Team Final Reflective Paper

Team Final Reflective Paper

Everyday Art by Cyndi Smith

I realized as I was gathering information for our team project that I miss out on a lot of beautiful views on my normal drive into work. When I started to allow myself extra time in the morning to look at my surroundings I was more relax when I finally reach my destination. As creatures of nature most of us just get into routines of running here and there and cramming as many activities into a single day as possible. We are no longing setting time aside to enjoy the simple things in life.

I have lived in my neighbor for ten years now and only because I had to do this paper I found that I pass by many different forms of art daily. I saw a beautifully hand painted mail box, Home made crafts, and decorated homes for the holidays. I would have never considered these items as forms of art until now. I probably never even gave them a second thought. Now I see that someone took the time and used their imaginations to give me something new and exciting to look at on my daily normal drive. I now consider these neighbors as artists.

I am now taking time to go around a view my surrounding and thank those who took the time to create a piece of art for me to view. I started with an elderly man down the street who changes his yard with crafts and flags almost weekly. I saw him sitting in his wheel chair one day last week so I stopped and told him that I loved the way he decorates his yard. I also thanked him for taking time to this for our viewing pleasures. He then thanked me for taking the time to stop and say that to him. He seemed very happy to have at least one person recognize his creativity. So if we all just take a moment to thank one person in our neighborhood just think what a great place to live we would be creating.

Children’s Art by Dawn M. Dean

This was great! My children and I bonded through art for the first time. Yes, they have brought home work in the past and my husband and I have briefly looked it over and with a smile said that is real nice, thank you. This project brought new meaning to looking at their work. Now I was looking for color schemes and techniques used along with asking them what inspired their work. Their excitement in the fact that I was reaching out to them for more details regarding their work spoke volumes to me and really opened my eyes to just how important it is to not only go over and discuss their academic work such as math, science, social studies and language arts in detail, but to really take some time to focus on their elective work such as art and wood shop as well. Yes, I always help my daughter focus on an art project that is due, but never asked her the detailed questioned I asked when doing my project for this class. Maybe not asking went hand in hand with not knowing what to ask.

I feel this project was a huge success for me personally and I would recommend everyone who did not get the opportunity to work on the subject of “Children’s Art” take some time and collect a few pieces of artwork from their children, view it, jot down a few notes on your reflection of their work and then interview the artist. Your findings will be rewarding.

I enjoyed the class, but not something I think I will pursue. I will continue to enjoy art and open my mind to art more than I have in the past.

Lake Views by Theresa Rush

I think the Art Journal was a good choice as a project, it allowed me to use my imagination trying to capture the art of nature. This was something I probably would not have done before. Normally I would have chosen something along the lines of creating a piece of art work using oils or another medium. Deciding to use photographs in an art project opened up another world of art for me. I enjoyed the process of planning what to capture on film and when to capture it. Colors vary depending on morning, afternoon, or evening, while it is sunny or misty. Everything changes with the change of nature.

Taking photographs of the lake where I live was another appropriate choice, especially during the autumn season. The lake offers many beautiful views of nature where the trees autumn leaves reflect bright colors on the water, the sky a crisp blue, with wonderful puffs of white clouds. I found myself in wonderment as I walked about, taking pictures, realizing now why so many artists paint landscapes. I refer to Claude Monet, “Sunrise” 1872, and oil on canvas, as one of these many artists.

I enjoyed the outcome of the pictures that I took, the colors were beautiful, and the subject matter was at times exciting, the brightly colored children’s beach pails left behind on the picnic table. Other times, the subject matter offered what I felt was a time of reflection. The row boats left draped over one another, waiting for the winter to come and lay a shroud of snow over them, allowing them to rest until next summer. Everything that I looked at and took a picture of tells a story of what happened, and what is going to happen. There is a very quiet beauty in what I found; I am going to continue taking photos of the lake and life around me in all four seasons.

I found that taking the online art class along with a math class as well as work and family definitely put me to the edge. Although I did enjoy the class, it was a lot of work along with everything else going on in my life.

Art Appreciation by Jennifer Carrero

This class was not what I expected it to be. I thought it would be a lot easier since it was online. I thought wrong. There was so much work to do that I was intimidated by it. I am not one to constantly be on the computer, except for work. This class proved to be quite demanding in that area. I feel as though I was on every day, several times a day. Luckily, I have a good group that has helped me in trying to accomplish our objectives.

We decided to do an Art Journal as our team project. This project has made me really take some time out of my busy life and look at everything around me. I always knew there was a mural painted near a restaurant in town. I never knew the mural was painted for the Children’s Museum next door to the restaurant. I took a good look at the mural and realized that a lot of time and effort was put into that painting. The way each character was painted seemed to give each its own personality. Although this class required a lot of work I think that the ultimate goal was achieved, Art Appreciation.


References:

Community Children’s Museum
http://www.communitychildrensmuseum.org/

Hackettstown Firehouse, Hackettstown, NJ

Prebles’ Art Forms 8th Edition Revised 2004
www.wikipedia.com