Authority belongs to the artist!

Reminder:  Sunday is Mother's Day.  Do something nice for your mom!

Monday is the first day of Spirit Week -- have some fun in the sun!  (Send me a picture of it, and get a bonus mark!)

Question of the day:

Grade 8's, you've seen this before.  Others, take a look at Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain".

https://images.app.goo.gl/ZyhWfKAnq2c3NDTB6

It is one of his famous "readymade" pieces.  This is what he said about it.  "Whether Mr. Mutt [you can see it is signed by "R. Mutt", an alter ego of Duchamp] with his own hands made the fountain has no importance.  He CHOSE it.  He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view -- and created a new thought for that object."

The question is "is it art?"  Explain.

Warm-up (Art and Theatre Production):  (Mandatory!) Theatre Production, this is exactly what you are supposed to do!  Take something in the house and turn it into something else!  Art students, we are going to try to look at things a bit differently, like Duchamp did.

Find something in your house or yard and reimagine it (like turn it upside down, like Duchamp did with the urinal) and name it (like Duchamp did by calling the urinal a "fountain").  Theatre production, tell me the item you chose and how you would present it and what you would call it.  The name can be funny or provocative (like Duchamp's).  My favourite "readymade" of Duchamp's is a snow shovel which he named "Advance of Broken Arm".  Send me your answer by email.

Art students, draw or describe your item (in words) in your sketchbook.  The name can be funny or provocative (like Duchamp's).  Repeating what I said in the previous pararaph, my favourite "readymade" of Duchamp's is a snow shovel which he named "Advance of Broken Arm".  Mandatory -- put this in your sketchbook!

Warmup - Drama 9/10:  Say our Shakespeare passage out loud ("speak the speech").  Read the monologue I gave you out loud (I have attached it).

Peter from “Goin’ Down the Road”:

Those guys are three dummies.  I don’t get you.  When we were leaving, you couldn’t get out of the place fast enough.  Now you go on about some job in the cannery.  Oh, listen, Joey, it’s gonna be so different.  There you can get all kinds of jobs.  Not just sweat and dirt all the time . . . And the places to go;  we’re gonna hit some night spots, have us some good times!  No sitting in some restaurant all night or cruising up and down main street, looking for something you know damn well isn’t there . . . Joey, there’s going to be so much there, we won’t know where to begin.

Ruthie from “Distended Ear Lobes”:

Well, it isn’t exactly that he doesn’t interest me anymore.  It’s that I’m not quite sure of the chemistry.  Before it was all chemistry, and I didn’t even think about whether he interested me.  Now the chemistry is deluded and I’ve had time to consider whether or not he interests me, I mean as a person, that is.

Anyhow, whether it’s going anywhere or not, I’m having lunch with him because – now promise me not to get hysterical – he’s been looking into the Peace Corps and I’m thinking about joining up with him.  I hate my job in the office and if you’ll pardon the cliché, I want to do something worthwhile.

Use lots of expression in your voice and be careful to focus on breathing and diction.  This is a vocal warm-up.

Lessons:

Theatre Production:  By Monday, tell me the play you've chosen and the prop you will create.

Drama 9/10:  Get in touch with your heritage group.  Choose your third story.  Brainstorm ideas for presenting it.  Due May 14.

Art:  Draw a rectangle 8 cm x 5 cm.  Put two dots anywhere inside the rectangle.  Measure out notches along the edges of the rectangle at even intervals.  Fill in any of the areas formed by joining the dots and notches -- just use a pencil.  No colour!   Take about 20 minutes (or so) to do this.  It should appear in your sketchbook.

Sweet are the uses of adversity!

Spirit Week is coming!  (Virtually, of course.)
May 11 -- Fun in the Sun
May 12 -- Influenzers
May 13 -- Quaran-meme
May 14 -- COVID couture
May 15 -- Pro-D Day (wear your pajamas?)

As always, if you send me a photo of yourself dressed up, you will get a bonus!  (You might want to include an explanation, as I am not sure what an influenzer or a quaran-meme might be.)

