Name Prototype:

Click Game Prototype:

Final Game:

I learned Scratch when I was in middle school and honestly I was not excited about this project. I feel like the program is visually geared towards young children, but I wasn’t aware of all of the things you can do with scratch, like adding in your own art.

I started with prototyping my name and focusing on graphic design elements, aesthetics, changing costumes and some of the features coding.  After that I followed the balloon click game tutorial to develop an understanding of how to code a click game and come up with some ideas of what I wanted to make. I started my bug game by designing my bug and net. I chose bugs just because I really like bugs. I was pretty frustrated learning how to design them through Scratch, especially the net, but it did give me an opportunity to really understand how that part of the program works. As for coding, I copied the coding from the balloon click game for my bug and then attached a few extra things like the speech at the end. Figuring out  how to code the net was the challenging part. I wanted it to follow the mouse as if we were using a net to catch the bug. I also wanted to find a way to have the net flip to catch the bug. Here is the coding I used:

I was feeling quite limited by coding offered because I was trying to figure out if I could use the “when this sprite is clicked” option (bug) and apply that to change the nets costume.  However those don’t crossover. It took me a while to find the “touching bug” option. I felt that was having to find difficult ways around something that could have been easier. However, I am glad that it was not as thorough as Photoshop because I could see myself getting very overwhelmed.

Things that I picked up on from my classmates was understanding how to upload a drawn sprite. Nina showed me an app she downloaded on her phone to cut out the shape and remove it from the paper. I also really enjoyed Pedro’s game because it was awesome to see how he applied his previous graphic design background. I also liked that he had an introductory screen.

Ways that this relates to art and art education is that the main focus is graphic design, but can also involve other interests like drawing and painting, or even music as sounds. I think there are also ways to incorporate art history by finding a mentor artist or create scenes based around certain artists.

If I were to use this in a future classroom (high school level), I might consider skipping the chase and click games or give the opportunity to do a choice based game as that project as well. If I were to skip those games I would ask them to watch the tutorials or create prototyping videos to show so that they don’t feel like thy are missing information. Maybe it is just me but I felt I was ready to jump into something that felt like a butterfly effect game, but those are also the kinds of games I tend to gravitate towards.

I was only able to stay at this event for about an hour, but I wish I could have stayed longer. I really didn’t know what this event was about and so I was not sure what to expect. I also wish it had been advertised more because I felt it was really important for people to see and learn from. I felt that a good amount of people who were there were there for a class and I would not have known about the event if it wasn’t for this class.

Picture 1: One of the rolls of paper that are placed along the paths in front of the library. You can also see someone adding a drawing. In the back were silkscreen prints strung up.

Picture 2: A man on the stage showing his grandfather’s drawings. This was both a celebration of his work and a quick discussion of how people of color were/ are displayed on TV.

Video: An original song about people viewing people of color as tokens in their rising awareness of BLM as well as their expectations of black individuals to step up and lead/ share their thoughts.

One thing I did not get pictures of was a large wall in the back timelining historical dates and images of important events.

This event did not really feel like a protest in that it felt to not be backed with anger. It was more of a gathering of difficult experiences told in a beautiful and emotional way. And while focused mainly on black issues, there were also discussions of fears being a woman and welcomed human experiences from all races. This event came out of frustrations with the creation of the Sojourner Truth Statue. I would describe the experience as more of a collaborative learning environment.

Ways that this connected to our class and even the design thinking process was that it asked us to consider the issues and solutions. STEM was not much of a big idea, but we saw developments of art, poetry and music, which are all things that can be brought to this class. In teaching we will also find that students are passionate in discussing these kinds of experiences with art. Sharing stories is a really important aspect of learning.

GIF 1

I learned about how I can manipulate images to move and further develop meaning. I felt slightly more confident about this project because I did already have a bit of experience with photoshop. I did get frustrated with some of the tools and I often find technology to be finicky. Yet, I did find it fun deciding what I wanted to have move and to see the end result. I started by watching the demo bouncing ball video since it involved parts of photoshop I haven’t used and since I felt I understood, I didn’t finish the bouncing ball GIF and I started working on the apple images GIF. The pictures I used in that GIF were taken as reference images for the following GIF in which the original piece was intended to imitate a time-lapse in one.

As for the design thinking process, I did a bit of prototyping to understand different part of Photoshop. I got to use different tools for each one. The first one I focused more on layers and playthrough/ time of each part. The second one I practiced using the selection tool and played with the brightness and contrast, something I was already familiar with. For the swallowing pills one, I tried out selecting and moving pieces and figuring out how to color in the gaps. I think my last one was the most successful because I tried new things and visually I like that the pill disappears when the moth closes, implying more physicality.

This project connects well to digital art, something I am not familiar with. I do think that a lot of students would enjoy this, especially because elements that they enjoy can be added. Photoshop is also a really great application to have students become affiliated with. I have mainly only used it for editing for portfolios, but I think to even know just that is important.

