Community Arts Project

Fun in the sun day!

For my community arts project, my team and I decided to create a fun in the sun day that will help raise skin cancer awareness throughout schools in the Toronto District School Board. It will be an outdoor  day where children will get the chance to participate in different outdoor activities and get educated on the dangers of the sun and how to be sun smart this summer! 

Our goal is to help educate children about the dangers of the sun and help prevent skin cancer and the importance of applying sunscreen!!!!!

Our team decided to create a blog so that educators and parents will be able to look at it to see facts and the ads that we had made to put in the schools where our Fun in the sun day would take place.

Check out our BLOG! 

Some of the organizations that will help us our promote day will be the Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Dermatology Associations and Toronto District School Board

Now its time for some facts!!!!

• One blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles your risk of developing melanoma later in life
• A baby's sensitive skin is thinner than adult skin and a baby will sunburn more easily than an adult.  Even babies with naturally darker skin need protection
• The incidence of skin cancer is steadily increasing in Canada
• One in seven children born will develop skin cancer in their lifetime

I felt after we had presented our BIG IDEA we had educated everyone a little bit more about skin cancer and how truly important it is to apply it to not only children, but to yourself as well, because children will look up to you when given the chance.  Skin cancer is important and it is something that I feel is often unlooked! I hope that more people see the importance of applying sunscreen to themselves!!!


Art Word of the Week: Texture
Texture refers to the surface quality of a work of art.  Implied texture involves technical proficiency in skillfully using the medium to suggest wood grain or peeling rust that does not actually exist on the canvas 

(Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p.144). It is through our ads that you are able to see different types of textures, from the banana being smooth, to the raisin being bumpy to the sand being fine. Textures are all around us.

For Educators:

Allowing the children to create a BIG IDEA will give them the chance to allow you as the educator to see what the children feel is an important subject that they would like to bring awareness to.  This project will allow the children to think outside of the box and step outside of their comfort zone and gain a chance to express who they are as a person!

 

For more info check out this site

Guerilla Art

For this blog post, it took me awhile to think of what I wanted to leave behind for people to see.  Then it came to me! I was going to leave something that would make more people SMILE in the world!!! So that is what I did.  I went for a walk outside along a path near my house, got some flowers, and put them in a vase that I then wrote inspirational quotes along the sides of it.  Then on the front of the vase there is a note that says, open me and smile!

It was interesting to see the reaction of the person who stopped along the path way, they really did stop to smell the roses and read the quotes that are along the sides of the vase.  They also SMILED! It was awesome to see it because I truly feel that a smile is the best thing a person can do!

Art Word of the Week: Space

Space is determined by the size of the canvas.  Within the overall space, the artist must deal with the problem of arranging elements.  When it comes to Guerilla Art, the more space you have, you are able to leave behind something HUGE. Or even with a small space you can leave behind something little that could brighten peoples day! Guerilla Art allows you to be creative with the space you have around you.

For Educators:

Guerilla Art can be an exercise where you allow the children to think of something small that they could put around the school, and then during the day you could allow them to go and see if they can catch anyone looking at the art.  It can also be a great way for the children to bring life into the school by creating things that could brighten up the halls or even the restrooms.  Guerilla Art can be fun for ALL ages!

Check out this Guerilla Art website

Pretend Play and Magical Thinking

Before we had airplanes and astronauts, we really thought that there was an actual place beyond the clouds, somewhere over the rainbow. There was an actual place, and we could go above the clouds and find it.there. - Barbara Walters

Above the clouds

The picture above is one I took in 2010 on my way to florida, it is one of my favourite pictures because you are able to really see the clouds and their texture and shapes.  That is one of the reasons why I love flying is because you get to go above the clouds and see them in a different way.  Looking up at the clouds is something that when I was younger I use to do on long car rides and just for fun, and now a days I find myself looking at them wondering what else there is out there, and looking to see if I can see different shapes.  Clouds come in all different shapes and sizes that is what makes them fun to look at because no cloud will look the same.

All about my clouds!


