Thursday 7 November 2013

Google Doodles


Today's Google Doodle


Google is an extremely creative company. From the way they design their work spaces, to their products and ideas, google is known for being innovative and unique. Google search is used millions of times every day to help people find information- as a result the google search home page is one of the most highly viewed webpages in the world. With such a great audience, I love the way Google uses their artistic creativity to share knowledge on their homepage in the form of google doodles. Since 1998 when they first had the idea to doodle up their search page, google has created over 1000 google doodles on display for certain events and celebrations such as holidays and birthday of famous people including many artists.  Pretty cool way to slip some creativity into an ordinary google search!

Google Doodle Archive
You can learn more about Google doodles HERE, see their archive of doodles HERE (is there a special doodle on your birthday?), or even buy Google doodle designs HERE.   Notice how they celebrate a variety of cultures, people, and types of events... Google doodles usually grab my attention and either teach me a new fact (like independence days or globally celebrated holidays) or intrigue me enough to do a new google search of people or places I don't know very much about to learn more!  

A google doodle that caught my eye and caused me to google search the person's name- an Australian aboriginal poet and artist! Learned something new from this google doodle :) 

5C brought up the doodle in class today (without even seeing the blog!) and so we explored the process of making organic blobs using black Ink and recycled paper. Super simple and easy to make- a great way for an artist to develop their creativity by coming up with as many ideas as possible for one "blob"/blot!


Way to go Google for getting the world to think like artists even during simple tasks like searching for information or ideas!  I'd be interested to see what Google doodles ASB artists come up with! 





Wednesday 6 November 2013

Art from Ordinary Objects



Last week a group of 10 creative KG-Grade 2 students explored the art of Andy Goldsworthy. He is a well known sculpture artist who used mainly natural elements and nature itself to create stunning and simple yet interesting artwork. We talked about the patterns we noticed (simple shapes, using the thing such as rocks or leaves repeated over and over again, sometimes adding color but usually keeping the natural color of the natural object).  
We wondered:

What would it be like to find one of his artworks in nature? surprising, awesome, funny, weird

How does this art make us feel?...and Why? calm, peaceful, curious, excited, happy... the environment and music also help us feel this way

How could we get or give that same effect using materials we found naturally around us at school? naturally found objects at school might be markers, pencils, crayons etc...

How would it feel to make a piece of art that is temporary, or will not last forever? sometimes just making art can make us happy, it's ok to break or remove a piece of artwork after we have shared it with others, not all art has to be perfect and in place forever

Where would we choose to build pieces like this to inspire people around us? in our home, in our private room/bedroom, at lunch, in school where lots of people will see it...





Using the most natural objects we can round up in school (without harming any plants or living things), we assembled designs on the ground using office supplies, rocks, sea shells, pencils, rubber bands, gems, and assorted wood blocks.  While these elements were not the same as those Andy Goldsworthy would use, they are easily found, simple and common, and can be used to create surprising and interesting designs. As a group they created an amazing collage of items that really wowed the people passing by. We also tried using ordinary objects in drawings and in cards we could give to other people to inspire and surprise them with creative beauty. What a fun day using our imaginations and putting our creativity on display!