Learning to Look: Unconventional Materials

​This was the third and final in the Learning to Look kids series.  In this session, I wanted to engage with material and materiality.  The learning objectives were to get the kids thinking about the role of material in the way art conveys its message and to further reinforce the concepts of formal analysis by introducing sculpture since previously they had been analyzing two dimensional objects. When confronted with non-painting objects, the kids were confused about how to apply their formal analysis skills. However, with a little coaxing, I got one or two of the older ones to get on board with the process.
My main take away from this session is not to use Will to Power in future iterations of this session.  While it is arguably the best, clearest example of Art Informel, it provoked too many giggles.  Additionally, the second set of images was too abstract for the younger kids and a lot of them seemed to tune out.  The craft was successful and affirmed that kids love collage.  This one seemed especially fun because we broke out the feathers, pom-poms, and craft sticks, so there was more than just colored paper and discarded books to play around with.