Well first off let me introduce myself, my name is Cadee Comfy Cloud! I'm just what my name say I'm COMFY! Everyone I met wants to take a nap on me! It sometimes it bugs me however I still let them because my personality is very warm and kind, however if you catch me during a thunderstorm you may not recognize me because I'll be very angry. You may all think that I taste like cotton candy, however that is not true! I don't taste like anything! I really do however enjoy just day dreaming about who I may marry and what kind of cloud they will be.  It's really hard to find someone up in the sky they should come out with a cloud dating service!!! I really enjoy reading gossip magazine about the famous clouds up here, there's some pretty crazy drama going on! I must say that as much as I love reading about the drama I really don't like it when it happens to me! Its when I start to cry thats when the people on earth get rain storms because of the drama among the clouds.  Also when it starts to snow on the humans on earth, that is because I'm getting my hair cut! It always looks so stylish!!

For Educators:

This activity allows for children of all ages to just get creative and let their imagination flow.  When it comes to this activity there are no right or wrong ways to go about it! Just let the children be free.  Allow the children to take any regular everyday object and watch them create it into a person.  It could may possibly allow for you to get to know the children more, than you may already! I suggest that you give this a try and you will not be disappointed! Even I had fun!

Want more info about clouds? Click here!!

Grocery Shopping with a Twist

Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. It's where all the fruit is.- Shirley MacLaine

Going grocery shopping with my mom is something that I have always been doing.  It is a chance for the two of us to bond and get away from the men! When I was younger it would always be a fun adventure, I would sometimes get lost and have to scream for my mom because I could not find her, but she always found me!  I have recently started to notice all the different colours that there are throughout the store and the different types of scents that each food gives off.

The type of food that I have chosen to focus on during my trip to the store is FRUIT! There are so many different kinds of fruit, that it is impossible for me to try every single one.  However I'm going to do my best to name all the fruits I can think of.  Fruits use to be my favourite food to eat, until recently I have developed a fruit allergy and it is something that I'm still getting use to and is very hard not eating fruit!

• Apples
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Oranges
• Peaches
• Plums
• Watermelon
• Kiwi
• Banana's
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Raspberries
• Tangerines
• Cherries
• Lemon
• Limes

One thing I love about all the different types of fruit are all the different types of colours that each fruit has and when they are all together they make a RAINBOW.  Looking at all the different types of colours that each fruit is, that is what makes me want to eat them! Colour is based on the visual sensation of light caused by the stimulating the retina (Shirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 136).  We colours because of the way certain objects reflect colour rays into our eyes (Shirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 136).

Fruits all take on different shapes and colours, which could be why they are so popular to draw! So I chose to sketch strawberries, grapes and oranges!

Orange

Grapes

Strawberry

For the educators:

Allowing the children to think of their favourite food and then be able to list them, is a great way to introduce all the different types of foods that are out there. Then allowing them to sketch their 3 favourite ones allows you as an educator to see how they see their favourite foods.  You can also allow the children to bring in some of the foods and during that day everyone can try them, and who knows you just might find a new food that you'll love!!  After all, who doesn't love food?!?!?!

Collaging With Scissors

Collages are made from other materials/forms to create something new.  A collage may be from newspaper clippings, colored paper,photographs, favourite quotes and other found objects,that are then glued to a piece of paper.

Collages can be used to express an idea or concept through learning; it can be used to express yourself.In this case having a collage to express your identity and understanding of the world is a great way for children, adults/friends to identify who they know and the things that are most important to them!

What you'll need!

1. Pictures of your family and friends
2. paper 
3. glue
4. scissors
5. Magazines

This is how it will start out!

What do I do?!?!

1)First the individuals need to go through different kinds of photo albums as well as whatever they saw that they feel represents them would be appropriate to add to the collage.  At this stage the indivudal can use their imagination.  

2) With the items the individual has found, having them cut them out and organize them how they should be displayed in the collage

3) Using glue the individual will paste the photos that were cut out in the collage creating the final product.

4) Once this is completed, the individual can write about the collage highlighting a few key concepts of why they choose to use certain forms and pictures.

The finished product!

The collage above represents my life the pictures show my life from an infant to my high school prom.  All of those events played an important part in making me into the person I am today.  The words that you can see in the collage above are words that are very important to me.  Making collages is something that I love to do and I always to to put my photo is something that I will be able to see everyday, rather than just sticking them in a photo album that may never get looked at for years.  Collages allow for me to express who I am and the people and places that are very important to me!

Art Word of the Week: Design and Composition


One of the questions that artist ask themselves once they are finished a piece of work is Is there a focal point, emphasis, centre of interest, or dominant spot that attracts and holds attention? Does it make the viewer want to return and admire again and again? (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 142).  There could be one picture in the collage that stands out the most to the viewer and or the child, that they keep looking back at.  It could be because of where it was placed within the collage that allows it to stand out.


