Friday, April 15, 2011

Arts Explorer # 10: Community Arts Project: Speak Against Racism

The Community Arts Project was a big undertaking, but was fun and very rewarding at the end. I remember feeling a bit nervous at the beginning, because I was unsure of what the task entailed. We discussed issues that we were passionate about. But we couldn't think of something that we were collectively passionate about. We then got into a discussion about stereotypes, and whether or not we have experienced something that made us feel like we were being discriminated against. I then shared my experience in high school that made me feel like I was being stereotypes based on my nationality. I was in volley ball practice in grade 11, and one of the girls in my team came up to me and asked me where I was from. i replied that I am from the Philippines, and that I am Filipino. She then replied "haha! you're Filipino? Is your mom a nanny?". This angered me so much, and I thought it was extremely unfair and ignorant for her to say such a statement. The Philippines' largest export is labour, and a lot of Filipinos who go abroad are nurses, nannies, teachers, or waiters etc. I am so proud of them for going out into the world to find a better paying job, and sending their money back to their loved ones in the Philippines. I never felt ashamed of this. My father is a business man, and my mother is a house wife. Just because the majority of Filipinos abroad have jobs that I discussed previously, it is nothing to be ashamed about. The mere fact that she grouped all female Filipinos as being nannies, I thought, was very ignorant of her. 
Our Logo

After sharing my story to my group mates, they started sharing some stories of their own. This idea of raising awareness about stereotypes and discrimination, and help that people who are discriminated against can get started to take form. It took us days to solidify our big idea, but our main goal was to have an outlet for people who are discriminated against to voice their experiences, stories, or thoughts about what they have gone through. A lot of what we did as a group was brainstorm ideas of how we can get our message across, what our objective was, and the stakeholders we can contact. Once we came up with a solid idea, our project took flight from there. 

What do you believe in? 
I believe that it is not fair to stereotype of discriminate someone based on the colour of their skin, or their nationality. Stereotypical thinking such as "Asians cannot drive" is not only offensive, but is unfair, and people should be educated that these statements have no room not only in the Ryerson campus, but around the world as well. I believe that racists are ignorant and irrational. I believe that those who are discriminated against should voice their experiences, not only to get support from their peers and organizations, but also to educate those who think racism is not longer a problem in our society. 

How will you use the arts to communicate your BIG idea? 
Firstly, we had two parts to our big idea. The first part was to create stickers with a quote from famous thinkers, and their thoughts or comments that has to do with racism. Underneath the quote, we had a statement "Like (whoever said the quote), you have a voice. Share your story here". Then we had a link to a website: www.speakagainstracism.org. We then added our slogan which we all collectively designed, but was executed by our group member Tara. We also had a smart phone bar code that people can scan, which directly links you to the website. 

The second part of our big idea is the website. We had a rough image of our website that we presented to the class. The website is meant to be an interactive community where people can share their thoughts, experiences, ideas, comments, or feelings about racism anonymously. Then people can comment and provide support to that person. We also added a list of organizations including Ryerson's Student's Against Racism (the stakeholder we contacted), UofT's Anti Racism Office, Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and the Broken-Chains International. We then listed the support these organizations can provide for them such as joining a campaign, or having one on one counselling with a professional online. 

One of our stickers

Who will you involve? 
The people we decided to target this project towards are Ryerson Students. We wanted to start small, and since Ryerson is a multicultural university, we thought it would be appropriate. We then thought that if we were to further this project, we would reach out to other university students such as U of T. We talked to members of Ryerson's Students Against Racism at the Student Union building to pitch our idea. They thought it would be a great way not only to promote the organization, but to provide help and support to those who have been discriminated against. We also talked to Printek which is a business that prints stickers, stationary, and other office supplies to make our stickers. Since they they thought we were doing something good for the community, they decided to print our stickers for free.

Links to the our Stakeholders' Websites:

Ryerson University: http://www.studentsagainstracism.ca/
U of T: http://www.antiracism.utoronto.ca/
Canadian Race Relations Foundation: http://www.crr.ca/
Broken Chains International: http://www.broken-chains.org/

How will you persuade the community to support your project?
Our stickers were the first step to persuading the community to support our project, and to go to the website. We placed the stickers in several urban areas to promote our website, and for them to reflect about the quote. We also talked to the RSU's Students Against Racism to get some feedback. They liked our idea, and since it's the youngest of the 5 equity groups on campus, (it just started last year 2010), they thought it would be a great way to promote their services. 

