Below are the 13 most recent journal entries recorded in
chanami's LiveJournal:
Monday, October 16th, 2006
1:00 pm
Student reflections on Biology and New Genres Art Interventions.
I think that the idea of incorporating art projects with Biology was a good one. I think that as artists here, we all appreciate the opportunity to take in information in a way that is a little more our style. I think it added to my learning experience. But sometimes, I felt that we had too little time or I would have difficulties with groups who didn’t want to work. I do think it’s a good idea though. Keep it up. --Roseanna
I really liked how we can incorporate art projects with Biology. With the art project, we can transform Biology lessons into something creative and interesting for ourselves and other people. It did add to my learning experience because it forces us to visualize something like evolution instead or just learning it from the textbook. I thought the project was very fun and I had a great time producing it. --Sunni
I think the art projects helped a lot. It made learning a lot more fun. And taught me more about technology. --Cameron
My feeling towards having art projects included with biology is having more of an artist, group idea towards biology that could change your idea about biology. Throughout these projects I have learned to appreciate biology through art. --Alex
My feelings about incorporating bio with art? I think it’s a cool way to broaden our horizons of learning. --Zach
I think that incorporating Biology and New Genre projects are very effective because it takes you out of the classroom and into a new more interesting learning experience. When we are the ones teaching it gives us a better grasp on the subject. I think it added much more to my experience than if I just watched a slide. --Aliza
My feelings about incorporating art projects with Biology – well – I enjoyed it and I think the videos I produced for this class were the best ones. --Cami
I found it extremely fun and a good learning experience and made it a lot easier to comprehend and understand the subjects. It also was fun to do and great to see. --Dylan
Actually it is a lot better to learn biology with art and it makes learning very fun. It’s a lot more interesting than just reading a book and the good and cool thing about this assignment was that you can make it be funny so that you won’t get bored watching it. --Joshua
I feel that incorporating art with biology helps the class understand what we’re learning in class because we put in a more fun atmosphere. Of course it helped with the learning experience. Even if you did not participate in one project you still understand their point and learn more. --Stephanie
I think it is a good idea to incorporate art projects with biology. This gives you a hands-on experience and it helps you learn all the materials better. Yes, I think I have a better understanding of the subjects that were discussed in the video making process. --Murielle
I learn[ed] a lot of things from our projects. About how to use condom[s], don’t [take] drug[s], etc… I like[d] it!!! --Tian
I think that incorporating art projects with Biology is a good idea. I think this because when you incorporate art with biology you look at bio a different way and I think that’s important otherwise biology would get boring and gloomy. --Storm
My feelings about incorporating an art project with biology made it easier for me to understand the different situations. I liked filming the movie and the costumes were fun. This was really fun and it added to my learning experience immensely. --Sammy
I liked this project. I had a great time filming it and I learned how to do this and bios’ “natural selection.” It was great. I recommend it. --Michelle
I loved the group, the project, making the film, the costumes and new genres. It added to my learning experience. --Nick
My opinions on New Genres and Biology I thoroughly enjoyed incorporating art projects with biology. It was a fun way to learn more about certain aspects of science. I think that when a project involves creativity and art, more people are willing to participate in it. It added a lot to m learning experience here in biology class. --Hayley
I really enjoyed the project because I felt comfortable with it. Since we’ve had many experiences before, it made this project easier. My group did STD: crabs and we went to the health office to get condoms for our video and found brochures on how to use a condom, about STDs, and which condom is the best to use. Our goal to teach the class about crabs and I think we accomplished so much more. Not only did we teach but we got taught. Honestly, I thought everyone was very creative and chose great topics to talk about. --Kristen
Incorporating art projects and Biology is a grand idea and really helped me grasp the subject material. Yes it did add to my learning experience. --Andrew
I really enjoyed making movies and I fell that by incorporating our arts into biology we will increase our focus on the subject. It added to my learning experience because I am a visual learner. And by using all of my senses it is important to get the point across. --Kathryn
It made biology so much more fun. Incorporating art into biology helped keep my attention. I really enjoyed it. It really helped me remember things I learned because I love arts. --Natasha
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and is comprised of video and/or audio data. Video art saw its heyday during the 1960s and 1970s with the invention of the hand held video camera, but has exerted an influence to the present. Students were asked to create a short "art" video based on the following subjects.
