Unit 2: Relationships
Artist: Mary Cassatt
Portraiture: Printmaking (personal photographs, alphabet stamps, stencils, ink)
Artist: Rene Magritte
Surreal Journey Postcards: Collage (notecard, magazines, colored pencils, glue, pencil)
Artist: Do Ho Suh
Pop-Up Homes and Habitats: Mixed Media (construction paper, black fabric, tissue paper, cotton balls, brown wool fabric, marker, glue)
Unit 2: Reflection
Moving forward from Unit 1 with Identity, we focused on Relationships in Unit 2. We worked with three studios that revealed the importance of relationships and we learned about three artists that involve relationships into their work. These artists are Mary Cassatt, Rene Magritte, and Do Ho Suh. Within the relationship focus, we discussed how important it is to have empathy with the people around us. As we read in Pink (2006), we see that empathy is, “an ethic for living. It’s a means of understanding other human beings” (p 165). I kept this in mind while I was creating my artwork pieces.
For the first studio, we used stamping and marking to help express a relationship in a personal photograph. I created two pieces in this studio: one is of me and my boyfriend of 6 years in our Kindergarten graduation and the other is of me and my sister when we were younger. Both of these photographs are very special to me and I used stamps to display my thoughts across. It is clear to see my personal relationships with my boyfriend and my sister within these photographs and the stamps help my audience find meaning behind the pictures. In the second studio guided by Magritte’s ideas, we use collaboration within a small group to create a postcard. I had a
tough time finding a story to relate to but I am a big fan of Channing Tatum and would love to have a dinner-date with him and my dog is one of my most favorite things in the world so it was fun to think of him in the other postcard. I formed relationships with my peers while creating these cards and I used some of my favorite things in the story behind the card. In the third studio, we used Suh’s ideas of building a pop-up home to form our own versions of a pop-up place that reminds us of what we consider home to be. I chose to recreate my childhood home in my piece. I have lived in the same house since 2nd grade and I couldn’t see myself ever wanting to be brought up in anywhere else. I used personal details like living on a hill and having a scrawny looking tree in our front year in my pop-up. I love the relationship that I have with my childhood home.
I think that it is a great idea to implement the idea of relationships into the classroom, especially at an elementary level because this is the time when they are building up their perspectives of people in the world. I think the second studio would be fun in the classroom because students are working with each other and collaborating off
of one another’s ideas. In Pink (2006), we read that it is important to, “work with people and be inspired by people” (p 72). All of these studios would be a great way to show students the importance of relationships but I think the second studio in our unit would be most engaging for the kids and they would really see how much a relationship can bring in new ideas and thoughts.
References:
Pink, D.H. (2006). A Whole New Mind. New York, NY: Penguin Group Inc.
For the first studio, we used stamping and marking to help express a relationship in a personal photograph. I created two pieces in this studio: one is of me and my boyfriend of 6 years in our Kindergarten graduation and the other is of me and my sister when we were younger. Both of these photographs are very special to me and I used stamps to display my thoughts across. It is clear to see my personal relationships with my boyfriend and my sister within these photographs and the stamps help my audience find meaning behind the pictures. In the second studio guided by Magritte’s ideas, we use collaboration within a small group to create a postcard. I had a
tough time finding a story to relate to but I am a big fan of Channing Tatum and would love to have a dinner-date with him and my dog is one of my most favorite things in the world so it was fun to think of him in the other postcard. I formed relationships with my peers while creating these cards and I used some of my favorite things in the story behind the card. In the third studio, we used Suh’s ideas of building a pop-up home to form our own versions of a pop-up place that reminds us of what we consider home to be. I chose to recreate my childhood home in my piece. I have lived in the same house since 2nd grade and I couldn’t see myself ever wanting to be brought up in anywhere else. I used personal details like living on a hill and having a scrawny looking tree in our front year in my pop-up. I love the relationship that I have with my childhood home.
I think that it is a great idea to implement the idea of relationships into the classroom, especially at an elementary level because this is the time when they are building up their perspectives of people in the world. I think the second studio would be fun in the classroom because students are working with each other and collaborating off
of one another’s ideas. In Pink (2006), we read that it is important to, “work with people and be inspired by people” (p 72). All of these studios would be a great way to show students the importance of relationships but I think the second studio in our unit would be most engaging for the kids and they would really see how much a relationship can bring in new ideas and thoughts.
References:
Pink, D.H. (2006). A Whole New Mind. New York, NY: Penguin Group Inc.