Exploring Turtle Art

For the next project, I plan to use turtle art to draw various large amount of floral images and make a medium scale collage on plastic board or wooden board. I might also laser cut some of the floral patterns onto the boards.

Lynda Benglis Pour

Idea for the next soft sculpture piece

Sewing & Stuffing in progress

Resewed twice as many crinkles appeared and it was more difficult than originally imagined. The pocket was sealed the first time and the rope were sewed on the wrong side. This is the final version; stuffings will be put in to test final visual effect.

- Also need to think about how to get rid of the red dot on the left...

 Sealing the side of pocket

Double fixing some loose parts due to flipping the textile

Begin filling the soft sculpture with pillow stuffing

Final filling of more stuffings to eliminate wrinkles...

Final sealing

Brushstroke glitter painting on laser cut canvas work in progress

Laser Cut Stroke

Laser Cut Stroke on Canvas

Hesitating between materials...

I like the effect of the laser cutter, however I am thinking of using perhaps another type of material like digitally printed silk fabric. It might give a more shiny and polished effect. 

Hesitating between the materials, I will probably still purchase the colored markers, or use acrylic or something else - maybe self-made pigment paint that might look more tactile after application. I will try to work with self-made pigment acrylic. 

The canvas could look good if I intentionally make it look a little rough - showing the sawing strings on the outside?... - colorful strings?...

Before finalizing, I might also want to experiment with laser cut on steel metal sheet or plastic. Maybe making a stroke with ninja flex?...

Stroke

Stroke

The Stroke is finalized on Photoshop. The next procedure will be to try to move this file to Illustrator and change it into a vector file. The other option is to use Inkscape but I had trouble downloading it onto my computer.

Soft sculpture laser cut ideas

Soft sculpture laser cut ideas:

The images are intended to use to laser cut onto the cotton fabric as a pedagogical tool that may generate an educational effect on teaching basic concepts of painting through art.

Stroke

        

Puddle/Pour

 

 Drip/Splash

Microbit experiment

Microbit Experimentation

Materials for Fabric Painting

Material planning: multi-purpose pen markers will be used to draw/paint onto the soft sculptures - I will use various types of textile - cotton, polyester, stretched, and cut them into various organic shapes that simulates shapes of the paint  marks - splash, drip, drop, stroke, dry stroke, puddle... etc. Then, I will sew two pieces together with filling/stuffing materials inside. They will be hung from the ceiling with a string. A touch/distance sensor is installed within with a buzzer, when they are touched, they will shake and make sounds. 

Studio: Creative Technology Ideas

IDEAS!

1) 3-D printed rain drop Idea Droplets that can be opened into various idea strips - that can be exchanged with others by writing the idea on a provided strip
2) Ninja Flex Room Divider that beautifies the space and blocks away messiness
3) Mystery multifunctional storage step stools that is laser cut into various geometric and organic shapes; and contains various materials for students to tinker and explore 
4) Art learning puzzles that produces sounds when put in various board areas (beep for correct, bah for incorrect)
5) CNC molded donut  (or various shapes) in a large amount - for gluing together to form various abstract motion sculptures 
6) Pop art related: various Digitally sewed Hello Kitty Icons onto large sheets of fabric (translucent and opaque)
7) Digital embroidery dollar bills to be given or exchange with people and students as incentives to motivate student learning. 
8) 3-D printed Portable lighting system for dark classrooms
9) 3-D printed or laser cut expandable stress relief box book to relief emotional stress in classrooms
10) Foam Seating mats for long-hour study

11) Fabric stuffings that hang in a space: each one is laser cut with a painting stroke concept: a drop, a splash, a pour, a puddle, a stroke. Each one makes a sound of the corresponding stroke, and when children or people walk pass by, the object would shake or drop or make different movements.

Accelerometer - built into microcontroller
or hook up with a speaker with a buzzer.  
Sound effects

- Speaker output that need sound effect - need something to record that sound effect on.

12) Tree trunk storage stool with light bulb 

13) 3-D printed light structure - constructed abstract patterns 

Reference Images for Art Pedagogical Stools

Project 1: I plan to make laser cut art pedagogical stools with various artist's iconic work image on a round wooden plank. It will be glued onto a ready-made Ikea stool (below link) - to teach art history to 5-8th graders. 

