OPTION 1: LAND-BASED ART CREATION
1. Spend at least 10 minutes outside in nature.* This could be in your yard, a park, on an apartment balcony, etc. Be still (seated, lying down) or slow (standing, walking) so that you can be present to your surroundings. Just be in the space for 10+ minutes, interacting with nature and noticing your 5 senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, hear).
2. After 10+ minutes begin to explore the outdoor space around you. Find a place to create a land-based art piece. Collect objects within the environment and arrange them to create your land-based piece.
3. Photograph your piece to submit along with your journal entry.
4. Journal entry: Complete a 500-700 word, double-spaced journal write-up that explores your artistic process and applications to teaching.
At first, I faced difficulty with choosing a theme for my visual art creation. I made the decision to take a walk outside and gather any loose items found on the ground. Due to the crazy winds a couple of weeks ago in Regina, I was able to find several different items for this assignment. When I got back home, I looked out my living room window and then came to the realization that I should base my creation off of this view. Out my window is a large tree, which is what the branch in the creation resembles. Then, there is a bay with several houses inside. I was unsure what to use for the houses, so I got creative and used an old box that was about to be recycled. I cut this box into different sizes and painted each piece in a few different colours. The pieces of pine tree resemble small trees and bushes surrounding the other houses. Lastly, the leaves at the bottom of the large branch resemble my front yard.
While working with these natural art materials, I learned that creativity has no boundaries. Additionally, my imagination was essential in the creation of this piece. I used my imagination to choose what each object resembles, making it very unique. As I was creating the houses, I was not going to paint them any colour. However, I realized that my neighbourhood brings me joy and I wanted to show that through this creation. Therefore, I made the decision to paint the houses bright colours to resemble the happiness that I feel when looking at my neighbourhood. Another emotion that stood out during this process was sadness as I collected the pieces from outside. Due to the wind storm a couple of weeks ago, there were pieces of a tree spread out all over the area. It made me quite upset to see how destroyed it was outside in some areas. However, I began to feel happy when I realized that I can turn this disaster into a beautiful piece of art.
Since I want to teach grade one, this project could be easily adapted for that level. Before I begin anything, I could have a discussion with the students about the activity we will be doing. I will explain that as we are outside, to look around and try to remember anything that stands out to them. Then, the students are taken outside to individually collect leaves, sticks, or anything else that might be found on the ground. As the students collect these materials, they will place them into their own bags. At this point, I will remind them once again to look around and think of anything that stands out to them. Once we get back into the school, the students will take their findings and create a picture with them. For this picture, they could create something that stood out to them while outside. If they could not think of anything from the walk outside, it could be a creation of any happy moment, object, or scene. The students could create their picture on either a white or coloured piece of paper, depending on their preference.
One of the key points in my educational philosophy is that students should have the chance to complete process-based art. I do believe that there are benefits to product-based art, such as learning how to follow specific steps, but sometimes allowing a child’s creativity to flourish is beneficial as well. This type of art project allows for each child to follow their own creative minds, resulting in a unique outcome. Perhaps, allowing children to complete process-based art could become beneficial in the future towards independence. Their independence could excel in the future because they have been given opportunities while growing up to follow their own instincts.