Today I introduced the residents to a much less-conventional medium for creative expression. A couple months ago when I was first deciding on which media I would use int he group I was both hesitant and excited by one idea that I came across in my research- to use Playdoh. At first I was cautious, hoping the residents wouldn't feel belittled or that I was underestimating their functionality in handing out cups of Playdoh for them to play around with. Most of them were very curious as to how creating art with Playdoh would benefit them- or how it would even work in the first place. Nonetheless, they seemed anxious to find out how it could.
Each person chose a color and was directed to knead the brand new lump of clay just to get familiar with it. I was ecstatic to see most of their faces light up- commenting on how nice it felt and smelled and how bright the colors were. I asked them first what they might like to create with the Playdoh. One resident (who happened to be holding brown Playdoh) suggested a tree. I was skeptical, but that's what we started with. I was pleasantly surprised to look around the table and see that each person's tree was nothing like any other tree on the table. One looked like a pine tree- the woman used her fingernails to create texture on the cone-shaped pine tree she had created.
Next, I directed them to mush up their trees, and mold their favorite animal. "No!" One woman whimpered- evidence of her product-based mentality. This reusable clay facilitated a perfect opportunity for emphasizing the process of creating art, and I'm confident that today many of them may have begun to understand the process-centered goal of our art group.
Throughout the hour, we created our favorite animals, or favorite holidays, our favorite food, and a famous landmark. The landmark exercise was particularly interesting, most likely because of my choice of words when introducing it. "Create a famous monument," I said. Naturally, about sixty-percent of the group members ended up with a perfect replica of a Washington Monument in front of them- and I quickly realized that it was my word choice that had directed them to do this. An important lesson for the day: word choice is very important when introducing activities to the group. On a related note, I like to use "group" instead of "class" when referring to it.
For the final exercise of the day, I asked the residents to collaborate with a partner and to use their two colors to create something that the rest of the group might be able to guess. Two residents who had yellow and red Playdoh made a pizza, two others made a flower basket, and a group of three made a family of snakes. The three snake people were laughing hysterically at their creation- contributing to the positive group dynamics, and making the rest of the group laugh along with them.
Each person chose a color and was directed to knead the brand new lump of clay just to get familiar with it. I was ecstatic to see most of their faces light up- commenting on how nice it felt and smelled and how bright the colors were. I asked them first what they might like to create with the Playdoh. One resident (who happened to be holding brown Playdoh) suggested a tree. I was skeptical, but that's what we started with. I was pleasantly surprised to look around the table and see that each person's tree was nothing like any other tree on the table. One looked like a pine tree- the woman used her fingernails to create texture on the cone-shaped pine tree she had created.
Next, I directed them to mush up their trees, and mold their favorite animal. "No!" One woman whimpered- evidence of her product-based mentality. This reusable clay facilitated a perfect opportunity for emphasizing the process of creating art, and I'm confident that today many of them may have begun to understand the process-centered goal of our art group.
Throughout the hour, we created our favorite animals, or favorite holidays, our favorite food, and a famous landmark. The landmark exercise was particularly interesting, most likely because of my choice of words when introducing it. "Create a famous monument," I said. Naturally, about sixty-percent of the group members ended up with a perfect replica of a Washington Monument in front of them- and I quickly realized that it was my word choice that had directed them to do this. An important lesson for the day: word choice is very important when introducing activities to the group. On a related note, I like to use "group" instead of "class" when referring to it.
For the final exercise of the day, I asked the residents to collaborate with a partner and to use their two colors to create something that the rest of the group might be able to guess. Two residents who had yellow and red Playdoh made a pizza, two others made a flower basket, and a group of three made a family of snakes. The three snake people were laughing hysterically at their creation- contributing to the positive group dynamics, and making the rest of the group laugh along with them.
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