I think it is important to say at the very outset of this blog, I have a very small level of artistic ability. If you want an ace stick person, I'm your gal, but other than that, I keep my artwork to doodles during boring meetings. This chapter was a lot for me to digest, as artists seem to live in a completely different world then me. But as foreign as many of the artistic concepts seemed, the chapter explain illustration in a way that I could easily understand and explain to others.
I have been looking at Chapter 4 to assist in describing the illustrations for our reading log assignments, so I have been perusing it for several days now, but when I got the opportunity to take a close look I found out so much about art and it's effect. It's amazing how different colors can evoke different moods from the reader (i.e. the gentle blues can have a calming effect). I was happy that the chapter described so many mediums in such detail, and the examples from various books will make it much easier to me to decipher whether I'm seeing a collage or a woodcut or a painting.
One of my favorite aspects of this chapter is that it explained children's book illustrations, but also related that topic back to viewing single pieces of artwork -- so the information in this chapter serves a dual purpose. There were several applications for art in the classroom, including how a teacher can teach lessons on different types of art for different cultures.
The wordless picture book that I chose was by Tomie dePaolo, who is mentioned in the chapter. In the back of the book, it stated that the tale of The Hunter and the Animals was a Hungarian folktale, but after reading this chapter I realized that he most likely incorporated many elements of Hungarian artwork into the book.
I think because where children's literature is concerned I am most ignorant about the value of the illustrations, I have gained the most out of this chapter than any other. The ability to find symbolism in drawings is such an important skill to possess, and I am excited that I can speak more intelligently on the subject of art.
I think, however, the most poignant part of the chapter was when it explained that today's children's book illustrators are not practicing an artform different from the great artists of our past -- the forms are not mutually exclusive. Rather they take inspiration from and "pay homage" to the great artists that came before them. Which, I think is so very cool -- you can be reading a children's book, and get a little piece of a Da Vinci while your at it. :)
I love art, any kind of it. From the simple (yet beautiful)paintings my daughters do, to the most renowned artists’ works, I think art is as essential to life as air. That sounds ridiculous to some I am sure, but I have been in art classes as a child, took art courses in college, do art projects with my children. I see how much creativity enhances their world and mine. I don’t presume to understand all art or the messages behind the creations, but I do applaud the artists that are so gifted and contribute so much to the world around us. The best part about art is that there is no “wrong” way to enjoy it or no “wrong” opinion about it. However, I know there are criteria for good illustrations in a book and I think this chapter is helpful in seeing what those criteria are. When I read a book the illustrations definitely speak to me. The feelings that are evoked from a picture enhance the message in the story. This chapter was helpful in reviewing the elements of art such as line, color, shape, and texture. I again appreciate how each section gives so many examples of books that are recognized for their strengths in these specific areas. I remember as a child a book my mom read to me with pictures of a man walking down the street (can’t remember the name of the book right now). On the pages, in the background of the dark street, there were people looking out the windows. I so did not like that book. It was about a man going to market to get apples, and all I remember was the scary people staring out the windows. Years later I told my mom about the book and she had no idea. She didn’t even notice the people in the windows. The book I read as the Caldecott Award winner was The Man Who Walked between the Towers, by Mordicai Gerstein. It has amazing illustrations done in oil and ink. The chapter talks about how the pictures should fit the text, well at the most climactic part of the book you suddenly get flip open pages. You feel the exhilaration of walking that high in the air and understand the majestic feat that it was for him to accomplish walking on such a thin wire that high in the air.
I think I would enjoy looking through the Henry Sayre’s book Cave Paintings to Picasso: The Inside Scoop on 50 Art Masterpieces and The Art of Reading: Forty Illustrators Celebrate RIF’s 40th Anniversary. These are great resources to some of the best works. We all know Eric Carle, but it was interesting to learn about his design process of collages. The images in his books are original and my children love his books. I enjoyed reading Tomie dePaola’s little section. It is fascinating to hear how he started his career, as a child doodling in bed and a man doodling in meetings. It has been said, and many people agree, that there is not enough focus on the arts in education anymore. As educators we can use the books we introduce in our classrooms as ways for children to study different art forms, discuss different cultures, share creative ideas, and learn more about the world around them.
Linda, you make an excellent point, books open up the world of art. i, too, am interested in Cave Paintings to Picasso -- even if just for myself. I may never see Mona Lisa at the Louvre -- but I can see it in a book. What a unique gift that is, to be able to bring a piecee of artwork to someone who might otherwise never see it.
Annie-I have will probably never get to see the "real" thing when it comes to great works of art either. I will probably never travel to Paris or New York or Italy, but we can all enjoy the art in books and or course in the local art museums. I have not checked out the books I mentioned in my blog yet-waiting until classes are over and I have time to really enjoy them. I bet that they would be good purchases for in the classroom.
As the old saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words" the power of illustrations depend on a few variables; their ability to harmonize with the text, their ability to convey the atmosphere and mood, and their ability to appeal to the readers. There are many elements to an illustration from the lines, color, shapes, and texture. All of those decide the overall presentation of a drawing. Lines for example can help convey a sense of movement, colors can promote a mood such as a nighttime setting using dark colors or a character that is angry by using red, shapes can captivate a reader's attention through interesting designs, and texture can help characters "feel" what they are seeing.
