Jane Goodall helps humans and animals live together | Video on TED.com

Jane Goodall helps humans and animals live together | Video on TED.com

Jane Goodall is so intelligent and inspiring I absolutely love listening to her speak about hope and the individual responsibility we have each day.

Emily Pilloton: Teaching design for change | Video on TED.com

Emily Pilloton: Teaching design for change | Video on TED.com

This woman is inspiring to me.

Holiday Express Trip

On December the 18th I was very fortunate to ride on the Holiday Express with the Rosebrooks kids. We had a great time it was an awesome and energized experience for everyone. We got to visit Santa, we ate train food, did crafts, and read christmas books. 

 

A Great Talk About Embracing your Inner Girl

I feel that if you watch this it may help inform the other videos.This video focuses more on world social view on girls and woman. I think that having the knowledge and information that these videos deal with help me make a difference in my life and in the lives of the people that I am in contact with.

Eve Ensler: Embrace your inner girl | Video on TED.com

Responds to "Killing us Softly" video by Jean Kilbourne

Click Here to View "Killing us Softly 3" Advertisings View of Woman 

By: Jean Kilbourne

“ Media and Young Veiwers”           

    After watching "Killing us Softly 3" by Jean Kilbourne I was inspired to take a look at media that is specifically targeted to young viewers. I did some research on shows and channels that young girls and boys watch. I first got on to the Disney channel web site and observed and watched all of what was going on, without clicking any buttons an ad immediately popped up for Disney's newest original series “Shake It Up”. The first line of this trailer proclaims  “Cecelia is just a girl that wants to have fun”.  I feel that this is telling young girls and teens that they should just want to have fun. This statement perpetuated the stereotype that girls are not meant to be intellectual of serious about things that have weight and value. During the second part of this 20 second add Cecelia talks about going to sophisticated adult parties which to me imply behaviors that are not healthy for 12-16 year olds to take part in. The character also talkes about wanting to look for boys this touches on a statement made by Jean Kilborn about how media makes woman feel that they need men to be important.  When you look at this from an aesthetic point of view the character Cecelia she is very very thin. This teenager is overtly sexualized threw the use of adult clothing, hair, and makeup that is equivalent to that of a playboy model.  I have found that this aesthetic is common in most current Disney Channel Shows.  This character is only important because she gets picked to be a back up dancer for a show.  I have found that because of the commercial success of Miley Cyrus/Hanna Montana the Disney Channel has really pushed the glorification of fame, Hollywood, stardom, and materialism.  This is terrible because a very small percentage of people actually live like this and every one else feels devalued. Girls who watch this programming feel like they need material things that are unrealistic to actuarially own, they feel they should look this way, and act this way. This is similar to the situation that is one of the main topics in “Killing us Softly” that has to do with wanting to have certain unrealistic physical attributes that are pushed onto us by the media.  By shows like "Hannah Montana", "Sony with a Chance", and now “Shake it up” we are pushing impracticable ideas about fame, money, and beauty creating power when there are so many other ways that a woman can be empowered and successful.  These shows display little to no talk of education or schoolwork. They show that a school is a place only were girls can talk about crushes and where boys can play sports.  They show school as being social and these shows focus very little on how working hard and learning can help you in your life’s path.  These shows don’t have any prominent themes of kindness or charity.  They show know one of different social economic classes.  All of the stars are culturally white most don’t references heritage of non-western cultures with out these cultures being made to be comical.

