Pedagogy of hope : reliving Pedagogy of the oppressed (Book, 1994) [University of Oregon Libraries]

Pedagogy of hope : reliving Pedagogy of the oppressed (Book, 1994) [University of Oregon Libraries]

Theatre of the oppressed (Book, 1985) [University of Oregon Libraries]

Theatre of the oppressed (Book, 1985) [University of Oregon Libraries]

Request for Artists and Talents

Request for Artists and Talents
The Mills International Center Gallery, the Cultural Forum and ICSP at the University of Oregon invite you to the
2010 Art Show Planning
Submission Deadline: November 20, 2009
Talented people working with dance, music, performance, video, photography, story telling, poetry or any other kind of creative activity are invited to bring images of their work, and present their talents in order to be invited for the next Winter Art Exhibit and its opening reception, at the Mills Center and Buzz Café. Group show proposals will also be considered.
The Art Show, will be a good opportunity to integrate art and diversity in our community, as well as, to plan, to organize and to promote our own event as cultural workers.
We will have our planning meeting at the end of Nov. If you want to receive requests to make this event happen, please contact, Kelly Tavares quasarte@yahoo.com.br To know more details about the Art Show and next meetings. You may also call me at 541 687 6742
I look forward to work with you!
Sincerely,
Kelly Tavares

Holy Encounters Thank you letter

Thank you all for your presence and support.
It was the first time I helped to organize an Art exhibit (I only participated as artist).
It was a great pleasure to organize the "Holy Encounters " and also a challenging task, too.
I would like to express my feelings here and share with you some of my overall impressions.
For me, the event was a real holy encounter. Because I had a deep experience to reflect and feel the dimension and importance of each of you in my life.
I didn't relax as much as I wanted to (I need to re learn that), because I wanted everything to be perfect for us. To take care of each one, even if it is impossible to do on these occasions.
I felt like the mother who organizes the first birthday party of her child, sometimes so worried on hosting the guests that forgets to relax, take the pictures and enjoy the party.
With this experience I hope to improve on the following events.
I leave my best wishes for each of you!
Please feel free to send this to your friends who were present on the event.

War In Rio Da Janeiro Slums (35 pics) » AcidCow.com - videos, pictures, celebs, flash games

War In Rio Da Janeiro Slums (35 pics) » AcidCow.com - videos, pictures, celebs, flash games

"Holy Encounters" Photography Exhibit

Mills International Center and Cultural Forum
Music/Arts - Exhibit
Friday, October 23, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Exhibition through Dec 18th everyday from 9 am to 9 pm
Location: Mills International Center
in the EMU above the Post Office
More works on display at: Aperture Gallery and Buzz Cafe

Eugene, OR

The Mills International Center Gallery and the Cultural Forum invites you to experience India in a new way. During Fall term the photography of local photographers Mark Morris and Ankush Vimawala will be displayed in the Mills International Center (located in the EMU above the post office),in the Aperture Gallery and Buzz Café both in the EMU Building, at the University of Oregon. The Ohio-born and India-raised Ankush Vimawala now works as a software engineer in Eugene while enjoying hobbies such as photography and playing the Indian hand drums (Tabla). His photography has been showcased at various places such as the Eugene Mayor’s art show, and art galleries around the country.We invite you to the Exhibit’s opening reception on Friday October 23rd from 6:30-9pm in the Mills International Center (in the EMU above the post office) where Ankush will be playing with his band Bindaas. Come enjoy the cozy “living room” like atmosphere of the Mills Center Gallery. Bindaas’s carefree Indian melodies will be a great backdrop to enjoy the wonderfully crafted documentary shots of India. Mark Morris' and Ankush’s photography translates the eclecticism of Indian culture—the colors and the chaos.Fundraising for an Indian family: Photographer Mark Morris will donate the money of any piece sold for the family he supports in India.The exhibit was curated by the Mills Center Exhibit Curator Kelly Tavares. To know more about this event access:http://quasarte.blogspot.com/2009/09/holy-encounters-photography-exhibit.html#links

P.S: We are looking for two volunteers to help to set up the art works on Oct 17th. If you want to help, please contact: quasarte@yahoo.com.br

Edition by Kelly Tavares and Callie Wheeler

Holy Encounters Photography Exhibit

(Above) Photo by: Mark Morris

(Down)

Photo by: Ankush Vimawala. Digital Photography, 'Goat', India

Holy Encounters Photography Exhibit

Holy Encounters is the title of the photography exhibition that shows us an India that we don’t know at all. Ankush Vimawala and Mark Morris have two passions in common, one for India and another for photography.

From October to December, their works will be on display on an exhibit at the Mills International Center Gallery, in the Aperture Gallery and Buzz Café both in the EMU Building, at the University of Oregon. The opening reception will start at 6:30 pm on Friday Oct 23^rd. In addition, to the photography we will have the pleasure of enjoying Ankush’s band, Bindaas[1]. If you have not heard them before, this would be a great opportunity to do so. The reception will include light refreshments, music, and Art in the cozy environment of the Mills Center Gallery “living room”, located in the EMU above the post office. You will be nearly placed into a meditative trance by the Zen like atmosphere created by Bindaas and its musicians: Ankush Vimawala on Tabla and Jeremy Wegner on Sitar and Sarod. In addition, if you are a curious type of a person you may take advantage of the moment to appreciate the pictures and the wonderful people that will be gracing us with their presence at this event.

Ankush presents his careful craftsmanship in this exhibit. He spends much of his after-work time in the manufacturing of the frames and on final touches in the digital lab he spends much of his after-work time. The time he devotes to treat and find an aesthetic touch for each of his compositions gives us the clues to understand them. After seeing them, you may find yourself contemplating the “whys” of them. Why so much effort? What motivates him? And these are some questions that you might ask him in person when you arrive at the opening reception.

More than documentary pictures of his country, we may see a pictorial edition using Photoshop. More than meticulous regulated sharp shot we see the way he works with this technological range of colors and contrasts. His works translates the eclecticism of Indian culture, the colors, the chaos, which are alien to us, causing what art is meant to cause… reflection, uneasiness and a strange kind of pleasure.

Mark Morris was born in Eugene and works as with agronomy on Indian farms. He joined the gallery motivated by its philosophy (bringing culture for the local community and supporting local artists). His goal is to share his experience and stories in India through his photography and to connect with the Indian community in Eugene. Mark also became motivated by the idea of sending the money of the sold photography to an Indian family that he supports in..., India.

This is an opportunity to meet people who have a passion or a curiosity about India and art. It is like preparing the luggage for the next trip. Each person brings a new point of view, a different perspective. It is as if each individual were a piece of the world’s multicultural puzzle. I hope we will be able to build connections and understand that, above all, we are world citizens and that we are not only American, Brazilian or Indian, but Worldians. We are involved in a task that is fed by people’s energy and that keeps us searching for the other pieces of this puzzle.

This exhibit is part of a larger annual celebration that takes place in November. The International Education Week (IEW) is a national event dedicated to honor the cultural diversity of the world. The week brings people together and offers the country an opportunity to be really united. It uniting the States of America and promoting meetings like this one.

The Mills International Center will host a homage to India and to the new president of the University, Richard Lariviere[2] who has strong connections with the Indian culture.

The IEW at the University of Oregon has been built with the dedication of a diverse group of people with the intent to broaden frontiers and organize an event where the Indian community can share their culture, points-of-views as well as build the moment with local community interests about India.

This will be a week full of interesting things to that may currently lie outside our knowledge. Certainly, those who gather will take full advantage of the “encounter”. For those of us already involved in organizing the event, it has been an experience that will be with us for the rest of our lives.

At this point you might have asked yourself why “Holy Encounter”? To answer this question you will definitely need to visit the exhibit and find out why. Come make part of this Holy Encounter at the opening reception on Friday, October 23^rd, from 6:30- 7 pm at the Mills International Center Gallery Remember also the International Education Week on November 16^th to 20^th .

