“Its creativity, not rocket science”

Arts Explored # 10- Community Arts Project

7:21 PM |

Arts Explored # 10- Community Arts Project
Previous to working on this project I had another concept in mind. When we were trying to et sorted into groups however I approached Emily and Megan who said they had a great idea. To be honest I really did like the idea I had, but once Emily started talking about her volunteer work with The Lions Foundation of Canada (http://www.dogguides.com/doghome.htm) the puppies stole our hearts.

The organization provides specially trained dogs free of charge to applicants who have shown their need. The main goal of providing individuals with the dogs is to give those living with impairments the independence they deserve to live a happy, healthy and safe lifestyle (The Lions Foundation of Canada, n.d.). There are five different dog guide programs currently being offered;

Canine Vision Dog Guides

These are trained dogs for individuals who have difficulties with vision. When people think of Guide Dogs these are the most commonly thought of (The Lions Foundation of Canada, n.d.).

Hearing Ear Dog Guides

This program is for individuals who have a hearing impairment. The dogs act as their ears, and are trained to respond to certain sounds (The Lions Foundation of Canada, n.d.).

Seizure Response Dog Guides

I found this to be the most interesting program. Some dogs can actually sense when an individual is about to have a seizure. With individuals who suffer seizures a dog can get help once the person has had a seizure, act as protection if it occurs while the person is in public, as well as help the person come to after their seizure (The Lions Foundation of Canada, n.d.).

Special Skills Dog Guides

This is a program for people who have disabilities which require them to be in a wheel chair. Certain daily tasks such as picking up dropped wallets and doing laundry are difficult and the dogs have been trained to do these tasks (The Lions Foundation of Canada, n.d.).

Autism Assistance Dog Guides

This is a program which provides dogs for children with Autism. The dogs are trained to help with some skills, as well they provide a social buffer for children with Autism (The Lions Foundation of Canada, n.d.).

Our Big Idea

Personally I have spent a great deal of time on YouTube watching animals doing awesome things. As a group we felt strongly that a viral video would showcase some of the amazing talents dogs can be trained to do. By hosting a viral video to YouTube the message of Guide Dogs could get out to the public in a neat and exciting way. The point of the video was to bring awareness to the organization to encourage people to volunteer their time, or donate to the cause. Another important contribution the video makes is it can start to generate funds based on the views as well through advertising.

My contribution to the big idea was to explain the steps that go into executing a viral video.

Execution

To execute a viral video for our cause you need; a videographer, an editor to handle post production, the consent and help from the Lions Foundation of Canada (in our case speaking to Rhonda Workman who is the head trainer) and a website to upload the video to.

Videographer/post-production: A film student at Ryerson named Ben Gilgan who has also developed his own successful viral video series on YouTube would do the necessary filming and post-production necessary for the video.

The Stars (the dogs): It is necessary to get permission from the organization by talking to the head trainer Rhonda. She would also need to help with organizing a routine of tricks for the dogs to perform for the video.

Website: You also need a popular website such as YouTube to upload the video to. As well as having a place to upload it the video would generate funds.

A way to pass along the video: A great start is to post it on facebook, send it to friends, and get the link out on as many different websites as possible to allow as many different people as possible to see the video.

Music- It is not possible to use any old music off the radio as there are copyright laws. There is a website (www.freeplaymusic.com) that offers music for free without facing any copyright law violations.

And here is an example of a viral video on YouTube that showcases some unique skills a dog has been trained to do;

If you watched the video in less than a year the video has received almost 10 million views. That is a huge amount of views. By posting a viral video on YouTube many people worldwide would be able to see the hard work of Guide Dogs showcased.

Future Implications

In terms of future implications for early childhood education there is a connection between the work the The Lions Foundation of Canada does and early childhood education. One of the programs available provides dogs to children with Autism. In this case it could be possible that one day as a teacher you may have a child in your class that has an autism assistance dog. Another important link to early childhood education is explain to children that some people rely on dogs for their independence. There is a chance that at some point in a child’s life they will be confronted with seeing someone with a Guide Dog. If that is the case being taught to understand how the dogs can give people independent could make their reactions more empathetic and understanding. I remember the first time I saw someone with a Guide Dog. I was around six years old and I was at the grocery store with my mom. I was upset and said quiet loudly to my mom that dogs did not belong in the grocery store. Had I been exposed to this previous to seeing a person with the Guide Dog my reaction would have been more understanding.

Group Projects: *As none of the artistic words worked with this presentation I chose this term instead*

The definition of group projects according to Schirrmacher and Fox is “educational activities based on children’s common interests in which they can interact, support, assist and learn from one another” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 365).

I feel as though as a group we held true to this definition. This project involved a lot of help and support from one another. Most of the tasks involved to make this a success involved collaboration and team work. Without one another this would have been a difficult task as we each brought some new ideas to the plate.

