blog pdf one

DEVELOPING BETTER PROCESSES
In the Atelier this week the children extend their attention to understanding the
language of paint. Much like what is happening with the classroom work
around the theme of stage performances and the trickiness,we observe the
children becoming more and more aware of detail, processes of ways to
organize their ideas, and developing new strategies.
The processes for the happenings are very similar to how to develop and get
ready for a performance or what processes will unfold again as new research
is developed i.e.. how the children will bump up their ideas in thinking about
the processes of getting ready. Within the studio we take time developing
stronger relationships with materials and these processes in order for children
to make their ideas more visible through media. Some things we thought about
while designing this proposal, was how could we honor the children's previous
photographic ideas, and how could we support the process of painting? Each
child has a process, we give value to them while helping to develop the skills of
mixing color, brush variation, line and shape.
For this proposal the children first looked at their images from their previous
photograph work on their research trips. They selected a format either
“tricky”(small format) or “large”. While I document the children our asked to
think about their process what would they choose first to paint and why, what
made sense to them as they began to understand the photo from a new
perspective of color, shape, line, detail. The process that goes hand-in-hand
with a process of organizing and strategizing.
Mixing a palate....
In these small yet beautiful moments of the children choosing color from their
photographs and working together to make these colors visible, their is a kindness of
gestures and collaboration that sometimes is un-said.
“Look! It’s changing it’s becoming
the color of the tree.”
“There are many layers before it
turns the right color.”
A palate mixed by friends, with
shared context of their past work
together makes for more
intentional experiences with the
paint itself.
A teacher could easily teach the steps of painting to a child beginning with painting
back-round and then large to smaller detail, but in Reggio inspired work we allow the
children to develop their own processes and make meaning together. Each child has a
different process, my role with in their experiences is to document, try to slow them
down to think about each step, and to provide multitudes of ideas in which they can
take or not take.
Both children choose a black and white photograph that one of the children had taken of
the water fountain in kapolani park. This photo is an extremely hard photo to paint from
because it forces the child to think in a domain they are not use to which is shades of the
grey scale.
Both children with out noticing each other decide on painting the same shape first which is the
shape of piece of the fountain were the water is coming out of. L decides that black paint
would be more suitable to make this part stand out, while W seems more interested in making
the shape visible, two different strategies and perspectives.
L goes on to paint
what is most important
about this photo to
him which is the water,
he adds greys, white’s
and blacks to show
the range of color that
is in the water in the
photo.
His focus on capturing
the grey scale that he
see’s in the photo.
W then says, “I like the way L is doing it.” And
proceeds to add in more grays to her water, but
again keeping on the lines of her perspective
she points out to L the shape of the water at the
end as it moves into an arch and tries to
capture that aspect. They both then try to
accentuate this aspect.
As a teacher I am
always amazed by
the children that is
one of the most
wonderful things
about our work. I
was particularly
touched by their
strategy of
strategizing together
to complete this task
of putting the photo
back together through
painting. Their
processes meshing
together to be a more
cohesive painting.
Water
The hand
The shapes of the fountain
stacked on top of each other
The effect that was chosen to
make the background of the
grass
After choosing a photo I suggest to S
that she might want to do the leaves
first because they cover the entire
paper. But she quickly decides that
she would like to trace each branch
on the photo and then place it in
paint on her paper.
My “aha” as a teacher is that she is
more intrigued with the complexity of
lines within the hidden branches then
the leaves. This is her process and
her perspective, and her thinking
being made visible.
“I want to do every branch!” she
exclaims. What a wonderful way
to make them more visible, if this
is what is important to her it will
definitely show her idea.
I love her lines as
they remind me of
the art of brush
painting.
Shen then proceeds to add some of
the leaves including the variations of
greens but quickly realizes it will not
cover the whole paper the way the
photograph does.
What I love about this next remark is
because that S knows the way our
culture is at our school she knows
that she can always come back to
her painting to do another layer of
work.
“I am going to paint this all in and
then maybe another day I will add the
shape of the leaf in white.”
Allowing her process to unfold
she was able to draw attention to
what was important to her and
then to problem solve to
accomplish the affect she wanted.
Again in this last story I notice the
children helping each other with
their strategy. With T I offer a
question to help support her with
painting this photo of an overview
from Tantalus.
“Which shape seem’s the
largest?” I ask her.
“Hmmm. Maybe the houses at
the bottom?” She replies.
C the interjects,” Maybe it’s
Diamond Head.” He tells T.
“Oh! I think C is right.” She
exclaims.
T goes on to paint Diamond head.
Notice her careful marks to the top of
diamond head to show its
ruggedness. A detail that she has
seen up close on our research trip.
What a clever and thoughtful detail.
In each step T goes back to the
photo carefully studying the shapes
and the lines. It’s wonderful to see
her process and the points in the
photo that she chooses to make
more visible.
1. Diamond head
2. Stan sheriff center
dome
3. The trees
4. The houses that look
like “tiny dots”
For C he quickly picked up on wanting to make a “tricky” painting and the importance of the
background as a first step.
“Do you see what part I’m doing? It’s tricky! See the small trees in the back and the big one in
the front?”C says. I immediately agree with him because he has noticed a very tricky point of
view SCALE. I ask him how he will paint around such tiny trees?
He answers,” Well maybe I should do the sky and mountains first.
For C I really appreciate his attention
to the sky which he notices has more
white he then develops a technique
for creating the shape of the cloud by
twirling his brush.
These are small stories within the grander scheme of our curriculum but they represent this idea that
all of our children go throw when they approach a new problem, i.e.; How to make a show; How to
make something tricky; How to paint from a photograph. All processes that the children develop and
make better.