Reflection 2 - Visual Art

Visual art creates emotion. Looking at someone's work, or creating your own stimulates the mind.  There are aspects the intrigue the eye like: rhythm, balance, proportion, variety, emphasis and unity.  All have specific meaning to a visual object (some aspects more or less than others).  The picture that stuck out to me the most today was the canyon painting.  I love vivid colors, but the balance, emphasis and unity emulating from the rock faces with the light breaking through was truly captivating.  Grand landscape paintings are my favorite.  The bridge was also an interesting photograph.  The cables added emphasis and a focal point, yet the street lamp created balance.  As was stated in class, with out the lamp the picture would be meaningless.  It's funny how a simple part can make or break a picture.

I can use these concepts in my own art creations.  Sometimes its nice to create something and take a break from school work.  I have already applied some art principles when I created some decorations for my room! It was very fun.  I made two pictures with synthetic flowers and created a polka-dot background.  Both frames actually exhibit all the art principles we learned in class today.  It was a fun project!  It is also fun to view others visual art.  I have many pictures displayed within my own apartment. Now I will be able to pick out certain aspects of the paintings or photographs were art principles were used.

In my future teaching, I will hang art (classic, modern, and simple aesthetic pieces) around my classroom, to introduce students to visual art.  By looking at examples of different art principles students can be inspired and create their own styles.  They can also learn to appreciate many different styles.  I like what we did today in class where we discussed illustrators and designed our own versions of their art.  It is good to use inspiration sometimes.  I want to use this activity with my students and provide opportunities for them to learn the principals of art because those who like art or think they may like to try, will want to know these concepts.  I'll encourage them, because everyone has their own style and not all of the principles will manifest the same in every students artwork.  It will be a fun learning experience for everyone to see the development of an understanding of these concepts in their own artwork. 

The illustrator project was a fun way to learn about different styles.  Many illustrators display favorite art principles.  It is easy to see in a painting or even photograph which principles are prominent. My group chose to talk about David Wiesner.  Everyone worked really well together.  Some members of the group knew quite a bit about the illustrator already so they already had the books.  Everyone contributed fairly and worked very well together. I enjoyed working with the girls in my group! Since everyone contributed, it wasn't a big stress for anyone. That was one thing I learned from participating in this group - when everyone does their part, the load is lightened.  Your trust is strengthened in your group members, and they trust you when everyone does their part! I also learned that I like David Wiesner's style!  Texture makes a big difference in a picture! I painted a little fish picture and it turned out better with the idea of texture in mind! This was a fun, class building and creative project!