I will change the found images on Illustrator into a Vector image so that they are clean. For Kusama's dot design, the yellow dots will become white so they are not etched. 

Project 2:  I plan to transform the step stools into mystery storage bins for my 5th grade students to enhance learning (attached MOMA educational lab pictures as inspiration). The mystery bins will be made using MakerCase.com. Various materials will be assemblaged onto the bin to reflect tactility and invite viewers to.

Project 1 IDEA

                                                                   Pedagogical Stools reference:

Inspirational Images for laser cutting on stools:

1) Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (1917)
Gray scale image

2) Piet Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942-43)

3) Yayoyi Kusama's Dot Painting

4) Damien Hirst's  Zinc Sulfate, (2008)

Project 2 IDEA

Mystery Boxes with various materials on top to stimulate students' curiosity:

Material examples: Sand, rock, plastic, lego, video, fabric

Open up that shows various removable creative ideas/prompt:

New media work (could be interactive) inside/outside the stool 

Ideas for Sculpture

Through my work as a teaching artist in various NYC public schools and art learning spaces, I discovered that there are many problems in these spaces that confines creative learning and teaching. Most of the classrooms that I taught are in underserved neighborhoods and have no curriculum brings participant's attention to the idea of space - an essential element in art in conjunction with line, form, color, and composition. Many chairs are treaterous since they are heavy and made of steel, and thus are especially difficult for students to carry and put back up onto the desks after each class. Researchers in both education and ergonomics has proven that there are objects and decorations that are placed in the classroom that enhance or distracts teaching and learning. 

I plan to make/design various art objects that also serve as devices for the art learning space - at the same time possible proposal for schools or any art teachers seeking a more creative learning environment to easily assemble or make. One idea is interactive school stool/chair sculpture for all ages. I will use found wooden and plastic stools/chairs in combination with approximately 1 inch wood/plastic planks to be glued and  that are etched with various laser cut shapes as well as manually carved out with angle grinder and chisels. As an educator who like to give out stickers to encourage learning, the textured or etched surfaces can be used as student's sticker boards. Plastic boards can be served as erasable sketching/note taking boards. 

Initial stool/chair possibility links:

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30178879/?query=BEKV%C3%84M&icid=iba|us|unbxdsuggestion|201811132211556208_1 

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50178411/

Furry Concert Hall - The Symphony of the Massage

Installation at Hexiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China 

Faux fur, hacked YouTube music, wood, speakers, LED lights, Dimensions Variable

September 15-November 15, 2018

In the fast-paced Internet era where information can be easily searched on computers, The Furry Concert Hall provides a quiet, warm, and protected music lounge for the audience to experience and interact with the work. Furry plush beds as well as moving LED lights are installed inside. Viewers are invited to enter and listen to different pieces of relaxing music from YouTube that is hacked (commissioned to exhibit in China) and played. When positioned in the center of the space, the audience can only hear one kind of synthesized sound. The work symbolizes extreme comfort while also representing the mandatory protection in China that disables usage of the Internet and bans users from many search engines, including Google and Facebook. At the same time, the idea that users have freedom to search for redundant information, data, voice, and multimedia content across the globe is taken for granted. The room invites the audience to relax, meditate, and reflect on issues of freedom and censorship.  

Flipped Strategies

What kinds of flipped strategies could you use in an online course to shift the focus from the instructor to the students; to encourage active participation from students rather than passive observation?

