Political/Editorial Cartoon Inspired by: Thomas Hart Benton & Diego Rivera
Painted Story Quilt: Crayon Resist Inspired by: Faith Ringgold
Found-Objects Mini Sculptures Jean Shin
Studio Reflection Our third art unit consisted of studios based on the big idea of "stories". This unit allowed us to connect and express our previous units of "Identities" and "Relationships" to create artwork representative of our story. The first studio we completed was an editorial cartoon inspired by artists Thomas Hart Benton and Diego Riviera. This studio allowed us to chose a concept that is important to our identity, and express it in a combination of drawing and text. Through my studio work I chose to portray the story of how textbooks in schools have become overwhelming large. This "story" relates back to my identity as a student, and as a future teacher.
The second studio we did in this unit was a painted Story Quilt inspired by artist Faith Ringgold. Using crayon resist, we created artwork that portrayed a storybook with meaning to us. I chose to recreate an image from the book "Dear Bear". I chose this book about a girl who lets her imagination run wild and finds a new friendship out of someone she once feared. According to Pink (2006) "Story is high concept because it sharpens our understanding of one thing by showing it in the context of something else." This quote relates to this studio I created because it allowed me to see how the attributes the girl in story had, were so similar to mine as a child. The story, and my studio, show the same story of imaginative little girls in very different creative forms.
The last studio we did within our stories unit was the transformation of found objects into mini sculptures. This studio was inspired by artist Jean Shin, who is known for her artwork created through objects that many people overlook, or simply toss to the side when they are done with them. Jean Shin's art was summarized wonderfully by writer Susan Stamberg (2009) when she wrote, "Shin specializes in transforming everyday objects into something else, though she can't always predict how her art will be interpreted". For this project we joined with a partner to create a sculpture of found objects, and find our own value and interpretation of our creation. My partner and I decided to use q-tips and cardboard to recreate one of the beautiful fall trees we walked past on our way to class that day. We decided that this interpretation represented the beauty of trees, and how tossing away products like these found objects are killing more of these trees than they should be. Proving yet again, how stories within our lives can collide to create new ones.
Resources Pink, D. H. (2006). A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York, NY: Penguin.