Teaching Practice 7

22.04.2014

Today was a continuation of our measuring exercises and we took them one step further where we measured larger distances with our bodies, strides, shadows and steps. We took a series of photographs to record this.

We used teaching walk to discuss the ideas. The weather was nice and the nature of Suomenlinna was quite inspiring. There were only three students in this exercise as the others were completing their projects and portfolios inside. Egle decided to demonstrate the idea of measuring with our bodies by 'walking' with her body along a certain path to see how many times her body fits in the length of the path. We took a series of photos of that.

The students found many creative ideas how to measure with their bodies by using strides to climb the rocks or measure their shadow along the certain distance. I guess this was also an example of learning by doing in a natural studying environment and by direct action.

The purpose of this exercise was to make the students  more aware of their bodies and how they fit into the surrounding space. These exercises are also used in classical drawing to help artists understand the proportions better.

After the images were taken and the students had enough material and examples we went inside and carried on with the group discussion about the images and what we thought worked and what perhaps did not work so well. In the second part of the lesson I have prepared an exercise on drawing negative space; negative space is the area of the picture plain that is outside the main subject of the image, the shapes and spaces that define the subject and various elements within the drawing.

This exercise was quite challenging in many ways and we had an installation with a plant and a sculpture head to draw from. The task was carried out well by most of the students and it was a good observational challenge. 

Teaching Practice 6

21.04.2014

18:00 - 20:30

Egle started the lesson with a teaching walk as the weather was nice and after a long winter we were all happy to be outside in the sun.  The task of the day was to measure objects or pieces of natural surroundings by using one object as a reference. So for example I used my palm to measure a water pump that I found outsde, some of the students used other found objects such as leaves, fruit, straws etc. We had to draw these objects and our observations  and also take photographs. This was a really good observation exercise and forced us to think about space and how we relate to that space with our body.

After the group discussion inside we were more aware of how it is easier to measure the man made objects as they usually fit well with our bodies. So for example I found that the water pump outside had sections which were exactly length of my palm. The objects such as leaves and straws did not fit exactly in man made objects. One of the students also used a plum to measure her face and body. In addition measuring trees was not so exact as we could only measure up to the certain length of the tree and the rest  of the length was very approximate, imagined in relation to the part we could measure.

These observations and sketches became part of the student's learning diary. 

After the discussion we utilized some more of creative work method, which  'aims to utilise the student's ability to adopt new perspectives, to think new possibilities and alternatives' ( Hypponen & Linden, 2009, 53).

We moved to another drawing exercise where we had to imagine our portrait as a plant. This was also an interesting imaginative exercise, which brought out different impressions and moods. One of the students saw herself as the wine fruit and the drawing gave the impression of abundance and joy. She is also a singer and has been classically trained so somehow we agreed that wine fruits were a good representation of the many projects she is involved with and that it express her creativity. The other student saw herself as a birch tree, which is also the national tree of Finland. I imagined this exercise more as a merging of myself and the chosen plant. I liked the oak tree branches that I saw outside and had the image of the face and branches merging together, perhaps finding the balance in the strength of the oak tree.

Educational Sciences - Ideal Classroom

Each person will share their ideal classroom with the others
(8 min. max. for each person to present and 2 min. max. for questions =80 min. total).

1. Describe your classroom using the image.

2. Explain why you choose that environment focusing on the following:

a. The types of students
b. The types of materials and spaces you would need
c. The types of activities you would be doing in that space

This is the classroom I could work with the year 9 students. I had the inspiration for the design from Martela Inspiring spaces: http://martela.com/inspiring-school/learning-environment-inspiration

As I am teaching photography and video this could be a nice space that is in between the classroom and a studio. The furniture is easy to re-arrange for any group and task requirements. Movable dividers allow different space and group creation, for example.

Things like sofas and bean-bag chairs make for a space that is more than a classroom. It is a space that is more relaxed and enjoyable.Making learning spaces enjoyable improves user health and minimizes absences. The furniture should be ergonomic, space clean and well lit.



Some reflections on the online session from the 23.04.2014

Key discussion question: how has learning about educational theory in this course impacted the way you now teach?

