Beautiful Birdhouse

This was one of the best projects yet! It turned out so much better than I thought it would! I was able to use the wood working machine (with much assistance from my father of course) to cut the walls and roof into equal pieces. Next, my dad and I put an intricate sun design on the front door because my dad can be just as detailed as I can, and we wanted to make our bird house feel like a home! After that we nailed the walls together and attached the roof at the end. It took us a few hours to do, but it was a really fun project and the first I attempted with someone else. This was a special project because I got to find a hobby I share with my dad. My dad and I have never really had much in common but I always knew he had a pasison for  building and art projects so its nice to be a part of that side of his life and find a new connection. I feel that art does that, brings people together and connects them even under the most unlikely of circumstances.

                                                           Vanessa Kiedrowski (2017)


Some of the limitations with this project was my lack of prior knowledge using wood working tools such as a saw, hammer, and nails. It is one thing to experiment with painting and having zero experience but it can be dangerous and nerve racking to use machinery that was new. Another challenging part was working with a partner in general. As much as I loved the experience with my dad it could be challenging to compromise on the vision we had for the house. We would often disagree on what we wanted to include as his skills made him want to have much more detail than I was able to produce at this time. However, the pros outweighed the cons and I formed a new bond over an art project. Overall I am excited about this project because I feel that I am giving back to the environment that has given so much to me, I will hang this bird house with the bird house village my dad has created in the back yard and I am excited to see what new visitors I will have :)

How can I help?

Hello everyone! I have been thinking a l about what I would like to do for my last piece of art and I feel I want to do something completely different than the last two pieces I've done. I have always known that the environment is crucial to our survival on Earth. The environment and what it provides is at the root of everything that humans have needed and produced on this planet. I feel that I was taking from nature for my own exploitation for the last two pieces so I thought, why not contribute to nature in a meaningful way with art? There were a variety of ideas I brainstormed but I felt the most realistic option was to build a bird feeder or a bird house. This way I can make an interesting art piece which also contributes to my local ecosystems. 

Here are some websites I checked out for different ideas:

32 Bird Feeder Crafts:

http://happyhooligans.ca/32-homemade-bird-feeders/

Building the $2 Bird House:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-the-2-Birdhouse/

I've decided that the project I am most interested in will be a bird house because I can contribute more creativity to it and birds can always find food, but sometimes its hard to find a place to stay for the night! For materials I am going to need wood, wood working tools, and paint to decorate it! This will likely be a challenging project because I do not know how to use wood working tools and I am bad with precise measurements. So to avoid losing a finger to this project, I'm going to work on this project with my dad! He has had lots of experience building things, plus art is always more fun when you do with other people :) This is the kind of bird house I am looking at doing:

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=110820&picture=-bird-house

It is simple but takes a lot of concentration and skill (plus I'm going to add lots of colour to it!) so I am looking forward to how it turns out. Stay tuned for how it goes :)

Night Sky

Another project has been finished! This one has surprised me the most of all with how successful it was. In my last post I discussed how I have always been fascinated by the Northern Lights and wanted to see if I could paint a picture that represented such a beautiful phenomenon. This picture looks a lot different then the one I originally planned to make but I  feel it is much more unique than the other one.

Vanessa Kiedrowski (2017)

I have zero painting experience so I am so proud of the result of this painting. Part of my fascination with nature is the night sky, I think it is the most beautiful and calming thing to look at. The night sky is still and endless and when I look at it I am able to stay present in my own life. This project took me 2 hours to complete because the sky took so many different layers. First I painted the entire page dark blue then used a sponge with pink, white, light blue, and grey to add the star dust and constellations. After those had dried I used a used tooth brush and flicked white paint on to get the stars and then I mixed colours to create the greenish turquoise of the Northern Lights. Finally, I painted the bottom black and painted the forest. I followed a step by step design by the Art Sherpa who I had never heard of previously but will definitely continue to use her classes because they were detailed and easy to follow. Here is the link if you want to give this painting a try too: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yF5NpDdI4Q

Some of the challenges I faced included the fact that I did not have some of the proper painting supplies that this project required. For example, I had to mix colours to paint the Northern colours and it did not turn out as bright as the Art Sherpa's because she had turquoise paint. However, many of the materials were able to manipulate (i.e. switching a painting sponge for a dish sponge to create the same effect). I am realizing how much I enjoy painting because it helps me stay present as I mentioned earlier. I find it so difficult not to get caught up in what I should be doing or what I have to do later that I just worry my lfie away. Focusing on one project helps me stay here and focus my attention and the result was amazing! Can't wait to share my next ideas with you guys!