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and is comprised of video and/or audio data. Video art saw its heyday during the 1960s and 1970s with the invention of the hand held video camera, but has exerted an influence to the present. Students were asked to create a short "art" video based on the following subjects.
Evolution
Evolution is the result of genetic changes that occur in constantly changing environments. As a basis for understanding this concept:
- Students know how natural selection determines the differential survival of groups of organisms.
- Students know a great diversity of species increases the chance that at least some organisms survive major changes in the environment.
- Students know the effects of genetic drift on the diversity of organisms in a population.
- Students know reproductive or geographic isolation affects speciation.
- Students know how to analyze fossil evidence with regard to biological diversity, episodic speciation, and mass extinction. Physiology
Organisms have a variety of mechanisms to combat disease. As a basis for under-standing the human immune response:
- Students know the role of the skin in providing nonspecific defenses against infection.
- Students know the role of antibodies in the body's response to infection.
- Students know how vaccination protects an individual from infectious diseases.
- Students know there are important differences between bacteria and viruses with respect to their requirements for growth and replication, the body's primary defenses against bacterial and viral infections, and effective treatments of these infections.
- Students know why an individual with a compromised immune system (for example, a person with AIDS) may be unable to fight off and survive infections by microorganisms that are usually benign.
Working as a group, develop a one-minute performance in a defined space that you create. Your performance should be informed by the four basic elements that define performance: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience. Your performance can include everyone or just be one person. Most importantly, your performance must be informed by the space that you create.
Defined Space: Using materials provided, create your defined space with a physical area of no more than 50 feet. This two-dimensional space can be flat or suspended. DO NOT damage school property, impede on public access, or endanger other people or yourself. All spaces to be within the courtyard of King Hall.
What is Cause Marketing? Cause marketing consists of using the skills of advertising to effect social change; to benefit individuals or society at large. To re-state the classic definition, it is advertising in the service of the public. Cause Marketing seeks to impact personal behavior in a number of ways. Among these are: • Avoidance or discontinuance of risky practices like smoking or drug abuse or unprotected sex • Discontinuance of anti-social actions such as littering or carelessness with campfires; • Seeking counseling for destructive behavior such as compulsive gambling or spousal abuse; • Taking preventative measures such as getting inoculated, reducing cholesterol intake, or fastening a safety belt; • Seeking out and using information about various diseases; • Re-examining personal attitudes toward issues like race and sexual preference; • Identifying and taking action against inhumane or discriminatory practices; • Organizing, joining, and giving financial support to groups that benefit our society: • Becoming involved in community activities such as mentoring and monitoring neighborhood crime.
Cause marketing can also help to create or change public policy. In short, when properly employed, cause marketing informs about, and creates action on behalf of a cause. "The Art of Cause Marketing" by Richard Earle
Working in groups, students were asked to create a 30 second "CAUSE MARKETING" video on ecology and ecosystems. As a basis for understanding this concept students know biodiversity is the sum total of different kinds of organisms and is affected by alterations of habitats; students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population size; students know how fluctuations in population size in an ecosystem are determined by the relative rates of birth, immigration, emigration, and death; students know how water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle between abiotic resources and organic matter in the ecosystem and how oxygen cycles through photosynthesis and respiration; and finally, students know a vital part of an ecosystem is the stability of its producers and decomposers.
Working as a group, create an artwork that incorporates the use of multiple images. Using the computer software PHOTOSHOP, research the subject of CELL BIOLOGY and create multiple images that you will then use to create a final physical (not digital) piece of art. It may be one image used many times or many images used once.
