The Art of Making

Well, as we conclude week one of CEP 811, I am feeling inspired and excited for the weeks to come. When learning about Making and Remixing, I automatically made a connection with Leonardo Da Vinci. In my mind, he is one of the original Artist Makers, and therefore decided to make my remixed video about Leonardo as a Maker. He created hundreds of sketches for various inventions, some of which came to being, were copied and transformed or remixed, into modern day uses, such as, the parachute.

As artists, my students are naturally creators, but how do I know if they are also makers? In addition, how do I push them to become makers? In my opinion, there are different stages of making. My students right now, who are in grades K-4, are copiers and remixers. They are learning the fundamentals of art, the elements and principles, I teach them a topic, which they either copy or remix. I prefer, that they remix, by taking my idea or sample of the project, and recreating a product of their own using the target elements. I feel, as though, becoming a maker, would be the next step. Becoming a maker, would allow them more freedom to apply their knowledge of the target element, and to “make” a project of their choice using the target element.

In order to push them to become creative makers, they need to learn how to fail, and to fail quickly, learn from their failure, and start again. The concept of failure is difficult for some students. I feel as though, once I can get them to accept failure, and once I can let go of some of the control and give the students more control, then we will have more making.

I will definitely be sharing with my students the work of Da Vinci and discuss with them how he never gave up, even if an invention did not work. He came up with a lot of ideas, a lot of sketches, a lot of failures and a lot of successes. He was many things; he was an artist, a renaissance man, and a maker.

You can check out my video here: https://www.wevideo.com/view/764519285

List of Sources

Breath-Takers, 2 [Video found in Prelinger Archives]. (2008, December 9). In A/V Geeks (Author), Breath-Takers, 2. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from https://archive.org/details/breath_takers_2

Eastern, P. (2011, February 2). A grid reciprocal frame. In Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grid_reciprocal_frame.JPG (Originally photographed 2009, April 26)

Leonardo da Vinci inspires emergency shelter design [Audio blog interview]. (2016, January). Retrieved October 23, 2016, from https://soundcloud.com/scidev-net/leonardo-da-vinci-inspires-emergency-shelter-design

Leonardo da Vinci [Photograph found in Österreichische Nationalbibliothek – Austrian National Library]. (2014, October 04). In Europeana Collections. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from http://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/92062/BibliographicResource_1000126026894.html?q=leonardo da vinci AND RIGHTS:*creative* AND NOT RIGHTS:*nc* AND NOT RIGHTS:*nd*

Noennig, C. (Writer). (2014, July 28). Why was Leonardo da Vinci that famous? [Video file]. In Why Was Leonardo Da Vinci That Famous? Retrieved October 23, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShWeJDuz6BM

Vebjørn Sand Da Vinci Project. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vebjørn_Sand_Da_Vinci_Project

Парашют.jpg. (2008, January 24). In L. D. Vinci (Author), Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Парашют.jpg