The Block

I found this weeks reading on the website of Romare Bearden to be very interesting. Not only is his art style very unique, but students can also learn about the Civil Rights Movement, and the treatment of African Americans through his story and his art. This would be a useful website to allow students to explore in a classroom. The students can then look at his collage The Block, and use it to possibly construct their own version of their own block of houses, relating it back to their own lives. The students can use similar materials to that of what Bearden used in his art, “colored paper, metallic papers…fabric, and images cut and photocopied from newspapers and magazines” as stated on the website.

Comics

I really enjoyed this week's reading which was displayed as a comic strip. I think that graphic novels and coming strips would be a great tool to use in my own classroom. As the author said, it helps students understand the information visually, and might help them remember the information. Students can also refer back to them to study, or if they need help. As a teacher I hope that the resources mentioned in the article will be sufficient assistance for me because it seems like a tough task to take on. I am also not an artist, and would need help with that. I am familiar with a program on the Mac computers called Comic Life in which you can create comic scenes and such. This would be a helpful tool for anyone who wants to use comics in their teaching. This program gives you the tools needed to create fabulous comics, with all the details and graphics you associate with comics. It would be helpful if at the school they had macs where the students would be able to use them to even create their own comics!

'Islamic' Art

It is hard for me, as an anthropology student (currently studying Islam throughout the world) to classify particular art stylings as inherently 'Islamic'. It is difficult for me to say that all the art forms that are geometric are necessarily Islamic. That being said however, I am very fascinated with the Arabic lettering, being so curvy and almost like an art form itself. I wish I was able to learn the complex language, and how to write the script. It does however remind me of the Hebrew alphabet, which is curvy as well. I think it would be interesting if a teacher would be able to teach students the Arabic lettering, and have the students spell either their name, or a favorite word with the letters. It would be a great way to introduce a topic on Islam or Muslims as a whole.






I very much liked the book with all of the art suggestions that teachers can use in the classroom in order to create the geometric shapes that are reproduced in many 'Islamic' art forms and mosques. In a classroom that can be very useful because not only does it teach the students about multiculturalism and other cultures, but it teaches them about math and geometric shapes. Students can learn about tessellations at the same time, and how to use mathematical tools such as the compass and a ruler. I think this is something I would like to use in my own classroom.

Rube Goldberg

The route that Thomas Oakley takes in his article Rube Goldberg-Inspired Drawings of How Art is Made in order how to teach art to students is an interesting one. Using the concept of a Rube Goldberg to teach students about art is not something that I would have thought of before. Rube Goldberg’s are interesting elaborate creations that result in a particular action that is taking place, and have a lot of parts working together. There are many different parts that are involved in the instrument, which allows students to draw every aspect of the machine. Students could even work together to brainstorm and draw different parts of the Rube.

Rube Goldbergs are very interesting, and have been featured in many different movies. The Wallace and Gromit films typically feature some sort of Rube Goldberg to help the characters get ready in the morning and make breakfast. There is another film that features Rube Goldbergs and that is, Back to the Future. If a teacher wanted to inspire their students further, they could show clips from these films in their classroom, and have students draw their own, and draw anything that inspires them. Rube Goldbergs are a great way to teach art, and science at the same time. In Science 104 we created a Rube Goldberg as an assignment for the class. Not all of them worked, but everyone tried to make them work.