The discussion about different images that students had for their ideal classroom was very interesting and there was a lot of creativity and linking with the educational theories and teaching methods that we have discussed. 

This came through very much in our second exercise which was related to guessing the theorists from the drawings that were made by other teacher students in the past,  where  they were asked to draw the classroom of a particular educational theorist.

The hardest one to guess was the Jean Piaget classroom. The four stages of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development: Sensorimotor stage, Preoperational stage, Concrete Operational stage and Formal Operational stage were represented in a rather abstract way through math symbols. So first there were symbols for  adding and subtraction which later progressed into multiplication and division,  thus symbolically saying that the child's reasoning progresses from concrete to more abstract, idealistic and logical ways. Personally I though later that this was done in a very clever way and really challenged most of us.

Another interesting image of the classroom was for Burrhus Frederic Skinner. We could see the references to the  operant conditioning and positive and negative reinforcement such as candy and a corner where a punished student was standing, thus emphasizing the behaviorist theory.

Albert Bandura's classroom was not so difficult to guess because of the puppet theatre and the association with the Bobo doll experiment. This experiment demonstrates the Bandura's social learning theory. It is interesting to note that one of the groups also made associations with Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences since there were many areas in this room that could represent a multisensory  learning environment.

Maria Montessori classroom was also quite obvious but were all a little bit confused by the huge rabbit toy which I guess referred to fact that Montessori promotes mixed age classrooms and a 'discovery' model where children learn concepts from working with materials; hence the reference to the nature and the garden in the image.

I have been using different references to educational theories in my teaching practice, one of them in particular is Paulo Freire and the emphasis on critical pedagogy and critical consciousness were I tried to encourage students to be aware  and take responsibility for their actions and take  more active part in their learning,  where our roles are more equal and homogenised.

I would also like to study more Emile Durkheim, French sociologist with concept related to collective consciousness:  "Function of education is to maintain and transmit integrative social values through the socialization of individuals".

I believe that we are living in a society where the social nature of our being is being challenged by technology and we must emphasise the need to maintain social contacts in real life and promote collaborative learning. 

  References

Palmer J. A., Bresler L., Cooper D. E. 2001. Fifty Modern Thinkers On Education. Routledge

  

Teaching Practice 5

15.04.2014

17:00-20.30

The theme of today was art and sustainability. We visited an event with a series of talks by various artists and a professor Tere Vaden with his lecture on The Modern Taste of Fossil Fuels.

The most interesting for me was Pixelache : transdisciplinary platform for experimental art, design, research and activism - See more at: http://www.pixelache.ac// For example, In the context of the Map me if you will programme of Pixelache Helsinki 2011, Christian Nold (UK) was invited to realise a new artwork in Helsinki during 2011-2012. He led a mapping workshop where people drew their island experiences onto special paper maps which were then scanned and composited together to form collective maps. The idea here being that visualisation of data should not be solely in the power of corporations and governments but it can empower individuals and the community as a collective.

The sustainability related project Nuppu http://mesenaatti.me/en/nuppu/ is a wonderful idea by an art collective that has designed a sculpture that preserves seeds from plants as a public artwork :You can participate in the project on multiple levels: receiving the seeds and planting them together, finding and spreading knowledge about biodiversity, helping to build and maintain a network to understand international seeds circulation policies.

My mentor Egle is also part of this art collective and has been encouraging students to think of projects that are related to biodiversity and technology.

After the talks we discussed the presentations with the students and the way some of the ideas could be used as part of an art project. For example one of the artists has used the freshwater fish that is wild and not farmed as an example of artwork. This fish is usually caught by the fisherman but it does not sell as well as other farmed fish so it does raise the issue of waste and the ethics of fish farming. 

The most important idea of such projects is the collective nature of art how it can 'trigger collective imagination'

Teaching Practice 4

14.04.2014


The students were working on their digital portfolios for the applications to Universities or other Art schools. I helped with the selection of images to be presented and also with editing the images in Photoshop, adjusting color, contrast and levels.

The students also had to write a brief  introduction and a letter of motivation for the applications.

This was  the lesson where I showed my teaching video from Espoo International School to my mentor Egle for evaluation. We discussed the video and how I could improve it from the point of view of teaching and pedagogical practice and also form the video presentation point of view.

