Art Journal #7

3/20/2022

#MindfullnessandMovement

Over spring break I taught bug camp for the City of Fort Collins and I was actually tasked with planning the activities for the whole week. And let me tell ya, it was a lot of work. Not only did I plan arts and crafts, but I also planned STEM activities, group challenges, mindfulness practices, and physical activities. I kept thinking to myself, I wish we could just do art all day long. But, as I continued through the week, I realized that art all day would only satisfy a handful of the kiddos. The kids need all of these different components for a well-rounded, productive day of fun. So when I think about creating a curriculum for an art class, I’m considering how I can implement all of these different aspects into my lesson plans.

What kinds of opportunities can I give kids to let their energy out? Is the art-making process an act of mindfulness? How can students be challenged to create art as a team? And how might I do these things across grade levels?

Moving the body in the art-room:

The Art of Education offers some strategies for this in their article: How to Get Moving in the Art Classroom

1. Make Movement a Routine - For younger artists, this is pretty easy as they aren’t embarrassed to stretch and move freely so you can have them do the brain dance, have a dance party, do a stretch break, or even try some yoga. In my experience, kids will pretty much do anything you ask of them as long as it seems fun and they get to do something with it. For older students, this looks like explaining how movement can be applied to your practice. I had a painting professor that told me that the practice of painting is one that involves movement or interaction with the work. Just as Jackson Pollack’s work displays how his movements interact with work, I would ask the same of my students.

2. Walk and Draw - The act of walking to a location to do some observational drawing is powerful because it enacts all of the senses of the artist. As I mentioned in earlier entries, I went on a backpacking trip to document the flora and fauna of a very specific environment. The journals and sketches that were produced could only have been achieved with my movement in the Baja environment. As a teacher, I would have my students complete similar journals that would serve to feed other artworks that are produced, based on this research

3. Have a Standing Desk - “Ever have a student who cannot seem to sit down? Why make them? Some artists simply work better while standing up. Bed risers can be used to lift tables to make them standing or studio table height.”

Art-making as Mindfulness:

The Institute for Art Education and STEAM offers some ways to integrate mindfulness in the classroom: Creative Mindfulness: Using Visual Art to Cultivate Zen in the Classroom

1. Encourage students to focus on the feeling of the pencil/brush/materials in our hands. Is the grip loose or tight? Where does the tool rest in your hand? Can you bring some relaxation into the grip while still keeping control of the tool?

2. Urge students to notice the sensation of paint on a canvas, chalk on a piece of paper. How does it feel to connect paint to a surface? Chalk? Pencil? Crayon? What does the surface feel like? Canvas? Paper? Mixed media? Does your hand brush the surface as you work?

3. How does the rest of your body react while you work? Do your shoulders tense up? Do you clench your jaw? Do you furrow your brow? Do you hold your breath? If you find this kind of tension creeping in, how can you begin to relax it?

As a whole, I think these strategies are essential to the art-making process. When I took printmaking, my professor spoke about posture as one carves their block or varnishes the edges of their plate. The practice in itself is considered meditative as it is so redundant that it allows the mind to wonder. There’s a lot of art processes that involve redundant movement that don’t require a lot of thinking. It’s important to make sure that your students know that this can be meditative and healing in many ways.

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For my art project that I am adding to this week, I am demonstrating the movement and mindfulness that I want my students to also experience as they create art. I feel that implementing these into the art-making process beg for a wholesome experience; one that activates all of the senses and gives the mind a rest

The yellow marks signify the movement of the artist as painting involves moving one’s body across the canvases to achieve desired marks and gestures.

The white marks embody a meditative approach. It’s easy to make a bunch of single file lines, but it requires a sense of mindfulness as this process is both repetitive and redundant. I made the marks with an oil stick, rather than a paintbrush to have more control over my mark-making. As I make these marks, my mind can both wonder and remain clear.

All together, my work thus far is representative of all of the strategies that will be influencing my pedagogical framework within my classroom and my lessons.