Friday, April 26, 2019

Refresh & Reflect

This afternoon involved multiple workshop choices and some time reflecting on recent work. Children were able to choose among: paint mixing, paint pouring, art journaling, wire sculpting, and art journal conferences.

Paint Mixing and Pouring

Today was the perfect day to restock our paint supply with some freshly mixed colors. While taking the time to do this we thought we'd try out a medium recently discovered: paint pouring medium. Children mixed the medium in with paint and poured it over pieces of plastic water bottles. We weren't sure how it would turn out with the tempera paint, as directions usually call for acrylic, but we experimented. While the results weren't quite what we imagined, children enjoyed the experiment. Dagny described the experience:

"It's like a waterfall."

Wire and Art Journaling Continue

Children continued work on their wire sculptures using some refreshed supplies. Children worked independently but shared ideas and inspiration, often building off of one another's ideas. This was especially true  in their journal work today:

Dagny - "I'm trying to do a book in a book."
Cate - "Like me!" (Cate had shared her book inside her book earlier.)
Abby - "Look at my rainbow page."
Dagny - "I love your book, Abby." 
Cate and Lily also made rainbow pages in their art journals. 

Reflecting Together

In recent planning and team meetings for KW, the adults have been reflecting on children's art journal work. Some of our wonderings are:

• Where are we in this process, what's next?
• How can we facilitate more intention and personal meaning in the children's work?
• How can we better understand the children's thoughts, feelings, and process?
• How can we help the children reflect and see what inspiration they may find in their art journals?
• Could reflection lead to more complex art journaling or possibly ideas of how to  express an idea from their journals in another medium or language?

So we thought about having art journal conferences as a casual, but intentional way, of setting time aside to reflect on the work. 

We presented the idea to the children during our pre-lunch meeting today, asking "What is an Art Journal Conference?" 
Hugh - "We come and talk about our art journals.
Tommy - "Talk about what is in your art journal."
Hugh (Thinking about something special in his art journals)- "Do you know what my little flaps are called? I call them little books."
James - "I can tell you one thing. I glued something on and not very much and the next day, it was jammed shut."

Art Journal Conferences

A few children met to reflect on their journals today. First, Lily invited Cate to listen in on her's. Unfortunately we missed photos of the two meeting but here are a few things that were said:

Q: "What do you notice?"
Lily: "It's pretty. Watercolor pretty." (Flipping through pages) "Pretty, prettier, prettier, less pretty, not pretty."
Q: "What would you add so you like it more?" 
 Lily: "A puppy! I will show you. I would do this."  (Draws on clipboard.) 

​The next pair to meet  was Tommy and Will. Tommy showed his journals.
Will: "You had that mirror thing, right?" 
Tommy: "Yup." (Shows how he made it and his latest "mirror" which increases in size as you flip the pages.)
Tommy: (Shows various "Mr. Sun" pages.) "Here's a Mr. Sun fail."
Q: "Why do you say it failed? What don't you like about it?" 
Tommy points to where the depiction is blurred.
Q: "What could you change or add?"
Tommy: "Blue, blue, blue." (Points to the spaces around the sun, indicating that he would add more sky.)
Throughout the reflection on Tommy's journals, the idea of symmetry ("mirror") was discussed as this is a common theme throughout his journals.

Will shared his journals. Will showed the "rules" in two of his three journals such as the cross-out over "LC" and the check next to "WC."
Will explained: "See LC, my sister can't read this. But WC, check, I can read it."
Q: "Can we read it or is it only for you to read?"
Will: "I'm not sure."
Q: "I notice you like to use stencils in your journals."
Will: (nods) "I like to make it real." 
Q: "Do you have any ideas about what to do next?"
Will: "Add rules and a title." 

We're looking forward to see what other thoughts arise as we reflect together in the coming weeks. 

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Have a great weekend!
P.S. We hope all of our KW friends enjoy the gluten and dairy free brownies made by the Thursday afternoon crew! (Sent home in cubby bags today!)