Examples of where we would place our stickers to communicate our project
In the RSU's Board
On a post in Victoria Street where's there a lot of student 'traffic'
On a public telephone 
On a computer in the library

How do you think your presentation went? 
I was extremely nervous about the presentation. My friend Allan suggested we use a software to present our project, which was very different from the linear power point presentation. It twisted and turned, and were were able to incorporate some words into pictures. I thought it was a very creative way of presenting our idea. My knees were shaking, and I was very jittery during the presentation.However, I was very proud of what we did. We were able to community our thought process with the the audience, and we were descriptive and precise about our objectives, our big idea, the stakeholders, and different components of the presentation. I was proud of what we were able to come up with, and I thought our big idea was actually feasible and realistic. 

What could you have done differently? List comments/suggestions/questions from the class feedback
After hearing some of the other groups' presentations, I couldn't help but compare it to ours. I thought they did such an amazing job, and their big idea was a lot 'BIGGER' than ours. One group even had an idea of going to Uganda to film a child friendly documentary about child soldiers. I think we could have reached a bigger audience, bigger than Ryerson University. I also wish that we had more time so that Broken Chains and Canadian Race Relations Foundation could have contacted us, and gave us feedback about our project. Moreover, I think we could have given a brief definition of the different types of racism, and what stereotyping means, and that it is a form of discrimination. I think that if we did this, then people would understand the project more. 

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we weren't able to get class or teacher feedback. However, I was able to ask my classmates after the presentation what they thought about out presentation. The feedback they gave was generally good. They liked the software we used to present the information, they thought it was cool and creative. Also, they like how organized the presentation was, and how we identified clear objectives, the stakeholders, and our big idea. I wish we could have gotten some constructive criticism though, so we know what we could have done better. 


This Community Arts Project forced us to open our minds, and unleash our creativity to promote something we are passionate about. Although the process was at times stressful, the end result was very rewarding!

Neesha, me, Elizabeth, Tara and Carmen holding up the stickers


This project can be translated into the Kindergarten classroom! Ask children what they are passionate, concerned, happy, or sad about. For example, the garbage lying around their school, or the pollution they have to inhale when they are outside. Allow them to think of creative ways to communicate their concern. Provide suggestions such as creating an art instalment and allow them to create works of art to symbolize their concerns. Display it out in the hallways, or allow parents to come in and look at their project. Maybe even post it on a blog or in the school website to reach a wider audience! Let your imagination run wild, but make sure it's developmentally appropriate for the children. 

Arts Explorer # 9: Guerilla Art

For this week's arts explorer, we were supposed to make guerilla art, also known as "street art". I found this task a little bit daunting at first because I am such a fan of this type of art and the artists that have influenced this type of art movement, such as Banksy. I watched a documentary about guerilla artists and street artists entitled Exit Through the Gift Shop. This documentary was very well made, and was truly inspiring. Banksy is a popular graffiti artists/ guerilla artists who spray paints political statements around the world, notably, in the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. He only agreed to participate in the documentary if his face was blacked out. There's a lot of footage of him creating his art, and he gives an interview to the filmmaker about his ultimate goal of engaging people to think about the world through his artwork. 





This is what I believed guerilla artwork to be. A profound political statement with the use of spray paint, which I didn't feel creative or aware enough to do. I further researched the purpose of making guerilla art, and read that there is no one purpose of making guerilla art, popular reasons include making a statement, sharing ideas, to send good karma, or just plain fun. This made me a bit less nervous, and so I thought about the different things I could use, and the purpose of my guerilla art. Since I have never spray painted in my life, graffiti art was out of the question. I then decided to use an object and writing to convey my message. I decided that I wanted to send good karma to people, and to make them laugh after a long day at work. This is what I came up with:


Free Hugs from Spider Man!



I remember that my brother won a spider man stuffed toy last year in Canada's Wonderland, and it would always be the topic of conversations whenever my friends would visit my house. They would carry it and hug it because it was so cuddly, yet very bizarre. It also frightened some friends when they would come over at night, and it would be in the corner of the dining room starting at them. I decided to use spider man to capture people's attention, and to offer them a friendly hug when they would pass by the park in front of my apartment building. I thought it would be a great way to cheer them up after a long day of work, and to put a smile on their faces. I also thought it would be fun to see their reactions, and to see if anyone would actually want to hug him. I was also inspired by the free hugs campaign on youtube, and I thought it sent such a beautiful message. In today's fast paced society, people rarely stop and notice something, or do something other than their daily routines. The free hugs campaign sent a simple message, which was to make other feel better, and was a random act of kindness. Although Spider Man can't hug back, I think hugging THE Spider Man would be just as rewarding (haha).

