MATERIAL/PROCESS OVERVIEW: DRY MARK-MAKING

a. Personal response to each material/process explored in class relating it to course readings.

I was really excited to explore some dry mark-making using utensils id never used before. We
started with the charcoal ebony pencils and I found this material to be a very nice way to begin
exploring. By holding it different ways I was able to get different products, as well as through
playing with pressure. It felt familiar, but also new in a way that I was able to make different
marks than with a normal pencil. Beal describes the ebony pencils in the article The Art of
Teaching Art to Children: In school and at home, as producing a “luxuriant velvety black” and I
was able to relate to this statement. Using this utensil was my favorite to play with because I
cot the opportunity to try smearing and smudging the drawings. This opened a new door to my
dry mark-making. We also tried an exercise that I found connected me to the materials even
more. By creating an image without looking at the paper, I was able to connect through the
mindset that it was just me and the pencil. Another experience that I had related to the same
Beal article that talked about tracking work. Beal says that you can track your students work by
keeping them in a folder at school and sending them home with specific pieces. I find this to
feel very similar to how my work is stored in the classroom and I haven’t looked back at them
until recently. This showed me the ways that my art has progressed throughout this course.

b. Images and captions that illustrate process and learning and document the material
explorations.

This picture is of me playing with different pressures of the ebony pencil. In this photo you can
see as I try to duplicate one shape (circle and triangle) many times in different ways.
This image shows me looking at my final product after trying the activity of not looking at the
paper while I draw the items in the middle of the table. This was really cool to look back at
afterwards because I had a totally different experience thinking it was just me and my pencil as
apposed to when I looked at my paper and saw that it didn’t look like the items in the middle.

This image shows my classmate Lindsey exploring many different colored pencils.
c. Two ideas for classroom explorations and curriculum integration.
- For the first integration, I thought about the texture printing that we tried. I would like to do
this same activity and have my students transfer different textures to use as a print. I am
imagining that the students can take these specific prints and cut out images of them to help
share a story. I would like this to be the students creating an informational text about an animal
they are interested in. With these different textures the students can create the distinct
patterns or textures seen in these animals. The NCAS that this could follow is Anchor Standard
#5. ” Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.” And the
CCSS.ELA.4.W.7 “Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of
different aspects of a topic.” This could be a fun way for students to explore the patterns in
their chosen animal.
- Another art integration could be the creation of heart maps to generate ideas for writing or to
identify their values and culture. This can be used for many future assignments such as get to
know you activities or building a writing community. This can be used with colored pencils to
spark creativity and allow for students to express their interests colorfully. The NCAS that this
lines up with is Anchor Standard #6. “Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic
work.” And the CCSS that this aligns with is CCSS.ELA.3.W.8 “Recall information from
experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.”