Category Archives: Arts

Do Now #66: What Have You Learned from YouTube?

February 28, 2013, 8:39 am • Posted by Kristin Farr
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Awesome Dog Rides Turtle/YouTube

Image from video Awesome Dog Rides Turtle/YouTube

To respond to the Do Now, you can comment below or tweet your response. Be sure to begin your tweet with @KQEDEdspace and end it with #KQEDDoNow

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Do Now

YouTube has plenty of videos of crazy cats and Harlem shakers, but it's also a great place to learn new skills and information. What specific things have you learned from watching YouTube videos?

Introduction

To those who may not know, YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, view and share videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although media corporations including PBS, the BBC, CBS, Hulu, and even KQED offer some of their material via the site, as part of the YouTube partnership program. Unregistered users can watch videos, while registered users can upload an unlimited number of videos.

The company is based in San Bruno, California, and uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology to display a wide variety of user-generated video content. There are movie clips, TV shows, music lessons, make-up application tips, instructions on home repair, and so many more homemade video tutorials on YouTube. Forming a new wave of free educational resources, YouTube even has an education site featuring lectures from professors, educational animations, and more. Sal Khan's revolutionary Khan Academy was launched on YouTube and became an educational sensation.

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Three Innovative Arts Education Resources

January 25, 2013, 7:24 am • Posted by Kristin Farr
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Screen Shot 2013-01-23 at 4.29.53 PMCheck out three of our favorite resources focused on visual arts in education:

Red Studio is the Museum of Modern's Arts interactive and collaborative project with high school students in New York City. Exploring "issues and questions raised by teens about today's modern art, working artists, and what goes on behind the scenes at a museum," the site features interviews with artists and opportunities to make digital art. The image above was creative in Red Studio's REMIX interactive collage tool.

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Art Babble is like YouTube for art videos. This site was developed by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and features videos from partners including KQED, PBS's Art:21, The San Jose Museum of Art, Yerba Buena Center of the Arts, and many more, including national and international organizations. Videos are organized by medium, location, themes, and time period. There is a special section specifically for educators with classroom-appropriate videos and resources.

Screen Shot 2013-01-23 at 4.48.11 PMArt Education 2.0 is a Ning networking web site initiated by professor and educator Craig Roland. It hosts a robust collection of resources and offers many opportunities for idea sharing and networking among fellow arts educators. Membership is free, and there are currently over 12,000 active members who upload ideas, videos, and photos to share with their global community of colleagues.

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In the Studio with Kwesi Anku, Kwaku Manu, and Selasi Morgan

January 24, 2013, 12:29 pm • Posted by Kristin Farr
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DSC_0297Kwesi Anku, Kwaku Manu, and Selasi Morgan are performing artists who teach at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, CA and are members of the Bay Area's West African Music & Dance Ensemble. Originally from Ghana, they came to the states to study dance with their professor at UC Berkeley, Dr. CK Ladzekpo. They stayed in the Bay Area to spread their love of music and dance, and to offer students in Richmond an opportunity to express themselves and to use music and dance as a tool for positive change in their community.

In the latest videos from KQED Arts Eduction, Kwesi and Kwaku discuss the history of Ghana, including its independence from colonizers in 1957. They also introduce the Ghanaian version of the ABC song, the language behind their dance moves, and simple drumming rhythms that can be learned by any budding performer.

Learn more about the East Bay Center for Performing Arts at EastBayCenter.org.

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Do Now #59: Is it Art?

January 22, 2013, 2:38 pm • Posted by Kristin Farr
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Photo by Wes Naman

Photo by Wes Naman


To respond to the Do Now, you can comment below or tweet your response. Be sure to begin your tweet with @KQEDEdspace and end it with #KQEDDoNow

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Do Now

Take a look at Wes Naman's portraits of his friends faces distorted with tape. Do you consider these portraits to be fine art? Tape up your own face and take a picture. Do you feel like you engaged your creativity?

Introduction

Photographer Wes Naman created some images using his friends' faces and clear tape. Using the tape to distort their faces, Naman asked his subjects to try to remove the tape using only their facial muscles, then snapped close-ups to create his "Scotch Tape Series."

Soon after the photos were posted, they went viral, catching the attention of the media and the company that manufactures Scotch Tape. The distorted-face portraits have been called both funny and horrifying. Take a look at Naman's photographs and gauge your inner reaction. Do they make you feel a certain way? Does the fact that they're high-quality, close-up photographs affect your perception of them in a different way than a candid shot taken in someone's living room?

Many photographers use masks or facial obstruction to communicate a message in their figurative images. Ralph Eugene Meatyard is an early 20th-century photographer known for creating images that were both haunting and humorous, some featuring small children wearing Halloween masks.

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Graphic Novels with Thien Pham

December 21, 2012, 2:07 pm • Posted by Kristin Farr
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Thien Pham is an artist and educator at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland. His brand new book, Sumo, released on 12.12.12, is a graphic novel about an aspiring Sumo wrestler. Graphic novels are narrative stories that are accompanied by sequential artwork. The term "graphic novel" is broad and encompasses many different styles and formats.

Thien Pham has also worked as an illustrator on publications such as the graphic novel Level Up, and his food review comic strip called I Like Eating was featured in the East Bay Express. We dropped by his classroom to learn more about his art career and new book, and were treated to a hands-on lesson in how to draw four-panel comic strips, as well as ideas about how to develop characters.

Check out Thien's interview and video lessons, then get out those Sharpie pens and draw your own comics! We'd love to see how this moment of inspiration with one of the Bay Area's most famous comic artists inspires projects in your classroom.