I ventured out into the park on a sunny Wednesday afternoon just as people were coming home from work. I brought Spidey with me, and just to feel less insecure, I brought my sister Danni as my assistant. This is how we placed him on the park bench: 

Pretty snazzy huh? It looked like he was just hanging out, trying to catch some rays. I loved how unassuming he looked! The gentleman on the right looked at us like we had issues, but laughed when he saw the sign on Spider Man. I wasn't able to capture it though because my sister and I were both laughing. We 'hid' behind a tree and tried to look as unassuming as possible by snapping pictures of each other, and of the park. We waited for about 20 minutes, which was no problem because it was a beautiful sunny day. There were about 3 different paths in the park, and people rarely took the path that Spider Man was sitting in. Then suddenly: 

My sister called my attention to a businessman walking down our path! I quickly took a shot of him, good thing he didn't notice us. I was so excited, and I held my breath for bit hoping he'd come up to Spidey. Then the most amazing thing happened. These pictures are pretty self explanatory: 





He noticed it! This gentleman was talking on his phone, and I could hear him laughing! He stopped in front of Spider Man for a while, snapped a picture, then sat down beside him and took a picture of himself! It happened so fast, and I was so excited to be there to capture someone's reaction! It was all too perfect, and it felt so rewarding to brighten someone's day with a simple act. This guerilla art activity was so much fun to do, and so rewarding at the end. It made me feel proud and excited that someone actually noticed him. This giant stuffed toy is so much more than a conversation piece, or a frightening image in the corner of the dining room. Now, it is so much more than that, it brightened someone's day, even for just a moment, which is what I intended for Spider Man to do!

The art word for this blog is complementary and asymmetrical. Asymmetrical is defined by Schirrmacher and Fox (2009) as a balance that is unusual and intriguing, a dark colour may balance lighter ones. Moreover, complementary colours are opposite each other in the colour wheel, and provide a dramatic visual contrast (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009). Since Spider Man is black and white, I wanted the FREE HUGS sign to stand out more, so I decided to use contrasting bright colours like highlighter yellow, outlined with red. This allowed for people to read the sign from far away.  

This activity can be translated into a Kindergarten classroom. Children can draw, paint, collage, mould, or construct an idea, a thought, a statement, or just something fun to place outside for people to see. My rigid misconception about guerilla art as something that had to be spray painted, and had to have a controversial political statement is totally defunct by reading more about the purpose of it, and the materials that can be used. Children can share their art outdoors to strangers, and this may brighten someone's day, and can be a very rewarding experience to them when it is noticed! 

References




Schirrmacher, R, & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.

http://guerilla-art.wikidot.com/what-is-guerilla-art

Monday, March 14, 2011

Arts Explorer # 8: Pretend Play & Magical Thinking

A child engaged in pretend play


Pretend play is an integral part of children's development. Children learn through experience, and by engaging in pretend play, they are able to act out certain events in their lives such as going to the doctor, playing house, building a fort, building a boat to sail away in, or taking care of a baby. By children representing certain events during pretend play, they gain a better understanding of their world, and this in turn supports intellectual development. While children are engaged in pretend play, they are acquiring a range of skills such as language and social skills, emotional regulation by learning how to work with others, and strengthening and developing their creativity and imagination amongst other things. According to Schirrmacher & Fox (2009), children express their creativity through play. Additionally, pretend play develops and strengthens a variety of specific mental abilities such as language, and their ability to reason about impossible or absurd situations(Berk., 1994, as cited in Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009). Moreover, children who enjoy pretend play or who are encouraged to engage in fantasy play score higher on tests of imagination and creativity ((Berk., 1994, as cited in Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009).




The inanimate object I chose to bring to life is the chandelier hanging on top of the dining table in my apartment. It took a while for me to decide which object to choose because I tend to see objects just as they are. Unless the actual object or thing shifts like clouds. It's easy to spot different images in clouds because they change shape. But I looked around the room, and the chandelier jumped out at me. Firstly, it's a beautiful glass chandelier from Venice, Italy. I love how the glass jots out and elegantly curves away from the base. It reminded me of an octopus in motion. When octopuses swim, their tentacles seem to gracefully curve. So from now on, this chandelier will be knows as Murano the Octopus. I chose the name Murano, which is the name of the glass used to make the chandelier. In an island called Murano off of Venice, the glass masters use a special technique that gives the glass it's unique qualities. 