            After getting a full understanding of what the Disney Channel had to offer our youth I took a look at a web site that had been advertised continuously on the Disney channel web site. This was a site that was based off of a show called Monster High, which is based off of some dolls put out by Mattel last July.  These dolls look very similar to the Bratz dolls.  This show I found to be equally if not more terrifying then Disney shows because it had a way of disguising the content threw dialogue.  In class we spoke about how body language and subtext make up about 80 percent of communication. I found that this is very true in media and that it was prevalent in this kids show Monster High.  The two samples of the show display Simi empowering dialogue. The ware wolf girl character does not let a male character walk all over her by challenging him to a race.  This was fine to me but less then a moment after they take this females power away by scripting her to take all this girly materialistic stuff out of her pockets so that she is able to race. This scene is a contradiction because of the second part.  The next sample that I watched had to do with the characters’ entering into a science fair. One character says to another you cant let Cleopatra walk all over you, this is a nice message however what fallows is not. The next part of the interaction of characters has to do with the degraded one bullying the mean one by basically water boarding her which is a form of torture. This show that aggression is and “OK” way to solve issues it perpetuates stereotypes of woman being petty, vindictive, and bitchy and that this behavior is ok.  I feel that this show is potentially extremely damaging to young girls especially since it does target such a young audience. By watching this show and reading the reviews I perceive the target audience to be from about five or six to about twelve years old.  Many adults let alone children at these ages don’t have the filters to distinguish the appropriate behaviors that are shown from the inappropriate ones especially because this show does such a good job of splicing them together. Another important thing to point out about this show is the extreme sexuallization of the characters both male and female. The clothing includes midriff style tops and booty shorts. The female characters are all equipped with their stilettos that are more intense then any that I have seen in my life.  This is an underlying message that girls should dress like this.  So basically this show is communicating that six to twelve year olds should dress like hookers weather the dialog states this or not. I think that I should make a documentary called killing us softly 4 that just focuses on the affects of media to the socialization of children and teens under 12. This is a big topic and a big problem and I think at this point is possible getting out of hand.

            After watching the shows I tried to find any critique of these shows I found very little relevant information. I did find some answers about how these shows affect young girls by watching their personal reviews of the shows.  There is a surprisingly huge preponderance of girls that speak out on you tube about their opinions of the media that they are exposed to.

Responds to Tough Guise Documentary About Affects of Media on Men and Boys

Click Here to View >>>>>Tough Guise Video by Jackson Katz

 Undoing the Damage of the Media           

             I really enjoyed the documentary “Tough Guise” by Jackson Katz. I have seen and herd information about how media affects girls and woman’s body image but I have not ever seen this much real information about the affects of media on boys and men.  I was surprised by many of the statistics. The statistics were very much more extreme then I had imagined. The fact about how one in every four men will batter their partner in their lifetime was terrifying. These types of statistics really make me concerned about many of the children that I am in contact with in the shelter environment. Many of the children come from very violent and abusive backgrounds, I can see behaviors in the children that stem from this exposure to domestic violence. I think that the only way to use this information that was given in “Tough Guise “ without becoming destressed is to be proactive. I want to start incorporating some of these videos about how media negatively affects our boys and girls into our volunteer training.  We need to model peaceful and tolerant behaviors for the children.  We also need to facilitate non-aggressive ways to express emotions.  I think that the arts provide a great outlet for positive and negative emotions alike. I want to empower my students to take a stand against being disrespected or degraded. They need to know that it is important to be independent and self-reliant so that they do not get trapped in bad relationships. I want all the students to know that they are worthy of being treated fairly, and that they are worthy of being treated with respect.  I did some further research and I was able to find some good resources on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s web site.  I found an entire publication in PDF format about studies that have been done on youth violence and the best, scientifically proven ways to prevent youth violence.  It is a tough world that we live in but I can try to start making a change in small ways by asserting my beliefs about humans rights to respect. Also by modeling the therapeutic and healing powers of the arts.

