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Jo Murphy's BlogPosted by Jo Murphy The article Whale Watching As a Creative Arts Project gives an example of a whale watching experience and talks about ways to create multi-modal projects designed to explore the experience of a nautical tour. Readers may wonder why environmentalists are prepared to venture into the terrain of these beautiful creatures. They may ask, “Aren’t teachers modelling behaviour that is detrimental to the environment by organizing such tours?” Environmental Conscience The trick for these tour companies is to organize sound educational experiences, whilst avoiding or minimizing damage to the environment. The creators of Sea World have responded with sensitivity to the need to care for one of Australia’s most precious resources, the Australian coastline. They see it as a duty of stewardship to be respectful and to proactively protect the natural beauty that exists within it. The Sea World Official Whale Watch Gallery portrays imagery of a whale being freed from a net. This tension between fishermen and environmentalists is a dilemma currently challenging Australians who would like to protect their coastline. The topic can be a stimulus for debate and documentary projects about our relationship with oceanic waterways.
Respecting The Australian Coastline
Because Sea World tours enter the world of the whales every day operators wish to make as little impact on the environment as possible. An approach to responsibility for protection of the environment is explained on the Sea World Website, “Sea World, through its Research and Rescue Foundation, has made a meaningful contribution to marine conservation by conducting internationally recognised research studies, promoting marine education and rescuing Humpback Whales, which have become stranded or entangled in nets.”
By taking students on these educationally designed tours teachers are modelling stewardship in a simply, practical but profound manner.
Posted by Jo Murphy In Queensland, Australia the coastline offers opportunity for enjoyable educational fieldtrips. On nearby islands, students experience the fun and excitement of creating sand sculptures, learning to surf, walking for exercise and for charitable purposes such as Walk For Want. Fertile cross disiplinary projects are designed such as a fishing sessions where the experience of the catch can be depthed by an explanation of fish anatomy as the fish are cleaned and gutted. Cooking sessions demonstrated on an open barbeque makes the lessons seem worhtwhile. Arts teachers are wise to prime students about capturing immediate impressions of the experience. Upon return students will have gathered a wealth of material upon which to explore the experience. Ways to Capture Experiences
Posted by Jo Murphy The New Masters Of Fantasy provides a trailer of featured images from the third volume of artwork created by contemporary masters of fantasy. View featured artwork as a Volume III Trailer. It is a movie that scrolls, accompanied by fantasy music to create atmosphere. Be sure that students view the clips on full screen mode. The article Vixy.net Saves YouTube Clips provides instructions that will make this process easier. The Fantasy Art Genre This is the art of the fantastic! You will find heroes and maidens, elves and unicorns and imaginary creatures such as dragons. These beings inhabit strange and fantastic landscapes, such as lunarscapes, dark forests and "other worlds". The combinations of realistic drawing with imaginary inventions are ingredients that promise to stimulate student imagination. Fantasy Art Projects After viewing the film clip, invite students to create a world of their own. This will engage the students because
"The New Masters of Fantasy” provides teachers with creative stimulous which is a magical and timeless inspiration appropriate for all ages and for students from all cultures. Posted by Jo Murphy Particular graphics software packages are intended for unique purposes, so artists need to be aware of the difference between file types that they offer. If you become unsure about why files are behaving in a certain way, go to the help menu of the graphics package you are using. The information about Vector and Bit Map Files has been paraphrased from Adobe Illustrator CS Help Files. Vector Images "Vector graphics are made up of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects called vectors." Adobe CS Help Vectors describe an image according to its geometric characteristics. This means that vector graphics are defined by a specific width and length, set at a specific location, and filled with a specific color. They can be moved, resized, or there can be a change of color without losing the quality of the graphic. Because they are resolution-independent, they can be scaled to any size and printed at any resolution without losing detail or clarity. This is why they are a good choice for logos and other graphics that must retain crisp lines when scaled to various sizes. Bit Map ImagesThese raster images use a grid of small squares known as pixels to represent images. The pixels are assigned a specific location and colour value. This creates a kind of mosaic of pixels which give an appearance of the object drawn. When you edit a bit map image you are working with pixels rather than