A Murano glass master blowing glass


The Story of Murano The Magical Octopus

Murano the octopus lives off of the coast of Murano, an island in Venice. Murano spoke Italian, and he wasn't a typical octopus, he had more than 8 tentacles, he had 20! Not only that, but the longest of the tentacles had a bright blinding light coming out at the tips (6 to be exact). Murano was a magical octopus who granted other octopuses wishes. Octopuses from all over the ocean would come to Murano and beg him to grant them their wish. As he granted their wish, his 6 tentacles would light up with bright brilliant light. He was a kind old octopus, but he was very lonely because he never had a family of his own. He was abandoned by his parents and siblings because they  were afraid of him and his mystical qualities.He also felt like he was being taken advantage of by the other octopuses because all they wanted was for him to grant their wishes. Because Murano wanted to do good, he granted their wishes in hopes that they'll be his friend, but much to his dismay, this was never the case. All he wanted in the whole wide ocean was for someone to be his friend. 

One warm summery day, he saw something white in the distance, he swam towards the white thing, and as he got closer, he realized that it was a net from a fisherman's boat! The net surrounded him, and he and several other octopuses were being dragged up from the ocean! Because Murano was extremely strong and had lots of tentacles, he was able to swim further down deep into the ocean, and finally the net broke loose. Murano was frightened, and so were the other octopuses around him. He swam away from the area he was in in order to stay away from the fishermen. As he was swimming, he saw several octopuses getting lifted by the nets, and this terrified him! He swam further and further down in the depths of the ocean. He rested for a bit to gain some stenghth, and he thought long and hard about what he could do. This is the first time he's ever seen the nets, and it terrified him to death that all the ocopuses were being taken away! He he heard stories about his kind being eaten by humans before, but he never believed it, until now. Suddenly, Murano had an epiphany. He realized that he has never made a wish for himself because he wasn't sure whether or not it would work. So Murano wished with all his might and said "I wish for all the fishermen to go away and leave us octopuses alone! And for all the octopuses who were trapped in the nets to come home safely!". And with that, his 6 tentacles lighted up, and a flash of white light illuminated the depths of the ocean. 

Murano wasn't sure if his wish worked. He swam up as fast as he could, and with all his might. He saw a gathering of octopuses, and saw that the families were hugging their loved ones, and there were no nets in sight. An octopus named Rafael turned around and saw Murano. He swam up to Murano and asked "Did you wish for all the fishermen to go away? And for the octopuses who were trapped to return home safely?". Murano, being the humble octopus he is, shook his head and said "no". Rafael said "I don't believe you Murano! I saw bright light coming from the depths of the ocean! I knew you made a wish because right when the light stopped shining, all the nets disappeared and all the octopuses who were trapped came back!". Murano then admitted that he made a wish, and everyone was grateful for Morano's kindness. Everyone loved Murano, and understood him more. He was kind, selfless, and very giving. He made lots and lots of octopus friends, and he lived happily ever after.  



Reference 
Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young Children. Clifton  Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Arts Explorer # 7: Twist & Sketch

Grapes

A picture of a vineyard where grapes grow

The food item I chose for this week's arts explorer are grapes. I've always loved grapes, ever since i was a kid. Not only are they tasty, refreshing and juicy, but they also come in a convenient small round package! When my mom would pack my lunch during Kindergarten, she would add peeled green grapes as a snack because I didn't appreciate the skin, and I found the purple grapes too bitter. As I got older, I actually started liking purple grapes as well as the skin because it added another layer of sour taste, and chewy texture. Now that I am old enough to drink alcohol, I now appreciate grapes in the form of wine. It's interesting how something I've enjoyed eating when I was a kid, I now enjoy in a totally different way. As I've grown older, my taste in food has matured and developed, and now I've appreciated and acquired a taste for the sourness, the tannic and dry taste of wine, and I appreciate different textures. 

