lovlee, you put it all so well ...

-----Original Message-----
From: Practitioner-Researcher [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lee Nicole Scott
Sent: 01 March 2010 11:29 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Educational influences

Hi Karen and all

thanks for sending the pic , I love the fact that the youngsters chose to make a sculpture/ artwork out of sweets- it actually makes a hell-of-a statement doesn't it! A pretty luscious statement?  you know, I teach Fashion and Textile design students at the Durban university of Technology-( I teach drawing and illustration and two and three dimensional design) and that building up of confidence even at a tertiary level is just as important as with little people. We have students with no drawing/art experience what so ever and they need to be built up just as much as the students that draw/paint beautifully, but in a different kind of way. As Joan Conolly says we are all performers, with the students as our audience and we are entertaining them in such a way that they want to be a part of the performance. And very simply if one is enjoying the learning then one will improve- one will grow.

Have a great week and keep creating.

lovlee
________________________________________
From: Practitioner-Researcher [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Karen Thompson [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 24 February 2010 12:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Educational influences

Dear Lee
This is so true of many children -no matter where they are. You have summed up what it is about being creative -and that is about feeling good about doing something and creating a piece of work in any medium -music, painting, dance, sculpture - and taking part in the process.
I have seen this happen too, where children who were previously not really engaged (I think it was Dylan Wiliam who called them 'radiator children' because they sit next to the radiator and stare out of the window) who then suddenly discover a creative talent and blossom.

There was a lesson for me here too - I did a three day workshop on Family Arts where parents and children came in to school (age range 4 - 7 yrs) and made things out of packaging, paper, sweets and all kinds of stuff. The general theme was 'Childhood Memories' and parents brought in pictures, old album covers and memorabilia from their own childhoods. We then had four areas in the school hall where people made things with their child, helped by teaching assistants. It was wonderful creative mayhem. They made robots from food packaging, and mobiles and 'shoe pictures' and all kinds of stuff!

Some of the boys made amazing things and also used 'photoshopping' on my laptop to 'change' the pictures they had taken of sweets they had arranged into shapes and patterns. (I was amazed they didn;t try to eat them, but they didn;t!). I went back in to the school some time after to do a watercolour class with them in the classroom situation, and to my surprise I discovered that some of the boys I had worked with on the Family Arts day were not, as I had assumed from their active engagement and creative skill , in the top academic attainment of the class. However, because they had sudeenly started to achieve and create, they improved academically - just like you said Lee, they had found 'something' and started to do better all round.

My lesson was that I should not assume that because these pupils were so wonderfully creative and enthusiastic in the session,  that they were also achieving academically. It's probably the opposite in many cases.  As I had never met them before, I had not considered this aspect and didn't really think about it. So now I do.
They were also with a parent or grandparent or uncle or aunt. They could 'show off' their talents to someone who mattered to them, and be praised for it. The parents also talked about when they had fun in school and said they too enjoyed working with their child.
That's most important - everything is so serious and we should allow a bit more fun. Enjoyment. Happiness.

As pictures speak louder than words, I have attached a couple. (The school is a small Infant school and is not in an economically rich area - quite the opposite.)
Thanks Lee for making this real!....KOOOOLLLL!
Love
Karen



-----Original Message-----
From: Lee Nicole Scott <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 8:52
Subject: Re: Educational influences


Dear Andy-hi
I very much believe that creativity raises confidence levels and with that help
to develop aspirations. I know this because I was one of those funny kids in
junior school that didn't belong, picked on,(sob, sob)(I laugh at my self!) and
was only happy on my own in the bush. (I grew up in Zimbabwe on a farm) Because
I was so 'alone', I, at the age of 9 in standard 3, was failing and the thought
of being held back a year was devastating. Then something happened, I discovered
I could do something better than anyone else, I could draw and paint and the
kids in my class now looked up to me. Because of this recognition I passed std 3
and have not stopped creating since then. Being a creative person and being an
artist and acknowledging I am an educator, is a life style. My sense of well
being/self worth is very much connected /intertwined with being an artist. I
want people to feel good about themselves , even in the minutest way, so they
can grow and be able to face the challenges of life.

 That belief in self that was fostered in those young years because of that one
monumental, yet very small incident( I can still see the painting in my head
that I was working on in class that day), has stayed with me. I want to and do,
I think, foster in people this sense of self worth that I believe happens with
the actions of being creative.

Thank you for sending your core values and principles.

With love from another 'living contradiction'! I like being a living
contradiction-soooo kool!

Cheers
lee

-----Original Message-----
From: Practitioner-Researcher [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Andrew Henon
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 1:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Educational influences

Dear Jack and the practitioner researcher forum

I have been working with an action learning set convened by Arts Council
England South West. A group of the foremost practitioners in the field of
socially engaged arts and work with Children and young People specialism. We
have now had 5 days residential and will reconvene on 11th March to decide
the future direction our work together may take, or not?

Since my first studies in Design and Fine Art. The discipline required that
someone embarking on a career as and artist or designer write their own brief
first. This is for a number of reasons primarily because it was considered that
a
designer or artist has significant influence in the world by what they bring
into
being and that one had to have a clear ethical view or direction in your work in
order to decide the levels of compromise you are willing to accept or not with
a commissioners of your services, process or products. Here responsibility for
bringing work into the world lies jointly between the designer and the
commissioner as embodied values, implicit in the work and explicit in it's use.

In education there are for me extra layers to be considered with regard to
meaning and purpose some of which I hope are clearly stated in the attached.

I offer the attached for any comment and feedback but as a contribution
regarding educational influences and the link between 'Intent' and 'Influence'

With love and best wishes Andy


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