References

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for

young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.

Welcome to the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides. (n.d.).

Retrieved April 12, 2011, from http://www.dogguides.com/doghome.htm

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Arts Explored # 9- Guerilla Art

7:15 PM |

Arts Explored # 9-

Guerilla Art

Many years ago, when I was a Girl Guide it was not unheard of for myself and my troop to engage in community service. When people think of Girl Guides what comes to mind is little girls dressed in blue singing songs and trying to get people to buy their cookies (which by the way are delicious). We often sold things such as daffodils for cancer, participated in park clean ups in the spring and also did something less people would have heard of. We spent many weekends going around residential streets and painting little yellow fish beside sewers. The point of this was to help remind people that what we put down sewers goes to lakes and can harm wildlife. As we painted our fish many people would stop and ask what we were doing. We responded by explaining that sewers lead to lakes and that everything we put down the sewers can harm the ecosystems within the lakes. Along with telling people we also handed out door hangers showing hocking pictures of the horrible things people put down sewers, as well as explain a bit about the project.

It is not unheard of for people to put garbage down sewers, but on top of that people put more hazardous waste such as paint and other harmful chemicals. Many people were shocked to hear this, and some also admitted to have put garbage down sewers once or twice. The point of this was to get word out to people about the issue, and with the amount of people who stopped to ask questions word spread quickly.

Seven years ago I and my fellow troop members painted fish on my street. They have since faded or been paved over. I remember as a child telling everyone who I saw trying to put trash down the sewer all about the reason why the fish were painted there. Sometimes people passing by would point them out and ask their friends why the fish were there. It was a noticeable thing regardless if people knew the message behind it. This long ago project was my inspiration for this blog. On one of the first really beautiful days this spring I headed out onto my street with chalk (because I would need special permission to use paint as my street is privately owned) to draw some fish beside sewers.

While doing so my brother came up behind me and asked me what I was doing. I had to explain to him, and he remembered the previous painted fish. As I was finishing up one of my neighbours came up to ask what I was doing. She is a six year old, and as soon as she saw the chalk she was very interested. I explained that I was drawing fish beside sewers because it reminds people not to throw garbage into the sewers. She looked at the fish and then looked back at me and said “I promise not to throw my garbage down there anymore” and ran off to meet up with her friend. Whether or not that little girl is the only one who understands why the fish is there at least the message made it to one person.

It’s been many years since I painted fish alongside sewers, but the organization who came up with the idea, and provided us with the information and materials to do our project is still around today. The program is called The Yellow Fish Road Program and has been around since 1991(Trout Unlimited Canada, 2009). Anyone who is interested in participating in the program can contact the organization for more information on how to make this project a reality. A great start is to head to the organization’s website http://www.yellowfishroad.org/. And here is a video about the organization;

Future Implications

In terms of future implications for early childhood education I strongly believe that it is important to teach child as much about the environment as we can, as well as teach them ways to help preserve our world. In the case of this project it could be done as a class. This is something as a teacher that I would look into doing. The organization also has resources to help teachers and students learn more about the implications of throwing garbage down sewers such as colouring books, regular books and a song (Trout Unlimited Canada, 2009). The organization has also branched out to include activities for older children such as talking about the chemistry side of the issue. Therefore this activity whether it actually involves leaving the classroom to paint fish, or even just using the resources to teach children about the issue is a wonderful way to teach children about the implications involving polluting sewers (Trout Unlimited Canada, 2009).

Space:

The definition of space according to Schirrmacher and Fox is “the total area defined by the size of the artist’s paper or canvas” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 368).

In the case of this project I think space is important. In the case of painting the fish it is important to make sure that the fish is in contrast to the sewer a decent size so that people will see the fish more than the sewer. The person painting the fish could also make the fish giant, taking up a large portion of the road but then the association between the fish and the sewer. Therefore the size of the artist’s canvas cannot be too big, nor too small. Thankfully Trout Unlimited Canada provides stencils that are a good size in comparison to the sewer, therefore taking control of the artist’s space (Trout Unlimited Canada, 2009).

References

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for

young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.

Trout Unlimited Canada. (2009). Yellow Fish Road. Retrieved April 10, 2011, from

http://www.yellowfishroad.org/

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Arts Explored # 8- Pretend Play

6:50 PM |

Arts Explored # 8-

Pretend Play

This is my best friend, his name is Benjamin. Benjamin, or Ben as he likes to be called for short is one of my closest friends. He is super dependable, and I can always count on him for support. Lately though Ben has been having some issues. What Ben wants more than anything is to meet the love of his life, and as he has been a stand up kind of guy always by my side providing me with proper fluid balances I have decided to come up with a dating profile for Ben to help him find a lucky lady!

