Re Thinking the Sketchbook

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Re Thinking the Sketchbook

• Mrs. Amy McCabe
• Batesville High School
• Batesville, IN

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Homework?!?! I thought this was art class!
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The WHY - version 1

• Skill development
• Add to portfolio
• Validation of program

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Results The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

• Not-quite portfolio quality
• Lackluster job
• Incomplete
• Not done at all

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The WHY - version 2

• Expand visual vocabulary and experience
• Develop observational skills
• Get your own thoughts down visually
• Mentally mature practice for adulthood to be
  self-directed and self-governed

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Enter the Sketchbook

• Most artists keep sketchbooks in which they
  experiment with ideas and collect drawings of
  their environment.
• Sketchbooks are like visual diaries for artists.
• Artists often use them for planning and
  developing their work.

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• Picasso produced 178 sketchbooks in his life
  time. He often used his sketchbooks to explore
  themes and make compositional studies until he
  found the right idea and subject for a larger
  painting on canvas.
• Henry Moore, the British sculptor, filled one of
  his sketchbooks with drawings of sheep that often
  wandered by the window outside his studio.

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• The most famous artist sketchbooks are those of
  Leonardo da Vinci. His sketchbooks are filled
  with drawings, diagrams and written notes of
  things he saw and ideas he came up with.

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WHY?

• THEY WERE OBSERVERS!!!

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cnn.com Art classes teach docs-in-training new
ways to see

• http//www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/03/02/arts.and.medi
  cine.ap/index.html

Lessons on drawing and poetry aren't typical
requirements for medical students. But a doctor
who teaches at the University of Nebraska Medical
Center thinks they may help young physicians pay
more attention to the little details. "Observatio
n is a skill," said Dr. Bill Lydiatt, a
specialist in head and neck cancers. "The key
here is to learn how to observe."
"The art of drawing pulls a lot of things out,"
said Suzanna Tucker, a third-year medical
student. "It helps to bring out the detail that
you may not normally pay attention to."
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2 approaches

• Intro students directed weekly assignment
• In-depth study of a single object
• Same subject matter each week, different method,
  media, technique, viewpoint, concept

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• Observational skills development
• Dissect a whole into components
• Reinforce class assignment concepts
• Improve drawing skills via repetition (ie. piano
  practice)

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• Assessment weekly grade following rubric
  criteria

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• Exam synthesize new from component parts
• Responsibility/reward if they keep at it,
  theyll have an easy exam grade!!

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2nd year students Directed sketch journal

• Required daily drawing - provided long list of
  ideas from which to pick and choose
• Assessment - Rubric based on completion and
  quality of finished product

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The WHY - version 3

• Think like an artist, Act like an artist

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My expectations

• Use it consistently
• Experimentation resulting in improvement
• Include masterworks/exemplars
• Help prepare for class concepts ease in, think,
  plan, soak. Go through the artistic process
  and the ideas will get better

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How they use it is theirs to decide

• Daily bellringers
• Keep track of artists discussed in class
• Jot down ideas - help remember things
• Catharsis effect - get it out of your head
• Place for private expression journal
• Problem-solving space

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Actual Quotes

• I always carry the little book I can whip it
  out
• Doesnt feel like homework
• Not as rigid not one each night you actually
  want to do it
• Handy scrap paper beats a napkin and you
  dont accidentally throw it away.
• I can experiment with compositions, colors,
  styles
• Expanding on your ideas go back keep adding
  let it fester. Gets you more creative.

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The Results

• Student ownership!!!
• More meaningful
• More homework AND better quality
• Better conceptual understanding
• Class work more developed and thoughtful