SchoolArts - May/June 2008

Technology

awareness and richness to the artworks being formulated.

As students utilize new combinations of tools, their works undergo a transformation. Words being animated with various effects float within images, reflecting unspoken meaning that are, in turn, flavored by sounds. Digitized effects are imbued with both mystery and a sense of otherworldliness as they are transfigured into shapes, forms, colors, and line that move and twist. Meaning can become both more complex as well as richer in substance.

Implications for Art Teachers

As time has gone on, the population that I worked with (high school students) has expanded to include my teaching peers. That expansion has, in turn, widened the range of what I now consider necessary to teach this concept of art-making. The better the preparation of its users, the further they can take the tools and fashion works that explore even more far-reaching junctures. Among the concepts I introduce when working with teachers (as well as students) are:

• The exploration of various historic artistic styles through the utilization of different elements and principles of art. This is a preface to the experience of making the films, which has provided additional context for consider-

ing the directions being taken in their conception.

• Experimentation in the creation and manipulation of still frames through both the video-editing process, as well as by alterations done in Adobe Photoshop. Once those still frames have been altered in Photoshop, they are then re-imported back into the film.

• The film analysis/recording of both process and effect creation has added to the understanding of what was done to arrive at the final product.

As the thrust of all art-making experience ultimately has to be grounded in the self direction of the creator, I also have my students do their own research into resource material that is accessible to them online. Publishable, and therefore sharable, collections created through the utilization of the Art Collector feature that is available in ArtsConnectEd (the interactive, online learning environment operated by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center), are compiled as a part of the learning/ discovery process in order to further broaden the scope of the films that are being created.

Finally, the completed films are presented in class and critiqued by the participants. The phenomenal responses that are represented in the completed movies are a constant source of amazement to me as well

as to the rest of the class. These works of art continually expand the definition and heights of expectation.

Kevan Nitzberg is art department chair at Anoka High School in Anoka, Minnesota. knitzber@ties2.net

Students conceive and create works of visual art that demonstrate an understanding of how the communication of their ideas relates to the media, techniques, and processes they use.