Last night the art supply rodeo in class went well. The class was comfortable enough to really get into smearing new materials around. I brought them good drawing paper that I'd brought in a roll. They had to tape it down to keep it from rolling back. Some of the students worked together on one piece of paper. A couple of the shy people worked with the graphically strong by accident and that was an unexpected added benefit to the learning community. In teacherly 20/20 hindsight I should have asked J, who has an natural sense of value and composition and had stopped working, to work directly with A who was struggling with composition. I will incorporate team work into the next rodeo. I asked students to buy the supplies that resonated with them and several said "with what?" and seemed to be seriously broke. One student said, "If I had $5 I'd buy diapers." So i took a hand count and will buy about 5 sets of Hobby Lobby pastels for the class. I might buy some good paper too. The school seems willing to invest in the class so far.
The instructions for this assignment are to stand up which makes the students groan. I lead them through a few arm waving exercises to get them to think about drawing with the whole arm and I make them stand up to draw. I yell directions to them with random instructions that include changing art supplies: measure random angles and put them on the page, do a little blind contour of your hand, fill in a negative space, draw an object with your non-dominant hand, smear the pastels together, draw with both hands, switch colors with students next to you, draw a still life object on the table, get your hand wet and make textures, draw a large skull on the page, draw a cloud that has a dark and light side...etc.
And here are the results of this semester's art supply rodeo:
