Monday, 24 September 2012
Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Free stop motion animation software
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Stop motion animation
Stop motion animation
Looking for ideas, templates etc.. to use with students
I found this simple stop motion animation with cut paper and collage.
Looking for ideas, templates etc.. to use with students
I found this simple stop motion animation with cut paper and collage.
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Wind art project
Wind project
This collaborative project was conducted over six weeks utilising inside and outside of the classroom with second year students.
This collaborative project was conducted over six weeks utilising inside and outside of the classroom with second year students.
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Saturday, 19 May 2012
End of Year Show Student/ Teacher Exhibition 2012
The exhibition show cased the work of the students that had been taught by the student/teachers in various schools around the country. The exhibition covered the schemes we had delivered: Graphics, painting, textiles, ceramics, observational drawing, life drawing, bricolage as well as ceramics and fabric printing.
choosing work to to be exhibited in the exhibition, just like any other exhibition it was fraught with anxiety, stress and excitement.
Decisions, decisions, decisions and more decisions...................................................................................
And finally it was up and a great night was had by all
Samples of bricolage, life drawing and print, just some of the work that was in the exhibition.
Website about Experiments in Form 1940 to 1970
Another excellent interactive web site which covers artists work in bite size chunks suitable for lesson planing and art appreciation.
Monday, 7 May 2012
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Development Education
http://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue7-focus1
“Development education is an educational process aimed at
increasing awareness and understanding of the rapidly changing, interdependent
and unequal world in which we live. It seeks to engage people in analysis,
reflection and action for local and global citizenship and
participation. It is about supporting people in understanding, and in
acting to transform the social, cultural, political and economic structures
which affect their lives and others at personal, community, national and
international levels” (http://www.ideaonline.ie).
Process, analysis, reflection, action, understanding and
transformation – all these key words emphasise the dynamic nature of this
educational approach. As such, DE contains a number of elements summarised
by Roland Tormey in his introduction to Teaching Social Justice:
“It [DE] is education as personal
development, facilitating the development of critical thinking skills,
analytical skills, emphatic capacity and the ability to be an effective person
who can take action to achieve desired development outcomes. It is
education for local, national and global development, encouraging
learners in developing a sense that they can play a role in working for (or against)
social justice and development issues. It is education about development,
focused on social justice, human rights, poverty, and inequality and on
development issues locally, nationally, and internationally” (Tormey, 2003:2).
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Digital Media with Michael Fortune
Michael Fortune
Background
Background
Born in rural Co. Wexford, Ireland, in 1975,
Fortune’s artistic practice spans the formats of writing, video and photography.
Working predominantly in video and photography, his work explores the
circumstantial boundaries between art and culture, folklore and interpretation
and fact and fiction.
Fortunes’ practice revolves around the collection of
material. He does not script or storyboard, instead he generates material out of
the relationships and experiences he develops with the people and circumstances
he encounters. Fortune combines the stand-alone idiosyncrasies of people and
incidents in everyday life, with complex and visually careful and contemplative
treatments that adeptly handle the aesthetics of repetition, humour, obscurity,
strangeness and intimacy.
In much of his video work the camera remains static,
where editing is only ever employed out of necessity rather than luxury. Although referring to the form of the documentary, all evidence of
the documentary or narrator is removed. The intimate nature of the relationships
with the people and circumstances he encounters, and the subsequent reflective
treatment of the material at hand is a key feature of his work.
Much of Fortune’s work borrows heavily from accepted
contemporary methodologies of recording, documenting and presenting
information. As a result, he utilises the mediums of home videos, snap
photography and the printed media within his work.
Example of his work
The Kitchen Sessions
http://www.thekitchensessions.ie/Welcome_files/The%20Kitchen%20Sessions%20Book.pdf
Images from the Whitethorn Three Part Video Work 2009
The work I did with Michael was invaluable, he provided support for my ideas, which were numerous! plus technical knowledge and know how. I gained a confidence in using digital media, exploring ideas through to being confident to deliver a digital media scheme in school.
He took us through stop motion animation which I am a great fan of, as it only requires a camera and a little imagination.
First session with Micahel we were placed in groups and asked to make a stop motion animation using props that were in the classroom, below is our version of The Life of Robby the robot by David, Joanna, Jean and my self..
