TheVirtualInstructor Blog

There is debate among art teachers as to whether or not process or product is more important in art education. In this case, process refers to the learning that takes place during an assignment or lesson. Product refers to the actual artifact that is produced. Of course, both of these are essential in art education. Some teachers feel that one should take precedence over the other. So where should the focus be in the lessons that you present to students? Should you focus on process or product?

In my opinion, it should be both. Introductory levels should be focused on process while upper levels may focus more on product. You see,  if you are effective in your lessons that focus on process, then the product will follow.

In some ways teaching art is like coaching a sport.  Let’s take basketball as an example.  If you were coaching a beginning level basketball team, you would not focus totally on winning.  Instead, you would focus your team on learning and developing.  Winning would just be a plus.  It would be absurd to go out to each game and put preasure on young athletes to win when they are brand new to the sport.  Not many little league basketball programs emphasize winning, and if they do, then they are probably bad programs for kids.  The old saying goes, “It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”   At the beginning levels, art is the same way.  You shouldn’t expect beginning students to create masterpieces.  It’s just not going to happen.  You shouldn’t focus your instruction on product at the beginning levels.   Instead your focus should be on process.  How are your students learning?  Are they progressing?  How can you make them better?  If your focus is on process at the beginning levels, then the end product at the advanced levels will be better, maybe even amazing.   In fact, I’ve seen this play out in my own classes.

So when do you focus on product?  Well, the answer to this can be tricky. 

As art educators, we should be educating our students.  They should be learning from us.  So-to be fair, we should never focus on product, because the product naturally follows when the art instruction is quality.    Don’t misunderstand me, product is important.  It is important as an indicator of what is being learned.  When the product is quality across an entire class, you know that you have done your job as an art educator.  The students have learned in the process and as a result created a great product.  It is really our job to help students know how to get to the quality product.

Let’s look at the basketball coach analogy in relation to advanced art students.  These students may have developed skills just like a more developed basketball team may have.  The focus of the basketball team is now on winning.  But what is the job of the coach?  Isn’t it still the coach’s job to teach and show the team how to win?  Even though the focus has changed, the job of the coach remains the same.  The same is true of the art educator at the advanced level.  The focus of the assignment may be on the product, but the focus of the teacher remains on the process.

There are many ways to teach art effectively.  This is just my opinion on process vs. product.  What do you think?  Leave a comment below.

Your classroom is your domain.  It is an environment where learning and growing takes place on a daily basis.  It should be a place that is inviting to students, stimulating for learning,  effective, and practical.  One way to be sure that you are providing an optimal art classroom is through planning.  A well planned classroom can go along way in making your job as an art teacher a bit smoother.  When the art room is cleanly organized and planned, the task of teaching becomes purely about teaching and less about other things such as discipline and cleaning.  There are many questions you will need to ask yourself when planning your classroom.  A few are listed below.

• Where will your students work?
• How will they work?
• Where and how will lessons be presented/ demonstrated?
• Where will the materials be stored?
• Where will the projects be stored?
• How will the students clean up?
• How will the computers be positioned?
• Is there enough power?
• Can the students escape the room quickly and orderly in case of an emergency?

These are just a few of the critical questions that need to be asked and answered as you design your plans.

It is always a good idea to make a plan of your classroom.  Floor plans are easy to draw and can go a long way to creating an effective classroom layout. When you draw a floor plan of your classroom, consider the essential functions of the classroom and provide a place for everything that you will need.  Include the dimensions of the furniture that you will using in your classroom, if that information is available. Below you will find a sample floor plan that I created for a ceramics classroom…

A teacher was once asked, “How do you grade artwork?”

He simply replied, “I use the stair technique.”

When asked what the stair technique was he said, “I find a flight of stairs and assign each stair a letter grade.  The bottom stair might be an “F”, the next stair up, a “D”.  The next stair up may be a “C”, then “B”, and the highest stair- an “A”.  I then take all of the student artwork, and while standing on the flight of stairs, I throw them into the air.  Whichever stair the artwork lands on is the grade the student receives.”

Sometimes grading artwork can feel like this when there is not a standard procedure in place.

Grading artwork has traditionally been a subjective activity.  This can cause problems for art teachers, especially when questions arise about where the grade came from.  Opinion sometimes creeps into the art teacher’s grading process and as you can imagine, wreak havoc on a student’s grade.  This should never be the case.  Grading artwork doesn’t have to be subjective.  Students should have a clear idea where the grade has originated from and understand completely why they received that particular grade for the assignment.

