Artistic Thinking Week 12

In reflecting on how I am motivated and stay passionate about creating art; I tend to get creative ideas at any given moment of the day and if I am lucky to have a notebook to jot them down or make a voice memo, I do. I find these ideas in anything and everything and I feel like I don't even have to scratch for them, they just come to me and present themselves. Unfortunately I do not always remember them if driving or in middle of class or out on the town, but I do have a journal and a small notebook to make notes when possible. I am naturally passionate about giving these sparks oxygen and when the time is right I start the fire.

For students I like to start any project out with an enticing power point with plenty of examples and a captivating video to build excitement. Keeping in mind that my subject is relevant and easily relates to my students. I like to feed them mind candy to get them salivating and craving the taste of it. When I am excited and show them how much fun and how cool creating a piece will be, it usually transfers to them and they get enthusiastic as well.

When it comes time to cultivate these ideas and sustain attention to put them into the creative process I am most likely alone and focused on the steps I need to take to begin and get into the flow. Sometimes I work with others and, depending, it can be easier or more difficult to begin since each artist has their own methods and one must be agreed on. The sustaining attention has been a hurtle for me most of my life yet when I force myself to stay in the moment and focus on the vision I have for the outcome, I am excited to get there and can then work for hours without taking a break.

For my students I give good hands on demonstration, show tutorial videos, have books and magazines as reference and give them time to journal. I allow them to explore and play with the idea. I then constantly walk around, checking in on each of them, posing questions to the group and having discussions when needed. I allow them to listen to music and even chew gum.

Taking a break, looking at other art, taking a long shower, going for a walk, changing the music, making a phone call or anything to reset my mood, helps me to combat frustration.

For my students, I will give them reminders, and prompts, explain the importance of pushing themselves to reach the goal. Tell them stories of my own immense satisfaction after crossing the finish line. Ask them to recall times when they had to discipline themselves and sacrifice other things to get what they wanted and remember how good it felt to know they did it on their own. Give them tips and encouragement. Offer to give them a fun reward upon completion.
For my students, I will give them reminders, and prompts, explain the importance of pushing themselves to reach the goal. Tell them stories of my own immense satisfaction after crossing the finish line. Ask them to recall times when they had to discipline themselves and sacrifice other things to get what they wanted and remember how good it felt to know they did it on their own. Give them tips and encouragement. Offer to give them a fun reward upon completion.

For my students I will remind them that Rome was not built in a day, give them examples of artists that have struggled, persevered and accomplished amazing things that have left their marks on the world and in history. I will stop them to play an improve game, let them vent their frustrations, have do a walk around, find the good points in others works and tell them what they are.

When working hard to meet a deadline, I just shut everything else off, close out the world and go for it. Sometimes working under pressure works well.

Developing the ability to delay gratification is not easy even for me at this age yet a practice in patience, mindfulness and faith in knowing that every step I take gets me closer to the summit is how I deal with it.

For my students, I would do about the same as above for combating frustration and working hard to meet a deadline. It all takes self-control, concentration, diligence and confidence. I would constantly give and show examples since that can help them to relate others accomplishments to their own. 

"The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel."
::: Piet Mondrian :::

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from
all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from
a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web."
::: Pablo Picasso ::: 

Studio Assignment:

The way the ideas of engagement and persistence have factored into my documentary about art education has been very difficult this week since I have not been able to concentrate, get comfortable or even sit long enough to type. I thew my back out and with it most of everything else that I take for granted and am able to do every day. All creative and productive work went out the window and I had to be still and do a lot of meditating on how to accept what I could and could not do. I had to pull out all of my resources in patience and persistence in a different way. I had to practice focusing on recovery and finding the positive within dreadful feelings of self-pity and depression. I was forced to slow down, use my creative thought to pull myself out of anxiety mode and into envisioning how to make the best of it. For two  weeks, going on three, I had to stay focused on how to move correctly, how to bend or not bend, how to sit and stand and even how to put on my clothes. I had to find new ways and support to do simple things such as brush my teeth or pick something off the floor. In many ways this has been a type of artistic practice in engagement and persistence. I was “scratching” for answers to why this happened and what is the lesson? I was scratching for ideas of how to not fall behind on things and how to use my time on my back in the best possible way. I did do a lot of envisioning of what I wanted to communicate through my creative project and how to make it more then just an informative documentary but a work of art.

Just yesterday, Nov 24^th I started to be able to do more, sit longer and feel like I am regaining the strength to continue and participate in life again. However, I have learned that I have to take care of my personal, physical needs and feed them just like my creativity. I am still practicing how to juggle, like Michael Gieb, and am using his principals from How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci much more in my daily life to help me become more balanced, centered and receptive. For the up coming weeks I can see how frustration may be my biggest hurtle and I will have to take many breaks from sitting. When I am in the creative Flow and building a documentary, many times, I feel as if I dont even have a body, and it seems as if nothing can get me to move unless I feel like my bladder is going to bust if I dont run to the bathroom. I actually get frustrated at being interrupted by my bladder or my hunger or anything that breaks the fluidity of my thoughts. I will be working on doing my work in short intervals and making sure to tend to my other needs. I will need to trust in the process and know I can take breaks and get back into the flow without a problem. 

Scratching for inspiration and fresh ideas

While scratching through videos on art education I found a few that are similar to the ideas that I would like to present. I also found that my Delicious, FaceBook, Pinterest, Voice Thread, Slide Share and other digital resources to be helpful in giving me more kindling to help start my fire. 

Art Education Builds 21st Century Skills

Blog Reflection 

As Twyla Tharp says generating one idea is not enough, “The tricky part about scratching, however, its that you cant stop with one idea. You don't really have a workable idea until you combine two ideas.”

In using Stephen Kosslyn’s systematic methods for acting upon an idea I would use all 4 in a lesson that was open ended, as far as the medium the student uses, to produce a final work connected to a big idea.
The lesson would begin with a mind map of a chosen big idea, such as relationships.
This map would generate many sub ideas such as relationship with nature.

Taking that sub idea the student would then journal and free write for at least two pages to help in the Retention and to record the basic idea.

The students would then be free to do investigations on the idea and would be required to use at least 4 different resources and required to walk in nature and collect as many found ephemeral items for observation and more journaling. This inspection process will include scratching to add other small ideas to the one. This should help to connect the dots and build one specific final idea ready to work with.
They will then use Transformation by brainstorming again to decide how to create a piece of art that speaks of their relationship to nature and then go for it using their chosen medium.