- I would use a welcome video using FlipGrid and introduce myself, then invite all of the students to introduce themselves.
- In a traditional studio art class, I normally introduce the theme of the week by showing a PPT of one artist’s work to inspire the students. For an online class, I would ask the students to do research themselves about an artist of their choice, and write a paragraph on a shared blog or Google+ communities to briefly introduce this artist; also, write another paragraph on the reasons of their choice and how this image relates to the specific theme. Then, they can then respond to another students’ image/response of their choice.
- I would also use a synchronous meeting to facilitate that particular week’s task or “homework” after letting them watch myself videotaping a demo. I would post a couple of related articles/texts to complement the weekly theme; a Youtube video or an instructional video on Lynda.com to show them specific techniques required. After the students are done with the task, if it was not finished in a synchronous class, they could complete it in their own times and post it on the shared discussion board.
- During the synchronous meeting, I would also ask each student to respond/critique to each other’s work, so we’d also get an immediate response, which is valuable and a good training that reflects the real art world.
- For one project, I would ask students to use a social media to create an art work that interacts with the wider public.
- I would also ask each student (candidate teachers) to develop their own blended mini-lesson plan and post their plan online: conduct one 10 minute lesson during one synchronous meeting and create a video for us to watch before hand.
- I would ask the students to write a one paragraph response to a related article they have read during each week. For some modules, they can also choose their own article and give a PPT presentation to all.
- I would provide an online office hour for them to be able to call anytime for any questions. Apart from encouraging them to email me anytime they need for questions, I would also provide my cell phone number and allow students to text/phone me if they have any urgent questions.
- I would try to coordinate with the school to open any media lab/ studio during the weekends and at nights to provide more working time for the students.
- I would encourage collaborative work between the students on certain projects (most probably finals, then ask a volunteer to lead/organize an online exhibition for the whole class. On top of showing his or her work, each student can be assigned a role to build the online exhibition. Roles include: curator, content developer, creative director, and site developer.



Methods & Materials

Methods & Materials: Visual Arts
Online Course Overview

Bird Rescue

Click on How to Care for a Rescued Baby Bird?

Light Wave Installation

Click here to check out my Light Wave Silk Print Installation Project!

7 e-affordances

Bill Cope: What's the Use of Technology? Introducing 7 e-affordances

5: Synchronous or Asynchronous?

Online Week 4 Google+ Discussion Post:

If you were to teach a course online, and you had your choice of delivery modalities, would you pick synchronous (real time) or asynchronous (on demand?) Or, as we do here, would you combine them?

I would definitely choose the blended format. While asynchronous discussion can promote deeper thinking and higher-order processing, Synchronous meeting has a positive impact on social and cognitive presence, perceived learning (Rockingson-Szapkiw, 2009) and immediacy, which are vital aspects of productive learning. For me, an online course’s biggest asset that is different to a traditional one is the possibility of teaching/learning without having the constraints of space and time. However, if there were a magic door where I can go from my home and reach the classroom immediately, I would not choose to teach nor take an online course.

As a home person who does not go to coffee shops to work, I usually prefer a classroom-like quite atmosphere space in the library or study in order to concentrate; unless I am sick or feel idle, I also work on less demanding task such as listening to podcasts, emailing, reading, or editing pictures; but I definitely cannot be in a deep thought mode when am at these more “relaxed” places. Just like the physical classroom or study, the physical posture reflects a mode of being focused and deep concentration. Although the asynchronous only format gives more flexible time for both parties and allows us to conduct teaching/learning anywhere, the importance of the learning atmosphere cannot be stressed. The synchronous format corresponds to a simulation of being in a classroom that promotes an atmosphere of learning, which elevates learning quality, attention and guides students on track during a face-to-face discussion, especially for those who are not used to emailing professors when they have questions. If the students really cannot attend these meetings due to schedule clash—which should be planned/scheduled since the beginning anyway—they can still listen to the recordings in their own time.

As an artist who’s creative work is mostly done alone in a studio, and as an art teacher who facilitates students’ work-in-progress during class, the importance of the immediate facilitation of students’ work in progress can only be achieved through a synchronous meeting. In an art class, it is also important to have regular “crits” that promotes collaborative learning. A “crit” is a gathering of all faculty and student members every once in a while, generally once per month to have one student hang all of their work up onto the wall like an exhibition, and have all members read the work, reflect, discuss and give critiques. It can be a torturing experience for many due to the unrestrained and straightforwardness of faculty responses (many of which are often already established artists); It is an important practice for art students because right after graduation, the reality of the real art world is exactly like that: when one presents a show in a gallery or a space, one meet audiences from everywhere, and they respond to the work right away, sometimes the artist may not like it, but would have to get used to and bear with it. Often times, the audiences come and check out the artwork for the first and the last time, thus it is the first impression and immediate thought/response that is the most valuable.