I was happy with the comments and realized that I have to pay more attention and  interact with  student's questions. I have to ask for questions to be clarified,  as quite often I may think about the question and the possible angles for the answer, instead of just asking the student to rephrase the quesiton if necessary.

In addition I was quite pleased with the work that my students did for the Community and Service project. It was a difficult project in many ways as I  tried to link the theme with conceptual photography and the students did quite a lot of research on this topic. They had to understand the meaning of the metaphor in the visual context. This involved keeping a journal with drawings of initial ideas and coming up with the original theme too. Some of them looked at bullying, racism, what it means to be different etc.

The research part is assessed according to criteria A : Knowledge and Understanding  in IB system which I have defined as following: Makes journal entries that clearly justify document ideas to develop through the process. Clearly identifies and evaluates how the decisions are connected to the production topic. Critically analyses the interrelationship between cultural, historical and social context and their impact on the images and ideas.

The group dynamic  was better for some as they were able to delegate work among members and have a more cohesive interaction. Some had a more surface approach and I would like to challenge that in the future. Especially in terms of practical aspects of work, development of ideas and implementation of individual elements such as editing and composition.
This part of the project is assessed with criteria B: Application: Demonstrated highly proficient technical skill with evidence of appropriate experimentation and manipulation of various processes to reflect the production topic.

The group work is assessed with criterion D: Personal Engagement, defined as following: Has fulfilled the roles and responsibilities with outstanding commitment to group’s goals including being proactive in the support of others and accepting additional tasks as required.

Criterion C: Reflection and evaluation: Evaluation demonstrates consistent commitment to extend knowledge and justify decision making. The evaluation part was important as I gave clear questions in order to help students structure their presentations better. Those who have answered those questions and done the research part had a better overall result. 

After the video analysis I have decided to mix the groups differently for the new video project. This has not been as difficult as I initially thought. Filming a drama performance requires a lot of patience and organisation from the groups and I  look forward to see how will this develop in the next few weeks.

Some of my students work from the Community and Service project (EIS)

Teaching Practice 3

Helping with MAA for AAVE Programme


I helped with setting up the show, organizing the space for the individual artworks and audio-visual presentations.

We used the screen and the projector, laptop and speakers. The audience was varied and it changed through the evening. Everyone seamed quite keen to read through our programme to understand the pieces better.

This was a very interesting experience for our students as they were able to see their work in a new environment and projected on the large screen. Also the sound was an important aspect of this experience as well since it brings a new dimension to the visual material.

Being able to show work and discuss it with others brings a lot of confidence to the students and gives new insights and ideas too.

Teaching practice 2

1.04.2014 and 7.04.2014

Taidekoulu Maa ( 18:00-20:30 )

The students were preparing for the audio-visual exhibition MAA for AAVE connected to AAVE festival in Helsinki.

I interviewed each student on these two days, discussing their work and concepts. What was the initial idea to start working and who were the artists they drew inspiration from.

Here is the Programme I came up with based on these interviews:


MAA for AAVE Programme, 9th of April, 2014

Anu Pulkkinen Video pieces, 2014: The Veil, Roses Filming done by Anu Pulkkinen

Camera assistant: Jasse Tuukki

Video pieces: Puhu, Newborn, Nymphony

Filming and editing by Tommi Rautio.

Directed by both Tommi and Anu.

The first video is based on the song by Anu called ‘The Veil`. The scenes were taken at night in Helsinki, the moon, lights on the street all filmed by Anu herself. The scenes move with the lyrics of the song’s refrain:

“There’s a place where I can see your face from behind my veil”.

Close up of Anu’s face juxtaposed with the lights of the chandelier, draped in red silk, eroticism and sensuality. The video has a slight 80’s feel of Aki Kaurismäki’s movies and music videos from the time, real life and dream combined. The visual references to veil are real and symbolic as one can see everything thorough it, the longing and the dream.

The music draws inspiration from Slow Bollywood songs, Lana Del Ray, Rumba and Latin sounds, Arabian music, and other ethnic influences.

