Inspiration Around the Room

For our very first PYP unit in 5th grade this year I wanted to provide students with a foundation of generating ideas that could be referenced back throughout the year. In this unit we focused on Where Do Artists Get Ideas? and explored a range of activities leading to the development of unique, original ideas for their own artwork.  

Curriculum (PYP Talk)

​Topic:
Inspiration comes from many sources in the environment and internal investigation that sparks creativity and imagination to create. 

Conceptual Lens:
Inspiration

Key Concepts
Form, connection, function

Related Concepts
Senses, imagination, emotions, feelings, appropriation, process, materials, experimentation, exploration

​Learning Objectives:
Sources of inspiration (form)
Personal memories and feelings (connection) 
Materials and techniques through play and experimentation (form/function)
The creative process (function)

​Essential Understandings: 
Sources of inspiration:
Imagination
Observation
Experiences
Emotions
Culture
​Other Art(ists)

Essential Questions:
Where do ideas come from?
What makes a good idea?
Where do artists get ideas?

Preperation

Our very first class we spent time making a whole class mind map/web showing where ideas come from. Each table discussed it with themselves first and then shared their ideas while I wrote them on the board. This gave us a great jumping off point. 

Then we played one of my favorite idea generating games: Quantity of Quality. The idea is to generate as many ideas as possible without worrying about if they are "good or bad." Each table got a few art books, while flipping through them students stopped at images they found interesting and then translated that image into a short phrase, ie man eating fruit, colorful mountains, mom and baby in tall field. The phrase was written on a small paper and placed in a pile in the center of the table. After about 15 minutes I collected all the papers - or idea cards as we called them - in a paper bag. Each student then drew two cards out of the bag and created an artwork in response. 

​Not only did this result in many idea cards that we can use throughout the year (especially if a student is stuck) but it was a great way to get some creative juices flowing. 

​For homework I asked the students to bring in three pictures:
1. An artwork that inspires you
2. A quote that inspires you
3. A photo of something that is your favorite. 

Inspiration Board

With the photos that students brought in for homework, we arranged them onto a bulletin board in class as our class Inspiration Board. I love that this is 100% student generated and that it fills the room with so much inspiration. 

Warm-Up Video

On day two I played them this quick video as a refresher from what we discussed last week. Video by fellow Art teacher, YouTube channel: Panthers Palette  

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Inspiration Around the Room

The purpose of the Around the Room activities, originally developed by Cynthia Gaub, is to provide students with short exploration of media as an introduction to skills and techniques. I thought this would be a perfect set up to use as a short exploration into various sources of inspiration. I created six different "centers," each with a title and a prompt/task for students to complete. They had access to the basic drawing materials. I asked them to label each page with "Artists get inspiration from . . . " I gave them 25 minutes to complete each center and they did marvelously! Here is the break down for each center:

inspiration_around_the_room_table_signs.pdf
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Downloadable Table Signs 

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Observation

Prompt: Choose an object out of the box. Look at it carefully. Try to draw it as realistically as you can.
​*Supply center with a box of still-life objects.

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Emotions

Prompt: Choose a card from the pile and create an artwork that expresses that emotion using only lines, shapes, and colors. 
*Supply center with pastels and THESE EMOTIONAL PRINTABLE FLASH CARDS

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Experiences

Prompt: What if your life was a book or a movie? What event would be on the cover or the advertisement poster? Create a book cover or movie poster for your life.

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Culture

Prompt: Choose a news article that interests you. Create an artwork in response that that article.
*I printed off 10 very short, easy to read, current news articles from Time for Kids. You can find your own or use these

news_articles.pdf
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Imagination

Place your pen on your paper. Close your eyes and scribble for 3 seconds. Open your eyes and think of something you could turn that scribble in to. Create something new from the scribble.

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Other Art(ists)

Find an artwork that inspires you, create a new artwork of what it makes you think of (don’t copy it). 
* Supply center with a handful of art books

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Post-Centers

My post-center plan for when the students finish all the activities is to have them choose one of their artworks they made and bring it into a WOW - or finished piece. If finished in time (we will take a few weeks to work on them) the students will present them to the community at their end of unit share day. 

Teacher Take Away

I am blown away with the engagement the students are showing during these centers and the artwork that is resulting from these activities. Their creativity is booming! I'm glad we are taking our time to work through them. Some students have been finishing around 20 minutes so I may shorten the time a bit. Overall I am very happy with how this unit is shaping up and am excited to use this as a launching point for the rest of the year.