ITM EX 19: COOPER & OPPENHEIM

Thomas Joshua Cooper, Moonlight - West, Southwest - The Mid Atlantic Oce, 2004 -

The photograph has a mystical feel to it. The composition is balanced by the rock formation and the white line. If the glow behind the white line did not light up the background, then all of the attention would have been focused on the formation in the foreground. This glow also explores the depth conveyed by the composition, showing that there is space beyond the rock formation. Clarity of each surface of the rock formation is created by Cooper’s choice in exposing the photo for a longer period of time so that the light source could be utilize to highlight each uneven edge. Cooper took his time to capture this mystical setting which allows me to imagine him in a trance as he set up the composition for this photograph. The formal elements infer his encapsulation by each detail of the formation and the light that surrounded it. He fell in love, as I would like to say, and it is evident in the time he must have spent to set up the aperture, shutter speed, and focus to capture the state of mind he was in while viewing such a site.

From the description provided about Oppenheim’s process of creating Wolf It Down I can infer that the artist was using similar machinery and tools of those who are stripping the Earth of its resources. In his statement I envision Oppenheim reenacting the process of tearing up the Earth’s surface for selfish desires, but in the end using the same materials to fill the holes in order to make a statement about those who actually do this sort of act on a daily basis. The process described led me to believe Oppenheim to be in state of disbelief as he reenacts the same process that he is trying to speak out against, while still proud as others get the message he is trying to convey in an extremely large dimension.

BUILDING COMMUNITY IN YOUR CLASSROOM

I plan to build a community in my classroom through a variety of projects which encourage students to present their identities to one another as well as work together to create a variety of collaborative projects. My unit for our Advanced Methods class actually was designed around building a community. The first lesson is centered around creating identity boxes and then working as a class to build a super structure of the boxes to represent our class as a community of different identities coming together to form one large representation. The second lesson focuses on working in groups, now that they should have learned more about one another, for a common goal. Students will be designing logos for their Homecoming Week and will be competing to create the best logo to be chosen to represent the school. The third lesson involves a similar campaign element, but students will use the strength of their own community to inform the world about certain issues that they feel inclined to advocate for.

The personal exploration as well as group work that is involved in this unit was planned in order for students to better understand one another and learn to work together, putting aside their differences, for a common goal. My desire was to have them learn about one another so that gang activity, social isolation, cliques, language, discrimination, disability, and socio economic status would no longer separate students from one another as they focus on a project they can all relate to.

Now I know this goal may be a far fetched utopia, but I believe that if students are given a chance to work with one another and are encouraged to explore their identities and share their discoveries, then students will be supported in the steps to understanding one another. We need to foster lessons that support students in a journey to meet people different from their own backgrounds and learn to connect with them on a multitude of levels. It is my goal to achieve this understanding through conducting lessons that are valid to students’ lives with purposeful meanings that are clear to both teacher and class.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

At our field site there are issues in classroom management related to structure. Since the environment is rather unorganized and type of free for all, the students encounter frustrations in looking for specific materials they wish to use as well as projects they have began and are missing when they return the next day.

The organization of materials is also accompanied by a lack of structure in terms of learning lessons. Students have total freedom to explore a variety of mediums and to work on most projects that their imaginations can think up, which is successful in the sense that they are supported and encouraged to follow the flow of personal creativity. But even with the small class size it is hard to answer every student's questions when they are all working on different projects. This freedom also makes it hard to monitor the progress of every student since they can start and stop projects without warning or explanation. Sometimes it is a struggle just to get students to work; often there is at least one artist who will sit unproductively during a class period.

I think it would be great to encourage the class to think of one art form, as a group, that they would really like to learn about and simultaneously create projects in similar mediums so they can get feed back from each other in the process. I would hope this resulted in the class building a stronger creative community through the process of learning a new art form as a group.