This chapter introduced me to the many options an artist has from using woodcuts, water colors, abstract art, and representational art, to using a collage. Some authors such as David Weisner have even promoted wordless picture books where the illustrations tell the story and this has been shown to bolster cognitive development among students.
Illustrations can be more than just pretty pictures for students to look at but can be the visual link between what students read. Students can be asked to examine what an illustration says about a country's culture, the mood that the author is trying to create, and help them to identify the changes that have taken place in their own country or culture. Students can also be asked to use the illustrations to interpret the emotions of the characters, to make predictions, to make inferences. Furthermore, students can conduct projects that can focus on the use of art as tools for communication or specific artists and their particular style and then see how it compares to others.
It is important for students to develop both efferent abilities so that they can learn to examine art for the purpose of gaining useful information such as learning to interpret emotions and aesthetic appreciation so they can learn to drive pleasure from art. Art is more than just drawings and paintings but in many cultures it was a way of communicating and that is why I do not take lightly the fact that art can be used to learn about other cultures and is a strong socializing tool. In the West African nation of Nigeria for example there are many bronze and iron carvings from thousands of years ago as far back some believe in the 1300's that are on display in some of the world's largest museums. Many of these reliefs show warriors mounted on horses, woman dressed in elegant garbs, and other aspect of the Yok, an ethnic group in Nigeria, and on the Yoruba, another ethnic group in Nigeria, a lot of the ancient buildings are engraved with ancient designs. Many cultures used art as their way of communicating and in many ways so do us today since art helps inspire imagination and effective communication.
I loved looking at all the different illustrations in this chapter. it really opened my eyes to all the different types of illustrations found in books. I think it is very important for students to learn about illustrations because then they can learn even more from the book by studying the pictures. I also think illustrations are a great way to get small children intersted in books. When my daughter was younger she loved flipping through the pages and looking at the drawings, now she loves to read the books and i believe its because she is so use to having the books.
In response to AlainaH I also agree that it was nice to learn about the differnt illustrators. i have been looking up the illustrators finding other books they worked on so we can have new books to read
Ok, so I just noticed that the dates are from 2008 and no one ever replies back to me. I am here all alone and have just discovered there is another blogspot for Fall 2009. The link is in the announcements on Blackboard. I am so confused! I do know if you are Danica, jwradel or Jade B you have been here with me. See you in the other blogspot. :)
10 comments:
I think it is important to say at the very outset of this blog, I have a very small level of artistic ability. If you want an ace stick person, I'm your gal, but other than that, I keep my artwork to doodles during boring meetings. This chapter was a lot for me to digest, as artists seem to live in a completely different world then me. But as foreign as many of the artistic concepts seemed, the chapter explain illustration in a way that I could easily understand and explain to others.
I have been looking at Chapter 4 to assist in describing the illustrations for our reading log assignments, so I have been perusing it for several days now, but when I got the opportunity to take a close look I found out so much about art and it's effect. It's amazing how different colors can evoke different moods from the reader (i.e. the gentle blues can have a calming effect). I was happy that the chapter described so many mediums in such detail, and the examples from various books will make it much easier to me to decipher whether I'm seeing a collage or a woodcut or a painting.
One of my favorite aspects of this chapter is that it explained children's book illustrations, but also related that topic back to viewing single pieces of artwork -- so the information in this chapter serves a dual purpose. There were several applications for art in the classroom, including how a teacher can teach lessons on different types of art for different cultures.
The wordless picture book that I chose was by Tomie dePaolo, who is mentioned in the chapter. In the back of the book, it stated that the tale of The Hunter and the Animals was a Hungarian folktale, but after reading this chapter I realized that he most likely incorporated many elements of Hungarian artwork into the book.
I think because where children's literature is concerned I am most ignorant about the value of the illustrations, I have gained the most out of this chapter than any other. The ability to find symbolism in drawings is such an important skill to possess, and I am excited that I can speak more intelligently on the subject of art.
I think, however, the most poignant part of the chapter was when it explained that today's children's book illustrators are not practicing an artform different from the great artists of our past -- the forms are not mutually exclusive. Rather they take inspiration from and "pay homage" to the great artists that came before them. Which, I think is so very cool -- you can be reading a children's book, and get a little piece of a Da Vinci while your at it. :)
I love art, any kind of it. From the simple (yet beautiful)paintings my daughters do, to the most renowned artists’ works, I think art is as essential to life as air. That sounds ridiculous to some I am sure, but I have been in art classes as a child, took art courses in college, do art projects with my children. I see how much creativity enhances their world and mine.
I don’t presume to understand all art or the messages behind the creations, but I do applaud the artists that are so gifted and contribute so much to the world around us. The best part about art is that there is no “wrong” way to enjoy it or no “wrong” opinion about it. However, I know there are criteria for good illustrations in a book and I think this chapter is helpful in seeing what those criteria are.
