Weekly reflections

Tyler- Tyler did a wonderful job, especially for being the first teacher. He definitely made sure to reinforce his concept throughout the day, only mistake that was noticeable was the fact that purple turned out more black in the cup.

Marge- Class got a bit wild, but that may have largely been due purely to the noise level reached by the project. The lesson was again about color mixing and ways to show that to the kids, they had boxes that they placed paper into and rolled paint covered marbles over the paper, watching the colors show up and mix, though they sometimes had to be reminded of the "lesson" by asking what colors were made. Kids got very excited to see the colors as they mixed on the paper, but that enthusiasm got carried away at times, leaving completely paint-soaked papers, but that's just the nature of kids at this age. However, it reinforced the previous week's learning in a fun memorable way, with some tweaking I think that this is could be a well established project in schools, it's a good time, engages the students, but really does reinforce color mixing if wrapped up correctly. What I mean by "wrapped up correctly" is that if at the end, or the next week when the paintings are dry, you have the kids identify where colors are on the pages they made, and then what colors mixed to make it, or something like that.

Whitney- The last in the color lessons, she taught the kids an emotional connection to each color, and had them write a story about each. One issue is that when you put sad and mad against each other they often become muddled. "I was mad because my mom wouldn't let me have ice cream," "I was sad because my mom wouldn't let me have my toy," etc.

Allison- I think the day was really well handled, especially given that we had, what? About 7 extra kids? She made extra kits, and thought fast when she needed one more. I really liked that she introduced some history first, and then had step by step instructions planned out. I especially liked her planning in the packets. Great job. I am a little on the fence about what the overall lesson was, but I think that's just a kink that needed working out.

Gina- Gina did a great job with the kids. She did a basic coloring project, but incorporated vocabulary and reinforced "symmetry" throughout her lesson. Only issue would have been that the two pictures were not of equal difficulty, one was a butterfly that was further separated between colors, but with the flower all of the colors connected.

Erica- The sock puppet idea was great, it allowed the kids something to play with after they left the school and opened a good dialogue about what the students had to say. I liked at the end she had students talk about their work, there were some issues but the idea behind it was great.

Jazzy- Teaching on final day!

20/20/20/20

Living Female Artists
 1. Janine Antoni
 2. Chakaia Booker
 3. Maureen Connor
 4. Cindy Sherman
 5. Shirin Neshat
 6. Renee Stout
 7. Kara Walker
 8. Yayoi Kusama
 9. Uta Barth
 10. Jackie Winsor
 11. Marina Abramović
 12. Vikky Alexander
 13. Lee Bul
 14. Rebecca Horn
 15. Karen Finley
 16. Eye-Vee
 17. Judy Chicago
 18. Carolee Schneeman
 19. Sally Man
 20. Catharine Opie

Living Non-white artists
 1. Layla Ali
 2. Estavan Oriol
 3. David Choe
 4. Micheal Ray Charles
 5. Guillermo Gomaez-Pena
 6. Cai Guo-Quiang
 7. Kerry James Marshall
 8. Mark Bradford
 9. Pepon Osorio
 10. Fred WIlson
 11. Trenton Doyle Hancock
 12. Diego Fernandez
 13. Tabaimo
 14. Christopher Tolasco
 15. Micheal Anthony Brown
 16. Lorna Simmpson
 17. Faith Ringold
 18. Larry D. Alexander
 19. Emma Amos
 20. TerryAdkins

Dead Artists- POC or Women only
 1. Frida Kahlo
 2. Mary Cassatt
 3. Artemisia Gentileschi
 4. Sarah Bernhardt
 5. Ellen Day Hale
 6. Anita Steckel
 7. Coco Chanel (Yes I'm counting her!)
 8. Leonora Carrington
 9. Georgia O'Keefe
 10. Lee Krasner
 1. Elizabeth Catlett
 2. Aaron Douglas
 3. Adachi Ginko
 4. Carlos Almaraz
 5. Jacob Lawrence
 6. Isamu Noguchi
 7. Hassan Heshmat
 8. Augusta Savage
 9. Juan Mirabal
 10. Emily Kame Kngwarreye

Elementary School Visit

So I did my Elementary School visit Friday, October 4th. I spoke a bit about the experience in class, but I'll recap here.

I went to Whiteside Elementary, and sat in on Dawn Green's three morning classes; Fifth and Second grade, and Kindergarten. I originally was going to just observe, not wanting to disturb her class or make her uncomfortable, but that's not how that ended up. By maybe fifteen minutes into the first class I was helping kids with how to draw bows and ribbon, luckily Dawn seemed to have no issue with it, maybe was a little thankful for the second set of hands, so I ran with it. I helped her distribute and collect supplies and artwork, and helped the kids if they had  any questions, or just wanted to show off their beautiful work. They were working on their Christmas Card projects and were working on the steps on being able to finish the cards, whether that was drawing, painting, or cutting out collage paper.

I really liked working with the kids, but kind of re-realized that Elementary is not what I need to teach, because as much as I love children, I don't love the way we teach children's art. The children are only given one, fifty minute class of art per week, that includes getting children to settle down, remind them of what they need to work on, and then distributing what they need, before they can even get to work! Not to mention that in one class a teacher kept pulling her students out to test for her! In my opinion that was ridiculous and rude; these children get one window per week to be in this class, and you think that your poor time-management should get in the way of being taught constructive creativity by someone who actually knows what they're doing? No, that's completely unacceptable.

Even if it weren't for all of that, I have an issue with the way they teach these children; they're told in an art class to replicate a project, to draw this bow, to paint this snowman, to collage this tree. I get why they use that approach to children's art, but asking children to suppress the creative urge and to seek approval from replication is something that just doesn't sit right with me.

Creative and Mental Growth

Understanding growth:

Emotional

Intellectual

Physical

Perceptual

Social

Aesthetic

Creative

Creative minds of children,  identifies more items, and atmospheric information when they relate personally to what they're creating.

I Am From

I am from lakes and grasslands
small houses with broken glass,
rumbling trucks,
and ripped jeans

I am from dirt,
inside and out,
earth on my knees
and in my soul.

I am from books
with dragons
and a knight in shining armor.
I knew they were lies.

I am from words like
"Sailors don't cry,"
"Children are meant to be seen, not heard"
and "Good Christian girl"

I am from long afternoons alone,
no need to hide
no one is looking,
they never do.

I am from a proud father,
a working mother,
a broken brother,
and long lost sisters.

I am from hiding in bathtubs
and under blankets,
trying not to hear
things I shouldn't.

I am from family get-togethers,
holidays with cover-up,
purple skin,
and rare smiles.

I am from parents
with broken families,
left to wonder,
"do they know any different?"

I am from break ups
and back togethers.
From absent fathers
and knowing mothers.

I am from proud mother
leaving her husband
changing my "am"s
into "was"'

My Art Page

http://bekkerholmes.blogspot.com/p/my-art.html

Hello,

My name's Rebekah Holmes, I'm an art student at Texas Tech University. My hopes are to continue on in my personal art and to teach art one day, I have a page of my art coming soon, and maybe some more information about myself.
Thank you.