The second video ‘Roses’ is a concert duet rehearsal of Hoffman’s Tales, Barcarolle, sang by Kjell Lemström as part of the duet with Anu. In the opening scene we see a bowl of roses, roses saved over the last 10 years from Anu’s concert performances. Although roses are associated with romance, the accidental sneeze at the end is evocative of dust and memories, ephemeral as the beautiful music itself.

The video piece ‘Puhu’ (speak) was filmed and edited by Tommi Rautio and composed by Anu and Jukka- Pekka Flandrer. It is about loneliness and the longing for a friend or a lover, also thinking if he is the right one. Scenes in the video are filmed in different places, and have been merged very well together with the music. The piece ‘Newborn’, filmed by Tommi Rautio, is also a music video of Anu’s song of the same name. In the video we see a woman on the beach, where dream and reality are mixed and a nymph is by her side. She awakes from the dream and follows the nymph into the forest. She feels like a ‘newborn’ but at the same time she is not sure of the nymph’s intentions and falls down on a rock in the forest.

In the video piece ‘Nymphony’ we see a continuation of the story from the previous song, sung and composed by Anu. The woman in the video awakes once more and decides to accept the nymph’s invitation to dance and be free.

Pauliina Holopainen

Video piece, 2014: Elephant

Lighting and filming done by Ramina Habibollah.

Poem by Pauliina Holopainen

The video piece is inspired by the poem of the same name. The lyrics express the angst of the dramatic difficult moment in time, “the floors turn on me” and the “carpet yells”. The colour red, the white cloth that covers Puliina’s face are revealing what is left unspoken or hushed up. Pauliina’s visual inspiration comes from films, TV and art. Evocative perhaps of early Fassbinder movies.

Ramina Habibollah

Video pieces, 2014: Aenar, Amale, Tableau and Juje

The first piece is a play with light. Ramina’s eyes are covered in darkness and the lips are lit with the light from the phone and the video camera. It is opposite of the veil that usually covers the face but reveals the eyes. The second video piece ‘Aenar’ is composed from the footage that was shot in Tehran. Workers do not have any safe equipment, there is no scaffolding and the window just falls off the building. Ramina filmed the footage through the kitchen window of her family house The third piece ‘Tableau’ is a play with lights filmed partly in Vienna and partly on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf.

The fourth piece ‘Juje’ is filmed in a bazaar in Iran. Here, small chicks and ducklings are being sold as pets, though they may not live long as they are separated from their mothers.

Olli Nuutila

Photo collage (multiple images mounted on cardboard)

Photos are attached with black tape which covers the surface. Also the white narrow tape shows a pattern that represents the paths. Photographs were taken over time, in the last four years, with a film camera. Some of the images have been developed in the dark room.

The images are grouped by theme:

Fence theme (imprisoned, captured, and stuck). These restrictions could be also psychological.

Human waste theme has references to lust, holes and bottles, drain pipes and porn magazines.

There is also the longing section with images of the beach and looking into the distance on the horizon.

The theme of landscapes, infrastructure and how humans have constructed the world around them.

The Cat Lady with black fur coat and her 10 cats.

Human footprints theme: what is left behind in nature … plastic bottles?

Consumption theme: rotten apples, frog’s eggs, shopping and gherkins.

People on the margins theme: revenge, the dark side, a cross and the mafia.


Jari Nordgren

Sculpture installation

Jari’s work is inspired by Munch’s painting, “The Scream”. It is a 3D interpretation of the painting. In-between two mirrors on the wall there is the head made from chicken wire and foam. The face is painted in acrylic with a mix of colours: red, purple and green. Shadows, mirrors and lighting evoke the dark atmosphere of the painting.

Minna Nurmi Video piece, 2014: Skin The video piece is filmed using a head sculpture and a bust. It brings the feeling of gentleness and the longing for human contact.

Elina Saalfeld

Video animation: The Stolen Window

Elina was inspired by social media and how it affects our perception of everyday life. We see images on social media sites that are quite often ‘glamorized’ moments in time. Elina wanted to construct a story and show her everyday life as it is. That is the significance of the title, ‘The Stolen Window’. The opening scene is the view from the window. The video is taken in a small village in France, but the setting could be anywhere. Elina is inspired by the photographer, Sofie Calle, particularly her methods in building a story and the way an unexpected situation can be an inspiration.