When I read a book the illustrations definitely speak to me. The feelings that are evoked from a picture enhance the message in the story. This chapter was helpful in reviewing the elements of art such as line, color, shape, and texture. I again appreciate how each section gives so many examples of books that are recognized for their strengths in these specific areas.
I remember as a child a book my mom read to me with pictures of a man walking down the street (can’t remember the name of the book right now). On the pages, in the background of the dark street, there were people looking out the windows. I so did not like that book. It was about a man going to market to get apples, and all I remember was the scary people staring out the windows. Years later I told my mom about the book and she had no idea. She didn’t even notice the people in the windows.
The book I read as the Caldecott Award winner was The Man Who Walked between the Towers, by Mordicai Gerstein. It has amazing illustrations done in oil and ink. The chapter talks about how the pictures should fit the text, well at the most climactic part of the book you suddenly get flip open pages. You feel the exhilaration of walking that high in the air and understand the majestic feat that it was for him to accomplish walking on such a thin wire that high in the air.
I think I would enjoy looking through the Henry Sayre’s book Cave Paintings to Picasso: The Inside Scoop on 50 Art Masterpieces and The Art of Reading: Forty Illustrators Celebrate RIF’s 40th Anniversary.
These are great resources to some of the best works.
We all know Eric Carle, but it was interesting to learn about his design process of collages. The images in his books are original and my children love his books. I enjoyed reading Tomie dePaola’s little section. It is fascinating to hear how he started his career, as a child doodling in bed and a man doodling in meetings.
It has been said, and many people agree, that there is not enough focus on the arts in education anymore. As educators we can use the books we introduce in our classrooms as ways for children to study different art forms, discuss different cultures, share creative ideas, and learn more about the world around them.
Linda, you make an excellent point, books open up the world of art. i, too, am interested in Cave Paintings to Picasso -- even if just for myself. I may never see Mona Lisa at the Louvre -- but I can see it in a book. What a unique gift that is, to be able to bring a piecee of artwork to someone who might otherwise never see it.
Annie-I have will probably never get to see the "real" thing when it comes to great works of art either. I will probably never travel to Paris or New York or Italy, but we can all enjoy the art in books and or course in the local art museums. I have not checked out the books I mentioned in my blog yet-waiting until classes are over and I have time to really enjoy them. I bet that they would be good purchases for in the classroom.
As the old saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words" the power of illustrations depend on a few variables; their ability to harmonize with the text, their ability to convey the atmosphere and mood, and their ability to appeal to the readers. There are many elements to an illustration from the lines, color, shapes, and texture. All of those decide the overall presentation of a drawing. Lines for example can help convey a sense of movement, colors can promote a mood such as a nighttime setting using dark colors or a character that is angry by using red, shapes can captivate a reader's attention through interesting designs, and texture can help characters "feel" what they are seeing.
This chapter introduced me to the many options an artist has from using woodcuts, water colors, abstract art, and representational art, to using a collage. Some authors such as David Weisner have even promoted wordless picture books where the illustrations tell the story and this has been shown to bolster cognitive development among students.
Illustrations can be more than just pretty pictures for students to look at but can be the visual link between what students read. Students can be asked to examine what an illustration says about a country's culture, the mood that the author is trying to create, and help them to identify the changes that have taken place in their own country or culture. Students can also be asked to use the illustrations to interpret the emotions of the characters, to make predictions, to make inferences. Furthermore, students can conduct projects that can focus on the use of art as tools for communication or specific artists and their particular style and then see how it compares to others.
Linda,
It is important for students to develop both efferent abilities so that they can learn to examine art for the purpose of gaining useful information such as learning to interpret emotions and aesthetic appreciation so they can learn to drive pleasure from art. Art is more than just drawings and paintings but in many cultures it was a way of communicating and that is why I do not take lightly the fact that art can be used to learn about other cultures and is a strong socializing tool. In the West African nation of Nigeria for example there are many bronze and iron carvings from thousands of years ago as far back some believe in the 1300's that are on display in some of the world's largest museums. Many of these reliefs show warriors mounted on horses, woman dressed in elegant garbs, and other aspect of the Yok, an ethnic group in Nigeria, and on the Yoruba, another ethnic group in Nigeria, a lot of the ancient buildings are engraved with ancient designs. Many cultures used art as their way of communicating and in many ways so do us today since art helps inspire imagination and effective communication.
Gregg
I loved looking at all the different illustrations in this chapter. it really opened my eyes to all the different types of illustrations found in books. I think it is very important for students to learn about illustrations because then they can learn even more from the book by studying the pictures. I also think illustrations are a great way to get small children intersted in books. When my daughter was younger she loved flipping through the pages and looking at the drawings, now she loves to read the books and i believe its because she is so use to having the books.
In response to AlainaH
I also agree that it was nice to learn about the differnt illustrators. i have been looking up the illustrators finding other books they worked on so we can have new books to read
Ok, so I just noticed that the dates are from 2008 and no one ever replies back to me. I am here all alone and have just discovered there is another blogspot for Fall 2009. The link is in the announcements on Blackboard. I am so confused!
I do know if you are Danica, jwradel or Jade B you have been here with me. See you in the other blogspot. :)
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