Question of the day:  (Everyone)  If you were going to suggest a spirit day (virtual or at school), what would you suggest?  Why would it be spirited?  The drama club did a "name tag" day a few years ago.  We gave out name tags at the entrances to the school and asked people to greet other students and use their names.  It was great!  I think it helped foster a community spirit.

Warm-up (Drama):  Waiting for . . . sit in your room and act like you're waiting for something (a job interview, a bus to work, a loved one to arrive after a long absence).  Don't "act" anything.  Just wait with the thing in mind that you're waiting for.  This is another method acting exercise -- to get you beyond "acting" to "being".

Warm-up (Art):  For your sketch book!  (You must do these exercises, and keep them in your sketch book -- I will want to see them.)  Choose a window in your house.  Draw the window frame (it helps to use a ruler or a straight edge).  Draw what you see outside the window.  If you think it isn't clear what you're drawing, label it.  Spend at least fifteen minutes doing this activity.  Really look. Pay attention to detail.  That is more important than making it look like anything or making it fancy.

This is the view from my back window in my room.

Art Lesson:  Your four art sample questions are due.  We will discuss the pictures on our Zoom.  I have sent your invitation for 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Drama 9/10:  Your questionnaire is due on Friday.  You need to try to make contact with your groups -- I will give you the emails of your groups (A Block on Wednesday, B Block on Thursday) if I hear no objections.

Theatre Production 11:  Let me know what play you have chosen and the prop you are going to make.  Can you tell me the answers to these two questions by Monday?

B Block -- we will zoom at 1:30!

How do I feel?

IMPORTANT INFO!  IN CANADA, WE DO NOT HAVE TO PAY MONEY TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL OR TO SEE THE DOCTOR!  WE NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MEDICAL BILLS.  WE DO NOT HAVE TO STEAL MEDICINE -- THEY WILL GIVE IT TO YOU IN THE HOSPITAL.  IN THE 1940'S, MY HERO, TOMMY DOUGLAS, INSTITUTED UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE IN SASKATCHEWAN, BECAUSE HE SAID NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO LOSE THEIR HOUSE BECAUSE THEY GOT SICK.  ALL OF CANADA FOLLOWED HIS LEADERSHIP!  THIS IS A HUGE PART OF WHAT MAKES US CANADIAN.  A FEW YEARS AGO, TOMMY DOUGLAS WAS CHOSEN AS THE "GREATEST CANADIAN" FOR THIS VERY REASON!  (In some of your films, you had characters who were worried about paying for their coronavirus treatment, but in Canada, that is never an issue.  Thanks to Tommy Douglas!)

Question of the Day:  How are you feeling these days?  Do you think you are managing with online learning?  Are you in some kind of a routine?  Are you starting to feel better or worse?  I am okay, but I do miss class a lot and last night, I had a film noire dream where everyone was smoking and speaking softly and meeting in diners and there was a mystery (I don't remember what it was, but it was silly, I know that) and I kept saying, "what's the answer?" but no one could answer me.  I do have a routine, but that's mostly thanks to Daisy.

Warm-up (Drama):  This is an exercise method actors use to "live in the moment"  (they don't want to be too mechanical in their performances).  Ask yourself "how do I feel?"  (You can say it out loud or whisper it.)  Answer right away.  If you feel nothing, say "I feel nothing".  Then ask the question again.  Keep answering it and asking it until you feel like you're finished.  (Method acting is all about the feel.)

Warm-up (Art):  Work on your hand design.  Experiment with different types of lines.  Fill in the whole hand with parallel lines.  You can add colour with felt markers, crayons, or coloured pencils, if you have them.  If you don't, your hand can be black and white; that's fine.  This is an example of what is called "op art" -- which is abstract art that creates a kind of optical illusion.  Your hand looks a bit three dimensional after you've made all the parallel lines.  Remember this should be in your sketch book, or at least in a place where you can keep your art warm-ups together!

