Visual Thinking

& Tinkering

Tuesday September 1st

(Asynchronous, 12-2pm)

Today's Agenda:

Forage Wars (warmup)
SUPERMARKET SWEEP!
Field Journal - Document & Reflect
Share your findings!
Further research

Today's Goals:

I can view the world as a studio and the objects around me as potential artmaking tools.

I can cheaply (or freely!) source non-traditional art-materials and tools.

I can collaboratively construct a list of non-traditional art making materials that can be (safely) used by learners of all ages at home.

Forage Wars

Elegant Problem:

In 5 minutes (timed) I can run around my living space and gather materials that would not normally be considered art supplies but that have art-making potential in order to start perceiving the magical art-making possibilities in the world around me.

Is today a scavenger hunt? Yes!

Prowl the world looking for treasures!

From Keri Smith's The Pocket Scavenger

SUPERMARKET SWEEP: Studio Edition

Prompt:

Go to a supermarket, convenience store, drugstore/pharmacy, or dollar store (if you feel safe/comfortable doing so), and walk up and down the aisles with the mindset that everything you see is an art material.

If you do not feel comfortable going into a store at this time, please walk around your yard or neighborhood, or around a park or nearby place beyond the walls of your home with the same mentality.

Use your prior knowledge but also step outside your prior knowledge. Ask yourself a lot of "what if" questions. Become aware of your inner self-talk.

Gather a few things that most excite you. If you are at a store, spend no more than $20.00.
When exiting the store and returning home, look at the parking lot or the street or the sidewalk with the same foraging eye-- pick up any discarded items that have art-making potential that excites you.
When you get home, make a pile of the items that you foraged from your home, and the items that you bought/collected from outside your home.
Make a T-chart in your field journal. List every item that you bought, how much it cost, and the potential art-making use for that item that is most exciting to you

Love lifeeverything-- pale lightsmarkets medley of green lettuce, red cherries,golden grapes, and purple eggplants-- all so extraordinary! Incredible! You get so excited, you talk to peopleand people talkto you, you touchand they touch you.All this is magical,like someendlesscelebration.

-Eugene Ionesco

In your field journal, please also articulate your thinking about the following:

What are your biggest take-aways from today?
What was happening in your brain when you were walking around the supermarket (and your own living space)?
What challenges did you encounter?
How did you overcome challenges?
What did you experience that surprised you?
What did you discover that you can use in the future*?

*in your daily life, in your mental/emotional life, in your personal art practice, and/or in your teaching practice

By next class, please input your item(s), their cost, and their potential uses to this Google Sheet*

If you already see an item listed please add potential uses to that column!

*eLearning Strategy

Non-traditional Art Materials

Further research:

By next class, see what the internet has to say about non-traditional art materials. What are teachers and parents doing at home with students who do not have access to traditional art materials? Find at least one intriguing resource to add to our shared Google Site for resources.

Please also find an artist who uses non-traditional art materials in their practice.

Summarizing Checklist

By our seminar tomorrow night, please make sure to:

Gather materials from around your living space
Gather non-traditional and intriguing art materials from OUTSIDE of your living space
Document the materials that you acquire, their cost (if any), and what potential uses they have for art-making in your field journal
Answer the reflection questions in your field journal
Share your findings in this shared Spreadsheet
Find at least one intriguing resource and one reference artist for non-traditional art making on the internet & post it to our collaborative Google Site

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