Serendipitous Connections

 

Over the last few days, we’ve been working on collaborative renditions of the Statue of Liberty. I provided various options for the format and medium you could choose to use, depending on the message you were trying to communicate to someone who might read your visual image.

Some of you chose to create your art-piece in 2 dimensions–either using the computer and various software programs we have available in the classroom or by using digital photos, paints, markers, torn paper, colored pencil, and/or stickers, etc. Others opted for 3-dimensional versions of the Statue of Liberty using flour dough clay, fimo, paper mache, and/or found objects, etc.

We’ve learned a lot from our explorations about immigrations, our reading of The Arrival, and our discussions. We’ve learned that 1+1 does not have to equal 2. We’ve learned that questions need not be limited to one answer. We’ve learned that visual literacy is largely a matter of considering questions and the answers are made richer by things we learn from each other.

Today and tomorrow we will be finishing up our art projects, and we will be sharing them with the world via the Artsonia Kids Art Museum (http://www.artsonia.com/). 2-dimensional projects will be scanned and uploaded to the Artsonia website, and 3-dimensional projects will be photographed, scanned, and then uploaded.

By sharing your art with the world, who knows who might read it. I consider discovering Shaun Tan’s book, The Arrival a serendipitous event. Perhaps someone who discovers your collaborative and synergistic work of art in the Artsonia Museum will consider it serendipity, as well.

Homework

1. I have handed out a letter to your parents and a permission form for your participation in Artsonia (I downloaded these forms at http://www.artsonia.com/teachers/docs/.) Make sure your parents sign your permission form and bring it to class tomorrow.
2. If there are materials from home that you need to finish up your art project, please be sure to bring these to class next time.
3. Explore the Artsonia website at http://www.artsonia.com/. If a parent signs you up for an account at home, bring your log-in information to class–please still bring the permission form to class, though.
4. In the comment section below, provide 1 link to a work of art you found on Artsonia that you found compelling. Also, write 1-2 questions you asked yourself while reading this art-piece.

–Silver Lisa

P.S. Talk about serendipity! A teacher in New York (Ms. M. Edinger) decided to teacher her 4th graders about immigration and The Arrival. Somehow, Shaun Tan found out about this and visited her classroom! If you’re interested, Ms. Edinger has 2 blogs you can explore that discuss this exciting stroke of luck:

1. “Educating Alice (Search results for blog entries related to ‘The Arrival’).” http://medinger.wordpress.com/?s=the arrival&searchbutton=Go%21 and
2. “Edinger House (Results for Blog Entries Tagged as ‘The Arrival’).” http://blogs.dalton.org/edinger/category/the-arrival/.

Connection: Virtual Immigration

Today we re-visited the virtual world, Second Life. About a month ago, we had discussed SL in the context of news gathered for “current events” discussions. We had discussed the fact that SL is a virtual world where you have to be 18 or older to participate, and that there was a counterpart for teens called “Teen Second Life.” We talked about the fact that there was no way to control other people/avatars in SL, and that if I was to guide you on a tour via a projection screen, there was a chance we’d need to shut the screen down if anything risqué was about to occur. In addition, I asked you to have your parents sign a permission slip to cover all of our bases.

We had watched the YouTube video below as an introduction, and then I led you on a brief tour of Info Island.

Today, I asked everyone whether they had explored Teen Second Life on their own. A few people had, and we talked about what it was like at first. We discussed questions like:

• What did you see first?
• Were other avatars around?
• What were they doing?
• How did you learn to get around?

Of course, several of you picked right up on the fact that I was leading up to building a connection between the SL/TSL experience and the experience of real life (RL) immigrant.

To further this connection, we led you on 2 SL fieldtrips to places that were quite fantasitical compared to Info Island.

The first teleport we made was to The Gallery of Reflexive Architecture. (If you have SL downloaded on your computer at home, your parents can visit this location by linking to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Architecture/191/105/601.) Prior to this visit, we watched the YouTube video below.