See you there!

I'd like to thanks Callie Wheeler for the review!

[1] http://www.myspace.com/bindaasmusic

[2] http://president.uoregon.edu/biography/

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=138570159703&ref=mf

.

LOwer City Cidade Baixa

Ensaio crítico de Kelly Tavares:

Cidade Baixa

Lower City

Director:

Sergio Machado

Cast:

Lazaro Ramos, Wagner Moura, Alice Braga, Jose Dumont

Cidade baixa or Lower City is a powerful movie that adopts a very specific site in Salvador city one of overwhelming and boiling capitals of the Brazilian culture. Instead of being on common places the movie adopts a controversial plot that leads the spectator to an also intriguing environement. These emotional turbulences that permeate the story may be misunderstood by North Americans due to the Cultural differences and values. But if you're able to see over the lenses and pre concepts you may have some insights about human nature.

Sometimes, knowing the culture of a determined place is fundamental to better understand the symbols and icons of an art work.

I myself don't like violence and sexual appeals to gather the audience in a movie. Although I could understand the way these topics were explored in this movie and I could defend this point based on the symbols that it contains and on my culture as a Brazilian. Of course it doesn't redeem the strong appealing that sensual scenes evoque on our instincts, specially when their created in such a hot and primitive way. The way of senses and primitive desire, pure flesh desire, later converted in equal powerful and uncontrolled, devastating love.

All these points are due to a life stile that generates that. It is on everyday Brazilian newspapers fragmented narratives of lives involved on misery and lack of perspectives.

On this movie we have an opportunity to go further the official” facts printed on the news, we have an opportunity to understand social relations and human feelings that may flow under specific situations according to place and culture.

For those who were terrified with the rooster’s fight, should had written at the end where there was a clear note regarding the rights of this animals and clarifying that they weren’t taken to death and it was also part of the fiction. Although, they were describing a crude reality that is going on everyday in many places despite the laws’ restrictions. The symbolism between black and white related to the rooster’s colors has a direct relation between the fight that both friends will get through against one another later and also implies the racial conflicts that still enclose our cultures and it is explicit more as a matter of fact then as an implicit incentive to violence. In the contrary, the close ups on the eyes of the protagonists at the very end of the movie reveals the complicity of these friends whose eyes clearly shows the consciousness of their irrational fight. That is a final moment of redeem, after a violent catharsis.

For those who expected a happy end a social perspective as the directors proposal, I answer that the eyes close- ups were this subjective and subliminal message of love, comprehension and friendship as an alternative to the social miseries of our cruel world.

If they would finally get to a peaceful understanding and deal who knows. The authors knowledgeably lets the end rests on its on chance, without a resolution. As a metaphor to the fact that life goes with its incongruence. As a message that transmits the inability of the cinema and of art to solve social problems itself. A moral quote at the end would put on risk the quality of the movie and compromise the subtleness of the messages implicit in the body language.

For those who doesn't know

how to gather Brazillian movies I recommend Netflix. It's an affordable way to have access to inumerous titles.

Mulheres que dançam com lobos

Para mitos de arquetipos da natureza selvagem feminina recomendo o livro:

Exploring Eastern Oregon

Here is te rout the steps to the desert and hotsprings.
The idea is to organize a small caravan. Put nice people together, camp and cook on fire camps, tell stories and swim.

एक्सप्लोरिंग एअस्तेर्नोरेगों

Seal Moons

Ola Pessoal,

Nesta série de fotografias divido com vcs o prazer que fiz em desenvolvê-la. Espero que apreciem e agradeço caso possam contribuir com feedback.

Estou pensando em fazer um pequeno video com as fotografias das "Seal Moons" realizando uma trajétória imaginária.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/quasarte/page2/
Um grande abraço.

Seal Moons

The “Seal Moons” photographic series suggests the presence of nature and cosmos. The aesthetical result evokes Native Americans’ myths related to the moon and animals. The blurriness of these images inspired me to create this analogy that goes beyond the potential of a sharp image that a telephoto lens would give me if I had used it.

