Essential Questions and Key Concepts

                                                        Kiki Smith

Essential Questions

How do our hero's reflect on who we want to become or relate to?

How can the material we work on, and the techniques/manipulation of material represent a part of who we are?

How does gender create pre-determined implications of our identity?

How does family have an impact on how we see ourselves, and can we incorporate that into how we project our identity in our art?

How can a physical place represent an identity?

Key Concepts

Our overall identity and the people we surround ourselves with, effects who we become.

Identity can be represented by something more subtle then just symbols and images. Textures, materials and process's can have a great impact on representation.

Gender is subjective.

Morals and beliefs have a large impact on people's overall identity.

Humans can identify with almost anything.

Kiki Smith and her Identity.

Free Fall,1994. Photogravure, etching, and sanding.

My Blue Lake. 1995. Photogravure, a la poupee inking, and lithograph.

Pool of Tears 2 (after Lewis Carroll). 2000. Etching, aquatint, and drypoint with watercolor additions.

Puppet, 1993-94. photogravure with collaged etching and aquatins and string additions.

Constellations, 1996. Lithograph and flocking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kiki Smith had a phase in her art making where she discovered she could use herself as an object to convey her art and expression. She enjoyed doing this mostly through prints. She chose to define herself, with photos of herself, photos of members of her family intertwined with her image and other objects. She also would define herself through things she enjoyed like folk lore, mythology, astrology, and fairy tales. She went through a period of time where she was focusing on female hero's of her's from the past and present. I believe this also another way she is depicting herself; through gender, and what she viewed as powerful.

Portfolio for Art Education Program

"Lygophobia", 2 Dimensional, 16" x 37", acrylic on canvas, 2006.

                                                "Gods Foot", 3 Dimensional, 12" x 11" x 3.5", Ceramics, 2008.

                                           "Eskimo's Librarian", 3 Dimensional, 8" x 12" x 7", ceramics and string, 2008.

"Feet Study", 2 Dimensional, 19" x 24" Pencil on Paper, 2009.

      "Ethel and Thomas", 3 Dimensional, (Ethel) 6" x 2.5" x 4", (Thomas) 7" x 4.5" x 4" Ceramics, Epoxy and cork, 2009.


 

"Nana Bee", 3 Dimensional, 7" x 4" x 4.5", Ceramics and Glaze, 2010.

"Unity", 2 Dimensional, 15" x 20" Bee's Wax on Wood, Acrylics and Ink, 2010.

"Value", 2 Dimensional, 15" x 20", Bee's Wax on Wood, Acrylics, Fabric, Paper and Miscellaneous items, 2010.

"Line" 2 Dimensional, 15" x 20", Bee's wax on Wood, Acrylics, 2010.

"Balance", 2 Dimensional, 15"x 20" Bee's wax on Wood, Acrylics, Ink and Paper, 2010.

Trimis and Savva

I really thought the reading was inspiring and gave me a lot of motivation to involve my future students in the world around them. I hope to be in a school that is located near areas i can involve the children in, to help enrich their learning development and environment. It was a very repetitive reading, but showed a lot on how to observe a class and write about it in depth, and how to help lead a child in enriching their own education. I like that it was in Greece for the fact that we can see the unity of education techniques. I also liked the fact that the teacher was doing such a great job at observing and noting and hearing what the children wanted out of their education and time.  I do know that there is a lot of lack in funding now a-days for schooling, but i believe that we can use our world around us, freely, to teach our children. There's a school in Albany, The Albany Free School, that i know brings the children out into town and allows them to ask questions about their surroundings and experience it first hand. This can be a free activity, a nice stroll around the area in which they live in, to learn more about the history, the interactions we have with transportation, art, communication, business, community, foods etc. You can also use the child's chorotopos to help involve them in helping their surroundings and community. Like bringing them to a soup kitchen, nursing home, museum, community garden, parks or library. The only question i guess i have is; is it safe to bring the children in these uncontrolled environments, and how do you go about getting the consent to doing so? I understand that field trips are expensive and energy consuming, but i do believe there are ways to teach the children about life, surroundings, and education in a cheap, fun manner. My schooling at home did it with having the grounds of the school be placed on nice land with a woods area, pond and wide open fields. There are definitely perks to this setting, but i'd imagine there would be perks to living in a city, or near the beach as well. I believe it's important for a child to involve themselves in their surroundings and understanding what is going on around them as well as the teacher. It's easy to get sucked into our classrooms, or home and forget that there's a big beautiful world out their with lots to offer in enriching our minds and hearts.

characteristics and implications.

-Sensory engagement matters
* look for materials to engage senses

-actions based on instant gratification
*simplify steps
*choose materials that yeild a immediate outcome
*don't expect high tolerance for attention
*be prepared

-child's still trying to figure out morals
*Have patience
*Help lay down common, moral ground rules.

-uncontrolled markings and accidental shapes are produced during the first phase of artistic development.
*make sure to ask what they were intending to represent in the picture.
*ask questions to help relate the image to their real life experiences that they are portraying in the image. Doing this you are also practicing communicating about their art.
*Don't expect perfection
*Know what level of criteria to teach them that won't stunt them but help them progress.

 -The Child is really into exploring colors, the feel of their tools and techniques.
*Give the child a wide variety of materials to work with and use positive encouragement to help evolve their want to explore.


