Recycle Art

      This week we have gotten back from Christmas break and my student are not excited about doing any work. Despite the lack of motivation, I am also filming my lesson and how I  teach in my classes. The students are not responding positively and do want to speak or work at all because they do not want to be in the video. So this week has been a struggle to get back into gear. I am hoping that their attitudes change and their work at least turns out great.

      The lesson that we are beginning in my studio class was focused around recycled art. I figured this would be good because the students were previously working with xacto knifes and this topic is very common to their every day life. This lesson is on the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.) In this lesson the students will learn the importance of reducing waste in the world and how to help sustain a clean environment. The lesson will also examine many artists that create ecofriendly art by the materials they have chosen. This type of art is known as “garbage or recycled art.”  Because the students are learning to be ecofriendly, the class is going to use recycled cardboard as their canvas. On the canvas the students will be learning how to create a self-portrait with extreme lighting. (The self-portrait was chosen because it is the class’s main struggle.) The student’s art project will consist of gridding a photograph, cutting into the cardboard to make a relief silhouette, and painting the silhouette with monochromatic colors. The colors schemes chosen will also be used to help create a mood or feeling. The students will express who they are through their color choices. While creating these art works, the students will be helping the environment by preventing this cardboard from going to waste.
 

     I chose this lesson because learning about how to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle is very important to not just our society, but to the whole world. Students are barely taught on how valuable our word is and that of taking care of our planet is very important. Learning about recycling can help us save money and from polluting the world. In an art class this is very important subject because many materials are used and sometimes even wasted. Artists also use very toxic materials, and as a class, we want to make ecofriendly decisions. Understanding how we can use materials that are in the trash instead of buying all our products from an expensive art store is possible. Creating the art work from cardboard will help the students realize other options they have for a canvas. This assignment was also chosen because the students have had a major difficulty developing a portrait. Having my last opportunity to work with these students, I hope to get them past their struggles.

     So far during this lesson the students were exposed to different artists who use garbage materials such as Robert Bradford, HA Schult and, Tim Noble and Sue Webster. My students were not really sure how to take it when I told them that their project was going to be on cardboard. I explained the benefits of using cardboard in the environment and how it is keeping the materials from going to a landfill. No, I could not get any students to speak during my PowerPoint except for maybe 2 students, but I was happy that no one has complained about creating this assignment because like most studio classes, 1 or 2 students don't want to do the work. The only time I could excite the students was when I gave them horrible statistics on our American lifestyle of wastefulness and information on our landfills.  

      On a positive note, all of my students have been working hard since I explained to them that there will be a goal needed to be achieved at the end of every class. I have students who usually never do the work, actually working! For the first two days the students will be working on gridding their portrait onto the cardboard. So far the students have really gotten the hang of it and do not need much assistance.                     Also, I was happy that Mrs. Valenti and I thought of a neat idea we could do if the students continue to stay on track. We thought it would be great if all the students brought in some trash that we could use as a group to build a class sculpture. It fits perfect with the lesson and maybe some students will respond more. I just have to keep thinking of more ways to engage the class and get my students to WANT to be active in class.

(This is an example of what a finished product

will look like.)