teaching for artistic behavior

TAB East Summer Gathering 2006
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

Research validates the importance of peer mentoring and brainstorming (see

knowledgeloom.org Professional Development) The Internet connects Teaching

for Artistic Behavior (TAB) teachers in a virtual educational community. The

virtual becomes real at TAB gatherings, now being organized in various parts

of the country. Teachers meet to share ideas, troubleshoot and connect with

others in similar situations. Fun is a big part of the gatherings too! This

year we met at John's house on the ocean and came away refreshed and excited

to start the new school year.

Choice Student Work
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

At the local festival of the arts students are invited to choose work for

display. Artist statements accompany all the work.

Festival of the Arts
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

Students enjoy showing their parents and siblings work they have chosen to

display.

Art Festival
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

Grade three art work at the East Bridgewater, Massachusetts Festival of the

Arts, June 2006. Students select work that they would like to share with the

community.

Introducing the Paper Trimmer to Grade One
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

Tools are very exciting to students: especially ones that really do the job.

The paper trimmers allow for straight or diagonal cuts with little risk to

small fingers. A little practice allows students to change the shape of their

papers with ease and accuracy. This is a first grade class.

The Paper Trimmer: First Day
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

Everyone wants to try out the paper trimmer. Scraps are retrieved from the

recycle box and used for practice. The paper trimmer is an expensive piece

of equipment and children are using it carefully.

Art Room Tools
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

The paper trimmer and the stapler are introduced on the same day; they seem

to be especially compatible. After practicing with the trimmer many students

find shapes to collage and enjoy using the stapler. Grade one

Using a paper trimmer in the art room
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

"I cut the strips on the cutter. I measure them. Then I fold them to show

where I should cut. I cut them on the fold and staple them to the paper."

Boy, grade one

THE FIVE MINUTE MUSEUM

Last week my third graders came in to the art room and found four large
Shorefield reproductions hanging off the clothesline. I have a sort of
motheaten
collection of these that I inherited from another teacher. I choose them
randomly, four each week for three or four weeks--one still life, one portrait,
one
landscape and one non objective. I tell the class that were I rich I would
buy them each a ticket and we would go to Paris and visit the Orly, or to London

and visit the National Gallery. But since I am not rich, I am happy to share
posters that the museums make so people can see what the paintings are about.
I speak about each reproduction for a minute or two...and clip a tag
identifying each (landscape, etc) and mentioning a little sound bite about the
artist. This time I used:
Van Gogh: Cypress Trees
Van Gogh: Sunflowers #2
Gaughin: Woman with a Mango
Kandinski: Improvisation 31
Afterward I invite six students who are willing to work at least three
classes on one painting to join me while others go on to centers. My little
painting group gets to choose a piece of 2' x 3' thick white paper. I
demonstrate
sketching with dirty water...instead of using a pencil. Then they get to work.

In three classes here is a list of what was begun:
1. An abstract design with lots of jaggedy lines
2. A deer
3. A space man
4. A self portrail
5. A very agitated abstract
6. A dog
7. A dark black design
8. Some apple trees
9. An action painting, lots of spots
10. An outer space painting
11. A self portrait, riding a horse English style
12. A swirling abstract
13. A huge self portrait head
14. A dog surrounded by stars
15. A horse painted from one of our horse models
16. A light house on a rocky coast
17. A still life with a vase a fancy wallpaper. Artist quote: "I have so many
wall paper designs in my head I don't know where to start!" (I passed her my
Matisse book....)
So I am really loving watching these paintings come about. Look for some
photos soon. Next class one of the big paintings hanging on the clothesline will

be one of the student abstracts and we will also discuss "original" and
"reproduction".

The Five Minute Museum
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

This is the Five Minute Museum, week two: Works by Van Gogh, Chasin, Gaughin

and a third grade abstract expressionist.  We used his work to discuss the

difference between an original and a reproduction.  He was pleased to see his

work in the Museum.

The Five Minute Museum
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

This painter is using a horse model as a reference. She likes to work very slowly.

Beginning a Painting
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

This seascape has a light house. The artist has plans to make the sky very

dark.

Painting Big in the Third Grade
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

Colors flow around the paper as this abstract artist works.

Still Life Painting
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

As she painted the artist said: "I have so many kinds of wall paper in my

head I don't know which one to use."

Painting Big
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

A dog and stars. Work in progress.

Painting big in grade three
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

This student uses a mirror for her self portrait.

Tempera Painting by Nicole C. and Montana S.
Originally uploaded by twoducks.

The rainbow: this is the first time in the school that somebody used the

brayer and ink on a big painting. Since we are best friends and our parents know

each other. We just met last year. We are getting basically to know each

other well.

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF DRAWING

Today Dorothy Pulsifer of Bridgewater (MA) State College presented an inservice lecture to
our pre school-grade 2 staff on the developmental stages of drawing. She pulled out her
Lowenfeld (CREATIVE AND MENTAL GROWTH) and shared her wonderful collection of slides
with our teachers. Some time back I became aware that many education/early childhood
teacher preparation programs do not include this study any more. What a loss! As Pauline
used to tell me, "mark making is a basic human need" and human beings all over the world
and through time have marked and scribbled and then made the enormous cognitave leap
when they realize that they can make these marks and that marks can stand for something
else. One of the most important moments in human learning--and we all have
experienced this moment, as did Michalangelo, Pollock, Einstein, etc. Why this is not part
of teacher education eludes me, but at the very least, spontaneous child art is a wonderful
diagnostic tool, showing us where children are at a particular time. In our school we have
children who are entering Lowenfeld's "Gang Age" and some who are still in the pre-
schematic stage. Must all of these children move in lockstep through the curriculum with
no recognition of where they are developmentally? Is anyone still studying this? Are you
familiar with Lowenfeld? or Rhoda Kellogg (she collected thousands of pre-school
drawings from all over the world) or Betty Lark-Horowitz (UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN'S
ART FOR BETTER TEACHING) If I remember correctly this is how Howard Gardner got his
start, collecting and looking at the "unschooled" art of small children. And what happens
to children when they do come to school? What happens to their art?

When students say something vivid about art (usually in passing) I ask their
permission to put their quote up on the wall. This first grader has decided
to post her own quote each week. On Friday she posted "Make art. See art.
Buy art."