So how do we give students a clear idea of where their grade will come from in art?  The first answer is simple.  We provide a clear rubric.  A rubric is essentially a guide that explains the requirements to receive a certain grade.  For example, an “A” project may meet more requirements than a “C” project.  In a rubric, the requirements are clearly spelled out.  That way when grading time comes, there is no question as to why a student received a “C” instead of an “A”.  Rubrics are pointless unless they are given to a student before the project begins.  This way, the student is clear on what is required to make the grade that they desire from the start.  In my opinion, rubrics should should be specific for each project assigned.  Click here for a look at a generic rubric

Another way to remove the subjectivity in grading artwork is to provide students with what I call a “grading guide”.  As students finish their artwork, they fill out their grading guide which has a place for them to evaluate themselves.  After all, self-evaluation is incredibly important in the development as an artist.  These grading guides show the students the numerical values for each of the properties that I will be grading them on.  They evaluate themselves first and turn in their artwork with the grading guide.  On the grading guide there is a “S” column for “student” and a “T” column for “teacher”.  When I grade their artwork, I consider what grade they have given themselves.  When students receive their artwork back from me, they also receive their grading guide.  This way, I can clearly explain on each section why they received their grade and what they can improve upon on the next assignment.  You are welcome to download the grading guide that I use below.  (Right click on the image and select “Save as”)

The easiest question you should ever have to answer as a teacher is, “Why did I get this grade?”

Looking for a place on the internet to show off your artwork for free? Here’s a list of what’s available for artists to create free online portfolios…
1. Deviant Art- Deviant Art is maybe the most popular place on the internet where you can show your artwork to others.  It’s free to sign up and start showing off your art.  There is a paid service as well.

2. Art 3000- Art 3000 is a free online gallery for artists and photographers.  Some of the features of this site include image protection (important), creation of up to 10 galleries, commission free, and you can link to your website if you have one.

3. FoundMyself- FoundMyself.com is a well presented website that allows you to not only display your portfolio, but also sell your art for free.  This website is well-built and aesthetically pleasing.  It is a bit more professional looking than DeviantArt.com and Art-3000.com.  It also includes a forum where artists can meet and discuss.

4. NoBullArt- Okay, so the name is a little strange.  But you can create a free gallery of your artwork online here and best of all, you can sell it.  The website is already integrated with selling tools like Google Checkout and PayPal.

5. ArtistSearch.net- ArtistSearch.net allows you to create your own blog that you can use to promote your artwork.  You can even receive donations from your visitors.  One drawback to this site is that you can only upload 3 images.

If none of these options seem appealing to you, remember that you can setup your own blog at blogspot.com or wordpress.com for free.  You can also customize these options to function less like a blog and more like a website. If people don’t know about your artwork, they can’t buy it.

Complementary colors are colors that are located directly across from each other on the color wheel.  An example of this would be the color relationship of orange and blue or red and green.  Complementary color relationships tend to be my favorite type of color scheme.   They provide the highest level of contrast among colors.

Learning about the effects of complementary colors on a viewer’s experience in a drawing  or painting is one thing.  But to actually have proof that these relationships exist and witness “the power” inherent in them is quite another thing.

Take a look at the animation below.  Stare at the black “+” in the middle.  After a few seconds, a yellow-green circle will appear to be moving around the center.  After a few more second, the red-purple circles will disappear completely leaving only a yellow-green circle moving around the center.

Now what makes this really cool is the fact that there is no yellow-green circle at all.  The red-purple circles are just disappearing in a sequence.  Your mind creates the yellow-green circle.  Why yellow-green?  Well, yellow-green is the complement of red-purple.  If you take a look at a color wheel chart, you will see that yellow-green and red-purple are directly across from each other on the color wheel.  What’s even more interesting is that this works for any complementary color scheme.  For example, if you changed the red-purple circles to blue, an orange circle would appear.  If you changed the red-purple circles to yellow, a purple circle would appear.

Is there a such thing as Bad Art?

This question often leads to heated debates among artists and critics alike.  I have seen what I consider to be bad art.  I have made what I consider to be bad art. But because I may think it is bad art, does that mean it really is bad art?  Is that old statement true, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”?  Then the next question would be, does good art have to be beautiful?

I have students often tell me that art is whatever you want it to be.  I totally disagree with this statement.  My definition of art is “anything that visually conveys a concept, idea, or message with skill”.   Notice the “with skill” in that sentence.  Skill needs to be present in order for it to be considered art.  This of course is my opinion.  (I’m sure you have your own.)  I think the confusion of whether art is good or bad often originates from where the skill is in the artwork.  Many people unfortunately don’t know where to look for the skill.  They may look at an abstract painting of say, an apple, and comment “That doesn’t look like an apple”.  Well, it’s not supposed to look like an apple.  The skill in the painting is not in the representational nature of the painting.  Instead, it is in how the artist choose to abstract the apple.  How the formal qualities of the artwork are handled.  How the elements and principles of art work together to make an aesthetic experience for the viewer.  Now if the artist has totally failed in the formal qualities of the painting and has not created an aesthetic experience as was intended, then we may label that artwork as bad.

