CREATING - Facilitating Engagement with the Art Making Process

I enjoy the practical aspect of the Better Practices text. There are so many great ideas presented, but a few that stuck out to me were:

-sketchbooks as a thinking place to collect, develop, and organize ideas. I added the emphasis on place, because I think it is an important use of the noun. Sketchbooks become a metaphoric place where our minds can retreat or explore possibilities. The Tennessee Art Education Association Fall 2014 conference featured Laurie Gatlin who shared her sketchbooks as research with us. She used the sketchbooks she and her students made as data for her dissertation.

https://naea.digication.com/lgatlin/Sketchbook_pages/edit I took a hands-on workshop with her too in which she demonstrated book-binding techniques and went further into detail about how she facilitates discussion, encourages play through materials, objects, and ideas, and boosts students' self-esteem by using sketchbooks as a safe "place" for exploration.

Structuring for Creative Thinking. This was a poignant section about the delicate balance of conditions required to facilitate creative thinking. It was interesting to see reflection called out as an important part of the process. I'm finding that as I reflect for one of my other courses, I am having the re-energizing creativity that I haven't had the joy of experiencing for a while.

The phrase "elegant problems" to describe artmaking pedagogy, is a new one to me, but I love it! I've heard of and used enduring ideas/big ideas - in fact, I included a whole section on them in my latest writing (warning shameless self-promotional plug ahead!) "Museum Education: Mission Driven Meaning-Making" in Museums as Critical Community Assets – A How to Guide Edited by Robert Connolly and Elizabeth Bollwerk to be published via Rowman & Littlefield this year! Back to elegant problems - well written section. Short and sweet.

"Fiat Lux: Creativity through Play" complimented the Best Practices readings nicely. I enjoyed the structure of this article. It was very clear and the pairing of contemporary artist's play with classroom practice was brilliant. Her Object Play with Richard Serra example was the strongest of the three artist-classroom comparisons. The author inspired me to want to play with materials; I can't wait to see what we will do in class!

"Metaphors, Puns, and Chance Combinations" introduced me to the SCAMPER method of inquiry. I can see this process as encouraging a plethora of lines of flight and intend to return to it for ideas for future art-making assignments.

"Creating" is one of the standards that I think is self-explanatory - easy, even for art teachers to incorporate. Yet, I am working on a project for the museum and have been at a loss for words when drafting parent messages about creativity or making take-away activities. The readings for this week have given me words and tools (particularly the Best Practices text) to write about the importance of creativity in family-friendly language.