About Ben

Ben is a 20 year old student. He is a very dependable friend, and is always there to lend a helpingg hand or shoulder to cry on. Ben is the type of friend you can bring to any event without the worry that he will embarrass you. He is a strong advocate for the environment, and strongly thinks people should reduce, reuse and recycle. Ben is also very family oriented, and loves spending time with his parents, 2 sisters and 1 brother. Ben is the oldest in his family, and has grown up to be a very responsible person.

Likes: Ben likes long walks on the beach, riding his bike both for fun and to get from point A to point B, playing with his dog and trying new and interesting food.

Dislikes: Ben dislikes people who don’t take the time to recycle, smokers, when people are late and waking up early on Sundays as it is his day of rest.

Hobbies: Biking, Camping

Goals: Ben wants to graduate school and work for the ministry of the environment to try and make a change in the world. Ben would also like a family one day.

Idol: His parents and Al Gore

What is Ben looking for: Ben is looking for a long-term commitment. He is not the kind to date around, and is truly a romantic at heart. He wants to find a woman to settle down with.

Ben’s ideal date: Ben’s ideal date would involve starting the date off with an environmentally friendly method of transportation to the beach, followed by a picnic at sunset.

*Anyone who thinks Ben sounds like a great catch and thinks they could be his special lady should message me so I can hook you two up.

Future Implications

As a future educator I feel as though using your imagination is something no one can take away from you. I often find myself day dreaming now, and were I no longer able to that would take a huge part of me away. As a child I would always play with Barbies using my imagination to come up with intricate plots. Part of my play included coming up stories about the characters. Giving children the opportunity to assign an inanimate object a personality would be a difficult task, and a true test of their creativity and imagination.

Mass:

The definition of mass according to Schirrmacher and Fox is “ refers to a solid, three-dimensional body that has height, length and width.” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 366).

In the case of “Ben” he has mass.

References

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for

young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.

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Arts Explored # 7- Grocery Shopping

6:48 PM |

Arts Explored # 7-

Grocery Shopping

As a poor university student I am always looking for a bargain. In my case I lucked out and a couple months after moving into my place a Freshco (http://www.freshco.com/default.aspx) grocery store opened up. For those who don’t know what a Freshco is, it is a cheaper grocery store. Freshco is owned by the same company as Sobeys, but is far cheaper. Not only was I delighted that Freshco is cheap, but I worked as a cashier at Sobeys for a year and a half, so I felt a little biased towards shopping at a store owned by the same company. Freshco is where I do most of my grocery shopping. On occasion I love to wander the stalls in china town, but Freshco is a thirty second walk from my house so it is very convenient.

Before heading to the store I tried to come up with a category of food. I didn’t want something very broad like fruit, and I also wanted to look for something I like. I came up with the idea of looking for foods that have strawberries in them. At first I thought this would be a difficult task, creating a list of 15 items that have strawberries in them, but as I started to wander the isles I found I had underestimated the amount of products with strawberries in them. To start off I didn’t consider the fact that there are non-edible strawberry items, so I sorted my list by edible and non-edible.

Edible

· Strawberries

· A great variety of juices, for example Arthurs Smoothies (verry Berry flavour), Bolthouse Farms Smoothie (Strawberry banana flavour), Tropicana Juice (Orange, strawberry, banana flavour)

· Compliments Strawberry Topped Cheesecake

· Rhubarb Strawberry Pie

· Pocky (strawberry flavoured)

· Jell-o no sugar added (strawberry flavour)

· Dan Active Drinkable Yogurt (strawberry flavour)

· Astro Bio Best Yogurt (strawberry flavour)

· Kellogs Special K Red Berry Cereal

· Quaker Strawberry Vanilla Oatmeal

· Philadelphia Cream Cheese (strawberry flavour)

· Compliments Strawberry Jam

· Nesquik milk mix (strawberry flavour)

· Poptarts (strawberry flavour)

· Special K Red Berry Granola Bar

· Heinz Strawberry Banana Cereal Bars (for babies)

· Heinz Strawberry Baby Food

· Motts Fruit Sensations fruit sauces (apple/strawberry flavour)

· Nestle Flavoured Water (strawberry flavour)

· Viva Puffs Cookies (strawberry center)

· Delmonte Frozen Yogurt Popsicles (strawberry flavour)

· Compliments Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

· Compliments Strawberry Ice Cream

· Compliments Frozen Whole Strawberries

Non-Edible

· Suave Shampoo and Conditioner (Wild Strawberry scent)

· Lady Speed Stick Antiperspirant (Strawberry Scent)

· Airwick Scented Oils (Country Berries Scent)

It took little to no time to develop this list just from walking up and down isles. Had I wanted to explore further I feel as though the list could have been much larger. If I had looked at children’s snack gummy packages and read the ingredients most of them would have had strawberries as well.

