warbonnet

The art object I chose was in Swallow Hall.  “BONNET” was in fact a traditional war bonnet from the Great Plains made up of eagle feathers, otter tails, cloth, rawhide, and sinew.   Great Plains tribes consisted of Sioux, Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, and Plains Cree who believed that the headdresses were a sacred display of honor and courage, and each feather told a story.  Generally only chiefs wore such headdresses.  I would ask my students to think about the stories the feathers of their headdresses would tell if they were a chief. Each student would make their own war bonnet with feathers that made statements with the big idea of individuality.  They would investigate questions like: What makes me who I am? How am I different?  What characteristics do I possess? What is something incredible that has happened to me?  What is my heritage? Etc.  Students could develop art-making knowledge of parts as a whole using the feathers to create an entire piece of a headdress.  Creating the bonnet would be a way of making meaning about aspects in their lives as well as others.  Through discussion students would be able to make distinctions about individuality.  They would learn how they are different from their classmates in many aspects and make meaning about specific cultures.

Art in the New Age

When reading Walker and Gude I agreed that the shift to ideas and concepts is necessary in teaching art in the contemporary world.  However, I feel the 7 elements and principles are still somewhat important.  I believe there should be a balance.  I read into other student’s blogs and felt as though there was a complete stray away from teaching the basics.  I also found that most with that opinion had art classes with dismal creativity and little to no conceptual elements in art making.  It’s sad to hear that other’s art experiences were so bleak. Personally, my art teachers incorporated both standard concepts of art making (elements and principles) as well as conceptual ideas, and I feel I am an overall better artist because of them.  Ultimately, knowing the elements and principles is still an important aspect of art making.  When I took my first painting class here at Mizzou we painted stools.  What’s the concept behind that?  All beginning classes teach art students the basics in creating art then move on to conceptual ideas.  I feel my art teachers completely prepared me for art at a college level.  My high school art classes incorporated knowledge of the elements and principles and major movements and artists in art history, as well as the free liberty to create projects with any conceptual idea our hearts desired.  We were even taught how to build and stretch our own canvas.  So, while I agree that concept is important to emphasize I also believe an equal balance of the basics is necessary (elements, principles, art history, contemporary events, techniques, etc.) When working as a teacher I hope to succeed in all that my art teachers achieved in their classrooms.  After all, they are my inspiration for working within a classroom. 

When dealing with conceptual ideas I felt there was no better artist on Art21 than Barbara Kruger.  Kruger’s work requires little to no technique, but focuses purely on conceptual themes (which I found to suit this weeks readings).  The video did not cover Kruger’s work specifically, but rather concepts she deals with in her work (the video dealt with consumption, an easy yet broad theme). Most of Kruger’s work involves overlaying photographs with declarative captions.  I feel such work can be easily incorporated into contemporary art classrooms implementing both concept and technologic art forms.  As a teacher I would give my students the liberty of choosing whatever images and words they choose to impose any concept of their choice.