Translation to Teaching

In thinking of what lessons to translate into the classroom, I really enjoyed the doughnut exercise. While it seemed tedious at the time, it forced us to look at an object from different angles and explore new ways to draw with an restricted amount of time. I recently practiced it with my family at dinner. We passes around the sketchbook and timed each other drawing the dinner rolls. Everyone had fun doing it and we all reflected and talked about the drawings afterward. Thus, I would definitely like to try this out in the classroom. Using thumbnail size sketches, it would be fun to pick an object and play a "beat the clock" type drawing game.

One of the important strategies I learned during this class was to give restrictions. Don't give every option in the world. Give an assignment and only allow one medium, or finite time, or one prop. Exercises like the doughnut drawings, or the paper and tape project force you to creatively use the limited materials you have and go above and beyond to create something special.

Found Drawings

After walking around UF for even a minute, you can't help but notice the beautiful brick buildings.

The campus is overflowing with the rectangular cuboids. When looking closer, you see that each brick has a unique design. Each brick seems to be imprinted with different shapes and colors.

I couldn't believe I never looked closely enough to see it. But now that I have, the millions of bricks around campus now stood out and had individual meanings.

Altered Book

By far this is one of the pieces I am most proud of. I truly broke through my fear walls and played with purpose. I loved the breakthroughs I had making this book and hope to continue making more altered books.

Project Book

What happens when a toy horse decides to go to school? Here's one little guy's journey to art camp at the University of Florida.

melissa swift, favorites

I might be crazy, but I actually liked the donut assignment. While yes, it seemed odd to be stuck in the vicious cycle of finding a creative way to present a donut 25 times...it served it's purpose: to get creative.

I think my favorites are #17, #18, and #21, but I won't lie: I'm quite impressed with #1...not too shabby for having to do it left handed :)

melissa swift, found drawing

I really enjoy looking for the beauty in the things that generally go overlooked or under-appreciated. I'm quite fascinated by the affect light has on some otherwise completely mundane object.

I found a variety of plastic objects and was attracted to the way light reflected off of them, and the shadows they cast.

This project really makes you take the time to look at your surroundings and explore the beauty that goes undetected in our busy lives.

Translation to Teaching

I have been thinking about how I can incorporate all that I have learned into teaching my high school students. In the past couple of years I have used a Visual Calendar as a warm up exercise. The students are supposed to draw something each day. They may choose whatever is on their mind to do a quick 3 minute sketch. I find that a lot of the kids do not know what to draw and end of scribbling something on the date just to do it. I have been thinking that it would be a little more interesting to make a calendar flag book that has at least twenty pages (4 weeks x 5 days). I would then give a prompt a day or maybe a prompt every other day. Maybe a prompt one day, a response to the previous days work, then a prompt again and keep alternating. Maybe the uniqueness of the book it self would keep them interested. The prompts are such a great jumping off point that I will definitely use some of the ones from this class with my students.

Project Book

I love the idea of a Project Book. I have never planned out a project in this way. My project book is based on my four dogs. Through research I actually learned a little more about the temperment of each of the different breeds of dogs that I have. I then started thinking about how truly unique each dog is which led me to their eyes. Dogs can say so much with just the eyes. They show happiness and sadness with just a change in the eyes. My thoughts led me to doing large scale paintings of dog eyes. Upon further travels in my brain, I got to thinking about the markings of the different breeds. Another large scale, close up of their abstraction of dog markings came to mind. The other idea I stumbled upon was doing large scale paintings of the different features. I really like the brown wash close up of my Lab's freckley nose.

I will continue my project book and further explore my Daschund's snout (a very prominent feature), my Beagle's mouth (they are known for their bark), and my Jack Russell's eyes (since she is the one that really has a lot going on in her mind). I would love to hang these in a grouping almost building a larger than life face of a dog.

Found Drawing, Nicole Kirkpatrick

I enjoyed looking and taking photos for our found drawings. My found drawings sparked an entire project book. They went along with the idea of "line" in my work in Sketchbook. I had no idea that I would have had the ideas I had that stemmed from this simple assignment.

Found Drawings

I had an idea immediately when I was walking to the bus stop. My idea was to take pics of the...what I named..."road nuggets." These are the little bumps that are placed in the center of the lanes on most roads. I thought that organic shape of the tar used to place the geometric shape of the "nugget" would be great for this project.

BUT...when I got back to my hotel, there was a truck that had all of the fans, blowers, and dehumidifiers that are used for fire/water damage clean up. They were stacked in the back of a box truck and the door was open. I thought...PERFECT! So, I took some pictures of the each of the different types. They were all this beautiful blueish green color. I made the color a little bit more intense but still kept the same basic blue green hue. I played and played with these in photoshop, turning, flipping, and cropping. I am quite the novice when it comes to photoshop but I think what I did turned out pretty good.

Peer Response

I posted a peer response to Dawn's "Found Drawings" from July 27th. The response is a comment under her post.

