Thursday, January 2, 2014

Using Science Fiction to Teach Creative Thinking, Part Three: SteamPunk

Part Three: SteamPunk and Learning to Step Back


Neverwas haul, photo courtesy of hanttula.com




SteamPunk is a sub genre of science fiction that is primarily focused on the creation of an alternate history with Victorian era/ Western Themed / Mechanized gadgetry.  The style features "retro-futurstic" works that are primarily steam powered. 





Hanging out at the MAEA SteamPunk gala with
former student teacher and art ed buddy, Michelle
The 2013 Michigan Art Education Association conference held at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island's theme was the "Grand Vision" and decked out in SteamPunk finery. 

There are lots of resources online about SteamPunk and even conventions where people can connect and celebrate their creativity in this theme.  





Learning to step back:

As an art teacher, we find ourselves in a dilemma when we stumble across fun art styles that inspire us.  We get "tunnel vision" and a grand idea in our heads about all of the cool things our kids could do with the theme that's inspired us.  I think it's natural for us to do, we're creative people.  In my early teaching days and not too distant past, I have been guilty of asking my students to make Impressionist or Aboriginal or Monochromatic "Blue Period" style paintings, Louise Nevelson boxes or Alexander Calder mobiles.  And just like getting excited about Chuck Close's fingerprint portraits I used to have my high school kids make, learning about SteamPunk got me thinking of all of the cool gears and watchfaces I could get my hands on for students to incorporate into jewelry or something equally cool, like maybe they could all make SteamPunk glasses like my friend Michelle is wearing in this photo.

Looking at my practice critically however, it's important to ask myself, "Where is the line that is crossed when the art or creative thinking our students are making/doing is ours (or someone else's) and it becomes no longer the students?"


How do you encourage creative thinking and creative invention/discovery if we ask our students to create work in the theme of ___________ (whatever the teacher has become inspired by, in this case, in the theme of SteamPunk).   How can I have my students learn about an art movement or art style and not have them be copiers of a style or of another artists' ideas?  I posed this challenge to myself: How can I accomplish these two goals:  A. Introduce students to this cool science fiction style of art making.  B. How "hands off" can I be in designing a lesson so that my students maintain the role of being the most creative people in the classroom and not just following through with an idea I have?

This is what we did.



1.  I showed them lots of examples of really cool SteamPunk Art work.  We looked at videos, people making costumes, tons of sculptures and mechanized SteamPunk toys, jewelry, and we even watched a little of the Tim Burton animated movie "9".   The lesson timing lined up with a field trip for all sixth graders to visit ArtPrize (an international art competition held annually in downtown Grand Rapids, MI) where many of the submitted works were SteamPunk in design. Every year there are more than a few works made by local artists who are skilled at welding and animatronics. The kids were excitedly pointing out to their non art class friends all of the SteamPunk features they could identify.

2. We gathered materials for mixed media assemblage sculptures.  We asked for broken appliances, tech trash, broken down computers and printers, nuts and bolts and random scrap from garages and foundries.  We got a lot of really bizarre stuff, which was cool.

Learning how to use tools properly.

Figuring out how to take stuff apart.








Sharing treasures. 

Collaborating and building on each others creative ideas.


3.  The students were given the following directions:   Take some stuff apart.  See what's on the inside, how does it work?  Make something from what you've destroyed. Make sure it's interesting enough that you are proud of it. Make it with care. How can you put things together without showing how they are attached or the attachment is part of the design? Go.

I did not ask them to make something specifically SteamPunk inspired, on purpose. You can still see the SteamPunk influences showing up in some of their work.

Retro-futuristic fashion

Policeman in a warehouse

Hot Air Balloon



Jeremy

Headband of the future

SteamPunk spider (that actually crawls!)

The students had a few different gauges of wire, hot glue guns and dollar store tools at their disposal.
With laminate floor samples to cover/protect the tables, they got to work disassembling and exploring stuff.  Some students chose to work alone, many chose to collaborate.  Aside from the sound of destruction, you could have heard a pin drop they were so engaged.

Key to my heart

Robo turtle



Hypnotic Photographer

Harold

Robo butterfly

Super kitty


4. At the end of the week students named their work and wrote reflections on what they learned about the creation process and the Steam Punk movement.  Note: they were not asked to  write about how their work was "Steam Punk". They did happen to draw some parallels naturally though. The students set up a mini- gallery around the room and we talked about the ideas and experiences that each artist had during this discovery lesson.

Tiara with Laser

Reginald and Franklin, best friends


Time eternal

Roberto

PaintBot


Because I did not say to them "Make something that looks like SteamPunk." or "Make a robot" or "Make a sculpture that does ________", there was a very wide variety of student responses.  Learning to step back and let go of your vision allows room for the students vision to develop.

Using Science Fiction to Teach Creative Thinking, Part Two: Hybrids

This is part two of the Science Fiction Series.

Sci Fi Hybrid Monster by artist Kate Rah

You can always count on science fiction authors to come up with some pretty fantastic creatures.  Most of the creatures in Sci-Fi are made of pieces and parts of already existing creatures. Hybridization is an old standby for creative idea generationSwitch Zoo is a game you can play on your phone or online that students can use to play with hybridizing animal parts together.  I wanted to push my students a little further by encouraging them to think outside of the "animal only" mode.
. Take two or more disparate objects or ideas and Voila!, you have a creative beginning to a work of art.

We had only one week to devote to this exploration and experimentation with clay as a media.

