Portrait

We had to do a portrait of one of our class mates.

First of all, we had to do it without watching the paper, only the person. In my case, I was portraiting Eugènia Delgado.

 

  

And in this one I did look the paper while I was looking at Eugènia. An aspect I want to highlight is that the teacher said that by looking at the person and doing this we were working our observating skills and our concentration, which is something the schools always look for! Why do we not do more art classes, then? That is a good question, isn't it? Maybe we would be too curious and creative? We should really start thinking why schools only focus in maths and languages and not in the different communicative ways that exist. Isn't painting a way of expressing ourselves as valued as writing? Why not?

                                 

                   

To compare these two results is really funny as you really see the difference between drawing and observing the paper and drawing and only observing the person.

Hybrid

Hi, artists!

Today I am going to explain you a concept called a "hybrid". I will also give you tips about the process you can follow to create one of your own.

We started the course by creating our own hybrid (to make something new by taking two objects that exist). In order to do so, there was a process that was followed.

1. First of all, we wrote down 15 concepts:

And then we had to choose two. It was told to us that it was better for them to be different (one organic and the other inorganic, for example). That is why I chose a "duck" and "skates".

2. I started doing sketches of my idea in order to know how I was going to draw it and paint it.

I decided to name it "Duller" as it is a combination between "duck" and "roller skate" and because it is similar to "ruler" (leader). 

I started skating later than other people did but I gave my best and I improved a lot in little time. I do believe people can follow their dreams no matter what people say. You must be the ruler of your own destiny. 

The duck for me, as a bird, also symbolizes the freedom. In this case, freedom of choice. And that is why I chose these two objects and this name. Duller is similar to "dollar" and I thought it could be a critique as, for example, skating is a very expensive sport, which does not allow everybody to enter. It is a critique about how does money block the freedom of choice of some people.

3. Finally, I draw my hybrid and I painted it (what I focused on was on the shadows in order to give volume to the painting).

I think I learnt better how to put volume and to express myself (something that for somebody could seem only as a weird combination, for me means much more), but in the end, the hybrid means not being able to identify any of the elements you have used to create it and maybe I have not got quite well that because the duck is quite identifiable. But we learn from mistakes, don't we?

Arte infantil y transformación social_Heike Freire

Hi, artists!

The article "Arte infantil y transformación social" really made an impact in me. I went to Heike Freire's conference, but in this article instead of talking about green pedagogy, she was talking about how art can help create democratic citizens.

In this text, the beginning is really impressive and, at the same time, represents very well what does the text talk about. Authoritarianism and fascism are a result of the fact that the educational system suppresses the creativity we all have and need in our lives (Victor Lowenfeld and Herbert Read).

We draw in order to understand the world but since Illustration, art has stopped being considered important and that is a mistake as art can help us respect different people and different thoughts. Arno Stern mentioned a concept called "drawing game" as all children enjoy drawing. But games are not really considered important neither, even though Piaget and Vygotski said how important it was for kids to play as it has a lot of benefits for them. They even distinguished four categories of games:

1. Movement games (helps to the psycho-motor skills and to the development of the notion of space).

2. Manipulation of objects (helps to structure and coordinate areas of the brain --> mathematics

3. Symbolic games (social and effective relationships...).

4. Games of rules (social bond).

So, after seeing the categories, we can really see that games are important for our development. Art is also important. But, somehow, we keep telling to our schools that it is not like this. Why do we put more importance to mathematics and languages than to art and games? Do not all of them help us develop as people?

Art can be therapeutic, as it was for me in the mud session (explained in BLOCK 2), and we should use that. Would we not be able to have a better emotional intelligence if we could control our feelings of anger doing a figure of mud?

As Diderot said: "I would like to know where is the school in which you learn how to feel".

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