I need to make one of these for my classroom.
Archives
03
Jan 15
Science Shows Art Can Do Incredible Things for Your Mind and Body
Arts.mic or Mic.com just published an interesting article on art’s effect on the human brain. Some of the highlights of the article were that “experiencing art decreases stress levels” and that “the brain is hardwired to process art.” The article also noted that the biggest benefits come from actually producing art.
“Along with the perks of enjoying and experiencing art, there are real-world benefits to making the art with your own two hands. According to a 2014 study, producing visual art improved psychological resilience and increased brain activity for the participants by the end of the experiment.
The study had two groups of recent retirees. One group was given lessons by an art educator and the participants actively created pieces of visual art that displayed their own personal form of artistic expression. The other group was treated more like a discussion class, where they talked about and interpreted selected paintings and sculptures. Both groups had their brains scanned before and after the period of courses.
The brain scans of the two groups before the classes (T0) and after 10 weeks (T1).Source: Anne Bolwerk/PLOSOne
Of the two groups, the one that produced art reaped the neural benefit of increased connectivity in the brain’s default mode network over the ten weeks of art class. This area deals with cognitive process like introspection, self-monitoring and memory.
As Hyperallergic points out, the researchers speculate that the first group got the gains because of the combination of motor and cognitive processing. They state in the study, “The visual art production intervention involved the development of personal expression and attentional focus on self-related experience during art creation.” Utilizing motor skills and thinking about art together becomes more beneficial instead of doing either separately. “
Click the link below for the full article:
http://mic.com/articles/106504/science-shows-that-art-is-having-fantastic-effects-on-our-brains-and-bodies
27
Oct 14
Michael Stripe of REM Prompts College Students
In a recent SPIN article REM frontman Michael Stripe is prompting students at NYU in a new collaborative project “NEW SIGHTS, NEW NOISE”.
“Each week, Stipe and a different special guest will give the class’ 18 students a prompt, and they’ll respond with ‘100 images and gifs, both found and made, all of which will be uploaded to a private class website,’ and projected on the walls, automatic for the people (sorry). At the end of the class, the space at 80 WSE Gallery will open up to the public so they can see what they accomplished.”
For more on the project check out the whole article:
http://www.spin.com/articles/michael-stipe-art-classes-teacher-nyu
Wouldn’t this be a fabulous project for a digital photography, digital media, or graphic design class?
07
Aug 10
Chimeras
Students combined various animals to create their own mythical creatures out of clay.
07
Jul 10
Wire Contour Self-Portaits
Using observational drawings, students manipulated wire to create contour line self-portraits.
07
Apr 10
Social Issue Collage, Lowell High School
After studying the work of Romare Bearden students created collages that addressed many of the social issues we are dealing with in America today.
Some of the issues addressed were: prescription drug abuse, war in the Middle East, the portrayal of women in the media, and the loss of childhood innocence
07
Jan 10
Still Lifes, Drawing I, Lowell High School
For the Still Life unit students in my Drawing I classes created a still-life a day, with each day being an introduction to a new media.
Some of the mediums we covered were: charcoal, sumi-ink, soft pastel, and graphite.
