Aspen Ideas Festival: Arts in Education

Aspen Ideas Festival: Arts in Education Video

This video is rather long, but I feel it's definitely worth a watch or listen, because it relates specifically to arts and education.  If you speed through the timeline to about 30:00, you will hear the panel talk about technology and art.  One of the panelist Damian Woetzel spoke of how it is positive and then said he still wants people to do things with their hands.  Another statement that I found interesting was the comparison between sports and the arts.  One of the panelist spoke about how parents push and make sure that their kids partake in sports and how that's competitive, but they don't see the same push to participate in the arts.  I personal think that our youth need both. I believe that sports breed teamwork, competitiveness, and the ability to deal with winning and losing.  I not only think sports is necessary but believe that art should be mandatory as well, because of how it can inspire creativity and self expression.  Why do you think that it's more of a push for kids to play sports than for kids to do arts?  My answer would be that it's a perception in society that art doesn't pay the bills, despite that it is a ton of creative jobs and careers out there.  People think of the "starving artist," and parents don't put their kids in anything else art related beyond what's already in the schools. With sports maybe parents believe that there kid might just be an professional athlete.  I think we have to promote more awareness of the lucrative careers in art to maybe change that perception a bit.  What do you all think?

http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=164219F6-0FBA-11E1-9CAC000C296BA163&aka=0
Check out this site and video.  All this week I have been looking at the series on NBC, Education Nation.  It has a ton of categories and lots of insightful information.  I've zeroed in on a lot of the videos dealing with Art and Education, and everyone seems to recognize how important it is.  I've felt a strong need for kids to not only embrace technology but understand technology to the point where they can create something of their own.  In the video on the site you will see kids that have literally programmed they're own video games.  As a video game artist, i'm jealous, because I don't even program the games I make...granted my games are much bigger.  This is still amazing to me though, because when I was their age I played games but wasn't close to being exposed to it in a way where I could make my own.    In recent years there has been talks of the ill effects of video games on youth,  and although certain organizations have not succeeded on banning violent games, the jury has still been out.  What do you think of when people talk about video games, and did you ever imagine kids so young being able to make games on their own?

Colorful, Programmable, Lights....I Like Color

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/limemouse/lifx-the-light-bulb-reinvented

Again, I think I'm going to have to learn how to be a programmer.  This is just super cool.  Expensive...but really cool.  Basically these lights last a super long time, and they are wi-fi enabled.  You have an app that enables you to control the intensity, hue, and time of the lights.  It would definitely make for some cool parties at home and mood lighting.  I think this kind of stuff not only appeals to artist and people in general but is also very inspirational.  Maybe this kind of thinking is one way to approach our assignment in regards of what is some of the simplest things that are done in a museum that may be completely outdated?  Now lets re imagine it in a more modern or futuristic way.  Be sure to check out the video on the link.

Functional Technology That is a Work Of Art

Yes, this is a thermostat, but it's no ordinary thermostat.  Its from Tony Fadell, he's someone who helped design the Ipod and decided to start his own company.  I like the fact that he felt that thermostats are in our homes and they are a ugly piece of hardware.  He basically redesigned it and made it cool :-) It not only looks cool but does cool things too, like learn on its own, and glow red when it's heating and blue when it's cooling.  It shows the black color when your away from it and lights up when your near it.  It's also has wi fi, so you can program it with a free app.  I think I may have to get this for my place :-)
Check out the website here:  http://www.nest.com/

My 2 Cents...

It's Friday!!! And what a week it's been.  This concludes my 3rd week of school at SAIC in the MAAE program. Actually it's only my 2nd week of attending class because last week, work called on me to go out of town, so I had to spend a great deal of time catching up on all the readings, film, and assignments that I missed.  I think I'm all good now.

This week of school really has me thinking about people and how our experiences and perspectives all differ.  The main thoughts sticking with me this week deal with Oppression, Critical thinking really works, Technology, and lastly how powerful the film medium truly is.

Oppression-  I've been reading Paulo Freire's, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and it really dives into the relationship of the oppressed and the oppressor.  Being a black man oppression digs deep especially having witnessed racism and discrimination.  So when the word oppression is mentioned to me, I immediately go to images of the civil rights movement and slavery, and my own personal experiences.  Paulo Freire's book from what I've read thus far mentions how the oppressed can have conflict with each other, but have respect and be envious of their oppressor.  That's a powerful statement and I believe that there is truth to it.  He also in terms of education talks about the teacher and student relationship...and mentions scenarios where the teacher is the oppressor and the student is the oppressed...  Very interesting stuff and makes for an interesting discussion.  I had to read these materials and then write up an essay on them, after the class on Thursday night I really want to revisit my essays and rewrite them.