I decided to sketch pictures of a few of my findings;

Strawberry

Strawberry Poptart (AKA the Breakfast of Champions!)

Strawberry Ice Cream

Future Implications

As a future educator colour can come into play. In the case of organizing a classroom colour can play a huge role. Too much colour and a classroom can be over stimulating for children. The colour of a classroom can also influence children’s moods and behaviours (Shipley, 2008). According to the textbook Empower Children Play-Based Curriculum for Lifelong Learning “The best approach for an early learning and care centre environment is to balance the pastels and warm colours in the background and the primary colours in the foreground, which attract children’s attention” (Shipley, 2008, p. 101). By having an understanding of the affects colours have on children’s moods behaviours educators can plan a stimulating environment.

Colour:

The definition of colour according to Schirrmacher and Fox is “The visual sensation of light caused by stimulating the cones of the retina” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 364).

This is a very textbook and science based definition. Personally I am a huge fan of bright colours. One reason I love strawberries so much is the fact that they are so bright; nothing looks more appetizing to me than a bright red strawberry with its contrasting green leaves. While looking at the shelves in the grocery store trying to create my list of strawberry based products I found I was not on the search for the word strawberry, or a picture of a strawberry but rather the colour red. Each time I saw red on a package I looked to see if there were strawberries in the product. When my mind thought of strawberries the most standout characteristic of them is their bright colour.

References

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for

young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.

Shipley, D., (2008). Empowering children: Play-based curriculum for

lifelong learning 4th Ed). Scarborough, ON: Nelson.

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Arts Explored # 6- Painting with Scissors

6:38 PM |

Arts Explored # 6-

Painting with Scissors

My idea of a creative art project to do with older children is using corrugated cardboard to create designs. I call this activity Designing with Scissors.

Materials

· Corrugated cardboard

· Scissors

· Pencil

· Eraser

Procedure

1) Draw a design on the cardboard, colour in parts of the cardboard you want to remove

2) Open the scissors up, and gently using the blade of the scissors cut into the cardboard lightly

3) When the cardboard’s first layer has been cut start to pull and remove the top layer exposing the corrugated

Example:

(Retrieved from: http://littleartmonkeys.com/Projects/Printmaking/CorrugatedCardboardPrinting/CorrugatedCardboardPrinting.php)

4) Continue to do this for the whole design cutting all the shapes and exposing the corrugated part

Example of the finished product:

(Retrieved from: http://littleartmonkeys.com/Projects/Printmaking/CorrugatedCardboardPrinting/CorrugatedCardboardPrinting.php)

I actually did this kind of activity in art class in grade seven. I felt this was a very interesting and unique idea because it created an interesting pattern when the product was complete. I felt this activity was a great example of how to “blank” with scissors!

This blog inspired me to create me own unique paint with “blank”. After reading the title for this blog I started to think of different substances we can paint with. This made me think back to projects my mother and I would do during the holidays. As well this idea had come at a great time as I had to bring something to a potluck dinner, and hence my new activity idea was born.

Painting with Chocolate!

My friends and I were having a surprise potluck dinner for our friend’s birthday. She happens to have an interest in Pokémon, and plays Pokémon games still to this day. From many moons ago my mom had chocolate moulds that make Pokémon. It requires a steady hand, paint brushes, tooth picks and a lot of chocolate.

The first step is to do the colour details of the Pokémon including eyes, mouths other small details and their body colour.

Once the coloured details have been done you heat chocolate in a bag and squeeze it into the mould. At the end you are left with something so awesome looking you hardly want to eat it!

This is my chocolate Pikachu and Charmander, all made from the comfort of my very own kitchen!

Future Implications

In the case of activity this is not to be done with young children it can be dangerous. I think giving children a new perspective on how they can use art materials, or materials in general is a great idea. It is also important to encourage children to come up with creative ideas themselves. If a child has a safe environment where they feel free to use materials in non intended ways their art and play will go to a whole new level. For example opening scissors to use them like a blade is a pretty simple thing to do, but it creates a whole new set of possibilities. For example opening scissors and using the blade can be used for other things such as curling ribbon.

Balance:

The definition of balance according to Schirrmacher and Fox is “The result of how space is used” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 363).

I feel that in the case of my art activity Designing with Scissors there needs to be a certain balance between corrugated surface and smooth surface. If there is too much corrugated surface and not enough smooth surface than the rough texture takes up too much of the art and the texture is almost lost. If there is too much smooth space than corrugated surface is not shown to be the highlight of the project. Therefore depending on the design the artist is going for they need to find the perfect balance between the two surfaces.

“Its creativity, not rocket science”

Archives

Arts Explored # 10- Community Arts Project

Arts Explored # 9- Guerilla Art

Arts Explored # 8- Pretend Play

Arts Explored # 7- Grocery Shopping

Arts Explored # 6- Painting with Scissors