Discussion Board #1 and Janine Antoni

Art education is moving very quickly into the 21^st century with all the technology and new mediums being used. Teaching art to my students is going to be a lot different than when I was in school for a couple reasons. One is when I was in high school we were given projects to do. Rarely, were we shown what artist did this method or who made this type of art first. So coming into college I didn’t have a vast art history background and I feel, I have had to catch up to everyone else because of that. Another difference that I am going to want to change in my classroom that I didn’t o in high school is to get my students to use more of their imaginations. When I was in high school mostly all we did was mimic a picture we found off the internet. This was nice an easy, but I wasn’t very expressive as I wish I would have been. I tried to make everything perfect and look just like the picture but if someone would ask me, which no one ever did, why I made what I made, the answer would be because I like the picture or I just felt like it. There wasn’t a lot of meaning behind my work. Now that I am at Mizzou, I am struggling to explain the meaning behind my work. Now looking back, I wish I would have had more practice with explaining my concepts and the “Big Idea” of my work.

                When looking at Janine in Art21 and reading about her work I thought it was very interesting that she used her body a lot as her tools. I also thought it was interesting was her huge array of materials she used.  For my lesson I would show the students her Art21 video and ask them while they are watching to write down all the different materials she was using and why she might be using that specific item. After they have looked at all of her nontraditional materials and symbolism I would have them pick 2 to 3 everyday items that they use and have them make a sculpture with that item. While working on their sculpture I’d want them to think about both the process and the piece when it is finished. This way the students are learning about Janine Antoni, and taking how she does her art and applying it to their works.