Different coloured grapes

Grapes come in many colours, shapes and sizes. They grow in vines and are usually harvested during the summer, although they can be harvested during the winter to make ice wine. Grapes usually grow in clusters. "Colour is based on the passage of light, comes from the sun and makes each of us respond with feeling" (Fox & Schirrmacher, 2009, p. 136). I was surprised when I read about the different colours of grapes, which include black, dark blue, yellow, crimson, green, orange, and pink. I always thought that grapes were either green on purple, which are the kind of grapes I usually see in groceries. The grapes used to make red wine are small in size, usually seeded, and the skin is left on the grapes because it adds colour, and much of the aroma and taste comes from the skin. Additionally, the grapes used to make wine contain 24% sugar, while grapes for eating contain 15% of sugar. You can choose to buy grapes with seeds, or seedless grapes, which are more convenient to eat. Grapes can be eaten as is, or when you go to the grocery store, you may find vinegar, red, white or ice wine, jam, juice, jelly, raisins etc which are all made out of grapes. The shapes of grapes can be round, oblong, long and thin, short and thick etc. 


This is a fun activity for children to do because it allows them to think about different forms of a category of food. For example, as I have drawn, grapes can come in a liquid drinkable form, or a solid eatable form. This allows children to think of conservation. Although the form or shape of a 'thing' changes, it is still the same 'thing'. Allow children to sketch the different categories of food, and to think about the different forms it comes in!
Sketches of Grapes in Different Forms

A sketch of grapes


A glass of red wine
Grape juice 


Reference 

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar Cengage Learning. 

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Arts Explorer # 6: "Mobile with Scissors"

Art is important in classrooms because it allows children to express their identities and understanding of their world in creative and meaningful ways. For this week's arts explorer, we had to come with an activity that allows children to communicate just that. I decided to come up with a mobile activity which is described in the textbook as a "three-dimenasional works of art consisting of separate parts joined together by thin connectors, usually wire or string"(Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 312). Moreover, a mobile is a hanging sculpture that moves and generally has pieces that are suspended and free to more about (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009). Children can bring artifacts and materials from home that communicates their culture or their identities, which in turn communicates their understanding of the world and themselves. 

Examples of mobiles

Activity: "Mobile with Scissors"
  • Materials: Ask children to bring something meaningful to them from their home that represents their culture, what they like, or what is meaningful to them. Additionally, tell them to ask their parents for help. This can be shells, pictures, leaves, cards, or feathers etc. 
    • Also, provide pieces of paper for them to draw on and cut out, and magazines for them to cut pictures from.Provide string for the children to hang the materials from. The support from which the materials can be hung from could be a coat hanger, a tree branch, chopsticks etc. Whatever is available
  • Construction: Once the children have collected the materials that they would like to hang on their mobiles, provide hole punchers for them to add holes. If they have shells or hard objects, you may want to use the string to tie around the object. 
    • Once they tie strings around their objects (the length doesn't really matter), they can then tie it on to their support. Make there is space between the objects so that you can see the individual objects. You may want to show them how it's done first so that they can observe how it's done, then you can provide support for each child later.
    • Depending on the kind of supports you have for the mobile, you may want to hang it on a clothing rack or on the ceiling with hooks. For a clothes hanger, it will be easy to hook it on, but for chopsticks or branches, you may want to add wire to wrap around the support then hang it. 
  • Discussion and closing activity: Once all the mobiles are finished, gather in a circle with each child's respective mobiles and have a group discussion about the objects they chose to hang up. Ask open ended questions as to why they picked those objects. 
    • Sample Questions: Why did you pick those objects? What do those objects say about you? Did you ask your parents for help? What did your parents help you pick? How do those objects make you feel? Are you happy with what you made?
    • Discuss with the class where they think they should hang the mobiles. 
    • Hang up the mobiles and admire them!

I remember doing a mobile activity in my first year placement, and it was a lot of fun. The children were very happy, proud and excited with what they made. It really made the children feel included in the classroom, and it created discussions about the materials they hung up that lasted for weeks. It created an inclusive atmosphere in the classroom because children hung up things that they valued, and meant something to them, and their objects were accepted and celebrated by everyone. 

Reference 
Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young Children. Clifton  Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Arts Explorer # 5: Watch an 'art film'