Many artists choose not to create aesthetic works of art.  Their intent is elsewhere.  Perhaps the intent is to challenge the notion of art itself.  As in the case of Marcel Duchamp.  If we consider his intent to  challenge the nature of art, I would have to say that Marcel Duchamp was successful.  Does that mean that “Fountain” was good art?  I don’t know.  If the skill was to challenge and make the art world think, then it would have to be considered good art.

Evaluating art can be tricky business, but doesn’t have to be.  When you understand the intent of the artist, then you can decide if the art is good or bad.  I would challenge you to step outside of your prejudices, and evaluate art by evaluating the artist’s intent.  Where is the skill?

Remember, you don’t have to like the art in order to decide it is good.

Interesting enough there is a gallery that is devoted to “bad art”.  MOBA has some truly horrendous works of art.  Give them a visit and try to find the skill.  Is it present, or is this truly a collection of bad art?

The world that we live in has changed.  And education has not changed with it. This is the root problem with education today.  We continuously throw money at educational programs and expect results.  The results aren’t coming like they should.  This is because most of the educational programs are flawed in the most fundamental way.  We are trying to teach students in outdated ways. Public Education needs a makeover, or faces extinction as we know it.

Technology is an Answer

We are living in the most exciting time in human history. Stimuli is everywhere and is constant.  This is the world in which our students live.  Smart phones, iPods, Tablet computers, Facebook, MySpace, and the internet are here to stay (and for good reason).  Our students have embraced this technology.  Why haven’t the educational systems embraced them?  In fact, it seems that school systems fight against technology.  On the surface, they say they support technology, but then limit it’s use and access.  This has got to change. We need to embrace the possibilities of educational growth inherent in technology.  This is how our students learn.  This is what excites them.  If we can’t speak to students in a language that they understand, how can we expect them to learn?

The following video supports this…

It is unfortunate that this technology was awarded to this teacher because of a contest.  Do you see the problem here?  Why aren’t school systems investing in this technology? What if we gave iPads to high school students instead of textbooks?  Would our systems save money? Let’s do some simple math…

Average cost of textbook- $100 x 8 classes a year= $800 for year of textbooks.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that textbooks are purchased every 4 years, which means the cost of textbooks per student for an entire high school career is $800.  The cost of an iPad is $399.

Think how much the school systems could be saving while reaching students in an effective way.

The Arts are an Answer

The Arts are the future of the world economy.  You can see it already.  Our future will consist of interactivity and intelligent design.  (It already does.)  Economic freedom will belong to the creative.  If we do not prepare students for this future economy, we are setting them up for failure.  Instead, we need to shift our focus from testing and concentrate on creativity.  We should awaken students to their inherent creativity.   We need to assist students to develop their creativity.   And lastly, we need to teach students to use their creativity.  The Arts accomplish all of these things.  Why then are so many school systems cutting Art Programs?  Instead, the Arts should be the center of education.

This video nails it…

Education is need of a reformation and is in danger of extinction.  Public Education is under constant attack and without change, the attacks will continue.  Drastic change needs to happen now.

Art and technology have always danced together.  Throughout history, art has reflected the technology of the period.  From the invention of oil paint, to the camera obscura used by Vermeer, to devices used by modern artists (think Photoshop), technology has played a major role in the creation of Art.  There is a new breed of artists that are embracing cutting edge technologies and are using these methodologies to push the limits of art.  These creative thinkers are trailblazing a new and exciting direction in the world of art, taking advantage of the science of the day. These new, unique techniques must be embraced because they may well be the direction of the next artistic movement in history.

It may be argued that artists are those that truly open others’ eyes.  They allow others to see and experience things in new ways.  Technology in itself allows us to experience in new ways.  In the hands of an artist, this experience is enhanced.  In the hands of artist Aaron Koblin, this experience is multiplied beyond enhancement.

Aaron Koblin is a thinker- a creative thinker-a true artist.  His work opens others’ eyes.  Aaron uses technologies in different ways to create collective experiences.  With traditional art, there is an artifact that the artist creates.  The viewer interacts in some way with the artifact, but doesn’t usually create the artifact itself.  This is the job of the artist, after all.

Koblin’s work doesn’t work this way.  And that is what makes it so exciting.

Instead, Koblin allows the viewer to actually create the artifact.  The collaboration that manifests in the process is the art.  And the collaboration only happens because of the technology. In the following video recorded in February 2011, Koblin explains a few of his projects…

This is truly an exciting time to be an artist.  We exist at a point in time, when technology can help us communicate artistically in new ways.

