Anten-nalope

Alright, so bear with my scattered thought process for a minute..

I chose Nam June Paik's Anten-nalope as the piece I would like to use for the Tiger Artist lesson. The Big Idea behind this piece is people's relationship with nature vs. their relationship with technology. It caught my eye because, well because it's bizarre.. When I first looked at it I was busy trying to figure out what was on the screens until I looked at the title of the piece. Then I was confused. But then I stepped back and duh.. It's an antelope made out of TVs. I thought this was funny and clever and I immediately thought of this music video:

 

(mostly because of the TVs....)

And then I started thinking, what kind of sounds would this piece make? Would it sound like an antelope or a robot? or both? or something else? I thought it could sound something like the noise based music of John Cage:

To my surprise when I went home and looked up Nam June Paik, John Cage was listed as one of his influences for his other work! And now I'm really starting think about putting all this together as a lesson that could be connected to Nick Cave and his sound suits.

I would use Paik's Anten-nalope in conjunction with Nick Cave's work in an art lesson by introducing the piece to students and asking them how they would compare their own relationship with nature to their relationship with technology. When they looked at the piece did they see the antelope first or did they look at the screens? Using Nick Cave's sound suits as inspiration, students could create wearable art that investigates their connections with the natural world and today's technology. They could make animal costumes (consisting of a head piece/mask, gloves, shoes, and/or a body cover) from ready-made and altered found objects

In the Walker text it says that the essential questions for a lesson should come from the Big Idea, not a specific artist or piece of artwork. This way students can connect to the idea beyond just making art about it.

Essential Questions:
How do nature and technology interact with each other?
How does technology influence your perception of nature?
How does nature influence your perception of technology?

In this lesson students would learn how to use objects in unconventional ways through experimenting with materials that aren't necessarily 'art' materials. They would be learning how to use materials to express an idea. By using found objects to make an animal what are they saying about the animal? About the objects? These are questions the students can think about while they make their costume.

DB#1

Elements:

Line
Space
Shape
Form
Color
Value
Texture

Principals:


Pattern
Rhythm
Proportion
Scale
Unity
Balance
Emphasis

These are the physical nuts and bolts of art and should not be taught as what art is because art is much more than just what you can physically describe about it. Art is ideas. As an art educator I need to be prepared to teach my students how to use ideas in their art making. I need to show them how to ask questions, tell stories, and get personal with their art. At least, this is what I have gathered after reading the 'Postmodern Principles' and 'Principles of Possibilities' articles by Olivia Gude. I feel like this shift in philosophy is natural. After all, shouldn't we be teaching in ways that resemble how we function as artists? When I sit down to paint or draw or make a sculpture, I don't think to myself "Hm..now what elements and principles am I going to use?" No, I start with an idea. So I think my students should learn how to start with ideas too. The beginning of Chapter 1 in the Walker text differentiates between big ideas, themes, and subject matter. You use different subject matter (like people, or animals, or abstract marks) to express the big idea (like fantasy, or systems, or social norms) and you can have different themes within the big idea (like one emotion in the spectrum of emotions). I like the way this is laid out because in my head this seems like a really good way to present a project to a student. If you give them a big idea from an artist then the possibilities to personalize their own artwork using that big idea is nearly endless with subject matter and theme.
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I have explored the Art21 site before and I resisted choosing an artist I am already familiar with (like Matthew Ritchie) because, personally, I wanted to learn about someone new. I came across Mary Heilmann whose big idea/show theme was fantasy. She is an abstract painter who draws from her memories as well as fantasies from her catholic upbringing and dreams.

The Blues for Miles 1991

I think it would be fun to have a lesson based on Mary Heilmann. I would introduce her work and ideas and then have the students pick out their own memory, fantasy, or dream. Students would be able to experiment with mixing paints and creating abstract forms to express their own ideas. We could talk about meanings attached to certain colors or shapes. I think it would be an exciting process.