This connects to design thinking because it engages unfamiliar technology and I had to imagine different ideas of what I would want to make. I think this project would be important to bring in especially because the world is increasingly more reliant on technology. I wish that when I left high school, I was more comfortable with technology. I might consider this project to go along with more photography rather than drawings and paintings depending on how much art students have to work with, as well as if they seem to be happy with other work they have. However I don’t want the GIF to feel like a video to them.

https://newpaltz.knowmia.com/Dxgs

The prompt for our tribute cards asked us to think of someone we would want to make a project for. I had a really hard time coming up with someone I was comfortable making a card for. I was thinking about how as kids we would blindly make cards for our parents in elementary school about how much we loved them. I remember seeing my dad as a hero, mainly because he worked as a cop and a firefighter and I knew he literally saved lives, but I think also because kids are desperate to be loved and view our parents/guardians as that source even if thats not the reality. My card represents the perspectives of your parents as a child and then as an adult.

I really liked the exploration days we had before introducing the project. I think it really helped me feel more comfortable, engaged and actually excited about the project. In the pictures above I started focusing on aesthetic with the origami and from there I considered more about function. I was looking into if connecting lights could transfer through each other, how many lights/ colors I could use, and alternate ways I can use the copper tape (not laying it flat). If I were to do this project again, I want to do something a little more complicated with the lights.

My earliest thoughts were about design and aesthetics. I was thinking about the child drawings, my blue house and the piano when first coming up with ideas. My dad was my inspiration to my involvement in music at such an early age. One of my only happy and clearer memories with him was signing “Don’t Stop Believing” with my older sister as he played. It really only felt right to pay something to that, but also relates to how he has missed out on being around to see the things I am really passionate about. I was initially stressed about the piano looking too cliché. I personally feel like instruments or music notes included in art often appear and feel that way. It was not long after the piano idea that I knew I wanted to include sound. I actually wanted one of the keys to be a button that would begin the sound, but I had no idea how to do that and with the way the sound piece functioned, I am not sure that would have been possible.

The words I chose came from a poem called ‘Daddy Are You Proud of Me?” by Nego True. I go back to this poem a lot and I feel like the words phrase every feeling I have had. I think the ones I chose come with a lot of innocence and realization as well:

“Daddy Are You Proud of Me?”

“I wish I could of hired you when I was a kid so I could of spent more time with you.”

“Sending money and spending time is not the same thing.”

I think that as kids we are trained to hold an unspoken expectation we have on our parents that they should be around to see the things we achieve or share experiences and the things that make us happy with them. I hate that I crave validation from someone I will never get it from. I would love to be able to call my dad and tell him about the frisbee tournament I just won or introduce him to the people I care about. Questioning if I was truthfully ever wanted or wanting him to be proud of who I am if we were to ever reconnect is something I come back to probably every day. And as much as I would like to ignore it, I feel like it was ingrained that he was supposed to be by my side and I don’t think there will ever be a time that I am completely past that feeling. Realistically, the only relationship I have left with my dad are the money transactions for child support. Sometimes those don’t exist and sometimes I wish my mom/ family could be financially capable to not need it. I often feel like a burden to him, simply another bill he is supposed to pay. He is the kind of parent who would drive a friend and I somewhere, hand out money, let us do our own thing and consider that spending time together. Things seem to revolve around work and money for him and so the first line really resonated the feeling of that maybe he would be dedicated to his children if he was paid to do it.

Incorporating sound to things that don’t always include that is something I have been excited to try and utilize in the past. I enjoyed that this was an art education project but how this allowed me to reach into music, poetry and STEM. I think there was something really awesome about this project that it also asks you to think for someone else. I think a lot of my art mainly only relates to myself and my thoughts. I would love to take this project into a future classroom because of the amount of exploration of materials it allotted and the creativity and differences found between everyone’s work.

Leah Beuchley’s talk on Art Craft and Technology

1. What does Leah Buechley mean by “epistemological pluralism” and how does it relate to your (prior) knowledge of art and art education?

My understanding of “epistemological pluralism” based on the video was about how the examples shown can not only be turned into larger computational systems, meaning things done on small scales can become the big picture. I think an important part of epistemological pluralism is how these projects also contain rich possibilities for learning.

1. How might you use each of the 3 techniques Buechley shows in your future art classroom? (Paper, sketching, folding)

As Leah Buechley talked about, the three techniques allow many possibilities to learn. I think a self-guided exploration would be a good way to introduce the paper and the sketching circuit. That worked out really well in class. I think the folding one might need to be a little bit more teacher led. I would like to try it myself though to see how complicated it might be to understand it. Buechley brought up how  these projects can bring in different people who may not be very interested in art. A big part of teaching is engaging students, which in my experience working with kids, that is hard to do when students have no tied interests to what they are working on. I think if I were to follow up with a project after introducing these, it would be fun to gather materials from outside and try to mesh that with circuit building. I feel like I have always separated the idea of nature and technology and would want to bring those two worlds together.