In this case, the ability to overcome the predetermined limits of the equipments involved on the creative process is a way to the artistic expression and it has been a challenge on my photographic search.

Luas de foca

A série fotográfica “Seal Moons”, sugere a presença da natureza e do cosmos. O resultado estético evoca mitos de diferentes povos indígenas americanos onde a lua e animais se relacionam. O aspecto embaçado dessas imagens me inspiraram a criar esta analogia que vai além do potencial de uma imagem nítida que uma lente telebjetiva teria me dado se eu a tivesse utilizado.

Neste caso, a habilidade de ultrapassar os limites predeterminados dos equipamentos envolvidos no processo criativo é um caminho para a expressão artítica em si e tem sido um desafio na minha busca da arte através da fotografia.

Half Drawings

Estes desenhos foram realizados pelos alunos que estão participando do TOT's Program na Escola Cesar Chavez, em fevereiro de 2009.

A proposta foi que fizessem dois desenhos e depois escolhessem um para realizar uma atividade surpresa. Quando as crianças terminaram os desenhos sugeri que os cortasse ao meio e escolhessem um amigo para fazer uma "quebra-cabeças". As crianças gostaram do resultado e decidiram incluir todos os desenhos, fixando-os juntos como uma narrativa visual.

English

These drawings were developed by the students who are participating on the TOT's Program at Cesar Chavez Elementary School. Through this proposal they did a collective arrangement of their production. Feb. 2009

Courtney's Building

Este trabalho foi desenvolvido por Courtney, a partir de minha proposta inicial.

This work was developed by Courtney, 19 years-old. At Cesar Chavez, on March, 2009. She developed a variation for the first work I proposed.