"The High Court has ordered that a 65-year-old woman be sent to prison over her refusal to allow the ESB and Eirgrid access to her land to complete a power line." Irish Times
Images from the Whitethorn Three Part Video Work 2009
The work I did with Michael was invaluable, he provided support for my ideas, which were numerous! plus technical knowledge and know how. I gained a confidence in using digital media, exploring ideas through to being confident to deliver a digital media scheme in school.
He took us through stop motion animation which I am a great fan of, as it only requires a camera and a little imagination.
First session with Micahel we were placed in groups and asked to make a stop motion animation using props that were in the classroom, below is our version of The Life of Robby the robot by David, Joanna, Jean and my self..
Students at work with Michael Fortune
I was asked to produce a piece a work using a photo essay as the format, this was difficult because it required a project based on photographs but about a subject that was thousands of miles away "Burning Issues". I toyed with numerous ideas, and brain stormed to find the idea that best fitted the brief and my personal life, work and interests.I am very practical so when I read about Grandmothers in Uganda sorting out a problem for them selves I was interested in finding out more, I did some research on the charity involved in helping the women get the programme of the ground, I researched the women them selves as well as a wider search into the history of fuel less cookers (or hay boxes).
I found out that they have been used for hundreds of years possibly even thousands of years to help cook food with out the use of fire wood. It is a great way of conserving energy, time and valuable resources.
This made me think about how I could use the same method of cooking my food at home in East Clare and help reduce the amount of fuel I use. I also thought how interesting that people who live in impoverished conditions are aware of the dwindling resources that there are and to be able to do something about it that supports their way of life, makes life easier for them and benefits the local and global environment.
I then compared this " do it for your self" mind set with the women who had been put in prison over Christmas because she didn't want to let ESB cut down her trees on her own land so they could put in large pillion's to carry electricity.
"The High Court has ordered that a 65-year-old woman be sent to prison over her refusal to allow the ESB and Eirgrid access to her land to complete a power line." Irish Times
(This would make a great topic for discussion in CSPE, it has social justice issues as well as national and global implications i.e. deforestation in Africa as well as mono tree production in Ireland links)
I went on to research my fuel less cooker see photo essay below, it tells it's own story:
Monday, 2 April 2012
Observational drawing for painting
Drawing / Painting Project
How to introduce a painting scheme into the curriculum?
Research/ Investigating
First, I went on a reconnaissance mission both around the school and the local area. I found some fantastic little cottage around the corner from the school and visualised each student drawing and painting a cottage each. It is a great location only 5 minutes from school and there is a wall opposite the cottages for the students to sit on while they are drawing. It would be safe, comfortable, and convenient.
If you move your cursor over the photo you can view all the pictures of the cottages (22 pictures in total) at St Flannan's Lane.
I talked to one owner while I was photographing the cottages and ask her if it would be OK if I brought students from St. Flannan’s school to draw her house and I also asked her opinion about the possibility of the students drawing all the cottages, she thought it would be a great idea.
In case it was not going to be possible to take the students outside of the school grounds, I walked around the school taking photographs from different angles and viewpoints. I liked the way this stark building is intercepted by trees and I started to think about combining the built and natural environment in a painting. Often in paintings, the focus is on the landscape or the built environment, in Van Gogh’s paintings the buildings sit in the landscape comfortably in proportion whereas the school building dwarfs the trees, over powering them. The clock tower rises up in the centre of the building and the angles of the roof and walls create interesting shapes. Although I can draw some comparisons with Van Gogh’s work especially in the painting, “The old church at Nuenen or the church at Auvers” but the drawings of George Shaw or David Bomberg try to marry the natural and built environment creating a dichotomy or struggle between the two. I wanted the students to struggle and wrestle with these complex shapes, materials, and colours just as the trees struggle to be as domineering and dominant as the building is.
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| View of St. Flannan's Secondary School |
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| More views of St. Flannan's school |
After a discussion with the Art Teacher it was felt that it would be simpler to draw and paint the school building as this would not require parent permission slips and extra teacher support for health and safety reasons.
Research - Art Appreciation
I looked at the work of Vincent Van Gogh also George Shaw and David Bomberg.
