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Making Art with music

¿Alguna vez has visto algún paisaje tan bonito que le quieres tomar una foto? Capturar el despertar del sol, escuchar tu canción favorita, caminar descalza por la arena, atravesar por un campo de lavanda, todos estos eventos despiertan sentimientos y sensaciones diferentes.

Observar diferentes colores también despierta sentimientos y puede cambiar tu humor. Sinestesia es el fenómeno en el cual tus sentidos pueden mezclarse, por ejemplo; cuando veo un paisaje verde, me trae un olor a pasto o tierra mojada. Cuando veo y escucho un caracol de mar, me recuerda los sonidos de las olas. Hoy vamos a usar varios de nuestros sentidos para crear una obra de arte.

Algunos artistas les gusta expresar movimiento en sus obras de arte. Observa la obra de arte numero 1 y describe cómo el artista Jackson Pollock expresa movimiento en su pintura, Convergence.

La segunda obra de arte es de el artista Vincent Van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows, observa la pintura y platícame cuales crees que fueron los métodos que uso el artista para crear movimiento en su pintura.

Jackson Pollock 
American, 1912-1956
Convergence, 1952
oil on canvas, Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Vincent Van Gogh
(1853 – 1890)
Wheatfield with Crows
oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Ahora vamos a crear nuestra obra de arte. Los materiales que vamos a utilizar son; acuarelas, pinceles, papel de acuarela, un vaso con agua y servilletas. Recomiendo que pongas periódico o papel en la mesa para evitar manchas. Nosotros usaremos la música, color, lineas y forma para crear movimiento en nuestra pintura. Primero vamos a escuchar y ver este video de Mozart. Observa cómo cambia la velocidad, los colores y el tamaño de las figuras geométricas dependiendo del ritmo de la música. Ahora vuelve a empezar el video, escoge el color y empieza a hacer lineas de movimiento en tu canvas inspirándotelo en la música o en el movimiento de las figuras.

Mozart, Symphony 41, Jupiter, 4th mvt.
Lineas de movimiento

Comparte tu obra de arte y platícanos como te hace sentir. ¿A que te recuerda? ¿Te recuerda a la música que estabas escuchando? ¿Crees que tu obra de arte expresa movimiento, como las pinturas de Pollock y Van Gogh? ¿Que nombre le pondrías a tu obra de arte?

Referencias:

Art Making with MoMA

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Ms. Clark website

Matisse, Math & Contemporary Art.

Henry Matisse, The Snail. 1953

When you go to school in a different country and speak a different language, math and art become the universal language for you. I have seen that picture or painting before! I know how to solve that equation. Years later, one of the things that I love to do is to examine art through the “math lens.” Artists have been studying and using math to create their sculptures, drawings, and science to create colors or select the best materials to make works of art. What is your favorite work of art? Do you know the story behind that particular work of art?

One of my favorite works of art is “The Snail,” I actually saw it in person at the Tate Modern in London, UK. Henry Matisse created “The Snail” in 1953, while he was ill in bed. Because painting required more movement, he started to use paper cut-outs from his studio to create his artwork. He chose the colors and cut the shapes with scissors, then pasted the pieces into a canvas to create the painting. A couple of months ago, the students from Posada Esperanza and my family created a painting by arranging and pasting shades of green cardstock into a canvas. COVID-19 has giving us the opportunity to be resourceful with the materials we have at home to create contemporary art, while also learning school subjects. Now, it is time to create our own paper paintings.

Paper Painting 1: 1/4 +1/4 +1/4 +1/4 +1/4= 5/4

Paper Painting 2: 1+1/4 +1/4 +1/4 +1/4 = 2

Matisse, Math & Contemporary Art.

White canvas, piece of copy paper, or cardstock for the background. 

Several pieces of green (or any color that you have at home) cardstock cut in squares- sizes vary.

Glue

Scissors

Drawing with Scissors book.

Do you know a way to paint without using “actual paint”? Using food coloring and frosting to paint a cake? Chalk to paint the sidewalk? Lipstick to paint your lips? Do you know that some artists use paper to paint? Henry Matisse was one of them, he mostly painted with paper by the end of his life.  Let’s learn a little more about his life and artwork in this book: Drawing with Scissors.

Do you recall any important details about Matisse’s life? What was the painting that you liked the most? Why? Do you think “The Snail” by Matisse would look the same with painting instead of paper?  If not, why?