Silja Seppälä

Video piece: Dream Baby Dream

The work deals with our perceptions of reality, how they change and ‘break up' sometimes. We inhabit different worlds in our heads and this is illustrated with juxtaposition of surreal images with masks and sculptures. Videos and still images were taken in different situations and the story was composed later. The scenes are filmed in Helsinki, Munkkisaari and Kallio.

Silja is inspired by Jim Jarmusch, his minimalistic style and also the way humour is shown even in difficult moments.

Meeri Siukonen

Video Pieces: Patterns of Culture, Bobeobi, Can’t Handle, Ain’t That a Paint?

The first video, ‘Patterns of Culture’, questions the cultural stereotypes and kitsch. We quite often perceive culture with the surface view of various rituals and artefacts. Culture also involves a set of behaviours too. Meeri is interested in globalisation and how it affects cultures and the way they confront each other. She creates a new space where a Finnish rug is part of the toreadors’ bull fight. In the end we see death represented by a Mexican skeleton, symbolic also of the cycle of life and the next generation that comes.

The second video, ‘Bobeobi’, is inspired by Velimir Hlebnikov’s poem of the same name. The words of the poem do not convey the meaning directly but describe the movements of the mouth when speaking. In the video we see only the lips moving while expecting to see the whole face. We compose the impression of the wholeness but the face remains unknown.

The third piece ‘Can’t Handle’ is composed of different movements that make reference to a whole. Meeri’s interests range from performance art to Russian culture at the beginning of the 20th century, particularly filmmakers such as Eisenstein and Kuleshov. The last video piece ‘Ain’t That a Paint’ shows different locations of a painting done by Meeri herself. The video starts with the painting placed on a floatation ring at a beach. This questions the nature of painting as an object that is usually placed in a gallery or a home.

Jaana Eskola

Video piece: The Elevator

The view is from a glass panorama elevator, filmed in Paimio Sanatorium, built in 1932 near Turku. The building served as a tuberculosis hospital until 1960’s. Inspired by modernist architecture and John Cage.

Elvira Eilitta

Video piece: Moondyed

This video piece is a collection of short video clips and the dark atmospheric sound accompanying the shots.


Written by: Aleksandra Paravina

The show on the 9th of April 

Olli Nuutila

Photo collage (multiple images mounted on cardboard) 

Teaching Practice 1

First Teaching Practice at Taidekoulu Maa

Time : 1 hour

31.03.2014

I have prepared the one hour presentation on Installation art. My idea was to start with the theoretical understanding of what the meaning of installation is: “In principal, it means taking a large interior (the exterior can be part of an installation, too) and loading it with disparate items that evoke complex and multiple associations and thoughts, longings, and moods. It's a huge three-dimensional painting, sculpture, poem, and prose work”. (1)

I also mentioned artists who were significant such as Bruce Nauman, Doug Aitken, Ann Hamilton.

The students were not familiar with these particular artists but I have also prepared a Power point presentation based on the material I found from online learning materials, Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

The presentation focused on two main approaches to Art Installation: objects in space and space and nothing more.

First we looked at the image of a messy child’s bedroom and discussed: What can we learn about the person who lives here just by looking at this environment? How might it feel to be in this environment?

This was just a lead in to the main question: How do artists create environments?

Unlike paintings and sculpture, installations are meant to be experienced in the moment, and then they may cease to exist. Also they may incorporate all of the senses and one can walk in and out of them, and observe them from different points of view.

Why might an artist choose the medium of installation over others?

With examples of objects in space, there were many questions related to particular artists. For example one of the students was intrigued by Claes Oldenburg, brightly painted object a dress (Mumu, 1961) made with chicken wire and plaster-soaked muslin (kind of like papier-mâché). This work questions the consumer culture, Oldenburg created these objects based on the shirts, shoes, pies, chocolates, and ice cream sandwiches you can find in a store. He then sold his sculptures to the public out of the store, pricing his sculptures at the same cost as the objects they were modeled after.

