Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Reflecting after your essay on art

After doing the activity, I would like you to answer to this questions. You may do it using a Voki, it will look great!

1- What have I learn with this activity? Which new things can I do now?
2- Am I satisfied with my work?
3- Was the activity difficult? Was it entertaining? Was it useful?

Reflecting after completing a task is really helpful. Looking at the final product and the process which lead you to it, you can identify what you learn and how, in order to apply the same methods in the future, and to feel proud about your new knowledge and capacities!

And here we have some reflections:

Jessica's:
1-I learned new vocabulary about the interpretation of art, textures and this kind of things. Now I can express what I see or the texture of an object more easily.
2- I'm satisfied so I hope I'll pass the exam!!
3-It has been very difficult but quite useful.

Laura's:
1- With this activity I learned a little about one painting. Now I can describe a painting. 
2-Yes, because I like art and now I can do a new thing with the art.
3-Only finding a little information was difficult. I didn't have a lot of fun but I think that it is very useful.

And Otman's:
1- With this new way of working you learn to work with your computer in a cleaner way, without contaminating. I really enjoyed it.
2- Yes,very satisfied because whit this new way I can see the work I do and more people can see it, too.
3- No, the activity was very easy and useful.- maybe it's not easy at the beginning, but it is once you start writing. It is also entertaining, and I like this way of working.

So we may conclude that this new way of working is useful and a good idea. We learn how to work in a different way, how to find information, interpret it and then share our conclussions with the rest, using new technologies. I'm really happy you enjoyed this activity, at least a bit, and that you took some profit of it!! THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR WONDERFUL WORK!!

First essays on art

We are already getting the first essays, they are great!

You can visit Jessica's portfolio here. This is her description of an sculpture:


"Maman"
This is a sculpture by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture is made of metal. It isn't abstract art, we can see perfectly that it is a spider. It hasn't a defined colour, but the family of dark colours is used. The sculpture is very curved and probably with a smooth surface. In conclusion it is a three-dimensional sculpture with a very scary form. I've searched in Google and Maman is more than 9 meters high, it has been exposed in many museums of the world.


Here we have Laura's blog and essay:


The Lower Falls Of The Labrofoss was painted by Johan Christian Dahl in 1827. In it yo can see a very beautiful landscape with a waterfall. This painting is realistic.
In the painting you can see the waterfall and a little part of the forest. This painting is very simple, the shapes are common and are very realistic. The colours are a little bit dull, but it looks like a day of storm or a sad landscape. You can see easily that the focus of the painting is the waterfall, because it is more colourful. 
In this painting, I think the painter maybe was sad, so he painted with dull colours. Maybe it was a stormy day. In my opinion, this painting shows a relaxing and a beautiful landscape.

This is Otman's blog and essay:


A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel was painted by Judith Leyster in 1635. It shows a girl and a boy with a cat on his hands. The painting is very beautiful because it represents two happy children. Tthis painting is a realistic piece.
The boy is wearing a black hat and a black dress, and the girl is wearing a white hat with a black skirt. The cat is grey and black. The foreground is brown. The boy and the girl are very beautiful  because they have little eyes and white skin.
In my opinion this artist was trying to express the very happy life of the children when they have a pet. I think the piece is realistic and truthful because children are happy and innocent.  

Here we have Belal's e-portfolio and description of a painting:


The House of Art was painted by an artist in the National Gallery of art in 1831. It shows a room with an extraordinary number of pieces of art. This pieces represent all the family ancestors that have lived in this house. There are eight people and one sculpture.
It looks as if the artist is happy because he painted their bodies and faces. The thin a big pieces of art seem to show that his family is bleeding. The colour of the house is yellow, and the pieces of art have got the different colours of the world. There is a big yellow door and a wide variety of windows. The sculpture is big and withe, and it represents the body of a boy.
In The House of Art the painter portrayed the life of the different people who had lived in this house.

Anabel's description of a beautiful and sad painting:


"Ophelia"
The picture was painted by John Everett Millais (1829-1896).
This is a very realistic image because you can see perfectly what is it. It shows a dead woman on the water with some flowers in her hand.
It's not very colourful but it has different shades of green and brown and some colours for the flowers.
The women's face is very shiny and luminous.

This is Marga's essay on a painting:


Inland in Australia was painted by Sidney Noland in Australia, in 1948.
These paint is realistic, you can see a landscape and a dry climate. And it's three-dimensional, because you can see little mountains.
It's a traditional town in Australia, and the paint has cheerful colours painted with watercolours. It has mainly straight shapes to design the blue and cheerful sky and sad colours for he mountains and the sand on the floor.
I think Noland wants to express that in Australia there are many land empty and poor. He wants to transmit that we have to change that. The sky is important too, because it reflects that behind the sad things there are always are good things.
In my opinion, these paint is a beautiful way of making people think about the bad and good things.

Really interesting! Well done, my dear students!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Why an e-portfolio?

An e-portfolio is a great way to show the world the abilities you have. Sometimes it seems that the English you learn stays in class, but this is not true. If you open a blog for the English class, you can share your opinion about your favourite film or book, upload a video with a play performed in class or a poster created with Glogster about any topic you've been working on... and show off!!! We can create wikis about interesting topics and share your knowledge with the world... There are so many possibilities!!!

Working with new technologies opens a wide range of resources to you, which I'm sure will make you enjoy the process of learning a lot more. Then... why not? Let's expecience!!!

A work of art

In order to show the world how well you can describe art, I would like you to upload to your blog a description of an sculpture or a painting. You may visit the webpages of some of the best museums in London, choose the one you like the best and share your essay with the world.

In Tate Modern, for example, you can find a map of the museum and visit the different galleries virtually. You can also find podcasts with wonderful descriptions- great for practising your listening skills while discovering more about art! - and indeep information about some artists and their work, which will be really heplful for your essay. This website is definitely great!



If you prefer more traditional art, you can also visit The National Gallery. This website is also huge, and offers virtual tours and a "learn about art" section.




So... it's time to start your adventure! Don't forget to include a picture of the piece of art chosen!