dreams are blogs

Dreams are blogs.

I have been really interested in hypnosis and its relation to dreaming. In order for someone to be hypnotized there has to be an element of belief in the process itself.  (there also may be some genetics involved.)  Last summer my partner tried to send me subliminal messages while I was asleep. ( she woke up at 6 am everyday, I did not)  We mostly tried to relay positive messages, “you will have a great day,” “you will be extremely motivated to accomplish ___________today.”  “ you will take a long walk today”  Feeding me these positive thoughts definitely affected my daily outlook. Also what harm can positivity do? I’m sure everyone has seen/heard about  the whole Dr. Masaru Emoto thing .  if not here’s the wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaru_Emoto

I usually share my dreams with my friends especially if they are involved.

I read somewhere that by asking yourself in your waking life “am I dreaming?” several times a day, and taking time to take note of you visual surroundings in your waking life, you will train yourself to ask the same questions as you dream, promoting lucid dreaming (where you have control over your dream life).

I have been trying to fall asleep faster by forcing myself to imagine the random thoughts and imagery that appear in my mind as I am falling asleep. Thinking in a nonlinear fashion calls me to the next idea/ image and before I know it I am asleep.

Last night as I tried this again I dreamt that dreaming was like blogging. Images and words in bold flashed before my eyes in this half asleep half awake state. I don’t know if this is because of all this blogging we’ve been doing, but I definitely see some connection.

inner child and inner adults

Chapter 21-  I read this chapter a while ago and felt that I needed to actually spend time reflecting before responding. Unfortunately time got the best of me and I never got around to posting a response.

This chapter was so incredibly interesting that I spent a lot of time talking about it with friends. It came up in conversation more than I thought. Perhaps that is because we are talking about something within us, our inner child. I feel that the “childlike” abilities and characteristics we carry with us is an issue that artists in particular are trying to cope with.

Its seems that every generation looks at the media and fears that our children are being over sexualized. I found the ideas of the existence of our perpetual inner child and child like moments to be truthful but I would like to play the devils advocate.

 I would like to entertain the ideas about our inner adult. From talking to many of my peers about their childhood I have noticed that we all have moments where something asks us to “grow up” fast. things like a death in the family, personal or familial illness, poverty, single parent households (taking care of family), two working parents ( child/ loneliness). It seems that we force our children to act like adults in many ways.  I remember this scene from the movie eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. The character Clementine makes the comment to Joel that childhood is really lonely. She attributed this loneliness to having opinions that no one listens to. I feel that the image below speaks about the simultaneity within us. The desire to get older and the desire to stay young.

During my elementary placement I had a student who was a crier. She cried about everything, crayon colors, peers, paper, every single day she cried. She was a very emotional little girl. I thought that it would be best to speak to her like an adult. To explain that sometimes things happen that we don’t expect and that having a positive attitude changes the way we feel. Basically we have control over the outcome depending on how we look at things, and that it is important to have a positive attitude. (I should practice what I preach more often.) Once I spoke on to her like this she immediately changed her attitude. I also spoke to the class as a whole about having positive attitudes. Once I expected more of them they met those standards (with plenty reminders of course).

I realized I was tapping my heels to make music and entertain myself as I waited for my bridge conference to begin. It brought me back to my childhood, in church shoes, tapping around to feel special. I remember how those shoes made me feel older like my mom. I almost felt like I grew right then, having forgotten and remembered something simultaneously.  I laughed at the thought of having to wear noisy heeled shoes as a part of my professional wardrobe.

Growing is so strange. Does it happen without us noticing? or does it happen just before those weird moments when we realize we have grown?

 

blogs about fashion blogs.

http://www.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/girlcult/greenfield05.html 

Beth posted a comment on one of my blogs that i didn't see until recently (because my computer wasn't emailing me notices yet)  This work is so interesting. The link has amazing interviews with these young girls and their struggles being young girls. Some of the thing these girls said was creepy. I love this image of these girls getting ready for a school dance. i remember those feelings, the excitement, getting ready with friends. i felt like that was wayyy more fun than actually going. the girl in the image on the far right has the most amazing expression on her face. she is different from the rest of the group. in many ways she seems so young in comparison to the other girls. i wonder how much this photograph captured the genuine nature of these girls. the two girls on the end seem like girls with their awkward stances. the two in the middle have traded in their girl-ness for sexiness. I think this piece would be great to use with students and bring up conversations about feminine identity, and cliques. i wonder what they would say. 

People blog about fashion a lot, especially young people.  I once stumbled upon one made by a middle school girl. She was concerned about looking cool because she was starting middle school. I think the only people that posted were other middle school girls. they talked about make up but looking natural was very important to them.  

Fashion blogs remind me of fashion collages from magazine images without the physical cutting and pasting manipulation. 

random thought ive been thinking

 An interesting connection between queer theory and art is the willingness to be different. Art empowers students to be different.  Queerness is all about changing norms. 

 

david bowie-fashion!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA27aQZCQMk

WIki definitions

Fashion is the style and custom prevalent at a given time.

Identity whatever makes an entity definable and recognizable

Trend a line of general direction of movement, a prevailing tendency of inclination, a style or preference, a line of development, or the general movement over time of a statistically detectable change .

Style a prevailing mode of expression, e.g., clothing

Tricks of the trade.