-The child rely's heavily on being lead to more information
*ask the child questions to get them to answer their own questions and help lead them in the direction they are seeing.
*Don't just show a child how to do something right away with out provoking what you can get out of them.
*when working with the child with certain medium's, use it as if you were the child, and ask them to help you, then take their advice.

-Motor Skills are increasing
*give constructive assignments that can feed into improving their motor skills (big paper and brushes).
*choose criteria that is appropriate to their development.

Place Exploration- Beezzzzzz

I've always been interested in bee's and how they coexist and help our world go round. When I heard that New Paltz had a great Bee Keeping Community I was even more excited to move out here and go to school then I was before the good news. The only thing is I haven't motivated myself to involving myself, so when this project was introduced to us I was torn between bathrooms and how sacred they can be to a humans well being mentally and hygienically or Bee Keeping.(A) I decided Bee Farms would be a more friendlier approach to the project, and could be a good push to getting me involved in the bee keeping community of New Paltz. So I have a few plans for the project. (C) One being going to a local bee farm in the new paltz location or the rosendale location and observing the farmers at work, asking the instructor a few question's, and seeing how to go about involving oneself in the bee keeping world. (E) While observing maybe doing illustrations of what i see using ink and water colors. Another idea would to be to create a 3d bee box ( with found objects on the farm and off.) And another would bee to create a painting using beeswax and acrylics. I could also do a display of objects found in this place and make a case for them and maybe use the wax as a decoration of the glass. (B) I am also excited to start learning more about how the bees are affecting New Paltz and how the colony collapsing syndrome is being taken care of in this neck of the woods. I would also like to know how we as humans, help the bee population flourish and coexist with bees? What the Bee's do for our world? (D) I don't exactly know what artist i'm using for inspiration on the matter, right now I guess just myself.

Shamless Self Promotion

Nana Bee
I had no plan, or idea for her i just started hacking away at a block of clay and came up with her. She resembles my grandmother Mini Beatrice, so i named her after her and gave her a bee on her shoulder to include a sense of me.

Seeking Shelter
A piece I finished when I was a junior in High school. This piece was a very therapeutic piece for me to work on, and opened my eyes that my habit and outlet for coping was painting.

Ethel and Thomas
The first pair of salt and pepper shakers I've ever made. It was a good process of understanding how one's supposed to create effective, workable salt and pepper shakers. The process of making usable art was a rough one indeed. You can make something have a purpose but come across a lot of factors that can get in the way of that.

Eskimo's Heart
I can't throw, or make glaze, but i can build and pinch figures that can be used for everyday, domestic actions. This is an eskimo woman with a visible heart on the other side, that can be used as a book end. I made it for my one friend who loves reading, when i gave it to her, she wasn't as excited or happy as i wanted her to be, so i took it back.

God's Foot
A piece i made exploring the coil process, It can be used as a vase. I gave it to my Best friend who was so pleased that i made him something, not compared to Emily. He took this and his cat to Sacramento this summer and that's it. It's good to know someone loves your art.

Lygophobia
A piece i did when i was a junior for a impressionist project. I won 1st place in a juried art show with 13 counties in it, this piece allowed me to see that i can paint, and it be reciprocated by an audience.

Line
Two semesters ago i retook 2 Dimensional with professor Carue and finally understood what he was looking for out of his students. I learned to fully explore a material and what it can do and how you can use it, i also learned he comfort in experimenting with your art, compared to worrying about ruining a canvas.

Jars
Carue was a funny professor, didn't enjoy objective art, and forced us to go beyond what a figure or symbol can tell us. He hated the subject matter, but loved my technique and told me I had something going on. I then grew more comfortable with exploring one specific material and grew more comfortable with making mistakes.

Group Experience

 In class today we had to do a group collaboration on what we learned from the articles we read, and create a chart of main ideas and key concepts on the main subjects that help shape the outline of being an art educator. It was fun but hard to work with others, there are definitely points when leader characters can subtly butt heads, but its awesome being able to see others perspectives and ideas. I learned that you need to have a lot of patience and openness to work with others, i can see this being applied to students, other teachers, and even parents.
 I also learned that when trying to organize thoughts, it can easily become messy and scattered, and one may need to have a few rough drafts of an idea to get a clean, precise, copacetic proposal. This can be applied to lesson plans and criteria for your students. You don't want to get up there in front of the class with a messy chart and present your ideas to your students without knowing all the ins and outs. This and the article I read opened my eyes to brainstorming with your class. You want it to seem as though you don't know everything and that the students are helping you understand your subject as much as they are learning, But really you should know everything about what your teaching and be prepared to get all sorts of ideas shot at you, but it's your responsibility to know how to organize their ideas as much as your own.
 I also got from the readings and what i read a few of the other future educators write down is that a good approach to learning (in my perspective) is to work with your communities and open the childrens eyes to that learning doesnt only happen in the walls of the classroom, but there's a whole world they can learn in and help. I believe that giving people a purpose, a positive purpose is a great motivator for progression. And also teaching them that knowledge doesn't only come from books and teachers but from the people that surround them like the other students. A sense of community is so important to feel and have when trying to create unity and comfort. To feel as you have a place in the world and that your helping fix it, while learning can really go a long way. I also learned that each main idea in the concepts of the molding of art education all interconnect, and really have a lot of influence on one another.