From a Pile of Burnt Trash to Art
First, I must provide context about how the art project came about. Earlier this year I went to Cuba to visit and give out donations to a couple of villages. While helping and observing a member of our travel group and a church leader separate and organize donated items, I expressed that I wished I had thought about bringing art supplies for the children. At that time the group member told me that someone gave a small amount of charcoal pencils. Then the thought came to me to ask if I would be able to teach an art class to the children during our stay. Everyone thought that it was a great idea and agreed to give me a time slot towards the end of our stay to conduct the class. Until then, I pondered on what I was going to teach the children. As an art educator who embodies Art for Life philosophies I knew that I wanted to teach the children a lesson that incorporated a sense of place and/or sense of self (Anderson & Milbrandt, 2005) since the surroundings were beautiful and full of character.
For a couple of days, a group of us took a morning walk around the village. On our walk, I noticed several burn piles which triggered many thoughts that included: what happens when all the charcoal pencils are used up in my art lesson? I did not want this art lesson to be something that leaves with me or makes these children reliant on others to provide materials. I wanted to share with the children that I grew up without many resources and that I made art with what was available to me and what I could afford. With that being said, I am an artist that embraces unconventional uses of material, or at the least materials that did not come from an art store. As an art educator, I want to teach students that art can be made using anything.
In the case of the children of Ceballos, I thought about how they could use the burnt wood sitting on the corner of the block to make art. I thought about having a three-part art project: the first part would be a demonstration on how to crush up burnt wood to make powdered charcoal using a mortar and pestle or two hard surfaces and then have kids grind up their own powder. The second part would involve a demonstration on how to cover a sheet of paper with the powdered charcoal and how to use an erasing material to remove the powder to create drawings. The third part would encompass encouraging the children to think about sense of place/environment and or sense of self in order to make meaning through art rather than just making art for its own sake, as previous art education theories embody. With a plan in mind, I was ready to get everything in order, and as Beverly Levett Gerber’s article suggested, I prepared to trouble-shoot the art lesson.
To prepare to trouble-shoot the lesson, I collected the necessary materials: some burnt materials from a burn pile around the corner, a mortar and pestle, papers, and erasers. I crushed up the burnt wood into a fine powder, and then proceeded to test everything and created a demo drawing. Everything worked out fine, and I was ready to teach. As the children gathered around a long table that I set up for them, I could tell that they were all eager to start. Once every child was seated, I began by activating their prior knowledge by asking them “what materials can one use to create art?” Many responded pencils, acrylic paint and oil paint. I then asked them how one could use the burn wood found around the corner to create art? Almost all of them gave me baffled facial expression. I then pulled out the mortar and pestle and demonstrated how to crush up the burnt wood. Every child’s eyes were on the demonstration. Afterwards, I then allowed the child to pass around the mortar so they could see the powder and crush up some more powder if they wanted to. Once everyone saw the powder, I then pulled out a stack of paper and passed out one to each child. I then gave each child a small pile of charcoal powder and then said that this was the fun and dirty part. I proceeded to rub the powder all over the paper until the sheet was relatively dark, and all of the children followed suit. During this process, there was an abundance of laughing going around the table including my own. Once they were done, I then pulled out an eraser and demonstrated how the eraser removes the powder from the paper; returning it to the original bright color. At this time, I pulled out the drawing that I started earlier while trouble shooting the art lesson. All of the children were amazed by how a pile of burnt wood could be used to make what I showed them. I demonstrated that they should use the eraser to bring out the highlights of their subject matter/what they are drawing and to allow the powder to serve as the shadows and mid tones. At this time, I encouraged the children to look around and think about their surrounding and how they felt being in their present environment. I then encouraged them to render what they found beautiful or what captured their gaze. I also encouraged the children to keep the mind set of observing their surroundings and exploring how one’s surroundings impact one’s emotions.
While going around from child to child, encouraging and assisting them on technique, I noticed one child was crying. I softly encouraged the child to tell me what was wrong. It turned out that she was crying out of frustration because she was having difficulty using the technique and was having a difficult time rendering a flower. I then pull up a chair right next to her and comforted her, ensuring her that one does not become great in fifteen minutes. I told her that every great artist practiced and practiced until they improved and then they practiced some more. Noticing that she was rushing through her drawing, I encouraged her to take her time and to render one basic shape at a time. Pointing at one petal of the flower she was drawing, I asked her to slowly render the basic shape of that one petal. After she was done, I applauded her for doing such a great job and told her that the petal looked great. I then encouraged her to slowly draw the rest of the flower one petal and basic shape at a time. I informed her that in most cases, drawings do not look great until one sees them as a whole and then one makes corrections and adds more detail if necessary. After she was done, I shared information about how highlights and shadows work. Afterwards, she expressed how proud she felt to have rendered a flower using the method that I was teaching. In fact, all the children were proud and enthusiastic to show every adult what they made using burnt wood. The children were not the only one’s proud of the success of this art project; I was too. This was my first time teaching an art class entirely in Spanish. I asked the children if my Spanish was understandable. They all told me that it was, and they all thanked me for the art lesson. I use this invaluable learning and teaching experience from Cuba to better facilitate in-depth art projects that incorporate Art for Life teachings in multiple learning and cultural settings.