The internet is so amazing. You can watch a Youtube video on how to do just about everything. What a great way to contribute to DIY culture. What I especially find interesting is that women are so willing to share their beauty secrets.  Before the advent of Youtube, women read books and magazines about beauty secrets.  There was a lot of faith and trust involved in that, not to mention having to visualize specific steps and imagining the outcome. Now we have you tube- we can watch-rewind-learn things and access them wherever whenever. We can even share these resources for FREEEEEEE

heres the link for the leopard print eye makeup tutorial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Arr1O-CnE&feature=response_watch

ive learned so many things from the internet. I also feel like internet resources also can help multiple learners attain new skills. For example, i can watch videos, read instructions at my own pace. i have access to images, directions, everything is at my fingertips. in contrast to reading a books, which arent practical to lug around, usually dont have pictures and are never completely up to date with the most current information.

another trend i stumbled upon on a random google search was anime make up. The images look strange but from what i understand the person photographed has their eyes completely closed. This must take a lot of skill and patience. ( although i'm almost positive there are you tube video tutorials on it) it seems that the ladies that want this look study the work of anime artist to bring this to life.  What does this mean? in a way this reminds me of avatars on second life. 

-FEAR-

Part of me wonders if exposing my students to issues of fashion and identity in the classroom will backfire and end up perpetuating the medias ideas of beauty. I think this goes back to lesson planning being very similar to art making . This will require a lot of finesse, carefully planning and discussion. 

i used this artist to get my students thinking about stereotyping based on the way someone looks.  The students described the personality  and habits of each person ( i showed the image in fragments) The students were surprised at how much clothing dictated their perception of the person photographed. they came up with pretty elaborate stories behind the person photographed. One observation made by a student was that if a man or woman wasn't covering their body, it indicated that they were from the streets. This took me by surprise. 

Local designer: Baltimore

I was at an art opening a couple weeks ago and this group people came in. It was late in the evening and they were all wearing these amazing sunglasses. They took my breath away. Once I told them I liked their glasses one of the guys told me he made them. He handed me his business card. I thought these glasses were fun, and pretty cool. They probably took a lot of time to create.  Being the artist I am and a fan of DIY culture, this work has inspired me to try creating things like this myself.

Working with glasses would be a cool think to work with in the classroom. Glasses can go in so many directions.  Seeing: How you see yourself on the inside, how you present yourself on the outside. Visions for the future, viewpoints on issues. 

google image searches:image hunting

I feel weird about taking images from Google. I have so many folders stored on my computer. Currently there are about 8 folders purely inspirational imagery on my computer. Many of them are folders for fashion ideas, I can try to make my own. I have been working with the idea of making abstract paintings from tulle fabric. I try to steal ideas and elements from fashion to make my own work. The work by this fashion designer is pretty amazing. I feel as though the connection to fashion and art become really apparent when I see this work. 

work by Viktor & Rolf

This is also a great artistic practice to pass onto students. 

student work-fabric of life

This is the artwork my students created for the break up letters/postcards sent from the point of view of their favorite article of clothing and address to themselves. I laughed so much during this lesson. Their work was so fun and exciting. They also really got into writing the break up letters. i was surprised at how harsh their break up letters were considering 6th graders aren't really dating. Or are they? Maybe they learn about relationships from the media. 

Fabric of Life lesson

I used Borsodi as a resource for a lesson I taught about writing from the Point of View of an inanimate object. The students were instructed to write a break up letter from the POV of their favorite article of clothing. The writing served as pre-visualization for drawings of their favorite article of clothing.  

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more borsodi

Borsodi

Borsodi-I stumbled upon this artist named Borsodi while doing a mass google image search. His playfulness with materials, imagination, inventiveness, and fashion photography makes him a good resource for young artists. However, the initial images I saw of his work were classroom friendly, as I dug deeper I realized there were definitely some images that would be inappropriate for the classroom. Which brings me to the question, is it okay to show images that are decent for the classroom, but may tempt students to investigate other (maybe indecent) works? 

His other work incorporates fashion and consumerism in combination with sexuality. He does a lot of advertisements for fashion magazines (which is where he gets some of his materials), so I wonder if he is commenting on femininity, beauty, identity and consumerism or not. He has gotten a bad rap from feminist groups for his combination of nude model in sexual poses with designer goods.  I can totally see why. One site I looked at said that although he has gotten a bad reputation, he has opened the door for conversations about women as objects for male consumption. 

Here are links to look at all his work ( this is where i got all my images from)

http://www.belaborsodi.com/

http://www.art-dept.com/artists/borsodi/

final lesson 6th

As a believer in DIY culture and customizing clothing I felt it was important that bring that belief into my classroom of 6^th grade uniform wearing students. Going to a uniform school sometimes feels like the end of the world. Middle school is a time where students are experiencing many changes and developing their identities. When I asked some of the students if they had ever altered their clothes, many said they have never thought about it/ tried. We spent one day working subtractively, and one day working additively. The students worked in groups to make the lesson less expensive and to teach how to work collaboratively. 

meet sixth grade.

this was my last day with the 6th graders. they asked me to take this picture.

internship 2

For my last Internship II placement I worked in a 6^th grade language arts classroom at Roland Park Public Elementary and Middle school. Creating an interdisciplinary unit that also maintained my voice as an artist/teacher, was truly was like creating piece of artwork in a new medium.

It wasn’t until I used the language of fashion and textile to connect to my students that I felt truly invested in the lessons I taught. My goal was to create a fun space for my students to explore ideas they have: relationships, fashion, identity, through art and writing. Each day I brought my enthusiasm  for fashion into the classroom. The students regularly complimented me on my funky outfits. My students saw how I lived artfully. I often pointed out when I noticed something unique about their uniforms. This diminished the teacher/ student barrier between us. I saw the connections my students made between their lives and their education. The lessons I taught fostered a relationship where the students and I fed each other new ideas.

Planting seeds –my goal was to help my students understand its okay to be unique.

(funny=i had a student named Unique in this class.)