Visit to SDMA

I really enjoyed our visit to SDMA! It was nice to take a break from the classroom and get a chance to personally see some artwork. I thought all the art work that was shown to us was very unique. I'm really glad the art docent chose to show us a variety of different pieces like the simple leaf painting, the worshipping statue, the half man/half tree photo, etc. This really gave me the opportunity to see and analyze a bunch of different art. Therefore, I also think that trips to museums like this would be very beneficial to elementary and secondary students. I feel that opening their eyes to different pieces of art work will encourage them to think abstractly and bring out their creativity. Hopefully they can take some of their observations from art museums and information on techniques/styles of artists and use them in their art work. Although I think making field trips like this out to art museums is very beneficial, I do understand that not all schools are able to gain access to opportunities like this which is mainly due to financial problems. Therefore, I think its really important for citizens to urge the government to help support and donate to these less fortunate schools.

Sculptural Headdress

This is my sculptural headdress that I made during class. I decided to go with a "Hawaiian" themed headdress and relate it to a "Hawaiian" themed fairy tale. In order to create this headdress I used several different shades of tissue paper. I used a dark purple for the crown and put a trim of yellow tissue paper on the bottom. Attached to the yellow tissue paper are several scrunched up balls of pink tissue paper which are supposed to represent flowers. To attach these flowers I simply used glue. On the back of the crown, several strips of lavender tissue paper flow down and mimic a vail. 


This is a fun and creative project that could easily be incorporated in the classroom in particular a second grade classroom. An easy way to introduce this project would be to start by reading several fairy tale stories then discussing the stories with the children. While discussing the stories address the fact that in several of the fairy tale stories the princesses wear crowns or headdress. Tell the students that this is an element that seems to be very common among fairy tales and maybe of the headdresses have a cultural relation to the story. Then tell them for their activity today they are going to create their own fairy tale and a corresponding headdress for their main character in their fairy tale. 


Several  California Content Standards for second graders are present in this activity. The standards that are most applicable to this activity include: 1.  Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. 2. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. 3. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. 4. Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.

Week 2/15

After learning about VTS (Visual Thinking Strategies), I was able to recognize many positive contributions this strategies contributes to a child's learning. In my opinion, VTS has the power to open up students minds to different perspectives for students usually have different takes on what an artist is trying to portray in a image, painting, or piece of artwork. Child learn to think differently and analyze others thoughts. Adding to this, VTS also helps a child to be creative, think outside the box, and expand their visual perception. VTS helps children form connections, relationships, critically think, and draw from their own knowledge bank. Showing students different works of art and discussing it can also help students to learn different forms of art and later distiguish between different types of art work and different artists. It introduces them to different styles and techniques as well. Lastly VTS encourages active class participation, group problem solving, and confidence in one's ability to construct meaning. I decided to practice VTS in my own home with two of my room mates Brooke and Anna. For this particular demonstration of VTS I choose a familiar painting to me called "Las Meninas" by Diego Velazquez. I simply asked Brooke and Anna to describe what they saw in the painting and what they thought the painting was portraying. While they did this I just ficilitated their comments. They observed that the girl in the middle of the painting was the focus of the painting because she has a bright dress and everyone is surrounding her. They think she is a girl of royalty or of the upper class based on the way she is dressed. They also felt like the women around appear as if they are attending her and might be her maids. Anna thinks she is 6 years old and Brooke thinks she is 4 years old. They believe the dog in the front is protecting the little girl. They also thought that the elderly man to the left of the little girl was painting her because he is holding a paint palette. Brooke feels that the picture takes place in an art gallery room in the castle of the little girl. She also feels the woman to the left of the little girl is trying to calm her down. They both noticed a mysterious man in the back and struggled to identify his role in the painting. Brooke was the first to observe a nun in the background then Anna saw it.  They believe the painting is from the 17th Century because it looks victorian. Lastly, Brooke made the observation that the painting is gloomy on the top and clearer towards the bottom which she feels the artist did on purpose to shift the focus to the bottom where the people are located.