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"Wows and Wonders" at Glenview Elementary

December 6, 2012, 10:13 am • Posted by Kristin Farr
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Arts educator and recording artist Jahi recently shared an inspiring new video with us that gives an overview of his artist residency at Glenview Elementary School in Oakland, and his philosophy about arts education. He mentions PBS's Art:21 as a resource that inspires his teaching practice. Jahi teaches both visual art and music, and inspires young people to imagine how their art will change the world. Enjoy this moment of inspiration with a dynamic teaching artist.

Looking for ways to invite from teaching artists into your classroom for a virtual visit? Check out our new video series about Bay Area artists who demonstrate concepts and techniques that students can follow along with.

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In the Studio with Rashidi Omari

November 7, 2012, 8:49 pm • Posted by Kristin Farr
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Rashidi Omari is a performance artist, writer and educator at Destiny Arts Center, a violence prevention and arts education organization in Oakland. Growing up, hip-hop was an outlet that helped Rashidi deal with life's challenges, and he works to provide today's Bay Area youth with the same creative opportunities. We stopped by his dance studio to learn more about this dynamic Oakland artist, and find what hip-hop means to him and his students.

After introducing Rashidi to your students, check out these two videos where he teaches us how to beatbox and breakdance. Follow along and add your own b-boy flavor.

Keep up with Rashidi Omari on his Web site, www.RashidiOmari.com.

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Museums Rule!

October 30, 2012, 1:30 pm • Posted by Kristin Farr
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Are you taking your students on a museum field trip this year? Today, we are happy to present the perfect piece of media to help prepare students for a visit to an art museum.

This film project was produced in partnership with the de Young Museum and their teen ambassador program, and expertly shot and edited by the youth production company at the Bay Area Video Coalition, The Factory.

In the Bay Area, there are many arts organizations that welcome student groups and often provide free admission and tours, including the de Young Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Asian Art Museum, the Walt Disney Family Museum, the Cartoon Art Museum, the Asian Art Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum, the de Saisset Museum in Santa Clara, the San Jose Museum of Art, and many more.

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Do Now #40: Express Yourself with Virtual Stencil Art

September 25, 2012, 7:43 am • Posted by Kristin Farr
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“Ferrell Cats” by Hanksy

To respond to the Do Now, you can comment below or tweet your response. Be sure to begin your tweet with @KQEDEdspace and end it with #KQEDDoNow

For more info on how to use Twitter, click here.

Do Now

If you could create art on the street to spread a message, what would it be?

Find or create an image and/or text that symbolizes something (or someone) you believe in. Then visit the Stencil Graffiti Creator to generate a virtual stenciled version of your image. Send it to us via Twitter with a message about what your image represents. You can even stencil a meme! We'll post selections here on Edspace.

Introduction

Stencil art makes use of a paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface using spray paint. The process of stenciling involves applying paint over a stencil to form an image on a surface below. Sometimes multiple layers of stencils are used on the same image to add colors or create the illusion of depth.

Those who make and apply stencils have many motivations. For some, it is an easy method to produce a political message. Many artists appreciate the publicity that their artwork can receive, and some just want their work to be seen in an accessible venue. Since the stencil stays uniform throughout its use, it is easier for an artist to quickly replicate what could be a complicated piece at a very quick rate, when compared to other conventional street art methods.

Mike Shine is a Bay Area artist who uses stencils to contribute to his ongoing narrative about carnival characters. Recently, he has used his large-scale stencils to create permanent murals in San Francisco. In the video below, Making Stencils with Mike Shine, you will see his son create an image of a flying pig. This video will help you create your own paper stencils so that you can start spreading your message or homage all over town. Remember to be respectful and only use your stencils in permitted places, such as on your own notebooks and t-shirts.

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Making Stencils with Mike Shine

September 20, 2012, 7:30 am • Posted by Kristin Farr
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Mike Shine’s interests range from surfing to carnivals, and his dynamic approach to art making manifests as immersive installations, which he’s created throughout the Bay Area at local museums, galleries, and even at his home in Bolinas, “The Shine Shack.” His artwork is inspired by carnival aesthetics and his own narrative about Dr. Flotsam, a clown character who represents the darker aspects of life, and was inspired by the legend of Faust and the fictional demon, Mephistopheles.

Learn more about Mike Shine in our video interview:

Shine has recently been working on large-scale, multi-layered stencils to create murals in the Tenderloin. We paid a visit to the Shine Shack and asked him to give us a primer on stencil-making, and tell us more about his style, and his history of working with stencils, which are one of the most accessible tools for creating a message and spreading it (or spray painting it) widely.

Check out Mike Shine's tips for stenciling in this video demonstration:

Mike Shine opens a new exhibition at 111 Minna Gallery this Friday, September 21st, 2012. Don’t miss his performance on opening night. The exhibition will be on view through October 13, 2012.

When introducing stenciling to students, it’s important to initiate a discussion about graffiti, street art, and private property. Mike Shine’s murals in the Tenderloin neighborhood and in Clarion Alley are commissioned; the owners of the buildings gave permission for him to paint on their walls. While stencils are an important tool for street artists, students need to understand the legality of various forms of street art, and should be reminded to never paint on buildings or in the streets without permission. As with any art form, it is also important to take proper precautions when using materials such as spray paint. Learn more about art materials and keeping young artists safe on the Health and Human Services Web site.

For lesson plan ideas related to stenciling, check out our Educator Guide on Mike Shine.

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