An Ethic of the End: How Planning and Evaluation Make Art Political

An Ethic of the End: How Planning and Evaluation Make Art Political this is really an interesting yet long artical

Shadow Mural Video of Older Group

Shadow Mural Workshop Part 1

This past week the class did the shadow mural workshop. Many of the students had a great time. First we did some free drawing with just a few guide lines.  The students were asked to draw a picture with three of more people in it.  This activity was very engaging for most of the students. We watched a few youtube videos about shadow play and mural making. Then we all sat down in small groups. The older students were prompted to come up with things that were important to them and some things that they thought were important to tell our community or the world. The younger children were prompted to draw images of their bodies bending and stretching in different ways. I was not directly over seeing the small children but I think that part to this aspect of the workshop was confusing for them but after a while they began to understand. Everyone had a ton of fun with the performance portion. We could really do this workshop over and over and continue to get more sophisticated results. I feel the novelty of the project created some crazy energy in the room.

Other Surreal Games Tricks and Magic!

The following games and techniques have been taken from the book Surrealist Games; Redstone Press, London. I compiled them , because everyone can experiment with them, no 'artistic talent' is needed, they are fun and can be used in artistic, magical and playful contexts.

THE EXQUISITE CORPSE

The 'cadavre exquis', whether visual or verbal, was a favourite game with the surrealists.

Rules for the verbal form:

Minimum of three players

The players sit around a table and each writes on a sheet of paper a definite or indefinite article and an adjective (neighbours cannot see what's written). Sheets are folded to conceal the written words and are passed to the next player. Each player then writes a noun, conceals it, verb, definite or indefinite article, adjective, noun. Sentences are read on after a further passing on of the papers.

More complicated sentence structures can be agreed upon.

The game aquiired its name from the first sentence obtained in this way:

The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine ('Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau').

he game in its visual form is played very similar: The participants complete a figure without seeing what has been done already. If for example you play the game with three players you agree that in the first stage the head is drawn, in the second the belly and the final stage will consist of legs (or tentacles).

B: Some Chaos Magicians have used this game in its visual form to get pictures of group egregores.

AUTOMATIC DRAWING

As with automatic writing, get yourself in a receptive frame of mind and draw without thinking, avoid conscious control over the image. Keeping your pencil on the paper can help the flow. In fact, automatic crawing is a sort of accelerated or intensified doodling, in which unexpected and unpredictable images can be made to appear, and used as the basis for further visual play.

FUMAGE

A method of creating images or effects by passing paper or canvas over a smoking candle or petroleum la p. The image is then fixed and perhaps worked on.

In another reference 'Fumage' is described as passing a canvas with wet oilpaint over a flame so that the image or colours become modified.

FROTTAGE

A sheet of paper is placed on any natural or manufactured surface possessing a relief or incised pattern. The paper is rubbed with crayon, a soft pencil, charcoal etc. By combining frottages from different surfaces complex effects can be achieced within one drawing. the pattern or image obtained can be coloured, cut up, or combined with other material in collage.

DECALCOMANIA

Spread gouache, ink or oil paint, diluted in some places, on to any suitable non-absorbent surface (coated paper, glass etc.), press onto this your sheet of paper or canvas, thern lift or peel away.

Decalcomania is related to other games/ procedures that resemble the Rohrschach Test used by psychologists, in which an ink-blot is folded in two to create a roughly symmetrical image and then is interpreted by the client.

The game 'ghosts of my friend' works as follows: a signiture is folded in two while the ink is still wet. The resulting image gives revelations about the signatory.

This is a form of 'marbling'. An image is drawn into an oily liquid with water-based pigment (or vice versa). A sheet of paper is then placed upon or made to slide across the surface, and the image is lifted or 'creamed' off the liquid.

TORN PAPER COLLAGE

This form of collage was invented by Hans Arp. Paper is torn or cut up, randomly or into shapes, and the pieces are then dropped onto a sheet of paper. These random configurations are then fixed with glue.

Variation: the torn paper already bears an image, which is thus dislocated and re-assembled unpredictally accorcing to the fall of the paper. It can then be 're-interpreted' by subsequent working over wit pencil or brush.

GRATTAGE

Process of scraping wet or dried paint (or a mixture of both) from a canvas or another surface with a blade.

SANDPAINTING

Glue is first randomly smeared on the canvas, then sand sprinkled upon it. It may be left to dry as it falls, or further manipulated with brushes, knives etc.

