Notes and Letter to Innovations

Hey All - Here are the notes I took during today's class (March, 29) and the letter I wrote for MF when we visit her at Innovations.

NOTES:

INNOVATIONS

20-30 students total / 3-5 students per 2 of us
same students 2 wks in a row?
meetings at Innovations - anyone want to set up dates/times for these?
art making with students (photo, painting, digital, etc.)
what areas are the students interested in?

day one: [12:30-3:30]

12:30-2 > museum visit
     12:30 intro and split into small groups
     2:00 meet at visitor center and walk to classroom
2:15-3 > sketching and writing time
3-3:30 > discussion in small groups

day two: [12:30-3:30]

12:30-1:30 > break into groups (same groups if the students are returning)
**facilitators take groups to artwork in AIC - what inspires you and what kind of art do you create?
1:45-3 > break into groups according to art making interests and create
3-3:30 > share and discuss artwork/experiences

MEETING WITH MF: [things to think about]

- this group of students would be compromised of 20-30 students in total breaking into smaller groups that would be compromised of 3-5 students per 2 MAAE/MFA students

- we would like to have the same group of students two weeks in a row so that we are able to have cohesive and progressive learning experiences with innovations students

- commitment to youth and to their education, why would we choose Innovations?

- resources, AIC and educators/artists who are qualified, spaces, art supplies, skills

- contribute something of themselves to the artwork in AIC, how do various resources inspire your own creativity?

- art activities that would delve deeper into exploration of materials and other artists' work

- having a dialogue with MAAE/MFA students would allow students an environment that would not be teaching to the students but an group exploration of AIC artwork, what we are all interested in (in regards to media and representation), and how we can use those experiences to create individual artworks

- censorship? what are the school's rules and how can we adapt those rules to our ideas of censorship

LETTER TO MF & INNOVATIONS: 

Please print if you plan on attending the meeting/visit to Innovations to be sure that we have one to give to MF. (for some reason I can't add a file on here so I had to copy and paste)

Dear Ms. Flemming,

    The School of the Art Institute’s Museum as Critical Curriculum class is writing to you to express our interest in working with the students at Innovations High School. Our class is compromised of Masters degree candidates in both the Art Education program and the Fine Arts program. Although we all have experience in different educational environments and art media, we all share the passion of reaching students in a profound way.
    Our interest in Innovations reaches beyond our instructor’s connections. We have examined the school’s website and find that the students are genuinely interested in learning and reaching past what is expected of them in order to experience subject matter on a deeper level. We are also extremely excited to see that Innovations takes a holistic approach to learning by incorporating the arts into general education courses. We believe that this is an important and rewarding learning experience for students of all ages and grade levels.
    By participating in this two week event students will, not only be able to experience The Art Institute of Chicago but, have a dialogue with MAAE and MFA students. This would allow your students to be part of a learning experience that would focus on group exploration of artwork and art media, inspiration, and art making activities. Rather than teaching to the students we would like to be involved conversations and learning experiences with the students so that we may learn from each other.
    The primary goal of our working with Innovations students would be to expose these students to a wide variety of artwork within The Art Institute of Chicago, discuss how one can be inspired by outside resources, and create individual or group artworks based on what students have experienced in the museum. Each event will end in a discussion within small groups so that students are able to, not only take away a finished piece of their own artwork, but be proud of what they have made and share a piece of their life experiences with their peers and educators.
    We hope that Innovations will move forward with us in this exciting project so that we may all share a significant learning experience within the arts. Our class looks forward to discussing ways in which we can create an innovative event and build a lasting relationship with Innovations High School.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best Regards,

Museum as Critical Curriculum Class
Spring 2012

documentation of last weeks program

Last week's writing workshop went really well, and gave us some great insight into the future of our program.
The program started off with introductions in the modern wing followed by entrance into the museum. this wasn't incredibly smooth because we had to get them in with our IDs, and that was a bit difficult. Maybe we can think of ways to streamline this process by approaching the museum first or getting the students passes somehow. We can discuss this in class. It seems to be a bad first impression, and we want them to feel comfortable there.
We walked around the museum galleries and took notes and discussed the art with some students. In my experience this was a great part of the program, and something to consider for our program. the conversations were really amazing, and including dialogue in our gallery teaching could be really great.
After the gallery we met in a space to hold the writing workshop. it started with notes and thoughts followed by poetry writing and finally reading. There was a bit of a problem with the space and security, again bad impression on the museums part.
All in all it was a great experience for us and it seemed to be great for the writers as well.
one idea is creating art from the poetry, which could be amazing
art forms that they found interesting: painting and sculpture
if anyone else got any suggestions from the teens please post them here! Also if there were any particular art works that seemed to stick out that would be great as well. And if anyone has pictures since consent forms were taken care of that would be amazing as well!

thanks!

Heather D'Andrea

This is the first draft of a proposal that the Pedagogy Working group would like to take to the LTAB workshop next week. 
You can view it by clicking here. LTAB Proposal

Proposal for funds

The Administrative Working Group put together this document that can be taken to the Art Ed Dept. to request funding for our project.  We are waiting on John & Drea's feedback before passing it up the food chain.
You can see our proposal here:  Proposal

Documentation Group (Week 1)

Things have just gotten started this week, so we're still in the planning stages for our whole group project. Thus far, the Documentation Group has put together an outline for our plans to document our project development and the art making workshop. The workshop we planned will involve MFA students at SAIC and high school age students. Below I've included our outline, which is divided into two areas: ongoing documentation and project documentation.

I. Ongoing Documentation

A. Group Blog

1. We will use the Blogger site to allow each group member to post new information about the development of the project.

2. The documentation blog will include:

a) logistical updates about dates, times, & locations

b) personal input about the process & what directions the project takes through the course of development

c) names, portraits, & digital images of artwork for the participating MFA students (this may require a consent form for use of student’s pictures & artwork)

d) background information about the public schools attended by the students

e) the art making project students will be taking part in--medium, materials, process, & inspiration from artwork in the AIC collection

3. Perhaps students would be allowed to blog about the days’ events or comment on the posts following the workshop

            B. Group Website

                     1. We will use the Digication site.

2. The website will include:

a) student profiles

b) student artwork
c) documentation of the day

d) links to the blog & videos

3. It could function as an online exhibition space

II. Project Documentation

A.   Digital images will be used for the blog, website & video presentation.

1. All group members can contribute to this form of documentation.

           2. The images will include:

a) MFA student artwork (with consent forms)

b) AIC artwork for student project inspiration

c) student's visit to the MFA studios

d) completed student work from the art making project

B. Digital video will capture the day of the project workshop & will include digital images & informative text.

1. Video will be edited in iMovie & linked to the website

2. It will speak to multiple audiences--teens, grad school students, administration/board members.

                      3. The video will capture:

a) MFA students & public school students interaction

b) the art instruction process

                                    c) student art making process for the project workshop

posted by Nick Franco