When I at Interactions08 a friend of mine, Jenny Lam, presented a talk titled, "Hit It With a Pretty Stick" which discussed the value of beautiful visual design. An appropriate talk for her to give considering her amazing ability to create beautiful visual design. In the talk, Jenny showcased  orisinal a site with little, short games that are done with really great illustration styles.

When I returned home, I hit the site and placed Josephine in front of the laptop. After several minutes we selected a game which has a rabbit carrying a turtle which allowed it to shoot the low flying birds. When you switch to have the turtle carry the rabbit it is so the rabbit can swat the snakes from the path. Basically, the object is to proceed forward while avoiding obstacles. A few minutes more and my wife turned around quickly to say, "I thought you said those games were not violent", in response to me repeatedly instructing to "Shoot the bird, shoot the bird!" Pausing briefly, I smiled and said, "They are not, but the birds are dropping bombs!?!"

Back in September, Josephine started Kindergarten. Needless to say, she was and continues to be super excited for school and "the most favorite kindergarten teacher she has ever had in her entire life" Mrs. Wilson. Early in the year, I attended a few parent meetings which were filled with logistical information and volunteer opportunities. One that I jumped on was the chance to lead an "art smart" program in Josephine's classroom. I attend a workshop hosted at the Frye Art Museum presented by Visual Thinking Strategies organization  who emphasize the importance of observation over straight art history. I am simplifying their approach but the idea is to encourage kids to talk about what they see (right or wrong) through paraphrasing and simple questions used to keep the discussion moving along. It is a fantastic approach and it is really fun to see the excitement the kids have once they start opening up. My goal is to get every child participating.

I have committed to be in the classroom one day a month (the first Friday of each) and the sessions begin with the observation of a piece of art followed by a lesson. Through this activity I have increased an already high level of respect for the work teachers do - creating a lesson can be a bit challenging.

My first session in the classroom was based on Cave Paintings with the observation exercise being an image of from the Caves Of Lascaux, the Hall of Bulls. As it was the first time, it was a bit rough. We talked for a little while about the image and I showed some detailed shots to stretch the discussion. Important was the concept that what had been painted on the walls were the direct observation of what the people had experienced at that time. The lesson involved brown paper which we had taped to the underside of the (small) tables and a limited palette of crayons. Sliding under their tables, into their caves, the kids began to draw what had been their "favorite activity of the week". After a while, we had a short discussion - holding up individual "creations" and asking, "what can we observe happened in (child's name) world this week?" The kids were excited to share their works - it was fun.

Yesterday was my second venture into the classroom. Having learned a personal lesson of finding a work that had a lot of activity I projected a slide of "Hunters in the Snow" by Pieter Bruegel (1565) which was really great. Once the discussion slowed, I showed a couple detailed shots and the discussion took off again. My hidden agenda was to show how the use of warm and cool colors could influence the feeling of the painting. The lesson involved filling in a color wheel to explain primary and complimentary colors. Next, was to take the 6 colors and organize them into warm and cool color palettes. Fresh with the concept of warm/cool colors I showed a quick slide show and asked the kids what type of palette was used. It was a really fun session. To see the kids excited to learn was a great reward - I look forward to the next time back in the classroom.