Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Artist & the Artifact: The Things We Make Reflect Who We Are & Where We're From 2









Our current PYP unit, The Artist & the Artifact, follows three lines of inquiry, or three areas that we'll be exploring over the next five weeks. In the first week, the aim is to pique student interest, provide a context for deeper investigation, and provoke questions.

As a provocation for the first line of inquiry -- the things we make reflect who we are and where we're from -- students viewed a piece by Alaskan ceramic artist Jim Brashear, then, based upon their observations, drew inferences about the artist's personality, inspirations, and motivations. Here's a sampling of their ideas:

“I think he could be from Alaska, because of all the salmon, and the salmon population is from Alaska. Salmon can live in freshwater, so he might live near a river.” Jacob

“I think he’s serious when it comes to the artistic type of work because people just don’t do this type of work. It takes time.” Sabria

“He’s a fisherman, and he likes being around people. He likes being around his friends, because of all the fish.” Lexie

“He probably has a big imagination. He thought to use glass pieces as teeth. And I think that he really likes textures, because there’s so many textures on it. He uses things that we don’t usually use.” Cambell

“I think that he’s Russian, because the matryoshka dolls, and this kind of reminds me of it.” Sabria

“I think he lives by the ocean, and loves the ocean, too, because the blue looks like the ocean, and the fish on the side. He’s a very crafty person because it’s all a clay pot, and the boat comes out, and the other part comes out, too.” Alyssa

“I think that he likes to eat fish, because the fish are eating fish.” Alyssa

“I think that he really likes doing pottery, and he’s been doing it for years because it looks hard to make.”

“He made the pot because he loves to fish. Maybe he had no place to put the fish, so he put the fish on the pot. Then he could hold the fish in the pot. I also think he lived next to the ocean or a lake, and he loved to fish in a boat.” Caroline

“I think he’s probably Indian, because that’s hard for an American, because an Indian usually makes pottery.” Cameron

“His life is probably being an artist because why would a fisher person be making pots all day if he’s out on the ocean all day. He probably has a hobby of fishing. It looks southern Asian. (My dad used to always catch these fish. It’s sort of an unusual lime-ish, green-ish color. I don’t know.) He probably likes green, because the fish are green. He made that fish angry because he can be a little feisty. He can be feisty because the fish are eating the fish. Either that or it’s like the ocean, how fish eating other fish.” Da-Lan

“I think he’s more of an outdoor kind of person and he lives in an area with lots of fish, not just a few fish, but a whole lot of fish. It’s kind of strange that he made the fish eating other. I’ll bet that there wasn’t much for the fish to eat.” Abby

“I think he’s into patterns. Since all of the fish are eating fish, I think he might to play with things to see how they might turn out. I think he is pretty skilled.” Margo

“When I’m looking at it, you guys are seeing fish eating fish, but in my head I see the revenge of the fish. I thought it would be funny if all of these fish are seeking revenge. They’re all coming up from the depth to attack, because they all have teeth, and it looks kind of scary in a funny way.” Mrs. Glick

“He’s very creative with clay because he can shape it in these different ways. He doesn’t just slap on paint like Jackson Pollack. The teeth look like they’re made of shells. I think he thought of the fish as something of great beauty. The fish are holding up the whole pot. It looks like he’s telling us that fish are important, like the circle of life.” Nora

“I think he put the fish that way to express his anger. They look like they’re angry.” Caroline

“I think he’s calm because the boat’s sort of calm with all this stuff going on around him. The fish are eating each other. Since it’s a rickety boat, maybe even the littlest waves might break it, but he’s still just calm. He world around him is crazy and hectic and all the animals are eating each other.” Mae