Critical thinking really works-  From the various readings this week I've been thinking about "critical thinking"  In a nut shell anytime you can have a classroom where the students can talk about the subject matter critically, and pose problems, and as a group attempt to solve those problems it is a win.  Ultimately it makes learning something more intresting and active.  In the readings I'm learning that this is far better than when a teacher just mechanically presents a bunch of information and the students in return work hard to memorize that information to make a grade.  In that model there is no critical discussion or active experince and its more isolation.  I thought about when I first went to art school after high school and was in a beginning animation class.  Clearly I was in a class with people that each had their own story and experience.  Some where new to the idea of using a computer and working with creative software, and some had already had some experience with it or were very familar with computers in general.  The teacher basically gave us all a tutorial and said follow the instructions.....and if you had a problem following the instructions he would come by and help you follow them.  Everyone did the tutorial and everyone got an "A."  But from what I realized later and even more so now is that, that was wrong.  When I graduated that school I was no where near a level to where I should be trying to work at PIXAR, so I went to another school and that animation class was different.  It was no tutorial, and we where all given a problem (making a flour sack move from point A to B) and we all had to think CRITICALLY on how that could happen.  What the result ended up being was you got flour sacks that had emotion....some sacks skipped, some ran, some walked, some were scared....All of us as students interacted with each other and got over our fears of communication and our past history and thought of creative ways to make that flour sack get from point A to point B.  In comparing the learning experience one was far better than the other.

Technology-  All I can say is that I'm excited about technology and art and it's always changing...sometimes it can be a little intimidating because you can lose the passion or energy to want to keep up with new things.  I am extremely excited about the idea that I have for some technology in our Art Museum and I'm hoping I can convey the concept clearly.  Next week in class we will dig a little deeper into the guts of what and how this assignment will move forward and I'm looking forward to that.  I'm also excited about the opportunity to work with the youth in the museum, it will be big time learning experience as I dive into the world of education and art.  I am hoping that next week is slow at the office so that I can potentially take a day off and get down to the museum and be a beta tester for the technology they are looking into. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed on that one.


Films-  The class has seen 2 films....one "Stranger With A Camera," by Elizabeth Barret http://appalshop.org/film/stranger/ and two "Wildness," by Wu Tsang http://www.wildnessmovie.com/  I won't go into a lot of details about each film, but I willl say both films where powerful.  Both films can be a spring board for a lot discussion and a lot of perceptions.  In class I was asked to compare the 2 films and see if they were similar in anyways or different, as well as relate them to our readings.

 I felt like I would say something that I remembered about the film and then would try and relate that to something else I remembered with the reading, but I was afraid of saying something that was incorrect or didn't make sense.  "Stranger With A Camera" was a documentary about how a town handled the murder of a notable documentary director, (who was trying to portray the towns issues with poverty) by the hand of one of it's own. (a respected man in their community who was offended by the film crew's presence.)  "Wildness," was a story of  a famous club called "The Silver Platter" that was located in a Latin community in Los Angelas, California. Wu Tsang is a  trans gender who with the help of DJ friends started a party called "Wildness," on Tuesday nights in the club.  It was a creative outlet for performance art and music. The trans gender, lesbian and gay community embraced the party and made it historical.  The film documents The Silver Platter and the Wildness party and what it meant to the trans gender community.    I appreciated the film and thought that it was well done and really liked the story.  I can identify with the concept of being an outcast or a minority and wanting to belong or have a "safe space" where you can be free.  I think of a safe space as a place where you have no fear, no worries, etc...

After the class discussion I realized that what had just happened in the discussion of the film was exactly what we have read in the class!  No one related the movie to the "socialization circle" that we read about in Bobbie Harro's, "The Cycle of Socialization." and how our discussion of the film was actually "Critical Thinking in progress."  I realized that we all have different backgrounds and life experiences and have to learn about one another and understand one another so that we could better communicate.  Just like as educators we should strive to learn about our students and understand them so that we can better educate them.  I realized I fell into a trap of defending my question or perspective vs actually looking for the answers amongst the context of the films.  As I thought more critically of the film, I have an even greater appreciation for it because I can recall more scenes that I hadn't thought about in the class discussion that made things more vivid.  I realize that I will have to continue to grow and work at being able to communicate my thoughts and conversations a lot more clearly, and I'm happy that the classes I have at the moment are going to really help me in that endeavor. 

Digital Painting, Work In Progress

Ok so a little while ago I picked up a wacom tablet, and decided to give Sketchbook Pro a shot in making a digital painting.  This is still early and I try to work on it when I get some free time, but any comments or crits on it are welcome.

Detroit Institute Of Art

Over the weekend I was reading a few articles and I came across one that I would like to share.  Having a brother that lives in downtown Detroit often gives me a chance to see and hear about things that go on there from time to time.  Below is a link to the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/arts/design/detroit-institute-of-arts-county-millage-tax-approved.html

The above article deals with the win for the Detroit Institute of Art in a vote passed to raise property tax in a few counties in an effort to specifically have money go back into the museum.  The DIA (Detroit Institute of Art) was literally in danger of shutting it's doors down before this had happened.  At a cost of 15 dollars for every house hold a year, I think it's well worth it.  I also believe that the residents in those counties get free admission to the museum and educational programs.  That's huge!  In St Louis I remember taking field trips to the St Louis Art Museum...it was something that we all looked forward too.  I was able to take classes at the Museum and was even an assistant art teacher one summer.  From reading the article, the museum in St. Louis also gets some revenue from property taxes.

I have to be honest and say that I've never really thought about how an Art Museum really makes it's money, sure they have admission, programs, and a gift shop....but it seems like in most cases it's not enough.  I'm glad the people in Detroit chose to support the museum.  Things like this affect us all as artists and educators.  If it had closed I couldn't imagine all of the kids and tourist that would no longer be able to visit, and the educators that would no longer have a job there.