Essay about Gerald Graff’s[1] text: Our undemocratic curriculum

Despite innumerous laws created in the US to guarantee the liberty of expression, we still fight against a lot of distorted ideas that blur the edges between liberty and repression.
Graff criticizes the American educational system analyzing some obstacles that undertake students’ development of critical thinking and argumentation. He points out the situation as a matter of neglecting information or academic preparation, perpetuated by a kind of paternalistic system, built on some “non-spoken taboos.” He emphasizes his opinion stating the existence of an obscure non verbal message implicit in the academic intellectual world.
According to the author, this “symptom” has its origins in the earlier years of elementary education, when the school curricula and teachers neglected the children’s capacity of argumentation as a natural need of expression.
Although, he considers the necessity to level differences between poor and rich students on educational system he recognizes that it can’t be narrowed by educational institutions alone, because these differences are consequences of a broader socio-economic problem.
Despite innumerous stimuly such as texts, subjects, intellectual perspectives and ideas, the educational system still fails in helping many students to assimilate this information, as it fails to teach the meaning and importance of learning.
These gaps drain the chances of academic success and imply that the student doesn’t correspond to the university expectations, redirecting the guilt to the student or to a previous education. As a consequence, students tend to be less critical and independent, seeing complaining or arguing as undesirable responses.
This lack of preparation is due to the lack of a standardized curriculum and connectivity between university studies and high school preparation. A curriculum formulated to teach argumentation and critical thinking to the students, to facilitate academic comprehension about academy itself, to represent the students’ skills, and to minimize students’ anxiety when they get into college.
However, Graff doesn’t blame only high schools for this problem, but also universities, which only recently, have been adding some preparation courses to the curriculum, in order to prepare students and to anticipate what is expected from them as scholars. He also points out that these institutions still offer privileges to the top students in prejudice of standard ones.
The author defends that to privilege ones and not others is an error of segregation, and clarifies that even the more complex ideas need, sometimes, to be put in simpler ways in order to be achieved and understood.
Another important point has to do with the excess of cognitive learning in the curriculum, what, in his opinion, overwhelms students who don’t get to the practical stage of understanding, changing, and applying ideas.
It’s urgent for students to understand the importance of argumentation connecting different subjects and also to argue within their professional careers. Educators need to cultivate argumentation by connecting each situation with students’ previous experiences in everyday life.
To conclude, Graff defends the necessity of curriculum standardization, what, in my opinion, is something very delicate: although I agree with him in many topics, standardized exams or curricula don’t guarantee students’ competency in using critical thinking and creative skills.
Regarding to national educational policies standard, schools’ list of prohibited subjects constitutes a barrier for students and teachers to develop argumentation, and this recipe seems to be extended until the university environment despite the particularities of each. Then, the first idea of democracy looses its strength and undemocratic circumstances take place.
To illustrate the author’s experience I would like to add some examples. This occurrence has to do with cultural elements of my country related with cultural differences that I am dealing with here.
I am teaching art classes at an elementary school for k-2 children, in Oregon state. In order to know a little more about the students’ comprehension of art and to prepare a pre test based on this content, I prepared an exercise using some of my pictures. My photographs have a lot to do with art concepts and its cultural elements. One of them is an artistic photograph[2], taken in Paris and it shows a street scene with a glass of beer and people passing by the streets, but the most interesting thing of this shot is not focused on the liquid itself but at the external scene reflected on it, what gives an aesthetical result to this photograph.
Two of these photographs show folkloric manifestations of music and celebration to illustrate the art languages of music, chant and dance, and another photograph of the “Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral”, in Florence, Italy.
Due to the federal laws that reserve some parents the right to prohibit their children to have exposure of images related to religion, alcohol, nudity, how can art teachers teach about folklore, architecture, Renaissance and about whatever image that expose a nude body in a photograph, sculpture, or painting, if these themes are surrounded by taboos and restrictions?
Where is the teacher freedom of expression to tell children that churches, popular religious celebrations, and many other manifestations are cultural elements as well and that these same elements are important to understand some art works?