Northern Lights

My next genius hour project has been decided and I am so excited to share it with all of you! As I stated in my last post, I really wanted to focus more on an art based project this time (i.e. painting, drawing, colouring) rather than transforming nature into some kind of art piece. One of the things I have loved most about nature over the years are the different colours and how bold they can be. That is why the Northern Lights are on my bucket list of natural wonders of the world I want to see! I have only ever seen them through videos and pictures but I have always been fascinated by how they are created and how unique they are. So (as you probably have guessed by now) my next art piece will be a recreation of the Northern Lights! I have gotten my inspiration from a pintrest page in which someone has created a beautiful recreation:

I have to consider the different materials I will need but I believe all I will need is black construction paper and water colour paint. I think it is important to practice creating nature-art combos that require simple materials because it is keeps the creativity high and the stress and frustration low! I think there will be frustrations along the way because I have never had any classes in painting and there are no instructions attached to this art piece, so it will be all trial and error for me! A question I have close to my heart is how can I recreate this art piece while also giving it some of my own flair and ideas? I try to ask myself this question every time I create these art pieces because I usually get my initial ideas from other people but I want them to incorporate some of my own ideas as well. I will keep you posted on the progress!

Forest Fairies

My first genius hour project is completed and I am so happy with it!

After getting the supplies from the woods and compost bins I began the process of assembling the fairies dresses. This was so much fun and I'm honestly wondering if I should change my major to fashion design?? Just kidding! But the dresses turned out lovely! For the summer fairy I layered the leaves with small flowers sprouting out and used a rose petal as the top half. I used grass and leaves for the rest of her dress! For the winter fairy I used a lot of dead leaves, weeds, and tree bark to make her dress and the platform she was standing on. There were a few struggles along the way though! The hardest part was figuring out a way to represent them and what colours to use in the background. How they are placed on the paper is probably the most important part of the picture because it is when nature and art really merge! Originally I was going to have them be in the same frame to contrast each other, but I felt I could not properly highlight their colours in this way. I had to ask many opinions and look at many pieces online with contrasting colours ad ultimately I decided to have them side by side because I felt it really that the differences complimented each other and helped them both to stand out more. This was the best decision because like winter and summer, both contrast each other drastically but both are beautiful and unique in their own way. Hopefully the next one will take a little less time, this one took me over 5 hours to put together!! I would love to implement an activity like this in my future classroom. Firstly, it was easy to find all the materials and the only money I spent on this project was five dollars for a small water colour set that can be used again and again. Students can be creative with their designs and they can create any kind of background to have their fairies stand in! I loved this activity because it gives students the opportunity to transform nature (especially disregarded pieces such as dead leaves, grass, and bark) into something new and beautiful! For my next piece I am looking at a way to represent nature without actually using pieces from nature. I will be looking at photography, painting, and drawing for my next piece because I like to contrast the styles I am using. Stay tuned!! Vanessa

First Day in the Woods

Today I made my first trip into the woods to get supplies for my art project. I had decided on the design that I posted last week but I decided on a few changes. In their design they design individual characters and the children decorate them. I feel that that alone was not enough to represent the beauty of nature and what I wanted to capture with this piece. I decided to create two or three nature fairies with natural materials (i.e. sticks, leaves, bark, etc.) while also creating a background for them using water colours and other natural materials.

I went to short hills today to look for supplies for my first drawing. I was hoping that for this piece I would have one fairy with cool colours that represented winter and one fairy that represented spring with warm colours. One problem I seem to be running into however is that there is not a huge variety in colour in the forest right now due to the subzero temperatures. For this first piece however I would like to use natural materials and I can use more colour in the background to compliment the cool colours of the fairies.

                                                          Vanessa Kiedrowski (2017)

I am thinking that most of the materials that I would find in nature at this point would be the colours of browns, greys, and possibly greens at this point. After this piece is completed I will likely create a piece that is some kind of representation of nature rather than directly taken from nature. Until next time friends!

Ideas!

