Unit 2

525,600 Minutes: How Small Increments Lead to Big Change

This unit will help students explore themselves as individuals who are present at the center of the concept of time and change. This will allow students to explore where they fit into the construct of time and the result of change. As they navigate this placement they will develop a deeper connection between their own art practices and abstract concepts. They will discover how ancient art practices take on new meanings (ceramics) in a contemporary context.

Lesson 1: Self + Time & Change

In this lesson you will think about yourself as it related to the theme of time & change. You will be introduced to your core assignment for this unit: identify a period of time and frequency in which you will engage in repetitive art-making to create a body of work (think 365 challenge, inktober, and the like). The goal is to find appreciation for repetition in your art practice while exploring how you might expand your skillset and concepts over time.

Objectives:

You as the student artist have…

• Choose a period of time and frequency to create a body of work. Focus on creating small artworks frequently over a sustainable amount of time. An example might be creating 1 sculpture everyday for 14 days or creating 1 photograph every hour you are awake for 3 days.

• Once you have completed your artworks, reflect on the changes in your artwork over time.

  • Did you improve a skill?

  • Did you try something new?

  • What surprised you about this challenge?

Standards:

• VA:Cr2.1.HSIII.a - Experiment, plan, and make multiple works of art and design that explore a personally meaningful theme, idea, or concept.

• VA:Cn10.1.HSI.a - Document the process of developing ideas from early stages to fully elaborated ideas.

• VA:Cr1.1.HSI.a - Use multiple approaches to begin creative endeavors.

Essential Questions:

• How do you measure time?

• How are time & change interconnected?

• What can we learn from the past? How can we apply it to the present or future?

Differentiation:

• I believe that differentiation is most effective when fine tuned to each student, rather than providing prescription accommodations. I like to meet my students where they are at by asking questions and actively listening to what they need in the classroom setting. Differentiation could look like adapting art making requirements based on levels of dexterity, providing multiple ways into an assignment to meet unique learning styles (i.e. video, podcasts, and visuals over strictly reading materials when presenting a concept), providing translations on all media materials and closed captioning where possible, and more. I like to work with each student at the beginning of the year to meet their unique needs in order to support their growth and success in this class.

Assessment:

• Formative | Exit Ticket Example: Identify your time & frequency of your work and what medium you will be using for this assignment. Write down an answer or discuss with a classmate or teacher.

Resources:

• Tick Tock - Time in Contemporary Art

• 365 Challenge

• Inktober

• 30 Days of Improvement - Art Challenge

Day-Of:

• Settle-in Activity: Chat with your table mates - share a time where you tried a new medium or talk about a medium you want to learn more about

• Active Listening & Note-Taking Opportunity (Presentation)

• Exploring our Assignment and drafting a concept

• Open Work Time

• Clean-Up

• Exit Ticket

Lesson 2: Exploring Creative Prompts

In this lesson we will explore creative prompt and think critically about how we can incorporate them into our artwork. Creative prompts can help us think outside of the box when approaching a theme where possibilities seem endless.

Objectives:

You as the student artist have…

• Explored a creative prompt in the name of art making

• Incorporated your creative thinking into your core assignment

• You have shared with the class what you have found during this exercise

Standards:

• VA:Cr1.2.HSIII.a - Choose from a range of materials and methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices, following or breaking established conventions, to plan the making of multiple works of art and design based on a theme, idea, or concept.

• VA:Cn10.1.HSII.a - Utilize inquiry methods of observation, research, and experimentation to explore unfamiliar subjects through art-making.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

• How can we think creatively about concepts and art-making prompts?

• How can we use abstract thinking to broaden the spectrum of our art-making?

Assessments:

• Summative Reflection: Students will present their final creative prompt assignment at the end of class - addressing new ways of learning they have discovered during this assignment that may have surprised them and how they can incorporate this into future works.

• Formative | Exit Ticket Example: Share about the progress you’ve made in your repetition project — think about bouncing ideas off one another. Write down an answer or discuss with a classmate or teacher.

