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Big Idea: Movies & Drawing
Although we originally had chosen the club name "Drawing on Experiences" with an intention on having collective experiences through field trips together, we had to shift our plan due to Covid restrictions...and student confusion on what the name meant. Students much preferred the straightforward name "Movies & Drawing."
Inquiry Question: How can we use the experience of watching movies and videos together to encourage creative social and artistic responses?
Each week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, after school in Ms. Jung’s classroom, we met to watch movies, videos, TV shows, eat snacks and draw. The students determined what we’d screen, along with whichever streaming services we had access to. Some of the things we watched during the 2021-22 school year: Squid Game, Shrek, The Conjuring II, Turning Red, Cobra Kai: Season 1, Elf, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Spider-Man III, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Encanto, Catching Killers, Demon Slayer, Red Notice, Attack on Titan, Shrek the Musical, and Ana y Bruno.
In addition to watching videos, we also tried some collaborative drawing exercises by projecting large images onto the write board that the students traced together. They then left the drawings up overnight so that Ms. Jung's students could see them in the morning. A couple students started attending the program when they were curious about these drawings.
Students in the program this school year were: Jay Mar, Alex???, Mike Cardenas, Bella, Angel, Leo, Mario, Elizabeth, Daniel, Jared, Leah, Kevin, and Joseph.
At the end of the year we created a Risograph-printed poster that included over 40 drawings by the different participants.
We were only able to go on two field trips: Hairpin Art Center to see the students exhibit with the other CAPE SCALE programs, and—on the last day of our program—to the Museum of Contemporary Art to see the Nick Cave exhibition (and visit McDonalds).
We've always allowed student voice to drive the direction of our club, but this was especially important to us this year. After over a year of remote learning, we really wanted our space to be a place where we could just be together and create. Something we've been trying to help students with is both finding their voice and expanding their repertoire - oftentimes students will reply with "I don't know" when asked what they like or what they want to do. This is a theme that is currently commonly found all across CPS: students are not used to being asked what they think. By making low-stakes decisions and becoming comfortable in a harmonious group, we hope that our students can begin to feel more comfortable and confident as independent individuals and affect change where they so desire.
This year, we had a small group of committed students who showed us new shows and movies. It was great to see how all the students became friends with each other. In the past, there were sometimes cliques within the club. However, we had many freshmen this year so they were able to start forming their friendships in our space. Even the sophomores who joined were remote last year so were also starting somewhat fresh in terms of their relationships at school. We were all starving for human connection and time and space to be together, so our classroom was definitely a space to hang, decompress, and just be.
External partners such as community involvement and parent presence are areas that we would like to expand. Honestly, this is a struggle at the school-level as well, so as we readjust and adapt to the changes in the world, hopefully we can partner together and find ways to widen our community. Some initial ideas include movie nights with families and inviting parents on field trips.
Now, please enjoy a smattering of images from our year below. Although not every single moment was captured, we hope you find joy in them.
This is a flyer created by Alex???
Making drawings and eating snacks while watching movies and videos.
Screenshots from some of the films and TV shows we watched together and drew from.
Sometimes we'd take phone photos of the screen and then draw from these images.
Experimenting with paint while we watched Shrek.
Students love to draw on the board!
One of the collaborative activities we enjoyed this year was tracing large and complicated images onto the board.
Here is a group photo we took for the yearbook.
We took part in the CAPE exhibit at Hairpin where we shared our original drawings as well as a RISO-printed poster.
Bella pointing out her work in the exhibit at Hairpin.
Guests took posters of our work home.
There was a piano at Hairpin - students couldn't resist.
We compiled our drawings into a double-sided poster that visitors to the exhibit at Hairpin were free to take.
On our very last session we took a CTA bus to the Museum of Contemporary Art to visit the Nick Cave exhibition (and stop at McDonalds beforehand).
Relaxing in an installation by Nick Cave
Relaxing during the bus ride from the school to the museum.
Checking out some interesting chairs at the MCA.
Another interesting chair.
The bus ride was a great way for us to see other parts of the city and be together!
Taking photos with a large work by Michael Rakowitz
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