Creating/ Exploring
Van Gogh
“To express the love of two lovers through a marriage of two complementary colours, their mingling, and their opposition, the mysterious vibrations of kindred tones. To express the thought of a brow by the radiance of a light tone against a dark background. To express hope by a handful of stars” Vincent Van Gogh 1888
Van Gogh is an expressionist painter; his paintings are emotive and show vigour and intensity. His brush strokes were different from the predominant style of the period. His brush strokes were often elongated but not exaggerated. His paintings have an eerie but vibrant atmosphere, bold shapes, space, and composition. It is his urgency and dynamism that I want to convey to the students through the work of Vincent Van Gogh.
George Shaw
George Shaw (born 1966 in Coventry) is an Ilfracombe-based contemporary artist who is noted for his highly detailed naturalistic approach and English suburban subject matter
George Shaw has focused most of his work on the ordinary and mundane discovering a language to express his sentimentality and origins. I am interested in the way he treats these semi urban environments on the edge of Coventry city. He conveys beauty and treats the subject matter with sympathy. These drawings are void of human beings and therefore allows us to imagine an empty, forgotten place. Although they are realistic drawings, they are still able to express to the viewer a sense of personal turmoil, a longing to be in another time and place. The interplay between the natural and built environment has been treated sensitivity, and with painstaking attention to detail in the wall and railings, uneven concrete path, leaves and branches, shadows on the walls and path blurring the lines between the constructed and natural environment. I want to show the students his work because it is dealing with the ordinary, everyday views that we all see and ignore, to encourage the students to look again at their school with fresh eyes and to record light and shade, atmosphere, ambience and contrast.
David Bomberg
David Bomberg figurative
style of drawing portrays emotion, a sense of urgency, scale, space and
contrast.
I did several sketches from different viewpoints always combining the built and natural environment.
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| Initial drawing |
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| Starting to add colour using water colour |
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| Details of painting above |
I found a viewpoint from the side of the building that suited my purpose and began to study, draw and paint it from this angle. I used a variety of materials with the aim of exploiting the built and natural environment.
The scheme is going well I have some wonderful drawings the first years have been doing. It is a difficult building with lots of right angles, windows and perspective to consider. See below students work in progress. I encouraged them to be experimental, to use a variety of materials and to capture the variety between the built and the natural environment.
School Students work
School Students work
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| Lesson 1 & 2 biro and chalk pastels |
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| Lesson 3 wax crayon and coloured inks |
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| week 3 lesson 5 & 6 Pencil |
Finished student paintings - note, initially I was worried about the painting scheme
1. My personal painting practice is weak (to coin a phrase used to describe students work by art teachers although it's not a phrase I like)
2. The practical ramifications of taking students out of doors and managing the materials
But on both accounts I needn't have worried, the students loved going out to draw and I enjoyed the process of research drawings and the final painting, although I am no painter!
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| Final paintings by Year 1 students at St Flannan's College, Ennis |
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Alternative Secondary Education in Ireland Open Day
If you have the time and the opportunity to take a visit to
East Clare and see the work of the Alfa Project age range is from 15 - 17 years
and well worth taking a look to see what they have been up to in the Arts
Monday, 19 March 2012
Art History and Appreciation Scheme
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/116691175/Art History & Appreciation of Art"> Art History & Appreciation of Art</a> - </font>
Digital Media Scheme
Digiatl Media Scheme
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/116685552/Digital Media"> Digital Media</a> - </font>
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/116685552/Digital Media"> Digital Media</a> - </font>
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Project Based Learning a real inspiration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfP53Alnbhk
I came across this video when I was researching Interdisciplinary Project Based Learning on the internet and hope you will be inspired with the intergrity, simplicity and understanding of what a teaching and learning environment is all about.
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Stop Motion Animation - Burning Issues
Stop Motion Animation
Photo Essay
Photographic Essay with the aim to produce a magazine
article
Research
I spent time researching the situation in Uganda
Fuel less cookers
PETO - Education Fund for Aids Orphans -is a child-focused initiative that was founded in 2003 by Justine Ojambo, Robert Wanyama and Richard Bwire, three brothers who were AIDS orphans themselves. After the death of their parents, these three youths were mentored and assisted by Dutch Mill Hill Missionary Rev. Fr. Wynand Huys, who financed their education up to the university level.