The artist then would continue to work and strive to breakthrough the old work in order to continue to create new ones. Sometimes the artist gets a review in a magazine or a newspaper, which is more like the asynchronous response. Funnily, in the contemporary art world, sometimes it is good to have “bad” reviews if they raise controversy.

Synchronous meeting parallels improvisation in music and living life spontaneously as human beings. The elimination of it just make me think of the non-humanness that education would become: If the new technological world develops to a point where humans do not need to go anywhere nor move their fingers/bodies anymore to type or go to places, experience, or even don’t need to think in order to think or communicate, human species would end and be controlled by machinery and technology. To the point where machines become higher thinking than humans, and whether human species is superior to machines is another topic to be discussed; but synchronous meetings reflect the human aspect of teaching/learning that in turn brings back our control as humans.

Asynchronous teaching modal provides much support such as participatory and collaborative learning, production of artifacts (Cavana, 2009; Gold, 2001), more contribution on discussion (Light Colbourn & Light, 19970, and more time on homework and reflection (Mayer, 2003), which cannot be ignored. Thus a complementary of both would foster a better quality learning.

5: Student-Instructor Connections

Achieving Student-Instructor Connections

Click here to watch how to Achieve Online Presence on Vimeo!

4: Presence & Connectedness

Morrison (2014) citing Lehman and Conceicao (2011), points out that one of the most important aspects of online teaching is the concept of ‘presence’ . Garrison (2003) provides a framework of presence in three major categories; these are social, cognitive, and instructor presence that overlaps with each other to form the central educational experience (Fig. 1). The Educational Experience are supported by three aspects: Supporting Discourse, which is the merging of of Cognitive and Social Presence; Selecting Content, which is the merging of of Cognitive and Teaching Presence (Structure/Process); and Setting Climate, which is the fusion of Social and Teaching Presence. 

Fig. 1

       Given that learning in an online environment requires a more self-directed way of learning in order to maximize outcomes, self-awareness of the instructor’s role becomes even more critical than traditional classroom settings. Four ways that an instructor can establish presence are: 1) Creating a two-minute welcome video to show and introduce the professor’s profile; 2) Posting a weekly announcement that accompanies with regular communication such as comments on discussion boards and/or upcoming assignments; 3) Give specific, personal feedbacks on assignments; 4) Feedback on Class Discussions. 

Joyner (2014) cites Anderson, Rourke, Garrison and Archer (2001) on teaching presence, which includes “the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive process for the purpose of realizing educationally worthwhile learning outcomes” (p. 437). Three roles that are fulfilled both as a classroom and online teacher are, “(a) designer of an educationally worthwhile educational experience, (b) a facilitator of learning activities, and (c) a subject matter expert” (jones, 2011). She concluded that the instructor should post clear instructions regarding schedules, assignment expectations, due dates, demonstrate respect for the learning process, create quality content, provide supportive/corrective guidance through email rather than public posting, express belief that students will be successful in the online environment, respond specifically to student work, and share workable solutions. Further, students should be encouraged and valued, while being informed to participate in meaningful interactions after deep thoughts. In turn, the instructor should “address appropriate environmental responses” (Joyner, 2014, p. 438) to increase desired student learning outcomes. 

According to the constructivist theory, students bring to their environment “their unique knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs” and build knowledge and meaning through interactions with each other (Joyner, 2014, p.438). In an online classroom, both individualist and social constructivism happens either through their direct experiences or collaboration with others (Almala, 2006).

Through classroom technology and assignments, connection can be achieved through online discussion, podcasts, and synchronous video meetings. The succinctness of the course homepage and weekly reading/audio/video materials, and the use of online journals also affects the degree of connectedness. Connection can also be achieved through students receiving quality and positive feedbacks. Lastly, the ability and creativity of an interactive course managed/designed by the instructor would also assist in coursework and student-instructor connection (Joyner, 2014, p. 442). 