Now let’s take a closer look at “The Snail” Why do you think he called it the snail? What do you see in the painting? What shapes do you see? Do you see any 2-dimensional shapes?  If so, which ones? A trapezoid, a rectangle, a square. Let’s take a look at the painting with gold numbers. Do you see the big square- the biggest of them all? That is one whole, then the second row are halves, then quarters. How many quarters there are in a whole? How many quarters in one half? Let’s take a look at the two paintings above and do the math.

1. Paper Painting: 1/4 +1/4 +1/4 +1/4 +1/4= 5/4

2. Paper Painting: 1+1/4 +1/4 +1/4 +1/4 = 2

Lastly, I am going to give you a bag with different shapes that you are going to select and rearrange as you want to create your painting. Take some time to think about how you will arrange the pieces on the canvas.

What do you see? Do you recognize any shapes or forms in your paper painting? What other shapes would you use to create a painting? What colors would you choose? How many quarters do you have in your painting? Let’s do the math.

Extensions:

Create another colorful artwork inspired by Matisse’s cut-outs: Blue and Other Colors: with Henri Matisse.

Visit MOMA website to learn more about Henry Matisse.

References: Henry Matisse- The Cut Outs

STEAM & Literacy: LEGOS, Math and The Color Wheel.

“Education is constantly evolving. In order to better serve the new culturally diverse student population, we must create accessible educational materials that engage all learners.”

Mariel Robles

Figure 1. Sort LEGOS by color.

Figure 2. Gather all materials.

Figure 3. Number of LEGOS by Color

Figure 4. Number of LEGOS/Toys by shape

Education is constantly evolving. In order to better serve the new culturally diverse student population, we must create accessible educational materials that engage all learners. Having the opportunity to do family volunteer work with Posada Esperanza, a local non-profit that offers shelter to immigrant women and children from different countries, allows me to learn about how children from other cultures learn. We visit the students and their mothers once a month and create a contemporary work of art to take home or eat it.

My experience as a mom, classroom and museum educator, allows me to create multidisciplinary lessons and projects that are art-based, but that also teach school subjects. COVID-19 has given me the opportunity to work exclusively with Carlos and Mateo at home. I “artify” the lessons that teachers send for us to work during the week, and we end-up with contemporary artwork. Including a literacy component in the lessons is essential, a book or story that opens up an idea, teaches a concept or provides a background to the lesson or project is a great way to start.

This project combines skills for kinder and second grade, you may substitute the LEGOS with magazine pictures, craft items, food etc.

LEGOS, Math and the Color Wheel.

Materials:

LEGOS (colors of the color wheel), magazine pictures, found objects, food, etc.)

Paper

Pencil

Markers

Ruler

Mix it Up! or Listen to the book here

Vocabulary: Primary, Secondary Colors, Bar graph, Real Object Graph, Color Wheel.

Mix-it up! opens up the conversation about color; What are the primary and secondary colors? Which colors do you need to mix in order to make purple, green, and orange? Now, let’s find primary and secondary colors in our giant box of LEGOS. After sorting our LEGOS by color, Mateo got a handful of each one of the colors shown in the LEGO color wheel. This also gave us a variety of 3D-solids; cubes, spheres, rectangular prisms, etc. Mateo also noticed that we found different shades of green, blue, pink and yellow. The first graph we made shows the number of the different shades of the colors we had in our LEGO color wheel. The second graph shows the number of solids that we found in our LEGO and craft boxes. After analyzing the results of both graphs, we noticed that there were more yellow, green and blue LEGOS than the other colors. We also noticed that the most common LEGO shape is the cube.

Extensions:

Paint a Color Wheel

Do a little bit of math & science by mixing food coloring and cream cheese to create your favorite color and eat it on a toast.

Take a tour at Ellsworth Kelly’s Color Wheel at the Blanton Museum.

References: Color Wheel

La educación se encuentra en evolución constante. Para poder enseñar a esta nueva y culturalmente diversa generación de estudiantes, necesitamos crear materiales educativos que sean accesibles para todos. El tener la oportunidad de hacer trabajo voluntario en Posada Esperanza, una organización sin fines de lucro que ofrece techo y comida a mujeres e hijos que han emigrado de diferentes partes del mundo, me ha dado la oportunidad de observar como los niños y adolescentes de otros países y culturas aprenden. Mi familia y yo visitamos a los estudiantes y a sus mamás una vez al mes y creamos obras de arte que se pueden llevar a la casa o comérselas ahí mismo. 