objects or shapes. Bit map images can represent subtle gradations of shades and color, but, unfortunately they are resolution-dependent, which means that they contain a fixed number of pixels. This means that they will lose detail and appear jagged if they are scaled on-screen. If they are printed at a lower resolution than intended they will appear fuzzy. Posted by Jo Murphy Al Jazeera is the largest and most controversial Arabic News Channel in the Middle East. The channel broadcasts news 24 hours a day from around the world. Founded in 1996, and based in Qatar, it has become the fastest growing news network among Arab communities and Arabic speaking people around the world. Criticism from varied governments has helped the channel garner credibility from an audience that is used to government-imposed censorship and biased coverage. Troubled History After its dissolution in April 1996, Sheik Hamad who was disappointed by the lack of press freedom in the Arab world, pledged to let Al-Jazeera "report the news as they see it." "I believe criticism can be a good thing," the emir said in a 1997 speech, "and some discomfort for government officials is a small price to pay for this new freedom." Allied Media.com Breaking Barriers Al Jazeera's now has a team of dedicated journalists. They have a multi-national education and they come from diversified backgrounds. The aim is to present news, which is objective, accurate, and truthful. Now, Al Jazeera has gone a long way towards breaking down the language barrier by launching an English language Al Jazeera station. The station has a goal of bringing “people and continents together.” One such story talks about a dance programme in the Phillipines that has radically altered the level of violence experienced by the inmates there. Posted by Jo Murphy The Problem With Utube Using YouTube in the class room can be a bit risky. Utube is a fantastic resource and there is such a range of video clips to choose from. There are timely modern videos as well as age old classic clips. The risk is that the clip might drop out due to a "blink" in the internet transmission. If this happens during class it can be both frustrating and embarrassing. Many teachers avoid using Utube clips in the classroom for this reason. The Solution is Vixy.net Vixy.net is a simple solution to this problem. This free online open source technology will facilitate a simple download of the clip. It can be saved to your own disc space. Once you have done this, you can play it when and where you want without the risk of losing the connection. How It Works
Open Source This service allows you convert a Flash Video / FLV file (YouTube's videos,etc) to MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP) file online. When you submit a URL, it will download and convert to the video format, and then you can download the converted file. TheFLV to MPEG4 Converter engine is now OpenSource. (Information taken from Vixy.net website.) Posted by Jo Murphy The purpose of the International Conference on Critical Literacy in Visual Culture is to critically examine what it now means to be "literate in a world that is continuously being re-shaped by the enormous array of printed, digitized and transmitted images and visual communications systems that contextualize our perceptions of ourselves and our world. " Conference Website Challenge To Educators The material explored at the conference will be about the challenge educators face when they attempt to understand the relationship of literacy to power. There will be papers presented that attempt to understand the power that unmediated media exposure can wield over students. It is hoped that breaking down barriers, which separate theory and practice, will help to achieve a clearer understanding of the created visual environment. It will be an opportunity to attempt to redefine literacy so that it empowers rather than subjugates subjects of visual culture. Venue The conference will be held at the Universities Center, Main Street. Dallas. It is hoped that it is the first of a series of trans- and inter-disciplinary conferences. Art Exhibition There will be an exhibition called "Keywords" in the reception (UCD Main Lobby). It is an art exhibition highlighting work using pre-existing images or information and electronic media in their work. The artists are Nora Herting, Jonathan Harris & Sep Kamvar, Penelope Umbrico, Jim Bumgardner and Brad Kuhl. They will receive a curatorial statement presented by UNT College of Visual Arts & Design Assistant Professor Paho Mann. Browse Content The conference will host two pairs of keynote speakers. If you would like to glean an idea of the variety of disciplinary perspectives, the Abstracts provide an educational smorgasboard well worth browsing. Posted by Jo Murphy The theme for WYD08 is: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). It highlights the promise made by Jesus to set fire upon the Earth by the power of the Holy Spirit . It is this fire, which "inspires the pilgrims who come to Australia, to believe and witness to Him. " Celebrating World Youth Day Logo Symbols
The cross in the centre of the logo is white. This represents the light of Jesus. There has been a Journey of the Cross & Icon , which will lead into Sydney, the site of this years International celebration. The cross is raised in victory.
Tongues of fire have elegant and undulating form as they rise as though they have been fanned by the breath of life, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The colours of red, orange and yellow flow throughout the design, symbolising Trinity and Unity.
The colours of the Australian outback are parched and earthy. These contrast pleasantly with the blue of the logo. The blue represents the oceans that surround Australia, the waters of Baptism, and the sea of humanity.
The Sydney Opera House is the symbol of Sydney, the host city for World Youth Day 2008. The sails are interwoven with the other symbols. They bring a familiar cool peacefulness of the seascape to the hot parching flames. Posted by Jo Murphy David Swinton is a sculptor who offers his services as an Artist-in-Residence. He works in Primary Schools helping students enjoy the art of Paper Sculpture. David has over thirty years experience of working in schools, museums and galleries. He also works in a discipline called Environmental Sculpture. This is a creative endeavour that enables schools to enrich their immediate surroundings. Schools commission him to design and excute three-dimensional and bas-relief artworks in hard and softwoods, stone, mild and stainless steel, non-ferrous metals, ceramics, cast concete, plaster of Paris and fibreglass. David has a personal approach to creative thinking. He matches what is already avaiable in the school so that his work blends into the environment, thus enhancing both the hard and soft landscaping. His book , "The Magic of Paper Sculpture" provides templates you can make available to your class. It is about encouraging a way of thinking and seeing. When a teacher gives sheets of blank white paper to a class, and asks the students to design sculpture from them, he/she is taking the students to a creative space within which they will need to use the right hemisphere of the brain. When students are fully utilising this side of the brain they become more creative. The incessant chatter of the mind ceases and instead time passes pleasurably. The feeling of accomplishment that students experience when they have worked in this way is empowering. Once you have tried working with your class in this way, I am sure you will want to develop the skills, style and medium further. Posted by Jo Murphy I have recently trialed an E-course written by Jerry Lopper and begun bringing an awareness of the need for balance to the Creative Arts Students I teach. When teachers talk to Creative Arts Students about living a balanced life, they are not “talking about achieving an outcome or arriving at a destination." Lesson 4 Artists need to monitor feelings throughout the day. By monitoring how comfortable they feel, students can gauge how they react when faced with set backs or challenges. Because the artistic life is thwart with competition, it is calming to focus on what Jerry calls the five comfort zones.
When students feel tense or overwhelmed, it can be helpful to stop a while and look at the way they spend their time and the amount of energy being given to different aspects of their life. When one aspect of life goes astray, remember the Five P's …purpose, passion, personal power, principles and perspective. Posted by Jo Murphy Paper beads featured on Tania's Habitat are so attractive it is difficult to believe that they could be so cheap and easy to make. Threadbanger on Utube shows us how to make simple paper beads using only a glue stick. A more versatile glue medium would make even classier results. Materials
Optional Extras
Cutting Cut the paper into triangular strips so that they roll evenly into a twirled ball. Before you begin arrange the strips so that the twirling will create an attractive design. Gluing Lay the glue out onto a tray and drag the paper through, covering both sides and remove excess. Cover the entire surface of each piece of paper. Where there is no glue will eventually bubble up or buckle. Rolling Roll the paper onto thick toothpicks that have been greased with vaseline to prevent to beads from sticking. As you twirl it will turn into a thick bead. Use thick tooithpicks meant for spiking cheerios, so that when you pull them out of the beads, the hole will be large enough for the thread to go through. An orange or a flower sponge can act as a stand for the spiked beads. They are not to touch up against each other . Finishing Once dry, paint the beads with acrylic paint. Spray them with varnish, or, shellac for an antique look. Experiment. with 'stick ons' such as glitter letters or stencilled coloured paper. Glue them so that they spell names or words. The articles Handmade Beaded Jewelry For Mother and How To Make Rosary Beads show you how to put your new found skill at the craft of bead making to good use. Posted by Jo Murphy This recipe requires a cooking session either with your class or as preparation. Both the Artful Crafter and Pioneer Thinking describe the recipe in the same way. Materials
Method
Drying For a finishing touch gently sandpaper or smooth with an emery board.