CELL BIOLOGY
The fundamental life processes of plants and animals depend on a variety of chemical reactions that occur in specialized areas of the organism's cells. As a basis for understanding this concept:
- Students know cells are enclosed within semipermeable membranes that regulate their interaction with their surroundings.
- Students know enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions without altering the reaction equilibrium and the activities of enzymes depend on the temperature, ionic conditions, and the pH of the surroundings.
- Students know how prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells (including those from plants and animals), and viruses differ in complexity and general structure.
- Students know the central dogma of molecular biology outlines the flow of information from transcription of ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the nucleus to translation of proteins on ribosomes in the cytoplasm.
- Students know the role of the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus in the secretion of proteins.
- Students know usable energy is captured from sunlight by chloroplasts and is stored through the synthesis of sugar from carbon dioxide.
- Students know the role of the mitochondria in making stored chemical-bond energy available to cells by completing the breakdown of glucose to carbon dioxide.
- Students know most macromolecules (polysaccharides, nucleic acids, proteins, lipids) in cells and organisms are synthesized from a small collection of simple precursors.
DICE (Joshua, Tian). group 1: Our images were of either food or animals. When we looked at our images, it was hard to think about what they meant. We ended up making dice out of the pictures. If you were to roll the dice you could get various combinations. When you had food and predator, the combination meant there was no harm. But when you rolled two predators, then there would be a battle and you would have to determine who would win.
CELL MITOSIS (Ashley, Alex C.). group 2: This project used the actual word "cell" to show the process of mitosis. Rather than showing an actual cell splitting, the projects uses the letters of the word to graphically illustrate "mitosis." The simplicity of this project is what makes this compelling.
ANIMAL CELL (Michelle, Nick, Sammy). group 3: This group took images of objects that they thought looked like parts of the cell. They created an enlarged version with pictures of lasagna, pecan pie, pizza, etc.... to illustrate the cell. This project illustrated how we can creatively view the world in ways that make it fun.
CANCER GROWTH (Stephanie, Sabrina, Kristen, Natasha). group 4: We used the idea of cancer growing and taking over healthy human cells. I think the image of the purple cancer read more, than if it were a black or white, because the original cells we used were dark brown. Our project makes me think of how sad it is that cancer can destroy that quickly and be so deadly, it makes you feel scared.
CANCER KIDS (Cameron, Alexander). group 5: Images here were of various types of cancer that occur throught the human body. The remainder of the person was drawn with bright colors and happy shapes. The end result is a visual treatment that juxtaposes happy images from our youth with the very serious images that cancer present to us. These contradictory images bring to light how these types of disease are often glossed over and we quickly forget that they exist.
VOODOO DOLL (Hayley, Storm, Dylan, Aliza, Kathryn) group 6: This project reinforced many aspects of cell biology and the effects and causes of cancer. My group's project was a "voodoo doll" type of thing with a collage of different body parts creating the face and body. It represents the randomness of cancer-how it pin points someone often for no reason and without control, like a voodoo doll. I think that it was an effective project because it hit you in an unpredictable way. The reason for using different peoples body parts to create a face was to show how although all cancer patients are different people, they are all linked by their disease.
TAPESTRY (Sunny, Roseanne, Andrew, Zach) group 7: Our project was simple and geometric. We focused on the idea that cells build up life in a specific pattern or equation that we, people, have not discovered yet. Although different cells have different patterns and different complexity, there is a certain connection between everyone of them that unifies and create an artwork of living things in general.
art with 100 denise cerda took 100 things that people gave her and drowned it in plastic about 1" deep. it was very shiny.
hannah moren took 100 beanie babies (some kidnapped) and tied them into one continuous chain. it was quite enjoyable to see them all together but sad to see them tied up like animals....
Develop a deeper understanding of their own personal ecosystem, large or small, and how their daily actions play a significant role in its outcome and how the stability in an ecosystem is a balance between competing effects. As a basis for understanding this concept: - Students know biodiversity is the sum total of different kinds of organisms and is affected by alterations of habitats. - Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population size. - Students know a vital part of an ecosystem is the stability of its producers and decomposers. - Students know how to distinguish between the accommodation of an individual organism to its environment and the gradual adaptation of a lineage of organisms through genetic change.