Having benefited personally from expanded educational opportunities, the founders of PEFO were troubled by the difficulty that many orphans and vulnerable children in their community faced in accessing formal education, as well as their bleak living conditions. The founders believe that the most viable way to liberate the vulnerable children of Africa is to invest directly in their formal education, which will widen their horizons and opportunities in life.
Irish Traveller way of life
Digital Media Brief:
After I studied the definition of photo essay, and choose
my subject “fuel less cookers” I thought how best to a create a photo essay.
Between 2000 and 2010 Ugandans had cut down 1, 763,000 hectares totalling
37.1% of their total forests web site: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/
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| Picture of deforestation in Uganda |
Charity involved in supporting
this initiative
PETO - Education Fund for Aids Orphans -
Having benefited personally from expanded educational opportunities, the founders of PEFO were troubled by the difficulty that many orphans and vulnerable children in their community faced in accessing formal education, as well as their bleak living conditions. The founders believe that the most viable way to liberate the vulnerable children of Africa is to invest directly in their formal education, which will widen their horizons and opportunities in life.
Fire – the importance of fire in human civilisation, rights
of passage, magic of fire
THINK BOARD – Variation on the mood board theme, but more
appropriate for placing your ideas on to help you to think about what it is you
want to say WHAT’S THE MESSAGE , Clarifying and generating ideas, especially if
you are like me and have lots of ideas but selecting the ones or the one you want to pursue seems
impossible!
Think board
During my research, I discovered that fuel less cookers have
been used for centuries and are still being used in some parts of the Western
world as well as the Global South . I found recipes, instructions, and whole
web sites devoted to them. So, because I could not photograph the women in
Africa making one or get my family to dress up and be on camera! my best
solution was to make one myself. I used this for two projects
1)
Video essay – speedup film of making a fuel less
cooker, “tongue in cheek” film to
high light the simplicity of making a cooker using today’s materials.
2)
Comic strip photo essay about the idea, concept
andproduct. The idea was to create a comic strip of me making the fuel less cooker
and to place the images on to the box I had made the cooker with. This box then
acts as a functioning product and photo essay in one, it can also be used as a teaching tool. The comic
strip is the magazine article.
Development Education Definition
Development Education
– Definition from Irish Aid "An educational process aimed at
increasing awareness and understanding of the rapidly changing, interdependent
and unequal world in which we live. It seeks to engage people in analysis,
reflection and action for local and global citizenship and participation. It is
about supporting people in understanding, and in acting to transform the
social, cultural, political and economic structures which affect their lives
and other at personal, community, national and international levels"
Irish Aid's definition clarifies that it is both about
understanding our unequal world and about engaging and acting to transform the
world.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Film in the curriculum with Basil Al-Rawi
Basil Al-Rawi studied at the National Film School in Dun Laoghaire in cinematography and is currently studying for a Masters in photographic studies at the University of Westminster, London.
http://www.basilalrawi.com/
Documentary entitled Tom Mathew – waiting for goldfish, is a well-crafted example of documentary making.
We discussed using a film poster as a starting point for animation, set design, and making a zoetrope.
Film studies as part of the Leaving Certificate Art Appreciation exam
Leaving cert example question 2011
Section 111 – Appreciation of Art
Q16. The success of Pixar Animation Studios is firmly fixed on the understanding that the
animated world should be based on the real world. Discuss this statement with
reference to any one of Pixar’s productions, such as Toy Story 1, 2 and 3, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Wall-E and Up.
And Discuss briefly two film-making techniques that make these films so visually attractive.
Illustrate your answer.
Leaving cert example question 2009
Section 111 – Appreciation of Art
Q18 Recent animated films from the studios of Pixar and Dreamworks, such as Shrek, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille and Wall-E, have proved to be very popular.Discuss this statement with reference to two scenes from one of these animated films.
And Discuss briefly the film-making techniques that make these scenes so visually appealing.
Use sketches to illustrate your answer.
What we need to know about film questions in the Leaving Certificate
1. Film
questions are not always included in the exam paper
2. Often
include popular films of the day, very difficult to predict which films they
will choose to include in the exam
3. If
you intend to include film in art appreciation, include titles, credits, and
film craft (techniques).