Finishing The rough beads are have a rustic aura. Lightly sanding with an emery board will smooth the beads but that could turn out to be a tedious endeavour. Painting them with both acrylic or oils would also work well. The articles Handmade Beaded Jewelry For Mother and How To Make Rosary Beads show you how to put your new found skill at the craft of bead making to good use. Posted by Jo Murphy Clay beads are very easy to make. They are either rolled in the palm of the hand or rolled out to make a clay coil, which is then sliced to make even cylindrical beads. An inexpensive way to pierce the centre of the bead, is to gently push a moistened wooden skewer through the centre of the sliced coils. Cheap wooden skewers can be left in the beads as they will burn out in the kiln. This makes the project easy to manage and the beads easy to count. Materials
Timing It does take a while to make beads this way, because you will need to allow them to dry before firing. Firing will take a few days depending on the style of kiln you have and your 'kiln roster ' within the school. Because beads are so small and light weight, it might even be cheaper to have them fired for you commercially . This can be done at your local pottery supplies company. If you choose this option there can be a delay, because the staff will fire the kiln when they have a full load to heat. If you are planning a beading project such as making rosary beads, leave at least a week between when you make the beads and expect to be able to use them in a creative project. Using the Beads When you are finished you will have attractive beads from which to create your projects. If you want a glossier look , the beads can be glazed or spray painted. The articles Handmade Beaded Jewelry For Mother and How To Make Rosary Beads show you how to put your new found skill at the craft of bead making to good use. Posted by Jo Murphy A thumb piano is an African musical instrument. It "has a small sound box fitted with a row of tuned tabs that are plucked with the thumbs." FreeDictionary.com Because its use is so widespread across Africa it has acquired a variety of names, such as kalimba, sansa or mbira, Free Simulated Online Learning Experience The Africa Kids website has an interactive interface with a variety of options for exploring the thumb piano. If you would like the students to learn very simple tunes, and you have some thumb pianos for your class they can play along. There is a print function so that you can print the music. If you do not have access to thumb pianos, there is a simulation of the instrument for the students to play. It is possible to record music and play it back. With practice the students could become quite proficient at writing and recording simple melodies. An Attractive Instrument The thumb piano is an attractive instrument,. (Image from Overstock) It is easy to make. It is held gently between two hands. The thumbs strike the keys making a sound, which reverberates from within the wooden hemisphere through a hole. The difference in the size of the keys makes the melodic sound. It is usually made from wood, (perhaps a seed pod) and the keys are beaten to their correct size from metal. A metal bar holds them in place. The instrument can be tuned with this bar. Posted by Jo Murphy One type of early Australian Art is called “xray art.” The form is drawn as though the viewer can see through to the skeletal structure of the animal and its entrails. p 220 "Spirit and Art: Pictures of the Transformation of Consciousness," by Van James 2002 Steiner Books Xray painting is not only widely known of Aboriginal Australian art but it is also common to other tribal cultures. The images are more spiritual than simply being useful pictures created by hunters. Although the nomads would certainly have opportunity to become familiar with the inside of animals that they regularly carved, the art is thought to be more "essentially spiritual" than this. Van James indicates that early tribal cultures could see phenomenon much more deeply than contemporary people who merely relate to the outer exterior of objects. The stories of aboriginal people, like the one related on page 201, talk about the dreamtime and the creation of the world. It is thought that xray, line art drawings were a way of recording creation stories. The drawings may be of even greater spiritual significance. Tradition would have them "produced only in part by the living," as the spirit of the deceased and the dreamtime gods were said to assist in the creation of the artwork. In this way messages of spirits from the dead were channelled through the living. To show an example of what is meant by this van James shows older, simpler spirit drawings called "MIMI." The spirit are said to have left their images on the rocks as they "melted into them." fig 263 page 202 Google Books Explore further examples of xray, line art on page 201 (figures 262 and 263) of the same text and then try this class exercise from Enchanted Learning Posted by Jo Murphy This simple humerous animation of an Easter Bunny rapping can be the focus of fun and laughter in the classroom. The rabbit parodies "Rapper's Delight"!? while clearly spelling out the word Easter to the hip hop beat. Integrate Dance, Music, Literacy and Art into your lessons by using the resource in a variety of ways.
