.  For this project I would provide a list of locally made items.  The kids could each choose something from it and make whatever they wanted to, but they can only use that one material.  This was very successful and fun.  These guys made a popcorn alligator, a Tostitos snake, and a matzoh snake.

 

2.  Reconstructed Objects:

This project is where the kids bring in an object or I would provide a bunch and they take it a part and turn it into something else.  We found two VHS tapes and a VHS rewinder at the dump and turned them into a few different things.  The tapes were turned into two different owls and then a dump truck.  The Rewinder was turned into a boat with a trailer.  This project is to facilitate the understanding of a whole made of parts and reconstructing culture.

 

 

 

For my Lesson Plan Material Research, inspired by my Mentor Artist, Damian Ortega, I am doing geodes inspired by Ortega’s paper geodes.  My Material Research consisted of grabbing my son and an art scrap box we have and successfully attempting to create geodes using whatever was in the box.  There was paper, plastic bags, beads, some Halloween spider web decoration, some other stuff, and luckily some tin foil, tape, glue and playdough to stick everything together.  We each made our own starting with a little ball of paper for the middle and then just kept adding layers until we were tired.  We waited five days for it to set and dry then sawed it open.  I tried other ways of cutting it, but the saw cut the smoothest.

 

 

We discussed collective thought and action in investigating community themes in relation to collective identification with our shared experience and also learning a new skill as enabling the exploration of significant life issues.

We decided a lesson in this could be setting up a giant sticky canvass in the school lunch room and have everybody in the school throw their garbage onto the canvass for the entire day.  It would create an interesting community created mosaic where we could all see just how much garbage we really create each day.  It may prompt us to reduce what we throw away.

Damian Ortega is a sculptural, video, and performance artist born in 1967 and presently living in Mexico City.  Originating as a political cartoonist with no formal artistic training, Ortega’s work is created using found objects most often seeking to creatively un-assemble or mosaic-ly compose familiar objects into culturally historic windows.  Either way, whether disassembled or brought together, they are worked into a composition where our perspectives are altered to see an expansive universe composed of its many parts.  He invites us into the creation of the object or concept.  His sculptures are origin stories inviting the viewer to follow the trail of what political, social, and economic history and conditions into the creation of the everyday object. He uses his sculptures as a backtrack to invite viewers to consider the political, social, and economic weight behind the material.

Teacher Question #1:  How are the personal and political intertwined?
1. Student response:  Political views are based on personal experience.
2. Student response:  Politicians decisions effect our personal life.
3. Student response:  Politics dictate every aspect of our lives.

Teacher: Question #2:  How are art and culture intertwined?
1. Student response:  Culture is expressed through art.
2. Student response:  Each culture has its own unique art.
3. Student response:  Art reveals cultural history.

Teacher: Question #3:  Design a project that would transform how we see the world.
1. Student response:  Have everyone in the school throw their garbage from that day onto a giant sticky surface so everyone can see how much garbage we really produce in a day and promote cleaner practices.
2. Student response:  Create a COVID face mask that demonstrates how wearing the masks feels to us.  This would help everyone understand how others are feeling.
3. Student response:  To highlight inclusiveness, create a collective mosaic portrait of a famous person everyone likes that promotes inclusivity in their work.

Teacher: Question #4:  Design a project that expresses finding the universe in an everyday object.
1. Student response:  Arrange tools of some kind that would be used for a singular project, like everything needed for installing shower, and then use all those tools to create a sculpture.
2. Student response:  Take a part a camera and arrange it expanded.
3. Student response:  Create geodes inspired by Ortega.

Teacher: Question #5:  What limitations or advantages do tools give humans?
1. Student response:  We can only create as far as the tool will take us, as far as what it is designed to do.
2. Student response:  We can imagine past the present tool to the next version of it, create it, and use it to build something new.
3. Student response:  We can do far more with tools then we can without.

• Was it challenging to figure out how to depict the process clearly in five steps?

It wasn’t very challenging to explain in drawings, but maybe it was challenging drawing a detailed closeup.  It was a little challenging choosing what exactly to do a closeup of.  And I wanted to make a more interesting drawing so I looked up pictures of pouring water to draw from.  It was also challenging drawing the coffee grinds.  I decided they were angular in shape so   I kind of angular square doodles rather than circular ones.  I’m pretty happy with it.

• How many steps do you need to fully teach someone to do this task?

You only need five pictures to fully teach someone to make Aeropress Coffee.  It’s pretty much self explanatory though would probably take a minute to explore it before figuring it out. You would just need to show all necessary parts , then they should place Aeropress on top of a coffee cup and scoop coffee grinds in while heating water.  Next, they would pour hot water over grinds. And then, they would press insert down pushing water through grinds and into the mug.  Finally, they would enjoy!

• Did your partner find your depiction accurate?

I was in a group of three and they seemed happy with the illustrations.  She showed me the Aeropress website so I could understand the steps and draw everything accurately.

• What corrections did you have to make?

No corrections necessary.

• What other information must you include to make a clear explanation?

You could possibly add a website to find the product since it is a unique way of making coffee.  But otherwise that’s all you need to know.

     I chose to eliminate hunger!  I have read that there is more than enough food on the planet to feed everyone really well, but that it is not distributed in a way to get this accomplished.  My super power would be to collect and evenly distribute food to everyone on earth so no one is hungry.  And I would also wave a magic wand over everyone and everyone would know sustainable farming practices so they would always be able to feed themselves.

 

1.  Damian Ortega:  This artist is my first choice because I enjoyed his work the most and instantly saw his ideas translated into a classroom lesson.  I appreciate his exploration of form and material and his consideration of the interaction his works pull from the viewers.  His big idea is changing perceptions.
2.  Diana Al Hadid:  Her works were also immediately eye catching in the surprising femininity and lyricism expressed with such rough materials.
3.  Linda Benglis:  Her interest in exploring textures and movements of materials to see where she can go with them ties right into my ideas for teaching art to children.

 

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