Resources:

• Creative Acts for Curious People

• Time-Travel Tropes

Day-Of:

• Settle-in Activity: Chat with your table mates - share a favorite memory tied to a specific food

• Creative Prompt - Time Machine Activity

  • Imagine you were to jump in a time machine - what time would you go to? What would it look like, smell like? What would people wear? What people would you want to meet? Create a page in your sketchbook about this.

• Group Sharing - Creative Prompts

  • Brainstorm some creative prompts with your table - choosing one to try as a group

• Summative Reflection

• Clean-up

• Exit Ticket

• Reminder: You will have time to work on your Repetition Project in class — but, please begin your project independently outside of class for the first few days.

Lesson 3: Curating Your Work to Create Impact

In this lesson we will work on the curation of a single body of artistic work — focusing on editing and visually organizing our imagery. Imagine your assigned table space as your own art gallery. Feel free to get as creative as you would like!

On occasion, you will have the opportunity to produce a solo show. This can sometimes be difficult both in volume of work you will be producing, and in tying all of your work together (finding a single through-line). Exploring themes and big ideas can help us establish a cohesive body of work to show off to our audience. This will be especially beneficial as you learn to curate work alongside others in the following unit. Our final lesson in this unit will focus on a solo curation event (one artist per table in our classroom) — during this gallery walk you will set up, document, advertise, and docent your artwork developed during the 365 assignment.

Objectives:

You as the student artist have…

• Established a throughline for your “solo show”

• Curated your artwork and developed an artist statement

• Reflected and commented on at least one other person’s “solo show”

Standards

• VA:Cr1.1.HSI.a - Use multiple approaches to begin creative endeavors.

• VA:Pr4.1.HSIII.a - Critique, justify, and present choices in the process of analyzing, selecting, curating, and presenting artwork for a specific exhibit or event.

• Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art

• Anchor Standard 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

• How do we curate our own artwork?

• What is the power of assigning an overall theme to our works?

• How do we incorporate final visions into our artwork from the beginning of our process?

Assessments:

• Summative: Students will present their work during a gallery walk

• Formative | Exit Ticket Example: Pick a discussion slip. Write down an answer or discuss with a classmate or teacher

  • Discussion Questions

    • Have you noticed anything change over time?

    • How do we affect the future?

    • How do you measure time?

    • How do your feelings evolve over time?

    • What world have you inherited, what type of world would you like to leave behind?

    • How do focused increments of time spark periods of reflection?

    • How might we explore the time we are asleep?

    • How did time affect who could make art?

    • How does aging affect us?

    • What positive or negative impact have humans had on their environment?

    • How long will your artwork last?

    • Does art have to withstand the test of time?

    • How does your artwork change?

    • What lessons about time/change can ancient stories reveal?

    • Examine how photography captures a moment in time - what moments are worth capturing?

    • What role does movement play

    • when making art about time?

    • How is time measured?

    • Where did the measurement of time originate?

    • What is the impact of human existence on the earth?

    • How do artists portray time?

    • What are the connections between time and identity?

    • How can time allow us to discover unexpected details?

    • What is the test of time?

    • How are time and change interconnected?

    • How do people change with time?

    • What happens when we embrace change? What happens when we avoid it?

    • What do we learn from the past?

    • How do we seek to understand

    • the concepts of time and change?

    • How do perceptions change with time?

Day-1:

• Settle-in Activity: Share what you have been working on so far with your table mates

• Curation Assignment Overview

• Brainstorm with a partner

• Open Work Time - 365 Assignment

• Clean-Up

• Exit Ticket

Day 2:

• Settle-in Activity: “My goal for today’s open work time is…” —> Share with your table mates

• Open Work Time - 365 Assignment

• Clean-Up

• Exit Ticket

Day 3:

• Settle-in Activity: “My throughline for my solo showcase is…” —> Share with your table mates

• Curation Check-in w/ teacher

• Open Work Time - 365 Assignment

• Clean-Up

• Exit Ticket

Day 4:

• Settle-in Activity: Complete the “Glow & Grow” Framework Worksheet to reflect on your repetitive art-making project — identify things about your project that you are really proud of and opportunities for improvements

• Displaying our exhibit

• Gallery Walk

• Clean-Up

• Exit Ticket