FROISSAGE

A sheet of paper is screwed up, then smoothed out again. When soaked in coloured inks, the creases take up the colour, creating a veined effect.

COULAGE

3D decalcomania done by pouring molten metal/ wax into water. The material then solidifies. The resulting shapes can then be interpreted. This process is actually used in Austria and Germany when the New Year starts and is known as 'Bleigiessen' (leadpouring). Molten metal is poured into water and the shape can then be interpreted as to what the future of the next year holds for you in store.

Making Instruments Video Clip

Exquisit Corps Video

This is our Exquisite Corps Video The children really enjoyed seeing and figuring out their images. I am really happy that this lofty project become concrete. I am also happy that the kids are so proud of their almost final product.

We viewed the videos on the celling it created a really cool environment for everyone. 

The Kids were seduced by the moving image.Totally.

A good Site about how children problem solve to create the human figure

Children's Drawings of The Human Figure

This is A good Overview of Art Milestones

Art Milestones <<<<< This is a great artical

Exquisite Corps Viewing

       The Children love their exquisite corps video. They really enjoyed watching the mixed up parts and finding themselves in the crazy combinations.  I think that seeing each other matched up that way really gave them a feeling of inclusion and togetherness. They really enjoyed seeing that their parts could become something bigger than themselves through collaboration. Even though it may sound cheesy playing this video  at the beginning of the musical instrument and sound class set a tone that induced getting along and even sharing. 

We projected the video on the celling this presentation of the exquisite corps video was really fun for everyone! It made the room a totally new environment. I think that this way of projecting was a cool lesson too, for myself and the kids in that the space you have can be a lot of things and can be changed in infinite ways if you think expansively.

The Musical Instruments went so well

THe Musical Instrument making went so well the children concentrated so much that we have decided to extend the music recording and rhythm section of the lesson to the next class so that we will really be catering to their needs and not rush threw thing that they need more time with.

Pink & Glitter Bean Shaker and Megaphone

Mixed Media 

Two Clankers

Mixed Media

Cool Resources from PBS wed site

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/classroom/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/hom

http://www.pbs.org/mattersofrace/

Look At This Great Resource I Found For The Mural Class

dream catcher collage video

(Exquisite Corps Workshop)

The Kids worked hard on their Paper Bag Masks to use in the Exquisite Corps Video.

These masks are based off of a character of each child's choosing. Most of the kids got their inspiration from Halloween creatures, after all Halloween is just around the corner.

This process was the first of many that we utilized to create our collaborative video.

YOu Can see the Care and concentration that the children took in creating their masks.

P.S. The final video is coming soon.

We have these great pictures thanks to Madelyn!

Video/New Media Workshop Lesson Plans (part five)

Characters in Narrative Writing and Play Acting

Objective:

Participants will explore Narrative form threw play acting with puppets and shoe box sets.

Materials:

Shoe boxes, small boxes, construction paper, craft glue, hot glue, pom-poms, feathers, scissors, old gloves, googley eyes, yarn, ribbon buttons, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, fabric, collage papers, old photographs, pop sickle sticks, old fashioned cloths pens, card board.

Motivation/ Inspiration: If I were any character who would I be? How would I act? Would I be a human? Would I be and animal? Would I be and object, like a house or a baseball or a chare? What special powers would I have? Would I behave differently when I was sad/ happy/ excited/ angry/ confused/ nervous/ scared? How would the character differ form my actual self? Would my character have any talents? What types of people/ animals/ monsters/ or creatures would your character hang out with? What type of stories would your character be in? Where will your character live? What will my characters eat? What will they say to each other?

Warm-Up:

Draw a design for your set. Draw your characters. Discussion about traditional narrative structure.

