Activity 1 Lesson 1-Wed 3/27

Lesson 1- Activity 1 (Igor Stravinsky Upside-down drawing) 3/27

I have also included some images of the students work from the project along with the image of Igor Stravinsky that they looked at while drawing (upside down)

The purpose of this activity was to have the students tap into their right brain (emotions, intuition, visualization) and work without the left brain (language/ naming). The students were supposed to draw a Pablo Picasso drawing of Igor Stravinsky upside down. I wanted the students to draw the image exactly how they see it (upside down). I wanted the student to focus on the individual shapes that are created in the upside down image (pos. and neg. spaces) and their relationship to one another. Taking 30-40 minutes and then flipping the image over and looking at the result.

I thought the activity went well, I could tell that the students found it difficult to draw the image upside down. Most of the students did not finish in time (35 minutes) I’m not sure how I could get them to complete the image in the class period. The students understood the project for the most part I did have a couple of students who started to draw the image right side up while looking at it upside down (corrected that). I did notice that a lot of the students were frustrated with how certain objects (hands, head, etc.) were difficult to draw, which was disappointing because I did not want them to try and identify these objects (left-brain) I wanted them to just see the lines and shapes in relationship to one another. Although not everyone finished completely the students were far enough along that I had them flip the images over. To my surprise they thought that the drawings turned out worse than they expected. This was surprising to me because I thought they turned out great for being upside-down. One student in particular said that they thought the image looked better upside down. When he said this I could tell that some of the students did not entirely tap into only the right brain. I think part of the reason for this is that the students were with their peers and if they were to do this activity individually they would tap into the right brain easier. Next class I am going to have the students look at all of the images posted up and see if they have any other feedback. Ms. O informed me that she thought I did a good job of encouraging the students when they became frustrated. This was good to hear (positive feedback) and it was my intention to encourage them because I knew how difficult this activity could be. Some of the student said that it was not looking right and I tried to let them know that everyone’s’ image is going to look different and no one will create an exact copy of it. Some students needed extra encouragement and instruction because they seemed afraid to make a wrong mark or not to draw the image correctly.