Unit 2: Relationships
Artist: Mary Cassatt
Portraiture: Printmaking
Artist: Rene Magritte
Surreal Journey Postcards: Collage
Artist: Do Ho Suh
Pop-Up Homes and Habitats: Mixed Media
Unit 2: Relationships Reflection
Throughout our unit 2 lessons, we focused on the importance of relationships. In unit 1 we explored the idea of identity and its role in defining a person, but in unit 2 we go on to learn how relationships take us from being an individual to making us a connected group of humans. It does this through empathy. As Pink (2006) explains, empathy is, “an ethic for living. It’s a means of understanding other human beings” (p. 165). With the studios that we had in this unit, you can see that our identities, such as “Abby, the girl who has a beagle”, turned into a relationship such as, “Abby, the girl who loves her dog.” Or the identity of a house that “has a brick mailbox”, turns into the relationship of “the connection that this mailbox has to a family that lives there.” The postcard studio explores the idea that objects that seem like they have no relationship at all can develop some sort of hidden relationship. All of these studios take facts and turn them into emotions. Like Pink (2006) mentions, “when facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact” (p. 103).
I would love to integrate all of these studios into my classroom, but my favorite would be the first studio. I would like this because my students would be able to pick any person, place, or thing that they have a relationship with. They would then be allowed to show this relationship in whatever way they felt fit. Whereas, I feel like the other two studios limit them more on the type of relationship they can use. The second studio would be a great way to integrate a writing unit with art. The third studio limits the students to a relationship with a place, such as their house. But I think it is a good thing to teach students that relationships aren’t always between humans, they can be between objects and places as well.
References
Pink, D.H. (2006). A Whole new mind. New York, NY: Penguin Group Inc.
I would love to integrate all of these studios into my classroom, but my favorite would be the first studio. I would like this because my students would be able to pick any person, place, or thing that they have a relationship with. They would then be allowed to show this relationship in whatever way they felt fit. Whereas, I feel like the other two studios limit them more on the type of relationship they can use. The second studio would be a great way to integrate a writing unit with art. The third studio limits the students to a relationship with a place, such as their house. But I think it is a good thing to teach students that relationships aren’t always between humans, they can be between objects and places as well.
References
Pink, D.H. (2006). A Whole new mind. New York, NY: Penguin Group Inc.