To learn more about Aaron Koblin and his projects, visit his website>Aaron Koblin

There are literally hundreds of online art pads available for people to use to draw on their computer.  Heck, I’m planning on adding one to this site. While having so many to choose from is great, few offer cool features to make them really unique.  I have found three online art pads that have set themselves apart from the pack.  These websites are excellent sites for creating unique images that are FUN to make.  Each one takes a decidedly different approach to drawing with the mouse.  I suggest that you visit each one to see how remarkably different each drawing tool is.

ScribblerToo

ScribblerToo was developed by Mario Klingermann.  This approach to drawing is based off of the original Scribbler, in which the drawing is created first.  Then when a user pushes the “finished” button, a movie is created from the marks of the original drawing.  The movie continually adds extra lines, connecting lines according to proximity.  With ScribblerToo, the artist can view the multiple lines as they draw.  The closer the lines are to each other-the better the opportunity for connections.  Darker values are created easily.  Because of this, it is really cool to see darker values magically appear before your eyes.  It’s worth a few minutes of exploration, and it’s an interesting approach to drawing on it’s own.  You can save your images in “.png” format when are finished. Visit ScribblerToo.

Here’s a skull that I drew using ScribblerToo…

JacksonPollock.org

Love him or hate him, Jackson Pollock has a strong position in Art History and now you can paint in his style without making a mess.  JacksonPollock.org allows you to use the mouse to make drip paintings.  Click on the mouse to change the colors or use the spacebar to erase.  Once you’re finished, you can choose “print screen” to save your work.  (There’s no save feature on the website)  This website was developed by Miltos Manetas and has won multiple web awards.  It’s worth a look for sure.  There’s an iPad app too. It’s pretty easy to bust out lot’s and lot’s of these in no time.  Visit JacksonPollock.org.

Here’s a look at a “Pollock” that I created at JacksonPollock.org…

OdoSketch

OdoSketch is the creation of of Odopod, which is a digital media company. This online art pad was my favorite. It does a fantastic job of limiting the marks you can make,  which adds a certain character to the finished drawing.   Your color palette is also limited which adds to the sense of unity in the drawing.  Perhaps the coolest part of OdoSketch is that the process of creating your drawings are saved as movies so that you can watch your drawing be created before your eyes.  Your drawing is also immediately posted under recent drawings and is shared with others. Visit OdoSketch.

Here’s a look at an apple that I drew with OdoSketch…

Have another online Art Pad that you feel needs to be mentioned? Let me know about it below…

Finding the right color wheel chart can be a daunting task. There are literally hundreds of thousands of color wheel charts out there. Most of which are never quite what you need for the art lesson. Part of the issue with the ever growing number of color wheels out there is that there are varied ideas when it comes to color theory in general. Most of us agree that there are 3 Primary colors: Blue, Red and Yellow; and 3 secondary colors: orange, green, and purple. Most of us can also agree that the complementary colors exist as opposites on the color wheel. This means that orange is the complement of blue; purple is the complement of yellow; and green is the complement of red.

There are Different Color Wheel Charts!

I came across a site the other day that took color theory to another level. Honestly, it made me wonder if I really knew anything about color at all. You can visit this page and read for yourself. The argument here is that the color wheels that we have been using for years are wrong. The author of the site argues that red, blue, and yellow are not the true primaries. He states that the true primaries consist of cyan, magenta, and yellow. (I have seen color theory taught this way) The arguments presented are fairly convincing. However, using this color wheel would force the complement of blue(ultramarine) to be yellow. I have a hard time swallowing that one. It does however show cobalt blue to complement orange. I guess that helps. It’s worth mentioning this theory because the color wheels charts that I’m sharing today are in the traditional vein.

(You are free to download any of the color wheel charts below…click on the image-then right click and “save as”)

Anyhow, I decided that I would create a series of color wheel charts that teachers, students, artists-whoever can use that may fulfill a specific need. Either to teach basic color mixing, complements, and so on.

The first color wheel chart I created is intended for teaching basic color mixing. It includes a gradation of hue around the color wheel with labeled primary and secondary colors.

Color Wheel Chart for Color Mixing

The second color wheel chart that I created is intended to help students recognize complementary colors on the color wheel

Color Wheel Chart for Complementary Colors

I plan on adding new color wheel charts in future posts according to specific usage. Hopefully, some of you will find them useful and helpful to you.

I also want to share with you some color theory worksheets that I use to teach color theory to my beginner classes. Students mix paints and paint directly on the sheets. To download these sheets, click on the thumbnail-right click on the image and click “save as”

If you are looking for an interactive experience when it comes to the color wheel, try The Interactive Color Wheel.