We are going to split into our different classes and the grade 8's are starting their art component with me, so make sure you check your own class's work and don't do the other class's stuff!
EVERYONE:
Question of the day: I watched "Frankenstein", which is an online version of the play produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain and stars Benedict Cumberbach and Jonny Lee Miller switching back and forth between the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. One of the themes of the play (and the novel) is how we become who we are. Which do you think has more influence on our development - nature (our genes and characteristics we inherit from our parents) or nurture (how we are treated by the people who take care of us {or don't take care of us})? The play takes the view that if we are treated cruelly and rejected when we are young, it will have a terrible influence on how we live our lives. I think that's true. But the question is very difficult to answer, I know.
Warm-up: Create a tableau - you are in it, but you'll have to imagine the other people if you need other people -- that expresses the idea "oh, brave new world that has such creatures in it". (That's a line from Shakespeare's play - "The Tempest") This is good for creativity, concentration and visualization.
ART 8
Welcome to Art! Some
of you will be glad to leave Drama behind, and some will miss Drama, but we all
need to realize that Visual Art and Drama share many BIG IDEAS!
·
Creative growth requires patience, a
readiness to take creative risks, and a willingness to try new approaches.
·
You can work on your own or with
other people
·
Artists often break the “rules” of
their art and challenge us to see the world in new ways.
·
Artists live through their
imaginations and yearn to communicate their ideas to audiences or viewers.
·
Artists communicate through a
variety of means – not just the spoken word, but through images (this is true
in Drama and obviously in Visual Art)
·
Both disciplines require the artist
to master techniques, terms and strategies that help the artists express
themselves (for example, in drama, you learned to project your voice and in
art, you learn perspective.)
·
We can learn a lot from other
artists by looking at their work (in both drama and visual art)
·
All the arts foster growth in the core competencies – communication,
thinking (both creative and critical) and personal and social awareness and
responsibility.
What will I need?
I don’t want you to have to buy things, so we will start
with DRAWING. You will need pencils, an
eraser, a pencil sharpener and if possible, a sketch book. If you don’t have a sketch book, unlined
paper is okay, but keep your sketches and drawings together.
We will be doing some painting, so it would be nice if you
had a set of water colour paints (these can be found at the dollar store or the
pharmacy or even the grocery store – they don’t have to be expensive).
We will finish with three-dimensional art – if you have clay
or plasticine or even a large bar of soap – that’s great. Other things that might come in handy are
cardboard, fabric scraps, pebbles, shoe boxes, etc.
Class routines:
I am going to stick with our class routine from Drama and
I’ll ask a question of the day each day.
Our warmup will be an exercise I would like you to do in your
sketchbook. As with the drama classes
online, the question is optional (although I would like you to think about
it). The sketch warmup is mandatory, but
you won’t have to show me (every day).
Eventually, your sketchbook will help me arrive at a mark for your final
report, so you will have to show it to me at the end of the course in June.
Assessment:
In Drama, we can’t all be Leonardo DiCaprio. In Art, we can’t all be Leonardo da
Vinci. But remember when you were
little, you had confidence that you were good at lots of things and then as you
started school and encountered other kids, you started to think maybe you
weren’t. It doesn’t matter if you become
a great artist, but you need to try your best and be willing to take creative
risks. If you do your best, and try
everything, you will discover important things about yourself and develop a
better appreciation of the world around you and that is as important as
anything else. You need to do the work,
and you will get a good mark!
Lesson
1:
Look at these famous pieces of art:
Write one sentence about each piece. Which one do you like best? Why? Do you dislike any? If you do, why? (Mandatory: You
must answer these questions. Send me your sentences and your answers to
the questions by Thursday.)
THEATRE PRODUCTION 11
Transformation of a
Prop (Mandatory)
1.
Choose an every day
object. Take a photo of it or draw a
picture of it.
(Example: a frozen hamburger patty)
2.
Use a play script to choose a
prop you need for a play. (Example:
the heart that the Ripper stuffs in Payton Langston’s mouth in the play,
“Ripper” or a few other examples – in “Hamlet”, there is a skull; in Macbeth,
there is a severed head; in “The Glass Menagerie”, the girl collects glass
animals; in “Fawlty Towers”, Basil sprays himself in the face with a fire
extinguisher; in “!0 Years Later”, we had to make breakaway beer bottles!). There are lots of plays online now, if you
want to find something interesting to make. I
will want to know what play you chose and how the prop is used in the play.
3.
Transform the object into your
prop. Describe how you transformed the
object. (Example: you put the patty into a zip lock bag and let
it thaw out. You made stage blood – give
the recipe -- and poured some of it into the bag. You covered the bag with surgical mesh and
thick plastic sheeting, because obviously we don’t want the actor to have to
have a thawed hamburger patty in his mouth!)
4.
You will be expected to explain
what you did and how you did it.
Photo or drawing of item: 5 marks
Description of what you did: 10 marks
Final version of the prop: 15 marks
Presentation to class: 5 marks
Due:
May 19
DRAMA 9/10
Remember our heritage drama project? Some of you were wondering if we could revisit it and Claire, Viaan (your classroom helpers) and I thought it would be a good idea. Firstly, here's a questionnaire to get you thinking about what we've already done! (The questionnaire is mandatory and should be submitted by Friday.)
1. Who was in your group? Who was a leader in the group? Who wasn't helping? (Be honest.)
2. What was your framework? (one sentence)
3. What was your story? (If you're one of the people who hasn't written one, it's time to pony up! Write one now! Otherwise, just write one sentence to remind me.)
4. In one sentence each, what were the two stories you already did about? (one sentence each)
5. You need to figure out how to reconnect with your group sometime this week! Viaan, Claire and I will help you, if you need help. At our Zoom meetings, you can ask them (Claire and Viaan) for ideas about how to get together -- Zoom, phonecalls, text messages, email, etc. For the answer to this question, explain how you connected and if anyone is unreachable.
6. Start brainstorming ideas for which story will be suitable to work on and how you could present it. (Here's a very prosaic idea -- one of you narrates the story and the others do a series of tableaus that show it. You could perform it on a Zoom recording. Or you could each record yourself saying one sentence of the story.) You can suggest a story here and say one way you think it might be "performable". It doesn't have to be a great idea -- just an idea (as you can see by my two very poor ideas.) Hand in the questionnaire by Friday.
(Mr. Akselrod took this photo. Isn't it lovely?)
.
i have updated the google docs for the covid 19 journals
ReplyDeleteThank you. I've seen it -- I appreciate the update.
ReplyDelete