Tate Gallery

MOTIVATION

Lack of motivation seemed to occur the most when I was in Spanish IV my senior year of high school. I lacked motivation on nearly every assignment because it felt like no matter how hard I tried or how often I came in for help my answers would still be wrong. The point at which I lost almost all motivation was when I would have the exact answer as the student next to me and he would get it right and I got it wrong. When I brought this to the attention of my teacher she said that he just got lucky. When this kept occurring I did not even bother talking to her about it and basically did not even want to open my mouth in class. This experience turned me into the type of student I had never been before, a student who had shut down. I was only like that in this particular class and the only thing that motivated me to try at all was that fact that I could fail, something I had never come close to doing.
I believe I can help students overcome a lack of motivation by staying consistent in my practices and showing that I care by investing time in their success. At our field site there is one student in particular who seems to lack motivation and does not even consider herself an artist. Once I confronted her claim of not being an artist by pointing out her series of successful portraits as well as her on going practice outside of school she began to see that she was not only an artist, but an artist with a body of work to be proud of. I asked her to bring in some of her photographs from home and the day she did, a group of students came over and started going through her work and lavishing her with the compliments she deserved. Her work was good, plain and simple. It took telling her that she has talent and the confirmation from her peers to get the student to see that she is a skilled artist, particularly in photography, that should continue her practice in the classroom.

RESPONSE TO Ch11 ADOLESCENTS AT SCHOOLBEYOND CATEGORIES

My expectation for the field experience that we encountered this fall was to work with and get to know students from more challenging backgrounds than the one I came from. I was not sure of the range of differences, but I expected the experience to open my eyes to a different spectrum of students than I have worked with before. One student that I have spent a lot of my time with comes from a situation that I could not even imagine handling at her age. From first glance I felt a connection with her because I noticed that she drew on herself, something I did a lot in high school. I inquired about the drawings and it led to a conversation about movies. The three dots were a symbol from one of her favorite movies and we discussed a few more I had never heard of. I had her make a list for me because I wanted to understand the symbolism. That weekend I went and rented the movies and watched them to become closer to this student. I related to this student through the fact that my interests were often drawn on my body and that I would tend to redraw symbols while bored in class. But what separated us was the meaning of the symbols. The movies the student had me watch were all related to her Chicano heritage, something I knew little about. I enjoyed watching each movie and made sure to come back with questions about the different terms and phrases I did not understand.
This student’s identity has a lot to do with her race and it is something she is proud of. The pieces that she worked on while I was in the classroom reflected one of her favorite places in San Diego, the Chicano Park. She explained to me all of the different aspects of the park that made it so special, as well as the experiences she had there. We worked together to represent this feeling of pride while recreating each segment of the park. I loved listening to her stories and watching her eyes light up as she explained the car shows that went on there. Part of this student’s identity is her race and the traditions she found through her connection to the Chicano Park, as woman with European heritage whose family came over from Sicily three generations before her, I do not feel the same connection to my heritage. Even though I am Sicilian, one would not be able to tell by looking at my face or by the traditions that I practice. From this student I have learned to investigate a part of my identity that I do not want to lose, even though my family has become more and more ‘Americanized’ through out the years.

STAYING AN ARTS ADVOCATE

I believe it is extremely important to remain an advocate for the arts, especially in one’s district. My plan to do this will be cool, calm, and steady. I want to remain an advocate by publicizing my on going work, the work of others, as well as of the students around the school and the community. By handing out flyers, pamphlets, and even creating informational handouts myself I want to advocate for the local artists both inside and outside of the school through pleasant action. I want to be a proactive advocate through reputation, experience, and knowledge. Students will be involved by helping to advertise for local galleries, programs, and events by creating flyers themselves as well as attending what they are advocating for. A group will be formed of students who would like to work specifically on involving students and teachers outside of the art program to become active in participating in community art events of all types. Together we will work to plan transportation to the events as well as sign up sheets for those who would like to receive more information. Together we will advocate for the arts, but in a peaceful informative manner. Simply stated, we will just be putting the information out there for others to join and act upon if desired.
I believe that the only risk involved in advocacy is if you do it in a forceful manner, pushing topics that may be frowned upon in the community. Art is a necessary part of society that can do a great deal of good if prioritized correctly and by simply shedding light on this fact, “going with the flow” of the community, then there should be no risk to advocacy. One needs to simply highlight the positives in the community that are the direct result of the work of artists.