In my case, the “beer” photograph was contested by the teacher and I was requested to change it. The folklore photographs were contested, too. But why wasn’t the cathedral photograph wasn’t contested the same way? Because it is an European monument of Renaissance? But it’s equally a religious art full of symbolism. How could I make the teacher understand what I wanted to mean through my photographs, if she told me that I am allowed to teach culture, but not religion? She emphasized the fact because she had two students whose parents’ religion prohibited them to discuss the theme.
But art has not to do with religious pre concepts, then, I answered her: “Thanks for your advice. I changed the beer picture. I am not religious, and I don’t agree with religious education at school as well.” I kept the folklore and the cathedral pictures, though.
Now I ask myself, what should I do? Disconnect the facts in order to attend to distorted ideas of law? Of “creed liberty?” Cultivate the fear of speech and sacrifice my liberty of expression? “Mask” discussions or don’t mean them? What is the right of these two parents to deprive the other children of this classroom the right to understand what does religion mean as a cultural element? Isn’t it worth discussing the importance to choose whatever religion or not to choose any, or even to understand the importance to know and respect other religions, without taking sides?
When I studied or photographed religious manifestations, celebrations, naked bodies or glasses of beer my mind concentrated into the aesthetics elements of each of these experiences. My art expression shows the infinity of possibilities and points of view, with respect and comprehension to the diversity of each of these manifestations. I consider the power of images and icons, within sociologic, historical and artistic perspective. These same photographs were done with integrity and they are supposed to be seen and discussed for everyone, at any age, and in any situation of a democratic culture.
Another example happened at a different group where I work with Hispanic children, once a week, on a two-month project. I observed the occurrence of drawings with violent themes and inquired myself and the children about the reasons that are driving them to give such emphasis to violence. I also inquired if their teachers allow them to make such drawings in their class hours. The answer was no. Now, I am developing a project with this group to work with this repressed theme and to take advantages of their expressions to expose my own opinion about violence. I am developing different techniques to confront their idea of violence with the consequences of violence in real life. I observed through their narratives that, their idea of violence is generated from other virtual forms of representation such as video games and movies of their preference. Now, I am analyzing their immediate inquiries and occurrences and creating responses as soon as they occur, or lately on subsequent classes.
For example, M. a 6 year old student made a very violent and expressive drawing, then, I asked him to lend me his drawing because I would like to study it and understand the reasons that make some children do these kind of works. He suspected of my strange answer and agreed to borrow it. In my way home, I started a trajectory of inquiries which are driving me to a more complex process far from having a simple complete answer. However, I assumed the position to defend a project based on inquiry and argumentation, having each start based on our weekly class productions. Then, on the next class I brought two different images, to discuss the occurrence of violent themes on art representations. The first was M.’ s drawing and the second the “May 3”, a painting of Francisco Goya from the nineteenth century. I showed these images and we confronted both M.’s drawing and Goya’s painting. We briefly talked about the different reasons that have drawn M. and Goya to produce such representations and we also talked about some painful consequences of violence and war.
To conclude that moment I brought an image of Seurat’s painting (Sunday in Gran Jatte Island, from 1884) and asked them: “If you have the chance to choose one of these places to live, which of them would you choose?” Promptly, they chose the peaceful landscape of Seurat.
I realized that we started a reflecting process that is still been developed on the classes. On subsequent meetings, while M. was drawing other violent scenery, he asked me: “Why don’t you prohibit us to draw violent themes?” and I had the opportunity to explain: “Doing so I have the opportunity to discuss with you about the difference of drawing and committing violence in real life. I can teach you why violence is bad and that we are happier when we live on peace”.
When I said that, I. a 8 year-old boy who enjoys to draw violent scenes, said: “I don’t like violence, this is just a drawing. I would not make violence.”
M. decided to make and confront his violent drawing with another one he did representing a peaceful site. With these inquiries I don’t have the pretension to change their mind completely, but at least teach them that is possible to exercise their freedom of expression, their capacity of argumentation to think about delicate topics and to reconstruct ideas through debating. The appeal for violence is advertised everyday on different media, and these children are exposed to these powerful marketing products, without protection as if it were, and in fact is, part of their lives, even if, it is just the virtual part of it.
After this class, I exposed the occurrence to the program’s supervisor, in order to call her attention for this occurrence and propose a discussion about the violence theme with parents in a special meeting.