For the educator:


Collaging with children can allow you to see the events or even just the pictures that the children love.  It allows you to see events that you may not have known about if it wasn't for the pictures, which can allow you to get to know the children and their families better!  Collaging is a great way for children to learn about their classmates.  

Watch an "Art Film" and blog about it

I'm always anxious thinking I'm not living my life to the fullest, y'know? Taking advantage of every possibility? Just making sure that I'm not wasting one second of the little time I have.

Kate: What did you think of the movie?


Cathy: It was very thought provoking.  I had to really concentrate as to what was a dream and what was reality.  I quite liked it.  It reminded a bit of the Truman Show, which also stars Jim Carrey.  It was between reality and dreaming and sometimes you feel a dream is real, and you go back and things that seem to have nothing to do with anything suddenly pop up in your dream.  What did you think?


Kate: I honestly found it very strange; I had a hard time understanding the movie, and the plot through out it.  I also found that it was still very creative at the same time.  The way the camera angles were used to show that she was disappearing from his memories.


Cathy: I liked that too, and also liked how some of the images were blurry indicating that thy were in the dream but were not important.  It was funny that he knew enough to want to stop erasing her even in the dream.


Kate: It was really interesting to think that someone would want to erase someone from their memory, it makes me think how far I would want to go to erase someone from my thought.  Is it something that you would want to do?


Cathy: Never, I think that is what forms who I am.  It is all life's experiences that moulds a person.  I think he wanted to erase her because she had erased him.  Would you do it?


Kate: I'm not sure it is something that I would need to think about deeply because depending on the person I created these memories with i might want to erase them because of the pain that they caused me in my past and maybe in the future.


Cathy: But that is how you can earn to be a better person in relationships, we have to learn from our mistakes.


Kate: What did you think of the characters?


Cathy: I really liked the fact that Mary (Kristen Dunst) was also a patient.  That was a neat sub plot.  I also liked that Patrick (Elijah Wood) stole some of Joel's (Jim Carrey) way of courting Clem (Kate Winslet).  What did you think?


Kate: Well, I must say that I really enjoyed Joel, because it was a character that I could see a lot of people being able to relate to.  Well it was great chatting with you!

Art Word of the Week: Mass or Volume

Mass or Volume are appropriate criteria from critiquing three-dimensional art which has height, length, and width (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 142).  Mass or Volume can be portrayed as: Open or closed, heavy or light, solid or open, opaque or transparent, geometric or organic, static or dynamic, angular or curved, hard or soft, large or little, stationary or moving (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 142).  The one that I found through the course of the movie was stationary or moving because when Joel was  remembering all the memories between Clem and him, the objects that were in the memory started to move away from him.     

For Educators:

Who doesn't love watching movies, this is a great way to introduce films that the children may not watch because it doesn't look appealing to them.  However it can allow the children to step outside of their comfort zone. As an educator you can make it a fun day for the children by saying that they can come to school in the pj's and have some popcorn and watch the movie.  After the movie is over you can ask the children to draw something they saw in the move that stood out to them.

Spot the Patterns

Can you spot the patten?!?!?

Patterns, are every where around us, we see them daily, however do we take the time to notice them and spot out the pattern?

Where did I find my pattern you ask, simply in my dish towel.  It is a simple pattern nothing to over the top and nothing that you cannot notice when you first look at it.  Patterns have their own identity they take on many different forms.  Some of them can be fancy where others can just be simple, some are regular or irregular, symmetrical or asymmetrical, sequenced or alternating.  Patterns are every where I look, there was one on my pillow, and on a rug in my house, before I did this blog post  I did not notice all the patterns that surround me every day, and I have a feeling that most people do not notice them.  Patterns can suggest many different things from rhythm to the types of shapes that have been used to make up the pattern.

Patterns make up some of my favourite board games, and a form of transportation that I trust everyday to get me to school, which is the train tracks.  That just shows you how often we see patterns around us and how a simple pattern can enrich a child's artwork or allow them to learn math and reading.

For the educators:

Go outside for a walk and ask the children to see if they see any patterns around them! You could ask the children to make up their own pattern, you could make a pattern out of the children! Patterns are everywhere all you have to do is look for them and be creative with them!