                                 Activity:

Participants will write a brief traditional narrative. They will be instructed to keep plot, characters, setting in mind. After writing for 10 to 20 minutes participants will move on to create a mini set out of a shoe box and some puppets based off of characters from there writings. Some puppet making techniques will be discussed. When the sets and puppets are completed students will perform their narrative for a camera. There finished narrative should be no longer then 2-5 minutes. Note: this class may take more then one session depending on the time needed to write and create.

Follow-up:

Personal art experience journaling exercise: Participant should write one to ten lines about their experience in class. Sample questions to answer: What was my favorite thing about today’s class? What did I not enjoy about today’s class? What are 3 things I learned? What are 3 things I am proud of? How did I feel after today’s class? Is there any thing that I want to state about my art piece? Note: if the child is not developmentally capable of writing it is encouraged that the child draw a picture or verbalize what they would like to be written and it be transcribed by a volunteer.

Historical/Conceptual Notes:

A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by a puppeteer. It is usually - but by no means always - a depiction of a human character, and is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre. The puppet undergoes a process of transformation through being animated, and is normally manipulated by at least one puppeteer.There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made of a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They can be extremely complex or very simple in their construction. They may even be found objects. As Oscar Wilde wrote, "There are many advantages in puppets. They never argue. They have no crude views about art. They have no private lives".

Video/New Media Workshop Lesson Plans (part four)

Discover Persistence of Vision Thaumatropes and Flip-book Animation

Objective:

Participants will discover the phenomenon of Persistence of vision threw hands on experience. They will each create thaumatropes and flip book. These activities will create a basis for the understanding of how film and video works. They will also learn a rough early history of cinema.

Materials:

Disks made from ¼ inch birch plywood, yarn, ribbon, eyelets, mod-podge/clear coat spray, sand paper, paint pens, acrylic paint, colored sand, fine glitter, small rind stones, bangles, sequins, collage materials, brushes, old photographs, scissors, pre made flip books, ink pens colored pincels, journals

Warm-Up:

Play with thaumatropes that the art play team has made. After Image Exercise Participants will make thaumatropes from wooden disks. Participants will make traditional and non-traditional flipbooks.

Follow-up:

Personal art experience journaling exercise: Participant should write one to ten lines about their experience in class. Sample questions to answer: What was my favorite thing about today’s class? What did I not enjoy about today’s class? What are 3 things I learned? What are 3 things I am proud of? How did I feel after today’s class? Is there any thing that I want to state about my art piece? Note: if the child is not developmentally capable of writing it is encouraged that the child draw a picture or verbalize what they would like to be written and it be transcribed by a volunteer.

Historical/Conceptual Notes:

Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina.

A thaumatrope is a toy that was popular in Victorian times. A disk or card with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image due to persistence of vision.

The invention of the thaumatrope is usually credited to either John Ayrton Paris or Peter Mark Roget. Paris used one to demonstrate persistence of vision to the Royal College of Physicians in London in 1824. He based his invention on ideas of the astronomer John Herschel and the geologist William Henry Fitton, and some sources attribute the actual invention to Fitton rather than Paris. Others claim that Charles Babbage was the inventor.

Examples of common thaumatrope pictures include a bare tree on one side of the disk, and its leaves on the other, or a bird on one side and a cage on the other. They often also included riddles or short poems, with one line on each side.

Thaumatropes were one of a number of simple, mechanical optical toys that used persistence of vision. They are recognised as important antecedents of cinematography and in particular of animation.

The coined name translates roughly as "wonder turner", from Ancient Greek: θαῦμα "wonder" and τρόπος "turn".

A flip book or flick book is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be geared towards adults and employ a series of photographs rather than drawings. Flip books are not always separate books, but may appear as an added feature in ordinary books or magazines, often in the page corners. Software packages and websites are also available that convert digital video files into custom-made flip books.

Flipbooks are essentially a primitive form of animation. Like motion pictures, they rely on persistence of vision to create the illusion that continuous motion is being seen rather than a series of discontinuous images being exchanged in succession. Rather than "reading" left to right, a viewer simply stares at the same location of the pictures in the flipbook as the pages turn. The book must also be flipped with enough speed for the illusion to work, so the standard way to "read" a flip book is to hold the book with one hand and flip through its pages with the thumb of the other hand. The German word for flipbook—Daumenkino, literally "thumb cinema"—reflects this process.

Video/New Media Workshop Lesson Plans (part three)

Instant Shadow Murals

Objective:

Students will be introduced to concepts of performance art, They will learn about how to create compositions keeping positive and negative space in mind, students will be introduced to the history of the shadow puppet theater, students will be introduced to the history of Latin American mural painting,and introduced to art placed in the public realm.

Materials:

Screen (big white sheets), Light kit, two flip video cameras, two tripods, Mac book pro, our bodies, speakers or a boom box for mood music, journals, clip lights, staple gun, colored light bulbs.

Motivation/ Inspiration:

If I could express anything to anyone who would it be? What would I say to some one like Oprah, President Obama, Justin Bieber ect.? How could I portray these issues threw an art expression? Can one person make a difference in the world? What things can one do in his or her own life to make a positive change in the world? How can I work with others (friends, family, school mates) to make a change?

Warm-Up: 

Hand sculpture exercise then body sculpture exercise

Activity:

Participants will journal about statement that they would like to make to a community. They will sketch tableaus based on the statements that they would like to communicate. Students will consider how human bodies can be sculpted into props, back drop, wardrobe. Participants will be split up into small or medium groups they will use a their tableau sketches as references to act out scenes using their bodies. They after each group has rehearsed and feels comfortable with the tableau that they have created we will transfer it to behind the screen. Their shadow silhouette will then be photographed and videoed. If there is enough time the groups can collaborate to make one giant all inclusive shadow mural. The class will then look at what they have made and compose statements to be viewed with the shadow murals.

Follow-up:

Personal art experience journaling exercise: Participant should write one to ten lines about their experience in class. Sample questions to answer: What was my favorite thing about today’s class? What did I not enjoy about today’s class? What are 3 things I learned? What are 3 things I am proud of? How did I feel after today’s class? Is there any thing that I want to state about my art piece? Note: if the child is not developmentally capable of writing it is encouraged that the child draw a picture or verbalize what they would like to be written and it be transcribed by a volunteer.

Historical/Conceptual Notes:

A mural is any piece of artwork painted directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France (around 30.000 BC). Many ancient murals have survived in Egyptian tombs (around 3150 BC),[1] the Minoan palaces (Middle period III of the Neopalatial period, 1700-1600 BC) and in Pompeii (around 100 BC - AD 79).

In modern times the term became more well-known with the Mexican "muralista" art movement (Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, or José Orozco). There are many different styles and techniques. The best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts (but with a sense of the whole). The colors lighten as they dry. The marouflage method has also been used for millennia.

Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media. The styles can vary from abstract to trompe-l'œil (a French term for "fool" or "trick the eye"). Initiated by the works of mural artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-l'oeil painting has experienced a renaissance in private and public buildings in Europe. Today, the beauty of a wall mural has become much more widely available with a technique whereby a painting or photographic image is transferred to poster paper or canvas which is then pasted to a wall surface (see wallpaper, Frescography) to give the effect of either a hand-painted mural or realistic scene.

Shadow play or shadow puppetry is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment using opaque, often articulated figures in front of an illuminated backdrop to create the illusion of moving images. It is popular in various cultures. At present, more than 20 countries are known to have shadow show troupes.

Performance art refers largely to a performance which is presented to an audience but which does not seek to present a conventional theatrical play or a formal linear narrative, or which alternately does not seek to depict a set of fictitious characters in formal scripted interactions. It therefore will often include some form of action or spoken word which is a form of direct communication between the artist and audience, rather than a script written beforehand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNNNIz2Y1q0&feature=channel

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This is a Super Cool Example of Shadow Dance.