Lessons:
Art:  Look at the four pieces of art from Monday and answer all the questions.  (This is due on Thursday.)
Drama 9/10:  Answer the questionnaire about the heritage drama.  Remember, if you don't let me know today, I will give your email to your group members! (Your questionnaire answers are due on Friday.)
Theatre Production:  You should have an idea which play you will use and what prop you plan to make by now.  Remember, it doesn't just have to LOOK like the thing, it likely has to ACT like the thing.  In our production of "Macbeth", we needed Macbeth's severed head at the end of the play.  Macduff kills him and brings his head on stage.  Macduff throws the head, so if it was made of a balloon, it would not act like a head when it was thrown.  If it was styrofoam, same thing.  We needed something that would make a heavy sound when it hit the stage and it couldn't be funny!  When we did "Fawlty Towers", we needed something that worked like a fire extinguisher, but if we used an actual fire extinguisher, the actor would spray the fire retardant into his own face.  These are the problems you face when you need to make a prop.

Remember, A Block, we are Zooming on Wednesday at 1.  B Block, we will zoom on Thursday at 1:30.  C Block, we will zoom on Thursday at 1.  A Block, you should have received your invitation already.  B and C, you will get yours tomorrow.

Needs and wants

Question of the Day:  (everyone)  What is one modern convenience you think we should do without?  Why?  What modern convenience could you NOT do without?  Explain.

Drama warm-up:  Form yourself into a small tight ball.  Make yourself as small as you can.  Pull in anything that is sticking out.   Gradually open the ball.  Imagine you're a seed or a baby bird hatching out of your shell.  Keep breathing.  This is good for relaxation.

Lesson (Drama 9/10):  Work on your questionnaire.  If you do not want me to share your email, you need to let me know.  Otherwise, I will share it with the members of your group.
             (Theatre Production):   Work on your prop project.  Find a play that needs a prop!

Art warm-up:  (put this in your sketch book, or on a plain sheet of paper -- make sure you keep it)  Put your hand down on your paper (the hand you don't use to hold your pencil) and spread your fingers.  Trace a line around your hand.  Start to fill in your traced hand with horizontal parallel lines. Spend 5 minutes working on this warm-up.

Lesson:  Work on the sentences and answers to the questions about the four pieces of art.

New Beginnings!

I have really enjoyed all your silent film storyboards and scripts -- I hope we can make a lot of these movies, because I don't want them to just fade away.  Some were funny, some terribly sad, or suspenseful or dramatic or romantic or completely crazy!  I could really picture many of them in a movie theatre!

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:

https://images.app.goo.gl/ZyhWfKAnq2c3NDTB6

https://images.app.goo.gl/DdwKNvRTcjbcyUsX6

https://images.app.goo.gl/jvxpzZrGXKShiz9i9

https://images.app.goo.gl/BWTTawMUcUBogRmB8

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?)

.

Happy May Day! (International Workers Day!)

Question of the Day:  Considering your aptitudes, interests and skills, what would be a good job for you?  Explain.  (There are tests you can take to measure what your aptitudes are and then some of the tests will say what job you should do.  When I take these tests, often the first thing that comes up is "lawyer"!  The tests never say "teacher" or "actor", which are the two professions I have actually aspired to!)

Warm-up:  Let's do another yoga pose!  This is "tree pose".  It is good for balance and posture and it can strengthen your core, legs and spine.  Stand with feet together or slightly apart.  Breathe.  Shift your weight to your right leg.   Raise your left leg and, using your hands, pace the sole of your left foot on the inner thigh of your right leg.  Keep your hips level.  Lift up through the standing leg, core, and chest.  Breathe.  Put your palms together in front of your chest, or, if your balance is good, raise your arms above your head.  Try the other side as well.  If you can't figure out how to do it from my instructions, there are lots of yoga sites online that will show you.

Lesson:   Hand in your script OR storyboard (you don't have to do both).  Some of you have asked for an extension -- that's fine, but don't let it go on too long.  Resolve to finish this weekend, if possible.  If you haven't attended Zoom meetings, or done your assignments, I will have to send your name in to the school study hall program.

Have a great weekend!  See you on Monday!