How we played with hybridization:
1. Students by table groups of four make 4 lists. Each table made lists of 10 animals, 10 foods, 10 modes of transportation and 10 everyday objects/tools.

2. The students cut up their lists and put all of their little strips into a paper lunch bag.

3. We traded bags among the tables.

4. Students had to draw two or more words from the bag as inspiration for a hybridization.

Toaster Spider
5. Students made several wacky quick drawings of the new hybridizations and shared their results with the class. It was pretty fun to see what everyone came up with.

After a day of playing with ideas, students developed their favorite blend and set to make it come alive using clay and the pinch/pull method of construction. For most of my students, this is their first or second experience with clay ever.  I am pretty happy with the results considering they only had four class periods to have their hands in the clay!

Students self assessed the quality of their work by asking students who they did not sit by if they could guess what objects they were combining in their work.  If the body parts were not discernible to their particular character in mind, then it meant that they needed to keep working on it until they had enough details to describe their creation.  This was a nice way to encourage collaboration in the classroom and it also helped students reach a more sophisticated level of craftsmanship.  All works are low fire white clay, painted with acrylic paint.

Giraffe with donuts

Ladybug M &M

Octo-dog

Campfire Mouse (will hold rings)

Duck-tanic

Panda-phant

Rainbow Unicorn fully caffeinated
 on StarBucks

Dragon-Tiger

Bacon Chef

Shark-Taco

Pigskin piggybank

Vans with feet of their own

Pink Bumble-Mouse

Minnie Mouse Flute




Using Science Fiction to teach Creative Thinking, Part One: Alternative History

Did any of you see "Sharknado" this past summer on the Sci-Fi channel? If you haven't, and you like super cheesy movies, you should definitely put it on your to-watch list. Starring Tara Reid and  Ian Ziering from 90210, it's truly terrible in the best possible way.  Often, creative ideas come to you when you least expect it. I knew from the moment I first saw chomping sharks flying through the sky that I must find a way to incorporate it into my middle school lesson plans. Knowing very little about the science fiction genre, I dug in to the research with anticipation and the result was a full marking period devoted to the theme.  Here are some examples of our science fiction explorations, shared in 4 posts.

Part One: Alternative History
We started the marking period with the exploration of Alternate Histories. Alternative History is a genre of fiction that supposes a different course of history occurred.  "What would happen if _____ had become president?" or "What if penguins had developed higher brain functioning and opposable thumbs?" or "What if we had always lived without gravity?" etc. 

Alternative history can get a little post apocalyptic and politically controversial for a relatively conservative teaching situation. I always have to be careful not to push the line too far (although it can be tempting). In searching online, I discovered a science fiction artist named Frank Wu. Knowing my students interest in fantasy art, I knew his work would be relevant and engaging. I was particularly drawn to his Sci Fi Convention Painting, "Zombie Lincoln on the Moon".


In this painting, Wu supposes that the south secedes the Civil War and sends Lincoln off to the moon in a space suit, Abraham Lincoln lives eternally as a zombie, he's armed with nuclear power or some other type of super weapon and apparently blows up the entire earth.  If that doesn't capture the attention of a middle school kid and give you about 50 million things to talk about ranging from the awesome absurdity of zombies  to very real discussions about equality and idealism, I don't know what would.

We also examined other popular contemporary alternative history stories like the Hunger Games trilogy and The City of Ember young adult book series.

The students created (in groups) lists of famous figures from history and contemporary times (including celebrities). Students took these famous figures and played "What if..."

What if the historical figure or celebrity traveled back in time to a different era or forward into the future, or into an alternate future? What would it be like for them?  How would they travel to this distant past or future time and place? What would other people's reactions be to their arrival?  How would they acclimate to their new environment?

The students did some creative writing on their self selected juxtaposition of ideas. (BTW, middle school kids love learning new words, "juxtaposition" became a new favorite for them. )

As always, I like to offer lots of options for my students when they are doing their work.  Some students chose to further develop their creative writing to explore this concept.  Some chose to do drawings, others collage, some painted and still others chose to create storyboards. I assessed their work based on the originality of the concept, thoughtful attention to detail, and obvious recognition of characters in the alternate history (easy to tell who they are and where/when they have been placed). Here are some of the visual outcomes of the alternative history prompt.
A student develops an illustrated story about a T-Rex who comes to the future and tries to learn how to use a laptop. Tempera on cardboard stock (four pages).


Beethoven performs for 2013 New Year's Rockin' Eve.
Pencil on paper


Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Oprah Winfrey, LeBron James and Lady Gaga compete in the 4013 Corn Dog Festival. Marker and Colored Pencil on Paper
Marilyn Monroe steals the stage from Katy Perry. Border is filled with famous Marilyn quotes.
Marker and Colored Pencil on Paper

Benjamin Franklin plays tourist at a futuristic New York City, complete with MineCraft interactive buildings.
Colored Pencil on paper
Taylor Swift and Eminem being forced to perform on stage for an unusual crowd's pleasure.  Pen on paper.

"Whoa, it's Crazy Abe!"  Crazy Abe, famous fictional rap star makes an appearance at school.
Pencil on paper

Marilyn Monroe taking a selfie on Instagram at a StarBucks where Audrey Hepburn chills out enjoying a cool drink.
Colored Pencil and Marker on paper.

Artist's friend, Rena is sent back to they year 2011, as a troll doll version of herself in a birds nest. Whoa!
Tempera and marker on cardboard stock

Thomas Edison is amazed at the Apple Store, while playing Subway Surfers.