Mi experiencia como mamá, profesora y educadora de museos, me ayuda a crear lecciones multidisciplinarias y proyectos que son basados en educación al arte. Estas lecciones también incluyen conceptos de matemáticas y ciencia que aprenden en la escuela. La epidemia de el Coronavirus 2020, me ha dado la oportunidad de trabajar exclusivamente en casa con Carlos y Mateo. Enriqueciendo las lecciones con arte, aprendiendo y terminando con una obra de arte contemporáneo. Es importarte mencionar que los componentes literarios son esenciales en nuestros proyectos. Una buena manera de empezar es leyendo un libro o una historia que proponga una idea o enseñe un concepto.

El siguiente proyecto/lección combina destrezas de kínder y segundo grado. Si no tienes LEGOS, puedes substituirlos con comida, recortes de revistas, etc. 

LEGOS, Matemáticas y el Círculo Cromático. 

Materiales: 

LEGOS (de los colores del círculo cromático), recortes de revistas, objetos caseros, comida etc. 

Papel

Lápiz

Marcadores

Regla

Libro o video de ¡Mézclalo bien!

Vocabulario: Colores primarios y secundarios, Gráfica de barras, Gráfica de objetos, Círculo Cromático. 

El libro de Mézclalo bien, propone una conversación acerca del color; ¿Cuáles son colores primarios y secundarios? ¿Que colores necesitas mezclar para obtener morado, verde, y naranja? Ahora, vamos a encontrar los colores primarios y secundarios en nuestra caja de LEGOS. Mateo saco un puño de cada uno de los colores del círculo cromático y los coloco en la mesa. Aparte de los diferentes colores, también encontramos una gran variedad de figuras tridimensionales, cubos, esferas, prismas rectangulares, etc. Mientras contábamos los LEGOS, Mateo se dio cuenta de que encontramos diferentes tonos de verde, azul, rosa y amarillo. La primera gráfica que hicimos muestra los diferentes tonos de cada color. Después de analizar los resultados de las gráficas, nos dimos cuenta de que había mas LEGOS amarillos, verdes y azules que de otros colores. También nos dimos cuenta de que la forma mas común de los bloques de LEGO es el cubo.  

Extensiones:

Pinta un Círculo Cromático

Experimenta mezclando colores y queso crema para pintar un pan tostado y comértelo. 

Haz una visita virtual al Círculo Cromático de Ellsworth Kelly’s Color Wheel at the Blanton Museum

ReferenciasColor Wheel o Círculo Cromático.

Museum Education for Culturally Diverse Communities


Tate Modern – London, UK. 2018

“While acquiring and collecting fine art is still a privilege for most of us, museums are becoming a channel that connects the art and the artist with the culturally diverse community. “

Mariel Robles

Matisse, Tate Modern – London, UK. 2018

Superflex, Tate Modern – London, UK. 2018

mus

Tate Modern – London, UK. 2018

While acquiring and collecting fine art is still a privilege for most of us, museums are becoming a channel that connects the art and the artist with the culturally diverse community. I feel privileged that my dad fostered a love for the arts since I was a little girl. Unfortunately, that is not attainable for every child, especially those from underprivileged communities, where the lack of educational and monetary resources
make life more challenging. All students have the right to a well-rounded education that includes exposure to world-class museums and artwork that can make a difference in their lives. Yet, some students do not have access to high-quality educational resources and facilities. From my experience teaching in the classroom and the galleries, I see paramount potential in museums to provide students with a unique experience that will foster a love for the arts, enrich their classroom learning and increase their cultural awareness.

How do we make art accessible for all? According to a publication about culturally diverse families and museum engagement, “parents found the content in art museums inaccessible and difficult to understand.” In other words, they were intimidated by the content presented at the museums and preferred attending more familiar places like the zoo or a park. Educating over one thousand culturally diverse students and teachers has allowed me to create meaningful programs that engage diverse learners in art museums. These programs will also enhance their design and critical thinking skills. These students, in turn, will serve as the driving force to educate families about art and museums.

How do we help families feel welcomed and valued at an art museum? First, we have to connect with the audience we want to reach by learning more about their culture. Speaking and including their language in wall texts and museum guides will make visitors feel appreciated. My experience as an immigrant, Bilingual Museum Educator and STEAM Programs Coordinator, has allowed me build close relationships with diverse members of the Austin community. I bring this knowledge together to design multidisciplinary, culturally-relevant lessons that are engaging and accessible for students, with the ultimate goal of helping them develop a love for the arts and museum learning.

References:

Cecilia Garibay. ‘Responsive and Accessible: How Museums are using research to Better Engage Diverse Cultural Communities.’ ASTC Dimensions. January-February 2011, p 4-6.