Friday, February 18, 2011

Arts Explorer #6 - Painting with Scissors

Painting with Scissors

Shape "is defined by a line or outline, or by contrasting color or texture in the surrounding area" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 140).

In a class exercise that we did, we were told to create a art activity using any materials. As I was searching through the cabins, I saw pairs of chopsticks and it caught my attention, because it is commonly used for meals and not art. With that in mind, I thought of using marbles as a painting tool, but instead I found pom poms. Having our materials, chopsticks and pom poms, our group played around with it. To my surprise, it was not as easy as it appears to be painting with pom poms using chopsticks. It allows children to practice their fine motor skills, by simply keeping the pom poms between the chopsticks is a major challenge, even for us. However, the different textures formed using pom poms was definitely a joy to experiment with.



The paintings that our group produced was full of colours and shapes. There are shapes of circles, swirls, semi-circles, dots and curves, etc. The combination of these shapes allowed us to create a abstract painting and a way for us to be creative in our imagination. Hence, this would be a suitable for everyone, children and adults to experiment and communicate their personal identity and understanding of the world.



Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art & creative development for young children (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar Cengage Learning.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Arts Explorer #5 - Art Film

Movie Watched: Eternal Sunshine 

http://www.celluloidheroreviews.com/2006/01/12/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind-2004/


Me: So, what did you think of the movie?

Cheryl: i personally didn't like the movie

Me: why is that?

Cheryl: I thought it was going to be a romantic movie from the cover but it turned out it wasn't.

Me: did you like the plot of the movie?

Cheryl: i guess its a good story line but it feels like its all over the place. bc it kept switching from Joel's reality and memory.
http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=6070

Me: that's true but its good how it made connections, like how it showed Joel's nervous moment in the car, then it showed why he acted that way throughout the movie and the story line made more sense
it's one of those movies where it seems confusing at first, but it makes sense at the end

Cheryl: it's like the movie....I..
http://www.friesian.com/sunshine.htm

Me: Inception?

Cheryl: Inception!

Me: yeah because it both deals with memories/dreams

Cheryl: right!

Me: what did you think of the actors/actresses

Cheryl: I cannot take Jim Carey seriously. Kate Witlin was kind of cute

Me: that's true. I always thought of Jim as a comedian, but overall I enjoyed the movie! It was better than I expected!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Arts Explorer #4 - Looking for Patterns in Urban Settings & Nature

Pattern "can be made with forms, shapes, lines, colours, textures or symbols that move across a surface in a recurring sequence" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 142). Pattern can be seen everywhere we go, from buildings to furnitures, even pavements.

As I walked around my neighborhood, I witnessed various kinds of patterns, which I've taken some photos to share with you.


Picture #1
Picture #1
I've came across this pattern when I went to check the mail. This is a photo of the malbox. The individual boxes and the similarities of each forms this pattern.This pattern consists of squares, circles, rectangles and lines.


Picture #2
Picture #2
I'm sure everyone have seen the different floor patterns that are out there. This is the one that I have chosen, which was taken outside my doorstep. The squares and rectangles was positioned horizontally and vertically
to form the pattern that is shown and it repeats throughout.


Schirrmacher, R. , & Englebright Fox, J. (2009). Art & creative development for young children. Belmont, California : Delmar Cengage Learning.