Arts Explorer #10 - Community Arts Project

Community Art Project: Animal Cruelty

Line "is something we use to make letters, words, numbers, symbols and signs" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 135). This element was represented in our presentation display, with coloured boarders, cut-out letters, alignment of the pictures and information.

In our group community arts project, our focus was on animal cruelty. This issue can be easily overlooked because it often occurs in farms or industries and we wouldn't see it in our neighborhood as often (hopefully not as all!). However, it is important for us to protect these animals, to raise awareness, to make contributions, and discourage it by STOP buying real fur products. Organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has recently did a campaign in Toronto, where people stood in the middle of the street naked, and holding a sign saying "I'd rather go naked than wear fur". Moreover, there are also celebrity supporters such as Anjelica Huston, Iggy Pop and Fred Willard. Bringing awareness through these campaign, as well as visually is extremely important. Visual communication would include posters, websites, videos and pins to inform everyone the reality of this issue and not be oblivious of it. The involvement of EVERYONE who are living and breathing and has the power to make a change, will give us the opportunity to save these animals from being slaughtered for our humanly selfish reasons. Like every human being, animals has every right to live and not be killed or tortured.

My dog <3

Just thinking about this issue saddens me because I have a dog of my own and the thought of her being tortured is unbearable. Furthermore, I have had my dog my whole life, she is 16 years old now and we all treat her as family, without her is like a incomplete family. All animals should be treated with care and love, providing them safety and proper shelter. It is so frightening to know that this is happening even right now, at this moment. This has brought me the attention of what I should and shouldn't eat and buy.

Overall, our presentation went well because we got our message across and brought the reality into everyone's awareness. However, I did wanted more interactions with the audience. Although this project was long and consumed a lot of time, I really enjoyed learning about this issue and putting everything altogether. It was a great bonding time with my group as well.

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

Arts Explorer #9 - Guerilla Art

In the glossary, space is "the total area defined by the size of the artist's paper or canvas" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 368)

For my Guerilla art, I have decided to a mini appreciation post-it notes for my friend. To do so, I prepared a list of words that describes her and wrote it on small post-its. With it, I formed a shape of a rectangle on the wall, where it will be visible for her to see. At first, when she walked into the room, she didn't notice it because she wasn't look at that direction. It took a minute or two until she noticed it. She turned to me and smiled and gave me a hug! We both laughed about how it was so apparent and yet she didn't notice it. It was a fun process for me, to make and see the result of it!

The arrangement of this Guerilla art is associated with the element of space. Schirrmacher & Fox (2009) defines space as two types, positive and negative. Positive space is where it is occupied by shapes, forms, colour and lines (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009). Negative space is the leftover of what is occupied, the blank spaces. In my art, the rectangle post-it notes is the positive space and the green wall is the negative space.

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

Arts Explorer #8 - Pretend Play & Magical Thinking

Design/Composition "as in overall mark of success, the standard of achievement, and the frosting on the cake" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 142).


I'd like to introduce you to Timmy Clock. Timmy here is 6 year old student at Cool Meadow P.S. He is a quiet boy who enjoys playing by himself. His teacher would often complain how he always sleeps in class, during circle time and activities. The teacher was told that he does not have a regular nap time at home and just sleeps whenever he is tired. However, he often sleeps right after school or while he watches TV and wakes up at night. His mom, Wakey Watch is a single mother and always so busy with work. At home, if she isn't working, she'll be cooking and cleaning, leaving Timmy alone, doing whatever he likes. Furthermore, with her busy schedule, Timmy barely spends much time with her, although he always wanted to. Timmy's teacher has informed her about his sleeping habits at school, but it still continued. Timmy doesn't have much friends because he can be grumpy at times and don't cooperate with other children. He loves legos and playing with cars. Couple days ago, he even searched around the classroom and collected all the cars. He sure loves them!

In relation to the element, I believe it is successful in the sense that he is the character whom I have in mind and described. Timmy Clock is a good student but can be misbehaving due to his lack of sleep. When I first thought of this story, it reminded me of a child I've worked with, who has similar behaviour at school, but with minor changes in the story, of course. The idea of choosing a (digital) clock came from the fact that I, myself, enjoys sleep, especially at times of stress and sleeping-in is a dream come true. Overall, I really enjoyed the process of this blog and creating a character out of a object. Our creativity is overflowing when we enjoy something such as this.

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