World Hunger

We decided to do world hunger because we think that educators should consider the well-being of the children. Children function better when they have a full stomache. They won't be able to learn properly when their basic needs are not met. Educators should be aware of these factors that influence children's learning. We decided to plan a bake sale and famine to raise awareness and funds to donate to the 30 Hour Famine.

Our main element of art is colour!!

I like things with many different colours. We created a poster that consist of many different colours. The title used very bright colours to catch people's eyes. The person has light colours, but the background has different colours to highlight the person in hunger. He is also thinking of the colourful burger. Also, on our blog, we used black background to represent the sadness within people who suffer from hunger. We used white and red text and pictures to create the contrast so people will be interested. We have put pictures and videos so people are more aware of what is happening around the world about hunger.

Blog -----> http://childhunger.tumblr.com/

Guerilla Art

I have never heard of Guerilla art before. This is something totally new to me. It took me a while to think of what to do. I thought about changing the stop sign into a go sign cause I saw children playing red light green light. I thought about making a cover for the old fashion mail box but I don't have a mail box near by. So I chose to make balloons to get my idea across. I blew 5 balloons in different sizes and different colours. I used bright colours because it catches people's eye. I am trying to promote the individual differences and people shouldn't discriminate just because of the differences. The smaller balloon has a sad face because of discrimination. I taped it to a stop sign so people are able to drive by and see the message.

I can't note the reaction that the drivers have and unfortunately the balloons deflated. Therefore, I showed a few friends and see how they reacted to it. They got the message right away. They see the importance of noting the differences and not to discriminate against people who are different. They realized how much they have discriminated someone in their life. They reflected their way of treating others. They try to improve their way of treating people and try to limit the discrimination in the world.

Colour + Contrast

I chose to use bright colour balloons because it catches people's eye. I have used 5 different colours with high contrast so people note the significant differences with the "skin" colour. I have also used more light colours so the black words stand out more. It allows people to read it more clearly and would easily get the message.

Pretend play & magical thinking

TA-DA!! It's a princess!! WAIT! No, it's a binder. What is it?

You see the princess or the binder? I applied surrealism to this binder. Now the binder is alive and became a princess!!! Surrealism means "super-realism." It allows simple objects to transform into something alive. My inspiration came from all the binders I have in my room. I wonder what I can do with binders. I chose to transform the binder into a pretty girl. 

I chose to use a white binder because it seems pure and pretty. It also portrays a lot of space. The "girl" have a few positive space. The eyes, mouth, and tiara are examples of positive space. The "girl" have a lot of negative space because her "face" is bigger than the facial features.

Twist & Sketch

 I went to the supermarket and I looked around. The first thing that I saw was the fruits and vegetable section. I walked around there and the vegetable wasn't very appealling. Maybe because they are mostly green. I moved over to the fruit section. I really like fruits, so I picked fruits. Some of the items on my list were: apples, grapes, kiwi, oranges, pears, pineapples, strawberrries, blueberries, starfruit, watermelon, banana, peaches, plum, melon, and cherries. There are so many different fruits and many varieties. Some fruit might have different forms as well. I really like the fruit section because it is very colourful.

For the sketch, I picked strawberry, pineapple, and watermelon to sketch. I chose these fruit because I like to eat them and they all have very different textures. Strawberry have the seeds on the outside which makes the outer surface bumpy. The pineapple has the spikes outside which makes it very rough. On the other hand, watermelon has a really smooth surface even though it looks bumpy. They all have different colours as well.

splash painting with scissors

Splash painting is a fun activity for EVERYONE. Normally, people will connect painting with messiness. Parents don't always allow children to paint because of the possibility of getting their clothes dirty. This activity will use diluted paint so they can manipulate with their paintbrushes, fingers, arm movements, feet if they prefer, Popsicle sticks, etc. They could use basically anything to splash the paints. A huge range of colour will be provided for them to create their own piece according to their personality. I decided to create this activity because children are able to let loose and enjoy painting. They can use their whole body to paint. They are allowed to use as many colour as they want to create this painting. This is beneficial to all children, especially the children with special needs because they are not restricted to sit at a table and use a paintbrush that they might not be able to hold. All children can move their arms and fingers will be able to paint. By looking at the final piece, we would be able to predict each personality by their use of colour and patterns in the picture. 

As I was doing the painting, I thought of another adaptation to this activity. Parents often think children will make their clothes dirty. Therefore, children will be provided with a plain white T-shirt for them to paint, design, and/or wear. Older children will be able to cut and design the T-shirt they way they want. Younger children will be able to paint the T-shirt or wear it to paint so their pretty clothes won't get dirty. This helps them show their own identity as well. This activity promotes individual differences because everyone is unique in their own ways. No T-shirt will look the same.

Colour

 "Colour makes each of us respond with feeling. Some of us have favourite colours. Children develop their colour preferences and palettes early in life. These influence the colours that we use to select articles of clothing, home furnishings, and cars, and to do art" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 136). There is a whole range of colour for children to choose from. They are able to mix colours to create an unique one of their own. This activity allows them to express their feelings using colour and explore colours. Many boys like blue, but there are thousands different shades of blue everywhere; light blue, sky blue, dark blue, navy blue, blue green, blue violet, etc. Therefore, this is a great activity for children to express themselves and have fun!

Art film

When we were watching all the trailers in class, I found most of them very interested. At the end, my group members chose to watch The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (2007). As I research into this film, I found that the storyline came from a real story that happened in France. The story is about Jean-Dominique Bauby, an editor of Elle Magazine who suffered from a stroke. He got the lock-in syndrome where he is conscious inside but was not able to move or communicate with others. His only way of communication was to blink his eye.  He wrote this book by blinking to letters that the translator point to or said. Days after his book was published, he passed away due to pneumonia. This story really touched me cause of the spirit that is in him. He tried his best to live and use his only ability (blinking) to write a book. He inspired me to live everyday meaningfully and worthwhile. 

The movie has a really good composition and colour contrast. I liked how the movie is filmed using “his” perspective by using first-person filming technique. We can see the blur when Jean first wakens up. It is normal to have blurs. The director added in the blur to make it more realistic. He also showed us how he got his right eye stitched up. This makes us understand his perspective more which will make the film more touching. They have also used good colour contrast throughout the film. It has dull colours in the beginning and gradually adds more colour in. They have also showed high contrast to highlight the main points/ideas.

pAtTeRnS iN uRbAn SeTtInGs AnD nAtUrE

Patterns!

"Patterns have their own identity. They can be ornate and fancy, or plain and simple, regular or irregular, symmetrical or asymmetrical, sequenced or alternating." (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, Pg. 142) Pattern is based on repetition. It involves recurring shapes or objects. In this case, it would be normal bold normal bold. 

I love patterns! Maybe because I am a very rigid person. I like things that repeat itself. I am constantly looking for patterns. However, there are many patterns around us that is so common that we don't realize. Once I knew we have to write a blog on patterns, I immediately look for patterns and took pictures of it. First thing in the morning, I found the bricks outside of my house. Then it was tiles on the floor at where I was eating lunch. Next is the keyboard and dividers at the library. I found many patterns that look so cool.

We are surrounded by patterns, we just don't notice it. The keyboard that we are typing is a pattern. I like spotting patterns cause of the repetitiveness. Children are often fascinated by patterns. They found them amazingly attractive. Sometimes children try to figure out where does it start and where does it end. It is amazing to watch children do and think about patterns.