Another interesting installation was Barbara Bloom’s Reign of Narcissism 1988, Bloom plastered her picture on all of the objects in the room—Greek-looking sculptures. The space between the objects recreates a Neoclassical period room in an imaginary museum dedicated to the artist’s self-image. One of the students compared this piece to the bust of Cleopatra that she saw in an exhibition in Berlin.

Installation from the space and nothing more by Ed Ruscha’s Chocolate Room (1970), was quite intriguing. At first the students were asking if the walls were covered in real chocolate blocks. In fact,  The Chocolate Room consists of 360 shingle-like sheets of paper silkscreened with chocolate. The installation represented the United States in an international art exhibition. We thought of the smell of chocolate and what it must have felt like to be in the space that was coated in chocolate.

Also Chris Burden’s, Exposing the Foundations of the Museum, 1986 was quite intriguing as it raises questions: Do the holes and trenches remind you of anything? What and why? Who might have helped Burden create this installation? This work had the feel of an archaeological excavation site although it was not permanent. Most likely the artist had the help from the contraction company to dig out the foundations of the gallery. 

After this discussion the students were ready to do a practical task, which was to make a collection of everyday objects. They were to arrange the objects inside a box or mount them on a cardboard surface. Also to consider lighting to highlight the composition or create interesting shadow patterns. They had to decide on a theme for the work and give it a title.

Here is the hand-out and the description of the task :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hCn_983CnuT05NcEl3M2dxNFk/edit?usp=sharing

We used all the materials that were available around the studio. The examples worked well and here are the photographs of the student installations. The installations  were quite different in the way the objects were arranged. For example the first student to arrange the installation saw pieces as a house. The objects were joined together and had a very strong supportive feel. The next student had an opposite idea where she placed objects in a way that they did not feel connected.There was also a Greek looking head sculpture that one of the students used with the mirror that worked quite well. The reflection of the head in the mirror had an illusion of the painting. Also she placed the glasses in between the object which contributed to the interesting play with the mirror reflections.

I have also contributed with my installation, based on the theme of sea and the shore. I used a plastic blue polythene bag with other plastic objects such as a sun tan lotion and a plastic container resembling a boat. We agreed that it had an environmental theme as a lot of the pollution does come from the objects left in the sea which then can then effect sea life and birds living around the shore. 

Link to the Power Point presentation : 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hCn_983CnuV0U5X3J0TnlQWEE/edit?usp=sharing

References:

(1) Understanding Installation Art. Date of retrieval 3.04.2014.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-installation-art.html

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Education, Classroom Curriculum, Art Media Types, Installation Art. Date of retrieval 3.04.2014.

http://edu.moca.org/education/teachers/curric/media/installation

Visit to Taidekoulu Maa for observation and to discuss possible teaching practice

24.03.2014

Visit to Taidekoulu Maa ( http://www.taidekoulumaa.fi/opetus/iltaopetus) for observation and to discuss possible teaching practice.

Time: 18.00- 20.30 pm

Taidekoulu Maa is located on the beautiful island of Soumenlinna and the evening had just the perfect light for taking photographs as I took the trip on a ferry.

I met the teacher Egle Oddo who will be my mentor and I was very excited to see the school premises  in an old building,  that must have been built around 150 years ago. The ceilings are semi-circular and the space is ideal for an art studio with wooden floors splattered with paint, lots of interesting furniture, sculptures and paintings to get you inspired. Very free, organic space where one can just focus on doing the art work.

There are 12 students who are part of the course “How to Inhabit a Transitory Space”

part II from 13.01.2014 to 29.04.2014.

They are getting their portfolio ready for applications to Universities or other Art related Degree courses.

Also there is an exhibition on the 9th of April, called MAA for AAVE which is part of the larger exhibition AAVE FESTIVAL: NIGHT OF THE BEAMERS. (www.nightbeamers.org)

The students will participate in this exhibition, this is an opportunity for them to show their audio-visual work as the content is focused on projections.

I have introduced myself to the students and talked about their portfolios and individual pieces of work.

I will prepare one hour lesson for next Monday the 31st of March, on Installation Art. Egle would like me to focus on practical aspect of teaching and to prepare an exercise in arranging objects in space.