Why I Use Reality Competition Shows in the Art Room

During my first go round at the high school level, students learned about color theory before winter break and we would use frosting and food coloring to create cakes in a color scheme. I would reference two popular competitive baking shows at the time (Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss) but we didn't watch them. I don't think I had the ability to save/record or project the shows or it just didn't occur to me.

With our last week of school coming up I was trying to think of something similar, but there are now restrictions on students eating food in my classroom, so we went another way. I decided to show my students the Netflix show Blown Away* and it was such a great decision.

For background, our admin cancelled final exams and are collecting the ipads from our seniors which doesn't leave me with a lot of options. This is my Art 4 class and 80% of the kids are at home this year.  I can't really assign new work since grades are due before the last day. So most days I'm sitting in the room with a small handful of kids. This week it ended up being one girl. One. Also known as super awkward art class. So I thought I'd introduce the show a day early to test it out, and avoid the awkward situation of us in the room for 80 minutes.

As we watched the show together it became abundantly clear that I NEED to show something like this to ALL of my students before the first critique of the year. There is so much modeling of the studio habits and art criticism that was so much more meaningful than me explaining it to them on a worksheet. Let's break it down:

1. Prompts: Each of these shows regardless of end product give a prompt of some sort (design a birdhouse, create a vessel) that is open for interpretation

2. Limitations: The judges on the show always introduce a restrictions of time, media, size or color palette 

3. Rubric: Prior to saying "Go!" the judges reveal the categories upon which they will be judged.

4. Planning: The shows often include brief interview with the artist where they outline their plan and or materials and explain their rationale for the direction they have chosen. This time may also include a biography in which students can hear about a wide range of career pathways and programs of study. 

5. Formative Assessment: The judges circulate throughout the competition asking the artists clarifying questions or reminding the contestants of the limitation or criteria.

6. Trial and Error: We see the artists push the boundaries and fail. They regroup and try again.

7. Reflection: Prior to the judging portion of the show, there is often a second interview with the artist where they self-reflect on the process and how they did, what they would do different, what they are proud of and what they learned.

8. Critique: Some shows have judges meet privately while viewing the work, some review the work in front of the artist, some ask the artist to present and defend the work (Hello, artist statement).

9. Feedback: At the end of the episode, the judges reveal the winner (or loser) and explain why the person who is going home was eliminated.

I'm pretty sure the lesson plan just wrote itself. And now, when I watch season 3 of Making It this summer, I can tell myself I'm "lesson planning"

* This is not a sponsored post. I used my personal Netflix account to share in class. There is mild profanity in this specific show that is not censored out when the contestants glass pieces are broken. Make sure that is allowed in your setting.

Drawing Inspiration From Contemporary Artists

 

This week, our limitation was to draw three thumbnail sketches that were inspired by a contemporary artist. I asked students to push beyond what they new and try to find an artist they don't think anyone in the class would have heard of. I asked them to take a day or two to think about it, and before they began, asked them to share the name of their artist to our class padlet. If their artist was already listed, they would need to start over.

I started the posting with Bisa Butler, who is a new favorite of mine.  They tried to check in asking if they could do this type of artist, or a kid their age with an instagram and I stuck with my single answer "Pick a living artist" and it truly paid off.

 I didn't want them picking something to please me. Here are some of the artists they shared:Yoshitomo Nara, Steven McCracken, Donny the Dybbuk, Morgen Kilbourn, OtakuNailArt, Damien Hirst, Victoria Vincent. I love that there are a range of artists including nail art, comic and cartoonists, street art, etsy shop owners and more. 

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Each week I've been giving a limitation for students to work in their sketchbook. Last week it was to use the artprompts generator. To see the rest of the sketches in this series, click the limitation tag at the bottom of this post.

Wayne Thiebaud Cake Remix

The Wayne Thiebaud cake lesson. If you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. That's how I was feeling. This lesson had gotten stale and I needed to kick it up a notch to keep my 4th grade artists engaged.

A few weeks ago I reached out to one of my favorite instagram artists. Anastasiya Levashova is an amazing contemporary illustrator who paints drool-worthy confections among other things. It was the perfect balance to the artwork of Wayne Thiebaud. To get started I asked the artist for permission to print some of her cake images to inspire my students. I was so delighted to hear from her the very next day and she even asked to see their work when finished. How sweet is that?

In this remixed lesson I presented Thiebaud as the past, Anastasiya as the present and suggested that they could be the next great cake artist.  Sharing a little about Levashova opened the conversation up to different career paths and options for artists today. This was the missing link. Adding the contemporary artist into the mix made the lesson much more relatable to my students. The next logical step was to move our media into the 21st century.



Our district purchased a class set of apple pencils (I know, spoiled!) for the 7 elementary schools to share. So when it was our turn, I knew I had to make the most of it. Not only were they using a stylus for the first time, we were using the procreate app on their ipads (yes, completely and utterly spoiled).



Here are some more of their amazing cakes:

 If you like this lesson you will surely want to follow Anastasiya on Instagram.



My lesson plan and support materials to help your students succeed are available here.