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 




The movie I chose to watch for this week's Arts Explorer is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This movie struck an emotional cord in me. First, let me give you a quick background about the movie without giving too much away. The movie begins with Joel Barish (Jim Carey) and Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) striking up a conversation on a train in Long Island. Although they appear to have completely opposite personalities (Joel seems apathetic and shy, while Clementine seems to be  lively and boisterous) they seem to be drawn to each other. What the audience doesn't know, and what is later revealed as the story unfolds is that both Joel and Clementine were actually lovers for two years prior to that fateful train ride. The reason why they seem like they're meeting each other for the first time is because Clementine decides to get rid of all her memories of Joel, and once Joel found out about this, he followed suit. As Joel gets his memory erased, he realizes that he still loves her, and tries to hide the memory of her deep into the depths of his memory. 
Not only is the plot complex and makes you think, but the movie is shot beautifully, and truly takes you on a journey into the mind and dreams of Joel (since the procedure of erasing memories is done while the person is asleep).  Schirrmacher and Fox (2009) described surrealism as the attempt to create a dreamlike world that is magical and more exciting and fantastical that reality. This includes dreams, the subconscious and images that may seem realistic or abstract. Since the movie isn't shot chronologically, it provides an interesting and surprising ending that ties the whole movie together, and provides an exciting twist. Also, because the majority of the movie revolves around Joel's dreams, the audience constantly questions the significance of some of the scenes, and what it means. By doing this, the director is able to add in freakish, bizarre, abstract, and distorted images such as warped faces, crumbling walls, and a sudden change of location, all of which provides an exciting, but scary experience. However, the intentions of these images isn't to just scare the audience, but it is significant in that it lets them know that they are entering his dreams, and in dreams, nothing is impossible. And I also admire movies that make you think, and isn't just feeding you with predictable plots and lines. This movie kept me on my toes the whole time. Every scene and line made me question its significance, and like a puzzle, I had to put the pieces together. 




This movie made me think about the possibility of actually being able to erase a certain memory, and I questioned myself whether or not I would ever do such a thing, and the answer is no. I think that despite how painful my past experiences were, that I wouldn't be the person I am today if I didn't have to go through them. These painful episodes are what makes you stronger, and makes you learn. I think that humans have the capacity to be resilient, and this depends on how they choose to deal with those experiences. If we don't face them and pretend like it never happened, then we're essentially pretending like it never happened, and it may manifest itself in more painful ways such as intense reactions to certain situations that remind us of those episodes. I think that we learn from our past relationships and experiences, and this is what allows us to grow and figure out what it is we want in our next one. 
I discussed this film with others who have watched it, and they were also very emotional throughout the film. They agreed that they would never want their memories taken away because they wouldn't be the person they are today. Also, they thought that it was beautifully made, and were scared in some scenes. 


Reference 
Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young Children. Clifton  Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Art's Explorer #4: Patterns on a Vintage Building in an Urban Neighbourhood

Patterns are present everywhere, so long as there is repetition in objects or events. Patterns also refers to treatment given to a surface, suggests flow, rhythm, movement or motion, as well as repetition and regularity (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009). These repetitions or regularity can be in the form of colors, shapes, lines, textures that move across a surface in a recurring sequence (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009). As I was walking along my neighbourhood, which is by the Rogers Centre, I was amazed at how many patterns I could spot. As I walk to school or to do daily errands, it never occurs to me to look around at the different architecture which consist of many patterns. It amazes me how everything is so precise. Every square or rectangle window in a building are all the same sizes, same length and width. Every grate on the ground create a pattern of vertical and horizontal lines of equal lengths. I walked further down to Spadina (China Town) to find more interesting patters other than what I see every time I leave my apartment. I've walked down Spadina countless times and have always found this vintage building to be so interesting. I passed it, and in an instant, patterns that I have never really noticed before popped out at me. I knew then that this old building had to be the subject for my blog on patterns.

The vintage building on Spadina. From this angle, the windows look evenly and equally spaced out

According toSchirrmacher and Fox (2009), patterns have their own identity and can be regular or irregular, symmetrical or asymmetrical. In a closeup shot of the windows, you can see that the actual roof itself has some decorative treatment. Diamond shapes are seen and create a pattern across the roof, as well as horizontal lines both on top and on the bottom balances the roof out. The roof has many cracks and is damaged in some places, which further gives it a unique identity and pattern. Moreover, the mouldings on the windows are all the same. The moulding creates a frame for the window, and shows regularity by all the windows having the same moulding. 

A closeup shot of the windows
I believe this picture is a good representation and example of patterns. The repetition of the colours, the position of the windows, the treatment and shapes on the roof, and the mouldings on the window are all elements which make this rooftop a good example for patterns. This activity was a lot of fun and can be easily translated to an activity for children. This will teach children to be observant about nature, and the different architecture. Taking children on a walk where they can spot patterns will be fun, interesting, and educational. Teaching children about patterns, will not only help improve their artwork, but will also help enrich their math and reading skills(Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009). 

Reference 
Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar Cengage Learning.