This gallery was designed by Keystone Bouchard, whose goal was to make the architecture moves in response to the presense of avatars. We used visual literacy skills to speculate on what Mr. Bouchard was trying to communicate in creating this gallery. I was quite taken aback at how good you are at asking questions that help yourself and others gain a deeper reading of visual images.

Tamari pointed out the white and black background create the feeling of another world and reminded her of the lack of color in The Arrival.

Snapshot of The Gallery of Reflexive Architecture by Flickr User Bettina Tizzy

The second stop on our tour was Sl’s Imaging Place, created by by John Craig Freeman, Emerson College. Mr. Freeman created this SL simulation based on a virtual reality art project he created in real life.

Snapshot of The Imaging Place by Flickr User joannamkay

Again, we explored Imaging Place, we again used visual literacy skills to ask questions exploring the message the creator might have intended.  Afterwards, I gave you more information on this project, and we watched a video of Mr. Freeman speaking about Imaging Place.

At Digicult.it, Imaging is described as follows:

Imaging Place, is a place-based, virtual reality art project. It takes the form of a user navigated, interactive computer program that combines panoramic photography, digital video, and three-dimensional technologies to investigate and document situations where the forces of globalization are impacting the lives of individuals in local communities.

The goal of the project is to develop the technologies, the methodology and the content for truly immersive and navigable narrative, based in real places…[From Jan. 5-Feb. 23, 2007] Freeman…[had] been implementing the “Imaging Place” project in Second Life. In “Imaging Place SL: The U.S./Mexico Border,” Freeman explores the issues, politics and personal memories of this contested space.

Homework

1. Take another virtual fieldtrip!  Visit  “Folk Songs for the Five Points” to virtually explore immigrants in the present day through music (get there by clicking http://www.tenement.org/folksongs/)
2. As explained on this website, “Folk Songs for the Five Points is a digital arts project that allows you to create your own “folk songs” by remixing and overlaying a range of sounds taken from New York’s Lower East Side.”
3. Create a folk song mix, save and email it to yourself.  Then, forward it to me.  Hope you have as much fun exploring this site as I did!

Making Connections with Each Other to Synergize

This photograph by Flickr User Olivier Bruchez shows the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Island) and Ellis Island.  View the photo at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruchez/103704739/ 

Today, we reflected on the fact that so much of our reading of The Arrival was deepened because of the dialogue that was happening between each other.  When people work together effectively, each individual’s contribution adds up to something that is greater than the sum of all the parts.

WHAT!??

When people work together,  1 plus 1 can equal 3 (or 4, or 5, or 1000, or more).  The the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 

This is called “synergy”.

To introduce today’s main activity, I asked you to think of songs in which 2 or more artists that normally do not work together collaborated on a project or song that exhibited synergy.  You had to reflect on why you thought the collaboration was especially good.

I went on to explain that the next big activity was going to be a collaborative art project where the subject matter would be the Statue of Liberty.  We had briefly touched on the fact during the virtual tour of Ellis Island that, 1965, Ellis Island was deemed as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

I asked you to pair up and explore a webpage full of facts about the Statue of Liberty located at http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/liberty/libertyfacts.htm.

Next, I had you switch partners and explore more information about the Statue of Liberty (http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/liberty/liberty.html), including a conscious reading of the images of the statue contained in the various linked webpages.  I reminded you to look at a variety of artistic versions of the statue and talk about what concepts or emotions the artists might be trying to convey.

Tomorrow, I will have you pair up with yet another classmate, who will be your artistic collaborator in an art project where you will strive to synergize in the creation of a shared vision of the Statue of Liberty that conveys some type of intended message.

Homework:

1. Read the last section of The Arrival (Section VI).
2. Re-Visit the illustration you wrote a letter about at the beginning of our explorations of The Arrival (Blog Post:  We’ve Arrived!)
3. Now that you have a wealth of connections and new experiences about the book and the topic of immigration, write a new letter (to the same person or to someone else) about the same illustration and bring it to the next class.

–Silver Lisa