Zandrea, Translation

 My students love making "accordion folds" for various projects we do in the year. I'm always looking for ways to incorporate storytelling and written word into our curriculum. This would be great to use with their accelerated reading they're required to do and/or with their favorite books. It is very adaptable for my K-5 students. We usually do a mother's day project with "pop-up" cards, so this could be a follow up lesson. I may even write it in to submit for a classroom lesson to incorporate their social studies or spelling words. Either way it has made it on my To-Teach list.

Cherie Smith, Altered Book

The strong reaction I had to the process of creating the altered book took me by surprise. I was a little off balance from the beginning. I also had a strong reaction to using the old images and photographs I had brought with me. Even during the final discussion I resisted the impulse to say that my altered book told a story. I only realized in the quiet of my home that every image that ended up in my altered book was a picture of someone who directly influenced my choice to start a master's program and further my education. So my book is telling a story...it is remembering the guides who have led me down this path thus far.

melissa swift, found drawing

I thought for sure I'd gravitate towards the shadows of foliage for this assignment, but surprisingly, I found my way into the linear world. Plastic surfaces made the most interesting reflections of light and shadows - which clearly I am fascinated by.

Christie Knoll, Peer Response

 I really enjoyed Sarah Sparks Project Book. I could see so many different ways her concept could be used within any art program.  I think she captured the innocence of her daughter in the manner she drew her. I think she was able to pull from the marks her child made, interesting ways to create compassion. She keep the lines simple but they had energy and strength.   Most of all it made me smile.

Cherie Smith, Translation to Teaching

There were several ideas that I think would translate well into the museum setting. Primarily I use projects that tie into the overall theme of the tour I am leading. I liked the one page book project as it would work well with several themes that we use. One of the tours is about finding line, shapes and animals on the tour. Then I could use that imagery to have the children create a wax resist drawing of animals we had discussed or found during the tour. After folding the paper and creating the one page book we could talk again about the lines and shapes that make up the original image as well as the story behind it.

Christie Knoll, The Day After Sketchbook

Project Book

For my project book I carried on with the theme of 'Time.' My ideas connected to the research I mined from the Altered Book project. I started with a variety of experiments using transfer techniques of images of the tracks of subatomic particles. I also created wax resist drawings of clock parts and used watercolor to abstract the drawings to give them a more organic quality. I explored the pendulum in relationship to time and movement by creating a pendulum out of found metal pieces and attaching a brush. I swung the pendulum over my paper for varying amounts of time creating interesting drawings. I also videoed the pendulum in motion which gave me ideas for slowing down or speeding up the pendulum in recorded time. Photographs of the pendulum in motion became ghostlike and transparent in the most surprising and beautiful way. I composed these experiments into my project book and generated several ideas for how to make this "play with purpose" into an exhibition. I considered variations in scale, material, time, methods for installation etc. I am very excited with the process and direction of the project book and can't wait to continue developing my ideas.

Here are a few of my favorite spreads:

Christie Knoll,Found Drawing

The Unseen Marks

I was sitting in a restaurant, thinking about our walking studies. I remembered we talked about the shapes between. I took pictures of the people in the restaurant that had interesting lines. I came back put them into Photoshop so I could relay to you what my mind had seen.

Susan Striepe—Found Drawing

My found drawings reflect my daily walk to class in the morning and back again to my dorm at night. They are based on photographic images of the sidewalk. I find when I am walking, that I look down at the pavement while I am thinking and then I look up again to take in my surroundings and converse with my friends. I think of it as traversing interior and exterior spaces, much like snorkeling. The space on these three images is flat in the same way that the surface of the water is an illusory flat dimension, dividing the water-breathing world from the air-breathing world.

Amelia K.,peer response

I really enjoyed all the concepts Nicole put into creating her installations within her project book-she came up with some great ideas that can go so many places. From the use of several different materials to having a consistent visual theme that makes her overall theme apparent throughout.

Color Chart book, Nicole Kirkpatrick

I loved this idea and will be doing this one with my students. What a great way to get the mind working. Using colored (free) swatches from paint stores, we were to chose a certain number and looking at the name of the paint, draw the first thing that comes to our mind. It could relate to the name or it didn't have to. Loved this one!

Project Book, Nicole Kirkpatrick

This was by far the most exciting part of the week for me. My project book was all about LINES! The theme was "ALONG THE LINE"... I found that lines were a common theme throughout my work this week and I'm attracted to all kinds of lines. The ideas really took off immediately in my book. I had been researching string installations, but when I went back to get started into the book, I began to think about one photo I took of a rope. It then just transformed into this wonderful idea book all about how I could build ceramic posts (cylindrical and rectangular forms) with different string/ribbon flowing out from them. It also became a way for me to think about what could be "contained", or kept out by using these lines. I felt my hand wasn't able to keep up with my brain quick enough to record my thoughts. I'd really like to work these ideas out in sculptural form.