ART 201: MEDIA, TECHNIQUES, AND INQUIRY FOR ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS
ARTIST RESEARCH: Mr. Cartoon
The artist I chose to research was Mr. Cartoon, a tattoo/graffiti artist from LA. I chose Mr.Cartoon due to his relevance as chicano artist who comes from a low income area filled with violence. The reason this research was important to me is because of his potential to be a role model for those of similar backgrounds.
ELEMENTARY LESSON PLAN
In conduction with students from my class, we made a lesson plan that could be done online (as a result of the current pandemic). Our lesson plan was based off the free choice art prompts our collaborative teachers had modeled for us. In our lesson students had the ability to chose between three art prompts that encouraged to create using unconventional mediums and community resources.
CLINICAL OBSERVATION WRITTEN REFLECTION
For a majority of my clinical observation I was able to assist a Chicago public school teacher (Taura Saunders) and her student teacher (John Esparza) by creating art works that demonstrated assigned activities. My pieces were used as instructional examples that allowed students to understand what was being asked of them.
PROFESSIONALISM, ADVOCACY & LEADERSHIP: PAL 2 (1 submission)
In this experience I was in charge of designing a mural for a local cafe in Highland Park, IL. I was leading a team of four students, who worked inside the cafe, to produce a mural that stands with the cafe's belief of racial equality.
ART 211:
Media, techniques and inquiry suitable for secondary schools.
FRESH FADE
By Ivan Hernandez Salinas
In this painting two figures are framed within two white bars, one of which is meticulously cutting the other's hair. The barber seems to be focused on the clients hair, while the client is staring at something off in the distance neither of them are saying a word. The image is a close up cutting off everything under the torso so it gives off the impression that we are right next to both of these people. With nothing in the background, it feels as though there is a spotlight highlighting these figures making the scene more intimate.
211 Studio assignment
Description:
This is the painting I created for our studio assignment that focused on representation. I chose to paint an image of me cutting my brother's hair.
211 UNIT PLAN
During this semester I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to teach a unit plan at the Waukegan Highschool. For my lesson I chose to teach about the aspects of graffiti and its fundamentals. I taught this lesson with a central focus on identity and how art can be used to represent ourselves and our communities. Through powerpoint presentations, group discussion and experimentation I taught students how we can utilize art principles like color harmony, perspective, line weight and more to create compelling graffiti pieces. Being that graffiti is an art form that originated with minority youth around hip hop culture I believed it would help broaden students understanding of what art is and who is represented under the title of "artist." I also made sure to include artists with similar backgrounds as the students as it would aid in their ability to connect and interact with them.
Graffiti Lesson Plan Assessments
As graffiti is not traditionally taught in art classes I often checked in with students to ensure they are understanding the material and vocabulary. To do this I would go around and speak with students one on one about how their projects are going and if there was any clarification they needed. In doing so I made sure to use the lesson's vocabulary and noticed when students were able grasp its meaning and correct use. In the cases where a student was having trouble, I would use artist examples to demonstrate the areas in which our vocabulary was being used and ask the student ways in which it affects the piece to strengthen their understanding of the concepts. Unfortunately, due to time constraints I was unable to incorporate our units rubric in assessing their final pieces.
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION AND ARTIST HANDOUT
Through the questions I posed in both my presentation and handout I pushed students to think about how art is viewed within our society as a whole and within the community of our classroom. I included questions that brought attention to the structural, conceptual and subjective framework in which graffiti and art can be analyzed and encouraged students to think about the deeper impacts our backgrounds have on our interpretations of the work. Through discussion we were able to explicitly address these conceptual frameworks and their relation to our own artwork and the examples.
STUDENT EXAMPLES
TATTOO PRACTICE
During the past couple of months I have been looking for ways to continue to grow my art practice and perfect my craft. One of these ways was to begin learning how to tattoo. I am currently working on getting my required certifications and am hoping to begin tattooing soon.
GALLERY 2109 EXHIBITION
This year I was invited to exhibit some of my artwork in a community gallery in Waukegan. I exhibited nine of my paintings for Gallery 2109 opening exhibition alongside other Waukegan artists.
DIGITAL ART
Finding new methods of art has always excited me, being able to make digital art has given me the opportunity to learn from other artists whom I would not have known of otherwise. Local artists have been able to teach me about different programs and techniques that have had great impact in my art making process.
EL DIA DE NIÑO WORKSHOP
In collaboration with The Art Center of Highalnd Park and both Highwood and Highland Park public libraries, I helped host an art workshop in which I guided kids from the community in making their own koi kites to hang during El Dia de Niño.
ART 309 SEC 1
Background & Expertise
Pal 1
CARLOS ALMARAZ: PLAYING WITH FIRE
Description: Playing with fire is a documentary based on the life and career of the late Chicano artist Carlos Almaraz.
Rationale: The reason I chose to watch this documentary was because I was looking for new inspiration to change my style of artwork. Being able to see a Almaraz's work was eye opening. It pushed me to experiment more with form and color and I could not be happier for it.
