Here are a two examples...
A few weeks ago my high school students were exploring drawing people en vivo, specifically practicing gesture drawings. I wanted to challenge them a little more so I gave them all oil pastels to work with rather than their comfortable tools of pens or pencils. As promised in our class constitution, we were due for an inspiration-seeking outing. So we headed for the central park for a few days. This year the high school elective class meets four days a week, compared to the one day a week allotted the previous years. I love that I can now really dig into concepts and techniques with these students AND give them class time to practice and develop them. Once we got to the park the first day, they took some time to warm-up and it was difficult for them to open their eyes to see and draw what was around them in such a busy place. But by the last day we were there I had to ask them to stop working so we would not be late in returning to school. It was evident that they just needed the time and space to find a groove and from there on they were hooked. We continued to work outside the classroom the following weeks in drawing landscapes around the Doulos campus.
The past couple weeks the sixth grade class has been working on a project on the Abstract Expressionists, with a focus on Jackson Pollock. We are integrating their science expedition on the scientific method by doing an "art experiment" about the differences between using a brush and throwing paint with other objects (like Pollock did). We created a collaborative painting using brushes that will serve as a comparison to their other thrown-paint artworks they will do this week. As we were planning our procedures and materials, in accordance with the scientific method, one student mentioned off-hand that we needed berets or mustaches as we painted. Of course I couldn't let that go unheard. When they entered the classroom the next day on their desks they found personal paper mustaches! Haha, so fun! We all (yes I wore one also) sported the mustaches all class and some even into their next few periods. That little detail lifted the whole mood of the class. They were very successful in mixing their two personas of artist and scientist, especially as we recorded our observations like scientists do but with an artist's eye and art vocabulary.