In general, in an online environment, it is imperative for instructors/facilitators to be active participants that bring quality feedbacks. The instructor’s resourcefulness, familiarity, and creativity of the technology, accessibility outside classroom, and providing clarification to major course points are also a primal influence on providing a sense of presence and connection to the students' learning experience.



Joyner, A. Shiela. (2014). The importance of student-instructor connections in graduate level online courses. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 10(3), 436-445.

Ladyshewsky, K. Richard. (2013). Instructor presence in online courses and student
Satisfaction. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 7(1). Article 13, 1-23.

Morrison, Debbie. (2012). Instructor presence in the online class – Key to learner success. Online Learning Insights.
Retrieved from 
https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/instructor-presence-in-the-online-class-key-to-learner-success/

3: Experiential v.s Connectivism

Although there seems to be a great difference between Kolb’s social constructivist view and and Siemens technology oriented, networked learning process, there is a common link that interrelates between them. Siemens suggests learning what is needed for tomorrow; yet we do not know what is going to happen tomorrow, we cannot control nor predict. So learning always happen in the present tense – the now. However, we can acquire the ability to connect with sources and access through new tools in the digital era. The acquisition process thus requires a sense of being in the present. Siemens indicates four implications: The awareness of the diversity of opinions, design of learning environments, real-time informational flow, and personal knowledge management (2005, p. 6) that are all important aspects of learning, and allows learners to keep updated with our time.

Experiential learning, originated from Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget, is a mode of learning that emphasizes on the experience and the process of learning. Kolb’s (1984) article suggests a learning that merges experience, perception, cognition, and behavior. It is suggested that humans can share an experience fully, concretely, and abstractly (p.21). I agree that learning is conceived as a process, not in terms of outcomes.

An informal discussion with a Zen Buddhist monk, Master Guoxing a couple days ago subverted partially my understanding of Dewey’s proposal that knowledge is a result of transaction between objective and subjective experiences. I asked him, “All of my experiences and memories made me who I am now and how I act today, is that right?” He answered, “You’re aware of your past memories and experiences, which don’t exist anymore now.” Although I do believe in learning through actions such as feeling and touching, I had some conflicting ideas when reading the article in sections that describes how “learning transforms the impulses, feelings, and desires of concrete experience into higher-order purposeful action,” when knowing that impulses, feelings, and desires are elements that our consciousness are aware of, but in fact they do not exist. Human beings try to hold onto feelings and memories, because we think they exist and form who we are.

My understanding of the here-and-now experience is that once a word is said or an action is made, it does not exist anymore, so there is no continuity. I also had trouble understanding the concept of “postponement of immediate action” (Dewey, p. 22), since the instant immediate action is being activated, is not there anymore. My idea is that observation itself requires immediacy, and does not have nor require a postponement of action. Seemingly or perceptually, these actions are “symbiotically related process”, but in fact, they are not related: Just as when each thought is generated and another new thought comes up, the old one also die in an instant; they are like one of the thirty frames in a second that appears in a movie - each frame is its own individual, only when we put them together, it seems like its connected, and we think that they are connected.

Like Kolb, I am also doubtful to whether it is true that the concept of continuity of experience grounds human existence, when there occasionally appears to have elements of uncertainty. I agree with Pepper’s (1942) proposition of partial skepticism that provides a guide for inquiry and learning. However, Freire’s idea that the dialectic nature of learning and adaptation is the “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it”, again makes me doubt when knowing that, since the world is the world itself, we are only adding names to the world to give meaning, but my pursue is to find the truth, or the true mind: What is the true world before being added names? Both false and true words are neither true nor false, as they all exist within the world named by human beings.

I’d like to add a note onto Kolb’s learning in terms of knowing how we think and feel, and the fact that we must know when behavior is governed by thought and when by feeling – from Zen's perspective, our behavior is governed by our common intrinsic nature that is conscious of our thoughts and feelings that we think as ourselves, but in fact they are not - Thoughts are thoughts, and feelings are feelings, they are not us. Thus, the best way to learn is to continuously create, think, recreate, transform, and connect - at the present moment.


Kolb, D.A. (1984): Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development

Siemens, G. (2005) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age

Master Guoxing. (2017), Personal Communication