4. Marking
schemes - Look at previous marking
schemes @ ww.examinations.ie
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Q18
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2009
Recent animated
films from the studios of Pixar and Dreamworks, such as Shrek, Finding Nemo,
Ratatouille and Wall-E, have proved to be very popular. Discuss this
statement with reference to two scenes from one of these animated films.
Discuss briefly the film-making techniques that make these scenes so visually
appealing. Use sketches to illustrate your answer.
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Marks
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A
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Discussion of scene
1 from chosen film.
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15
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B
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Discussion of scene
2 from chosen film.
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15
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C
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Brief discussion of film
making techniques.
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10
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D
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Sketches
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10
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Total 50
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5. Questions
tend to be based on popular films so encourage students to watch current films
at home or for homework!
6. Prepare
the students with vital information they will need to tackle this question
including illustrations (practice drawing illustrations from films.
7. Make
sure you go through past questions thoroughly, breaking down the questions into
their various components , encourage them to read the questions carefully and
not to tackle the question unless they are confident of gaining good marks, they
are not easy questions as some students might think!
Film in the classroom
Introducing film into the classroom
Watch part of films that show simple technique, camera shots -long & medium shots, camera angle – low angle, high angle, flat or eye level, a bird’s eye view, oblique angle shot, camera position – pan, tilt, tracking.
Alfred Hitchcock used three simple
camera shots excellent to show students how effective these three shots are
- Start with a close-up of the actor
- Cut to a shot of what they're seeing
- Cut back to the actor to see his reaction
Other films suggested by Basil to
include in the classroom
Inception – by Chritopher Nolan
Paprika – by Satoshi Kon
Perfect blue – by Satoshi Kon
Inception's director Christopher Nolan bought the rights for Paprika and Perfect Blue. This shows use of scene conversion from popular cartoons like Paprika (animie) into American movies like Inception.
Documentaries - Wasteland
Film, History, and
Appreciation of Art
Introducing films made by famous artists to explore their
work, support art appreciation and bring another dynamic into the classroom,
examples include Salvador Dali.
Sallvador Dali created the dream scene in Spellbound by Alfred Hitchcock
Recorded Interviews with artists such as MC Escher
Biographical films made about famous artists: just some examples below
SURVIVING PICASSO LUST FOR LIFE THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY POLLOCK MOULIN ROUGE THE WOLF AT THE DOOR MODIGLIANI
GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARING
Thinking Ideas - making animation in the classroom - back to basics
Zoetrope is a device which creates
the image of a moving picture. The device is essentially a cylinder with
vertical slits around the sides. Around the inside edge of the cylinder there
are a series of pictures on the opposite side to the slits.
The magic lantern is the
predecessor of the modern day projector. It consisted of a translucent oil
painting and a simple lamp. When put together in a darkened room, the image
would appear larger on a flat surface.
Thaumatrope was a
simple toy used in the Victorian era. A thaumatrope is a small circular disk or
card with two different pictures on each side that was attached to a piece of
string or a pair of strings running through the centre. When the string is
twirled quickly between the fingers, the two pictures appear to combine into a
single image.
A phenakistoscope was an early
animation device, the predecessor of the zoetrope.
Flick book
Praxinoscope invented by French
scientist Charles-Émile Reynaud, was a more sophisticated version of the
zoetrope.
More thinking ideas for possible schemes.................
Using posters as a starting point or the theme for a scheme
- Use a poster to create a scene in the classroom - each student to film the scene in their own way.
- Poster to lead to an animation like the poster of a feather created for Black Swan
History & Art Appreciation - digital media, create set design - Caravaggio - recreate scene and photograph, like Brian did for his bricolage project.
Typography - animated typography
POSTER - as the source starting point, students engage with digital media in a holistic way
Recreate a scene from a film - to include lighting, camera shots, acting, costumes
Show a clip of a film and get the students to design what happens next - cliff hanger scene
Film Making resouces availbale:
Films in school - FIS
Study Guides - film education UK
Movie storm - 3D animation software
USA film resources and lesson plans
Ripper for PC to copy scenes from video
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