Evidence: Carlos Almaraz: Playing with Fire (trailer) - YouTube
Pal 1
COLOR AND LIGHT: A GUIDE FOR THE REALIST PAINTER BY JAMES GURNEY
Description: 'Color and Light answers the questions that realist painters continually ask such as: 'What happens with sky colors at sunset?' 'How do colors change with distance?"... Auther James Gurney draws on his experience as a plein-air painter and science illustrator to share a wealth of information about the relist painter's most fundamental tools" color and light."
Rationale: I have always strived to make my artwork more representational and dramatic. The best way I could see to do this was to improve my skills in depicting light, contrast, and color. Through the information in this book, I have been able to see the real world differently which has translated into my artwork.
Evidence: Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter by James Gurney | Goodreads
Pal 2
I STAND WITH IMMIGRANTS MURAL
Description: In collaboration with Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc. I created a mural design in response to the I Stand with Immigrants national campaign in which the community came together to paint. The mural has since been donated to Illinois State Universities' Multicultural Center where it will be displayed.
Rationale: This opportunity allowed me to create artwork with the intention of showing support to the immigrant community from around the world and celebrate our diversity. It also allowed me to work with our community and allow students to show support by helping us paint the mural.
Pal 2
INSTAGRAM PROMOTION
Description: Selling and promoting my art on Instagram.
Rationale: To be an artist in today's world a social media presence is necessary. Through Instagram, I am able to display my artwork and market it to potential buyers.
Evidence: Iván Hernandez Salinas (@_chico_brown_) • Instagram photos and videos
Description: In this unit, students will learn about what environmental activism is and how art can be used as a form of activism. Students will practice carving ideas through using clay. Students will learn about artists who use these concepts in their work and students will use printmaking to create their own environmental activism posters.
Rationale: This lesson emphasized the way in which art can be used to enact social change and as a form of activism. Through print making techniques and discussion students were able to experiment with an art process that can be used to create multiple copies of the same image to bring attention to any social issue.
Description: In this unit, students will learn about the designing process that involves identifying an action and designing an object (robot) that would fulfill that action. Students will follow along to the book “If I had a robot,” by Dan Yaccarino to see examples of robots doing multiple types of tasks to inform the possibilities they could take within their design. After Which students will create a series of robots, with their own unique tasks and purposes.
Rationale: For this lesson we wanted students to begin to see the ways in which art can be applied to the real world. By having students think of a task that they would like to be done for them and the 2d visual elements that would translate to a 3d model.
ART 309 SEC 2
Background & Expertise
Pal 1
DANDELION GALLERY EXHIBITION
Description: On Nov.19th I attended a gallery exhibition in the Dandelion Gallery in Waukegan, IL.
Rationale: It was a great opportunity to view artwork by and have conversations with local artists. I was able to experience the ambience of a gallery space and even speak with staff about possible opportunities to display artwork.
Evidence: Art Coalition | Dandelion Gallery & Studio | Waukegan | Lake County IL
Pal 1
BOTANICAL ART TECHNIQUES BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF BOTANICAL ARTISTS
Description: "This definitive guide is the most thorough how-to on every major technique of botanical artistry. The experts at the American Society of Botanical Artists offer step-by-step projects that move from introductory to advanced."
Rationale: I chose to read this book as flowers are a common motif in my personal artwork, so to learn from artists well versed in their depictions offered great insight.
Evidence: Botanical Art Techniques - American Society of Botanical Artists | PDF (scribd.com)
Pal 2
TATTOOING
Description: This past semester I have begun tattooing family and friends.
Rationale: Tattooing has always been a medium of art that intrigued me. Having the experience tattooing has made me closer exam principles of design and its application to body art.
Pal 2
CUSTOM SHIRT SALES
Description: This past semester I was selling custom shirts which I had painted my own designs on.
Rationale: In creating clothing, it offered me the experience of marketing and selling my artwork. It was interesting to see my artwork displayed in such a public manner and working with fabric was a refreshing change of pace.
Description: During this lesson students will analyze and interpret different art works from diverse artists to determine the ways in which intimacy can be portrayed through portraiture with special attention to composition. After analyzing artworks, students will then take part in taking their own reference photos where they will determine the narrative of their portraits. Once reference photos are taken students will experiment with different cropping compositions and analyze its effect on the photos interpretation. For our final project students will be using image transferring methods to paint portraitures personal to them that convey an intimate narrative.
Rationale: In this lesson students will be learning the technical skills of composition, cropping and image transfer which can later be used in future artworks.
Description: In this lesson students will be using color to depict emotion in portraits. Students will be using photo references from their personal lives with strong emotional ties to then paint in watercolor with colors they believe represent the emotions tied to those images.
Rationale: Through learning colors and their connection with emotions students will be exposed to the idea of utilizing color in an expressive manner as opposed to a representational one. With the fundamentals of color theory students will be able to apply this knowledge to produce more meaningful artworks in the future.