[1] Graff, Gerald. Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind. New
Haven: Yale UP, 2003.
[2] http://www.flickr.com/photos/quasarte/page2/

Cenários Criativos (Detalhe)

Little John at the balconi.

This is a detail of my own version, a photo interference with a hand made character that plays a role and appears on different windows of this scenery.

March, 2009.

Joãozinho na varanda.

Kelly Tavares

Cenários criativos

Cenários criados com folders da exposição de George Tice no JSMA, março de 2009.

Tais cenários, pré-cortados, foram entregues a alunos do ensino elementar, para que pudessem criar seus próprios personagens, histórias e outras versões utilizando um ou mais folders.

Infelizmente, neste encontro não fotografei os resultados . Estou devendo essa!

English

These pre-cut sceneries were given to a group of elementary students. In order to give them the primary materials to create their own characters, stories and aesthetical versions using one or more folders.

This activity may be done with the students drawings, too. Unfortunately, on this meeting I didn't photograph their final products.

Cenários criativos

Utilizando material reciclável e minha criatividade para criar novas propostas para a aula de artes, bolei uma atividade específica para o grupo da escola Cesar Chavez: Propus a elaboração de um cenário com a utilização da fotografia de George Tice impressa, no folder de sua exposição. Aproveitei para divulgar a exposição, que no momento está ocorrendo no Jordan S. Museum e para apresentar-lhes a minha idéia e proposta para a aula.
Criei um mini-personagem desenhado e recortado num papel amarelo e coloquei-o em uma das janelas recortadas. Enquanto apresentava, acidentalmente, deixei o personagem cair da janela e ir parar no chão. Neste caso a trajédia virou comédia e rimos juntos do “acidente”. O ocorrido foi suficiente para estimular as crianças e realizarem suas próprias versões utilizando o mesmo material. Criaram diferentes apresentações e personagens e depois brincaram com seus próprios cenários, interagindo com seus colegas.
Ao sair apresentaram os resultados a seus pais que tiveram reações variadas. Alguns prestaram atenção na narrativa criada por seus filhos e outros não deram a mesma importância.
O aluno M. me indagou porque eu não proíbia a realização de desenhos violentos. Eu respondi que aproveitava a situação para discutir com eles a cerca da violência e de suas consequências. Para fazer perguntas e discutir questões. Que porém não permitia a violência ou a propaganda da violência como algo bom ou positivo. Após ouvir minha resposta, M. decidiu utilizar duas “fachadas”, criando um lado “bom”, com pessoas alegres festejando e outro “ruim”, contendo cenas violentas e algumas rajadas de “sangue”. Ele não o fez para ser aceito por mim apenas. Pois eu já o havia aceito mesmo quando fazia as cenas violentas. Na minha opinião ele representou aquilo que compreendeu de minha resposta. Me apresentou sua versão explicando as cenas e eu completei dizendo que seu trabalho representava as coisas como na vida real, que tem coisas boas e ruins acontecendo pelo mundo.

Desenhos com temas violentos algumas intervenções

"3 de Maio" Francisco Goya, 1814

"Um domingo a tarde na Ilha de Grand Jatte", Georges Seurat, 1884.

Tenho realizado um trabalho semanal com o mesmo grupo de seis crianças latinas, na escola elementar Cesar Chavez. Já estamos no nosso quinto encontro. A incidência de temas violentos se reflete nas histórias improvisadas, nos desenhos e nas relações criadas com as produções artísticas.

Preparei uma segunda aula trazendo uma imagem de Francisco Goya para discussão em aula. Perguntei sobre quais seriam os motivos que levaram o artista a realizar a pintura do 3 de maio confrontando com uma pintura de Seurat (Domingo na ilha de Grand Jatte 1884) e com o desenho de M. de seis anos. Um aluno de 12 anos concluiu que os motivos que levam as crianças a fazer desenhos violentos é a exposição a videos games e filmes violentos.
Já o aluno I. de 8 anos acredita que Goya realizou a pintura sobre o 3 de Maio não porque gosta da violência, mas porque desejaria mostrar as pessoas como é a guerra.
Quando os indaguei a respeito do lugar onde desejaria estar, se na pintura de Seurat ou na de Goya, todos concordaram que o Domingo a tarde... seria um lugar mais feliz para se viver.

Numa aula subsequente o aluno M. me indagou porque eu não proíbia a realização de desenhos violentos. Eu respondi que aproveitava a situação para discutir com eles a cerca da violência e de suas consequências. Para fazer perguntas e discutir questões. Que porém não permitia a violência ou a propaganda da violência como algo bom ou positivo.

Inúmeros detalhes vão ocorrendo enquanto as crianças se engajam em suas produções e eu buscando maneiras de intervir e aproveitar as situações. Um exemplo, quando estavamos trabalhando com a confecção de cenário utilizando os folders da exposição do museu, A. de 8 anos, criou dois personagens e começou a representar uma história. De repente um de seus personagens corta a perna e ele me conta empolgado sobre a situação. Eu lamento o ocorrido e digo a ele que rapidamente o outro personagem precisa ligar para a emergência e socorrer seu amigo. A. demonstra-se um pouco desapontado com minha resposta e eu sorrio para ele sem dizer mais nada. Este exemplo ilustra uma das saídas que encontrei para levá-lo a refletir sobre o momento. Demonstrei, sem maiores explicações, minha opinião. Deixando implícito que não me divirto com acontecimentos violentos ou acidentes e aproveitando-o para orientá-lo como deveria agir numa situação real.

Desenhos Violentos, Violent Drawings

02-19-09
English

This Drawing was done by M. a 6-year-old boy. It is wrinkled because he was hidding the drawing and affraid of being repressed.
It took me a while to convince him to show me and to have an open conversation about it.