Site Specific Art/Land Art/Environmental Art/Earth Art
Around 1965, painters, sculptors and other artists, reacting to the commercial aspect of studios and galleries, shifted their work into the landscape. Artists replaced their canvases with fields, deserts, urban landscapes, empty lots, toxic sites, bodies of water or other sites. The work that appeared in the environment was often temporary and after time would be reclaimed by nature. The work in many cases could not be 'owned' and would be difficult to move. Much of the work has been called irrational, useless, and/or wasteful; however, the works in the landscape setting did make statements about man, about nature, about time. Ironically, drawings and/or photographs of these earth works were eventually shown and sold in galleries. This evidence would become the object or remnant of the artist's work and process.
Don't Walk On The Tree (Roseanna, Sunny, Aliza, Zach, Kathryn, Andrew). We figuratively walk on other people when we take advantage of them. To "walk on a tree" would be to take advantage of it, not give it respect, not pay it back for all that it provides us. Trees and other plant life are a critical part of the ecosystem giving us nourishment both physically and mentally. Ironic but equal - By using paper as signs, we show how much we take advantage of trees. We must balance out the equation and use our resources more wisely. Signs restrict us giving us boundaries. Signs are simple yet powerful tools useful for communicating and disseminating information. Since trees cannot communicate themselves, we can help by communicating for them.
Dangerous Glamour (Joshua, Ellen, Kristen, Tian, Elizabeth). This project illustrated how man made objects affect the earth. Tian served as a mannequin surrounded by shoes. This was a representation of how the affects of fashion not only impact us as users, but impact the environment in how the demand we create as users, encourages corporations to use our resources faster than they can replace them.
Synthetic Nature (Sammy, Sabrina, Michelle, Nick, Natasha). This project represents how the people of the United States are making the earth polluted and soon we will wake up alone and an endangered species. Our poem states how our environment is getting dirty and unclean and it's up to us to fix it. The picture of the grass represents how artificial our world is becoming.
The Environment Our environment is becoming dirty Polluted and unclean We all need to act right now And be a bit more green.
We need to recycle rubbish And pick up litter too We need to keep the earth a cleaner place For the future of me and you
Destroying forests and polluting oceans Are tearing the earth to pieces One day we will all wake up Alone and an endangered species
Giving Trees Back To Trees (Cami, Ashley, Alex, Storm, Stephanie). Giving Trees Back To Trees illustrates the irony of how our digital technology is slowly becoming a replacement for our natural world. That we often look to technology to save us from the destruction of nature but in reality, nature can do this itself without our help. Nature will eventually heal all of our destruction if we only allow it to.
Cellular Pollution (Hayley, Murielle, Cameron, Alex). This performance had students wearing oxygen masks around a tree while talking on cell phones. It shows how our earth is being ransacked by pollution and other electronic devices and the human economy. One day, the pollution will be so bad we may have to wear oxygen masks but that won't stop people from polluting.
"Earth Art" Site Specific Art/Land Art/Environmental Art/Earth Art Around 1965, painters, sculptors and other artists, reacting to the commercial aspect of studios and galleries, shifted their work into the landscape. Artists replaced their canvases with fields, deserts, urban landscapes, empty lots, toxic sites, bodies of water or other sites. The work that appeared in the environment was often temporary and after time would be reclaimed by nature. The work in many cases could not be 'owned' and would be difficult to move. Much of the work has been called irrational, useless, and/or wasteful; however, the works in the landscape setting did make statements about man, about nature, about time. Ironically, drawings and/or photographs of these earth works were eventually shown and sold in galleries. This evidence would become the object or remnant of the artist's work and process.
Organic Geometry (Erik Allison, Lindsey). The planter is perpendicular to the concrete forms. There are right angles at every corner. The trees themselves create an organic horizontal line and vertically create parallel lines. The trees are at right angles to the planters.
