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Artist Statement
Art class is like a treasure hunt. The students are the adventurers and the teacher is the map. The map guides the adventurers to the treasure and has information and tools, like a compass rose, the adventurers can use to help them on their journey. The map does not force the adventurers to use the tools; they must choose to use these themselves. On their quest for treasure, the adventurers will encounter many different things, have many new experiences, and acquire new skills. By the end of their journey, they will have changed. They will have grown as a class and as individuals. Treasure maps do not usually reveal what the treasure is, only that there is treasure to be found. Each journey is slightly different for each student and each class. Some journeys are more difficult than others and some are more enlightening. The treasure a student finds at the end of the journey depends upon the student: that is why this treasure map ends with a question mark. The student’s effort to work and willingness to learn determine the treasure he or she finds.
Sketches
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Posts
I'm a student in 12th grade. I think that if I didn't have the explanation I wouldn't have been able to figure out what the picture meant. But after I read it, I understood exactly what the picture is saying. I agree that art is a journey, and I definitely think that this picture displays the message well.
ReplyDeleteKara please see my comments for Ryan in regards to his sketch. I think I can adapt your work into an assignment for my students, too.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the treasure map idea. Mostly I enjoy that you have commented on the change that occurs within a journey for each student. Wether it be a small or large each student must evolve from each educational journey. If change doesn't take place, information and experience has been ignored by the teacher and student.
ReplyDeleteYour image is exactly that of a treasure map. I would however like to see more layers. Possible different treasure maps layer on top each other. I think this would add to the idea of diverse journeys.
I like the idea of a treasure hunt. As a high school art teacher I actually have a lesson where my students make a map of their lives. I would like to have seen a variety of roads to the end so the traveler could make more choices. Some students need the use of some tools and others don't. Maybe a larger collection of tools/artifacts allows for more individuality. Nice job, very creative metaphor.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this piece, as I feel our metaphoric self-portraits are getting at the same idea - art as a means of discovery. As such, I really like the idea behind it. However, like Ms. Merwin said, overlaying multiple layers of different paths could work well. Your artist statement talks about how everyone's journey is different and yet your image only portrays one path. Maybe it'd be better without a path at all!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think it would work better if the art pieces were more "worked into" the map. As it is, they seem to just be floating above it in full color while the map itself is just simple topographic colors. Perhaps the map itself could be colored...
The Idea of Art as a journey to find treasure is a creative idea, but i would not have fully connected it with the picture had it not been for the Artist's Statment underneath. Good picture, but the viewer could interpret it in several ways, not just the one proposed by the Artist.
ReplyDeletethe previous post was made by a family member
ReplyDeleteThe metaphor of a treasure map is an interesting one. I think of a teacher more as a guide, rather than the map itself. If there is one thing about maps, they never point to just one location. Even the simplest of maps has different turns, and therefore different journeys. Sometimes we need multiple maps and multiple guides to get where we are going. Your work is nicely done, with an array of different art pieces. My only suggestion would pertain to the single path, as many have already said. Also, there doesn't seem to be many obstacles in the way of the traveler. Roads always have bumps in them, and I am curious to see how you explore this further. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteI am a middle school art teacher I found the map image to be representative of art as it is found through cultures and time What is percieved through the art may be different from one person to the next. Perhaps if images of technique and students would help me to realize the metaphore of the teacher and the student. The text is important to include with the map image if you want the viewer to have a specific experience with it. If if is up as a group discussion it would also work as you guide them to the meaning. I do a map lesson of symbolic images to trace the memories or important events in my students lives as a "Self-Portrait".
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a treasure map to symbolize art education is very interesting. The teacher, with knowledge and experience, guides students on their educational journey. A student need not conform to a style but can explore areas of interest on the journey to understanding art. This picture shows the journey taken and the varioud discoveries a student can make. I think this explains the artist's statement very well.
ReplyDeleteThe use of a treasure map was an interesting concept. After reading your statement the portrait makes a lot more sense. However, in my opinion, I would say that the treasure map is like the student's psyche, reading to be explored in any way they decide, with millions of paths to choose to explore. The teacher would thus be more of a travel guide on their expedition, showing them points of interest and explaining what's going on around the student. However, this is obviously just my opinion, and yours is just as right as mine!
ReplyDeleteOne constructive criticism I have on the portrait is that I think you should try and work your images more into the map, maybe making them appear at some spots to even be have covered by the sand on the map or something along those lines. They appear to just pop out and be easily accessible, when in reality learning techniques and processes in art can often times be a very long excavation. As such, making the images appear harder to access may be more appropriate!