Hello friends, today I have exciting news. I am going to be embarking on my very own Genius Hour project! I thought long and hard about what I might want to do and it just came to me one day when I was sitting outside. I've decided to explore how I can create meaningful art pieces that represent the beauty of nature. I have always been an avid outdoors-woman as I have been hiking, swimming, camping and basically spending every available minute outside when I can. I have always been able to appreciate the beauty of nature because of my parents who showed me the vast possibilities and beauty in nature. Recently, I took a 6 week art course that went towards my art education degree and I found a new passion at the age of 22. I never pursued art because I felt I wasn't able to draw or paint well (I know, a bit of a fixed mindset right?) but I truly enjoyed my experiences in this course. I had freedom to explore like I had never had in other courses and my creativity just kept pouring onto the pages. I chose to combine these two things because both make me feel peaceful and happy. I have always struggled with anxiety and working on art projects with the focus of nature will help me practice mindfulness and calmness.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-pile-of-stones-158607/

For the first step of my project, I am looking into ideas that I might be able to explore for my first art piece. I am looking to create art pieces that both incorporate natural resources (without disrupting ecosystems or taking plants that are still alive) and art supplies. Below I have included a link to an art piece I will likely undertake for my first project. I like this project because the fairies clothes are made of nature which really showcases its beauty and makes the star of the project. I will likely use a canvas to create a few fairies in a natural setting using all the natural resources I can find.

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/mermag-4650665/make-decorate-your-own-nature-paper-dolls-4519618541


My experiences with art have been minimal so far so I anticipate this will be frustrating for me at times. However, I am looking forward to the process just as much as the end result, wish me luck!

Vanessa

Copyright- Did you make it or take it?

I have never been the most digitally literate person and for the longest time I didn't realize that posting other people's photos, videos, or other forms of media was illegal! I always knew that I had to cite authors of books and articles I had chose to use as a support in my papers but using anything that isn't yours to enhance your own work is stealing!! I would say the most useful tip I took away from this is always cite everything. Even if you are unsure about whether you should cite a piece of information do it anyway because it is better to be safe than sorry. I also learned that you should copyright and cite your own work because people may be inclined to take some of your work as well!
There are different kinds of copyright that you can consider when creating a piece of work. For example, if you create a picture and only want people to view it but not download it or edit it, you can have an all rights reserved creative commons. If you would like to share your work with the public and have people build on your ideas, you can have a some rights reserved creative common. You can then decide who can access your work and in what ways.
Overall, it is important to get students thinking about copyright from an early age if you incorporate digital literacy into the classroom. Don't just stop at having students create a works cited page! Have students investigate different kinds of copyright, where they can find copy right and most importantly why copyright is necessary to be digitally literate.

Riberio (2008, June 30) TPCK Re-visioned [Online Image]. Retrieved  from https://www.flickr.com/photos/lupuca/8720604364

Plougmann (2011, January 20) TPCK Re-visioned [Online Image]. Retrieved  from https://www.flickr.com/photos/criminalintent/5403052781/in/photolist-9es4mr-pRr7ZD-8vBVVr-8vEXcj-5k2wrs-4JX9-8Jw9LH-9ayqsd-e2QMS5-o3wN4Z-3mrXAe-28rtGN-5b495D-e2QMHQ-8vEXjo-8vBVTe-8vBWaH-8vEXd9-e3Zz1-fvT5PN-8vEXtU-5guc28-8vEXmG-bFrCvg-68mS5h-CH3be-8vEXbY-bqVQtj-8vEXpw-dJ1HaZ-6wnx18-8vBVYn-8GmvbX-eenL8S-62Y6XP-A8zQK-8vBVWt-dJ79TA-8vBW9D-dJ1Hwn-62Yv2h-hcbzps-8uVpXv-8uVTTM-8vEXvJ-8mr6gF-6VvuFx-6T2Wt9-bFmvU4-fefJT

Welcome Back!

Hello everyone, it has been a long time since my last post because school has just been so busy! I  realized that I started this blog without giving a lot of information about myself! My name is Vanessa Kiedrowski and I am in the concurrent education at Brock University with a focus in the primary/junior stream. I have always loved young children because I feel they have so much curiosity and passion for the world around them. However, I just finished up a junior placement at my school and I enjoyed the potential of the older students too, so I will most likely go back and get my intermediate qualifications. I really feel that I have chosen a career path that I enjoy and am excited about. I have always loved making a difference when I can and over my placement I realized how much I could change peoples lives just by coming to work every day. I look forward to posting about my experiences and hope you can relate and learn from my experiences :)