Plane Staircase (Nick, Ryan, Christina, Natasha). Our group made a coordinate plane on the staircase. When people walk in their daily lives they walk on a coordinate plane without knowing it. The plane contained right angles, triangles and parallelograms.
Scavenger Hunt (Ashley, Kaitlin). This group found unusual shapes in their everyday visual environment and listed them all. They looked for all types of unusual shapes that are often taken for granted and made of list of them. They then presented them to the groups as a scavenger hunt and had individuals look for them in the environment. This had people really studying their visual world in order to become more sensitive to its formation and recognize the geometry that surrounds them.
Christmas trees in October (Sabrina, Paul, Asha). This project involved using line segments, triangles, quadrilaterals, and pentagons. This was used in the surrounding perimeter. The perimeter was a rectangle with a square in the middle. There were also 90˚ angles in the rectangle.
Super Mario Brothers (Devin, Christen, David). Look at the environment and emphasize the polygons in our environment that look like Super Mario. The organic world does not necessarily fit into the eight bit world but it is interesting to see how those forms can be implied and understood with simple geometrical shapes.
Inductive Reasoning Machine (Chris, Erica, Zoë). These vending machines form many different rectangle patterns. Each vending machine is a rectangle. All 3 combined become one congruent rectangle (same height, length, model, etc….). Even within the rectangles are numerous other smaller rectangles that are defined by the yellow tape (product, prices, advertisements, machinery, etc...). Rectangles have two sets of parallel sides and so do the vending machines.
60 cent (Kristen). Kristen used inductive reasoning to determine a behavioral trait of using a vending machine. Gum is 60 cents. So every time you put 60 cents in the vending machine, you will get a pack of gum.
NGA2 Work with 100 New Genres Teacher: Clement Hanami
These are group assignments where students were asked to create works containing 100 of anything. We were discussing the ideas of amputation and extension that Marshall Mcluhan brought up in his seminal work The Media is the Message. Students were asked to imbue these ideas into this work.
newspaper man with 100 advertisements
100 sheets of paper, or is it?
meat with 100 packets of salt.
NGA the new genres class at lachsa did a few projects on the idea of extension and amputation. this came from reading some marshall mcluhan stuff. what he meant by extension was like a car was an extension of the foot. or the computer and extension of the pen. but for every extension, there is a loss or amputation. so with the computer, people started to write very poorly. or people did not like to walk and we stopped building walking place but more freeways. so student were asked to create a work of art that other had to interact with but also dealt with some of these ideas....
black and white was a project that had marlon, olivia and ann dress in black and white. unfortunately, only marlon came in black and white. so the others put signs on their clothes. "my pants are black." this actually seemed to help us understand their concept quicker. what would a world be like when extensions and amputations began to cancel things out? what would we be left with?
leaf people did a piece about the environment. ironically, they wrote there message directly on the leaves. what's worse? writing on paper or leaves? can we really have an impact on changing the world or does technology make it inevitable that this world will perish? is there anything that is "sustainable?" and safe for the environment?
trainspot was a fun piece that involved the real improvisation of the commuter experience. it captures how technology has an organic response and one that is unknown. the train becomes a very dynamic experience which exists in other cities but one missed by the many freeway people here in l.a.
lost was a piece that dealt with the way people post information of telephone poles looking for their dog or wanting too sell a piece of furniture. this piece parodied this to the next level spoofing the idea of what was "lost." it made you think about how we are very possessive and constantly worried about out own stuff...
finally, was hide and go seek. a playful childs game where students ran to hide and go seek. a surpirse for many, it brought back feelings of childhood. the reality was that things evolve and time moves on. we might understand this idea of extension and amputation. but do we really have the ability to make things better when the amputation is serious? or do we just adjust? there seems to be the need for some very serious change if we are to expect ourselve to exist in this world for any duration of time beyond this century. changes that will sustain our resources and not poison the things we need to exist.
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