Painted Paper Landscape Collage

Abstract Expressionist Joan Mitchel “As the impressionists attempted to deal with the optical effects of nature, the American Abstract Expressionists were interested in the optical effects of spiritual states, thereby giving an old style a new subject…” Elaine de Kooning

 Why make a cut painted paper collage?
it is so meditative
connects notions of collage, bricolage, assemblage, and ideas about contemporary art
Learn about shapes, color value
It is like a game
Everybody approaches the problem differently
Learn to think in shapes, learn to pay attention, to observe, to compose, learn to appreciate the painting

 Why paint a landscape in the first place?
maybe there is a spiritual element in the landscape, it is peaceful, to document unspoiled America...to capture the feeling of a fleeting moment

The web of painted paper. We talked about the idea of the sophisticated teacher who is also a curriculum theorist...when the principal walks in and sees everyone having so much fun painting paper, he might ask, what is going on here?  But as a curriculum designer, you have located art learning in a complex web of important contexts...We are learning about composition, color theory, Abstract Expressionism, how to hold and use a brush, how to mix colors, theories of Modern Art, Zen Buddhism, action painting.  Students are also developing confidence and comaraderie.  

Painted Paper and Abstract Expressionism

 Mark Bradford

Franz Kline

What do we like about the experience of painting paper? What does this kind of mark making afford students? What do we like about making a copy? How can copying bad?

Why have students paint paper?  What was good about that experience?

1. Play as an active, process based, form of learning encompassing improvisation, imagination, experimentation, dramatization.  A form of knowledge

2. embodied practices engage with that which is outside language or exceeds language.

“when you are concentrating on a pattern, it requires you to be present”     "Are we supposed to copy this? 

Teacher Student Relationships

Questions:  

Learning is much more than an individualized process of acquiring information. It is an ongoing engagement with a complex world, and that engagement is more powerful when mediated by a knowledgeable, attentive and trusted person. There is some consensus that the student teacher relationship is the most critical aspect of the child's educational experience. 

What qualities, do you think, make for strong student teacher relationships?