O desenho esta amassado porque ele estava escondendo o desenho por medo de represália. Levei um tempo para conseguir convencê-lo que não iria reprimi-lo por ser um desenho violento e depois conversamos um pouco sobre o tema.

Enquete:

When the children make drawings about violent themes as murders and war, we have to...

Repress the excecution of such themes, especially in class.

Take advantage of the occurence and discuss and inquiry about violence, as well as present examples of other professionals or artistas who work with violent themes to express their ideas.

Orient the child that is not appropriate to draw such themes especially in the classroom and because the world is already full of violence and wars.

Understand the reasons that draw a child to express violent themes.

If you have another answer or suggestion, please add your comment in this section.


Português

Enquete:

Quando a criança desenha temas violentos como assassinatos e guerras devemos...

Reprimir a execução de tais desenhos.

Aproveitar a ocorrência de tal tema para discutir, levantar questões e apresentar exemplo de outros profissionais ou artistas que trabalharam com a imagem da violência para exprimir suas idéias.

Orientar a criança que não é conveniente desenhar sobre tais temas especialmente em uma sala de aula.

Compreender porque a criança utiliza o tema da violência em seu desenho.

Caso tenha outra resposta ou sugestão favor acrescentar o comentário nesta seção do blog.

ArtsBridge at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

Brazilian

Culture

Classes

Work developed at Howard Elementary School, Eugene, Oregon, USA, 2009.

All the pictures were taken by Siena. She is a k-2 student and demonstrated a strong ability for photography.

Creative Folding

Arts Bridge Program at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

Creative Folding Activity

Some results at Howard Elementary School, K-2, Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Every week a child is trained by Siena, to take pictures of the class.
All the pictures in this sequence were taken by Amber, a 2nd grade student.

Creative Folding

Creative Folding

We started through a Spanish story that was of easy comprehension. The story had many illustrations and repetitive sequences, as a never ending story type. Although the story didn’t have a direct relation with the activity that was proposed later, it helped to create a captivating environment and stimulate the children’s imagination. However, if I had a nice story related with the activity theme I would have used it, too. After the class, Ms. Calihan recommended a nice book, called: Fold me a poem.

After the story, Ms. Calihan perceived that the kids took a little while trying to create the relation with the story and the creative folding proposed. This happened because they are used to a different methodology that directly connects all the activities and makes the propositions more objective and consequently automatic. The intentional disconnection however, gave them time to think about the activity I was proposing, what explains the time they took to process it.
The objective was to propose them to find out their own starting point. This process is not easy, though. If I had given them a link with the story, they would limit their production to figurative shapes of the animals (characters) of the given story. Letting them choose their own shapes was more challenging and opened to unexpected results of original and/or abstract shapes. Knowing that, on previous classes, they had learnt some origamis, I told them that they would use the thinks they learned but also they should create their own foldings and techniques.
In fact it happened and we had different results. They reproduced some bats and puppies and created compositions with them. Others didn’t remember how to make the origamis then, they transformed the shapes, using things they remembered with inventiveness. I though it might create some conflicts but almost all of them dealt very well and enjoyed the fact that, they could do anything they want to.

Creative process involves the solution of problems. The problems vary from these kind of “creative crises”, to the solution of technical problems. These problems occur very often and they are healthy when worked to be surpassed, as many artists do when working. In this class, the recurrent problem was, how to set the shapes on a way they would be stand still, as the kids intended to do. As shown in the picture, some shapes didn’t have a base to put the glue. So, we oriented the children to make these bases and they did it with care and patience.

As a matter of themes and compositions, many of them, connected with previous works or with the project developed on their classes. They did airplanes taking off or flying, because they’re studying airplanes with Ms. Calihan. They did bats, frogs and puppies and combined them in one composition, because they learned with Ms. Yukiko on previous classes. They invented abstract and figurative forms, putting them together and even creating a story for their 3-D compositions. I couldn’t listen all of the stories but I had time to follow one by one during the process.
As a reference work to this activity, I recommend the works of Richard Serra and Amilcar de Castro.