Romare Bearden - Let's Walk the Block

When looking into this website I learned how many different aspects are included in this style of art. First, culture plays an important role. The art is abstract and doesn't show what the street is to look like literally. Also with the size of the art he was able to include many things. He was able to include lots of different mediums and include lots of different images. I like this style of art as I have always liked making collages. It was interesting to read how he was inspired as well. From just going to his friends apartment and looking at the street below he decided to create this work. It is also fun that the website includes activities that you can do to try this style of art yourself or with your students. I will definitely take note of some of these activities and try them. 

Graphic Novels in the Classroom

I LOVED reading this article. After reading it I couldn't agree more that graphic novels should be used in the classroom. There were so many good points made and with the visuals it was very easy to see what he was explaining. I would be very supportive of graphic novels in my school and specifically in my future classroom. It can be used to teach so many subjects. The blog was great too because it allows teachers to stay updated on graphic novels being released. I have never really read comic books or graphic novels that much before but after reading the article I don't see why I haven't. I love this idea of graphic novels and can't wait to read more and get some that I can hopefully use someday. 

Islamic Art

I learned a lot about Islamic art from reading these two articles. I didn't know that Islamic art was so closely tied to the religion. I enjoyed the first article because it told how to teach Islamic art in the classroom. It told of the importance of teaching some of the religious background when teaching about their art. I never knew the two worked hand in hand but within the second article it explained why. 

First of all I knew thought of Calligraphy as a style of art. The style of Arabic calligraphy is definitely an art form though. The different styles alone show the major differences in the writing. For example, the square style of calligraphy vs. the drawing of animals style. Both of these styles are very precise and take talent to do. I found it interesting when the article was describing the use of patterns with shapes in their art form as well. I related this to the first article when it described that teachers can use their art to teach math and other subjects. In my math class now at Syracuse University we just finished a unit learning all about shapes. I see now that my teacher could have easily incorporated Islamic art in our classroom to further teach the ideas she was presenting. 

I found these articles very interesting and informational about Islamic art and the religion of Islam as well. I could see myself using this lesson plan in my future classroom when teaching about culture and art but also when teaching math. I like how Islamic art is appreciated on so many different levels.

Rube Goldberg

I found the article, "Rube Goldberg- Inspired Drawings of How Art is Made" by Thomas A. Oakley and the website www.rubegoldberg.com very fun and entertaining. It reminded me of a computer game I used to play when I was little. I would have to place a variety of objects on the screen to make one thing happen. Now that I have read this article and viewed the website I now know it was very similar to Rube Goldberg's work. 

In the article the art teacher assigned his students to draw a picture how art is made. I think this would be fun to see how other people think art is made. Also it was fun to flip through the website and see some of Rube Goldbergs work. It is very creative how he makes things come about. It would be fun to try and reenact one of his drawings.