This animated resource is easily available and free online. This means that teachers throughout the school can teach the same dance steps across the board. Easy access means that a whole school could be practiced for an Easter Presentation with out fuss or bother. Or,the rap could become the basis for a dance the entire school population could have fun with together at the Easter Hip Hop. If you can suggest other ways this animation could be used as a class resource, please post to the discussion. Posted by Jo Murphy Open this Hip Hop dance lesson featured on Yahoo Videos.com in another tab. You will have time to read this article before it is fully loaded. The dance instruction video is called "Dance Lesson - Hip Hop-Bunny Hop." It is an ideal resource for teachers who want to incorporate dance into their "Lead Up to Easter " units of creative arts activities. The Bunny Hop is a repetetive line dance.
The dance could be featured when teachers unveil the Easter Bouquet as described in the article. Or the activity might be the early morning 'heart starter' for your class. If you are thinking of a longer term project the article Modern Dance Research Assignment is full of suggestions.
The video originated from Learning 2 Dance. It is a dancer's website that has something to offer everyone. No matter whether you teach Prep School or make a living as a professional dancer, this site has something practical to offer. It is a membership site. Some of the videos offered are free. If you like teaching dance this way, or, if you are an enthusiastic student and the style of learning suites you, the site offers a variety of options. We would love to hear about your experience! Posted by Jo Murphy This article "How to Make a Huge Easter Bouquet " inspires and guides students as they create a composition from a collage of hand drawn Easter images. If you choose to do this project, you will need to make some strategic decisions about how you would like the project to turn out. Do you want the central character of the composition to look realistic or would you prefer it to be very funny and cartoon like? This step-by-step instruction called "How to Draw a Bunny" is from www.cartooncritters.com. The artist uses a variety of guidelines to show you how to shape a cartoon rabbit. A simple search of Google will turn up a host of drawing sites that will show students ways to teach themselves to draw bunnies. This instructional video by Jan Brett is also a wonderful resource for teaching young people how to draw a real animal from life. Places like www.Utube.com will turn up instructional videos, if you do a simple search through their search engine. If you can’t decide how you want the bunny to look - why not set a challenge to your students? Ask them to find an instructional site so that they can teach themselves how to draw a bunny. Once they feel confident, ask them to teach this method to at least one other student in the class. Arrange an exhibition of bunnies and bring in an independent judge to select the one to be central character in your Easter Backdrop. Put the other bunnies to good use as Easter Cards, by means of a simple cut and paste on to a folded piece of coloured card. Place them around the Easter Display and retrieve them before the holiday to send to a special friend. Posted by Jo Murphy The Graffiti Creator website is set up like a hobby club. Students of all ages love the interactive software. The lettering generator is simple to use, and designed so that users can spawn original and personalised graffiti. As students generate their own text, the variety of options makes a huge range of unique, attractive designs possible. Like a combination lock, the generator can spawn an endless supply of interesting concoctions that will keep students engaged for quite a while. Vandalism or Artform? Before you begin, read Graffiti Tag Writing as an Artform and talk with the class about being responsible artists. Simplicity The software is very simple and even quite young students can learn how to operate it. Students
Classroom teachers can incorporate the use of the software into class assignments and learning experiences. Assignments
The Graffiti Creator website has forum and gallery so that students can share their work online. If you have examples you would like to share, please post them to the Hip Hop discussion thread. Posted by Jo Murphy If a stained glass artist is skilled and versatile, it is possible to combine techniques and materials to create highly innovative sculptures from the combinations. In the article, Designing for Stained Glass a sculptural work is featured. It is a turtle that channelles water in a fountain which has lilly pads floating on the surface. The fountain is an amalgamation of a variety of materials and art forms. This creates a collaged effect. Once combined, the work is integrated to become a unified whole. The water feature is an example of the way stained glass pieces can be combined to create a sculptural form. The fountain is a functional item as well as a beautiful artistic statement. The image featured on the cover "Water Works" by Tracey (Walrus Publications.) illustrates, how lead lighted glass can be combined with other materials to create sculptural works. The artist made the turtle fountain by
Often, though not always, artists will plan these types of projects with the environment into which they will be integrated informing the design. These projects can be exciting and fun, but they can also be expensive and time consuming because
Posted by Jo Murphy Pop-up cards can be very complex or you can set exercises that are simple and straightforward. They can be plain, quick, and easy to make without mess or bother. But you can also give the students time and material to turn them into specimens that are stunningly attractive and greatly adorned. This article will also show some ways to bring in humour. Ease In With Patterns This pattern from robertsabuda.com is extremely simple, but with just a little effort, it can be quite a stunning Valentines Day offering If you photocopy the pattern, you can give it to the class. Encourage the students to use it to make a card appropriate for their own age group and ability level. Process
Brainstorm Ways To Finish Cards Uniquely
Extension Ask the students to do a simple Google Hunt for other pop-up Valentine designs and patterns from sites like eHow.com. Ask them to bring examples and share them with the class. If you have students that need to be challenged, ask them to design a pop-up version of their own. Posted by Jo Murphy An Aspiring Artist Sir John Campbell Longstaff (1861-1941), artist, was born at Clunes, Victoria. He showed great talent from an early age. In 1873, he won a junior division prize in the Victorian schools of design's freehand drawing competition. He entered the art school of the National Gallery of Victoria in 1882 when Henry Butler recognized the young man's talent. He won the school's first travelling scholarship in 1887 with 'Breaking the News', a figure composition depicting the tragic aftermath of a mining accident. In 1889, he lived at Belle-Ile and under the influence of Russell's Impressionism he temporarily "lightened his palette and loosened his technique." Astbury. 1986 Soon after in Spain he studied the art of Velasquez. Careful craftsmanship and subtle dark tonalities were to continue as an influence on his portraiture style. Rise To Fame Longstaff was a highly valued portraitist. He painted King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1904. By 1906, he had a 'magnificent studio' at Carlton Hill and he became a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy in 1902-20. He also exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. In 1911, the acclaimed artist appears to have spent considerable time painting portraits in Sydney and Melbourne. Throughout In 1918-19, he worked as an official war artist with the Australian Imperial Force. 5 Times Archibald Winner From August 1920 Longstaff lived permanently in Melbourne and according to the NSW Art Gallery; Archibald commissioned John Longstaff to paint a portrait of poet Henry Lawson. Later Archibald's fascination with portraiture led him to leave money in his will for an annual portrait prize. Because of his great skill, Longstaff won the Archibald Prize for Portraiture. He was honoured in 1925, 1928, 1929, 1931 and 1935. Posted by Jo Murphy In Creative Arts Computing Plan, I suggest that Teachers look at successes and difficulties experienced with past projects. Devise a plan with your class to map out the year. Some of these articles about theatre projects suggest ways that computing has been used to enhance learning. I also suggest Theatre Teachers streamline projects so that they are quicker, more practical as well as easier to store and to share with others. Digital Projects
Digitalise These Projects
Use an Inspirational Journal keep track of the various aspects of your projects. Posted by Jo Murphy A check list is a way to discuss computing with your dance classes. Map out use of digital process as a tool of facilitation. Preference
Practice Sessions
Performance and Recording
Presentation and Albums
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