Yesterday in class, I tried a sort of progressive drawing. We discussed collaboration and watched/viewed Dale Chihuly at work. I showed them Jeanine Briggs' Detritussaurus and discussed the process. Then I had each student draw a head, then pass the paper to their left. The next person added a leg. Next person: an arm or leg. Then an appendage: arm, head, wing, leg, tail, etc. Then two hands, two feet, or one of each. ETC. When the paper reached the original owner, they had to create a suitable environment (cave, under water, tree branches, sky, pocket, kitchen, cell membrane) for their creature and give it a name. Excellent results.

Today, after looking at Romare Bearden, I had the students convey the idea of "spoiled brat" through collage. Tommorrow we will try some layering.

I pulled/based both of these ideas from the readings for this week, and both assignments engaged all of the students.

"Have colleges, in their efforts to keep graduation rates high and students happy, dumbed down their curriculums?" This was from that article. We say this almost daily about the high school where I teach. There seems to be a constant dumbing down. We need to change the way we teach as people (students) change without putting true learning in jeopardy. I'm not always sure what that looks like.

I noticed on the Exploration Page 1 Karen's photo from the Manhattan Bridge. On the bus back from New York this past Monday, I sat next to a man who was flipping through graffiti photos that he'd taken while in the city. The images were amazing. He gave me the name of this website http://5ptz.com/graff/about/ that exhibits this work as well as explains the brain behind it. Graffiti artists from around the world (as well as musicians, break dancers, photographers, and filmakers) have a public space in queens where this style of artwork is celebrated in accordance with NYC laws. 5ptz (5 pointz) stands for the 5 boroughs of New York which they say has the "reputation as an epicenter of the graffiti scene." This site explains the founder and curator, Jonathan Cohen's mission statement and aspirations to form a school for graffiti artists with a full curriculum. It's really interesting.

Cohen, Jonathan. "5 Pointz." http://5ptz.com/graff/about/ 12 Jan. 2011.

I have not seen this Laura. I may have to give it a go at some point.