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The material for this week was paper. The work I completed in week 1 I found I relate it more to the progressive approach. In our table group we all agreed that we all related to the progress approach because we believed it worked best for younger children. The guy artist Brendan, shared with us that his hardest medium to work with is spray painting and even though he has continued using it for 30 years he still finds it hard, but he still managers to make the work look amazing. As I am someone that is not very artsy it made me realise that art is very individualised and there is no right or wrong. In class we had materials such as paper, paint, cut outs, paint guns, newspaper, tissue paper and paintbrushes. The paper is able to rip and be cut up and stuck back down to make all different shapes. I was able to move my paper side to side and up and down to make the drippy effect on my work. Combining my two favourite colours and making this affect was so much fun. With the paper being so flexible when the paint was wet it made a cool effect it made my material move in all different ways which I liked.

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Some words to describe paper are flexible, light, open minded, tear able, colourful, cut and paste, wavy, floppy

I have been using paper for as long as I can remember. When I was young, I would always be using pencils and paper and most of the time just scribbled around doing random pictures. When I was in primary school all our class work would be displayed around the classroom with paper. The one thing I love about paper is that it comes in all different colours and sizes. It makes it more interesting for the children when using paper because there isn’t to many restrictions, they can cut and paste and draw and tear with the paper. In an early childhood setting I would love to just have a table area filled with paper, pencils and maybe scissors for the children to do free drawing and let them decide what they want to do with the paper. Paper was invented around 100BC in China and was made by milled plant and and textile fibres. I was always told that paper came from trees but now I understand it is a little more than just trees. The great thing with paper is that it is mostly recycled and reused so it is good for the environment. The movements with moving with paper ‘means one moves with the material in continuous motion, joining forces with it.’ (Ingold, 2013)

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For our second week we focused on junk. I found junk the most interesting as junk is almost everywhere. When searching the definition of junk, I found this ‘something of poor quality (Merriam-webster, 2019), this statement shocked me and I don’t exactly know why. I think it is due to the fact that we try to recycle a lot of junk now and try turn it into something great again. Just because one person may see it is poor quality another person might find it really interesting. I for one am not really creative so I found it really hard to create anything. I believe that junk is a great way for young children to be creative and open minded. Although some can argue that it can be dirty and dangerous, I believe it is a great learning experience for the children. Junk playgrounds looks like an amazing idea to let the children be creative. I have not yet been to an Early Childhood centre and seen anything like it. From the article what Dr Sandseter said really stuck to me ‘when we prevent children from doing these things, they get bored and are tempted to rash stunts’ (Nytimes.com, 2019). Just from being on placement for a few weeks I have noticed how bored some children get and that leads them to act out and do something more dangerous that they know they aren’t allowed to do but they do it anyway and then they have more of a chance of getting seriously hurt. When thinking about junk I find it important to think about the benefits ‘One man’s junk is another man’s treasure’ (Widewalls, 2019). I find that statement so powerful as ‘junk’ is so reusable and I know personally when I was younger I would start something and then get bored and through my piece of work in the bin, now days we can reuse and recycle the old materials and create something more meaningful.

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The clay was so easy to work with and is very versatile. It is so flexible and was really fun to use. It is able to create almost anything and it holds really well because it goes hard when it is dry. I used to play with clay when I was younger but I always hated the feeling. I remember being a neat freak and hated getting my hands dirty and this always made me angry because it was so dirty. However now working with it I had a lot more fun. I love how I was able to quickly reshape my work if I wasn’t happy with it or if I wanted to start over and there was no waste because it is so reusable. The clay felt different to the other inquiries because it is more hands on. The other inquiries were all fun and required you to use your hands to make it however this one was just more hands on and more fun. Due to the clay being a different material to paper and lose parts it made me the most excited. The clay was just so different to play with because there is so much opportunity to be creative. My art piece is a little random but to me it represents a turtle. Random I know but I really like how all the holes look and how the edges around are all chattered and different. Its not perfect and that is the look I wanted because nothing is perfect. Clay is perfect in an early childhood setting, as the children get to work hands on with the materials. The clay is so good to work with and that is because it is so reusable and easy to manipulate, due to the texture of the clay it is able to transform to anything you can think of. When working with the clay I still hate the way it left my hands dirty and dry. I know that when clay is dry and all hard and if you want to reuse it you just need to add water. ‘Clay is made by water and earth’ (VOA, 2019) and when it dried outside in the sun it would harden to the shape they created.

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‘Light transparent porcelain’ (Lakesidepottery, 2019) was first produced in China and the porcelain was made with plastic and clay mixed with felspar. I would love to introduce clay to young children because I believe it is a great way to get their fine motor skills working. As there is no restrictions when working with clay I believe it will great for the children to play with, however on all the placements I have been on so far I have never seen the children playing with clay which I find interesting.

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For the final week of class, we focused on light. Light is very to all the other materials, light is not tangible. In my table group we discussed what is means to listen with light. At first we were all very confused, but with deeper thinking we came up that without even realising light is all around us and we are listening to light all the time. The earliest memory I have with light is having an obsession with stars. I remember always watching the stars outside on my trampoline before going to bed and looking at all the beautiful shapes that they created. Light is all around us and sometimes we don’t even realise. When I entered class on Monday and sore the projectors on the floor I was so confused. I had not seen something that like in years, it even took me a while to realise the shadow it left on the roof of the classroom. I for one always get excited when I see lights. My parents have always decorated my house for Christmas and although I am older now I still love it and love seeing young children walk past and get so excited when they see all the lights.

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Light is bright, warm, relaxing, still, patient and full of memories.

By thinking of light in an early childhood setting I do get a little lost. Although the projector is fun and creates shadows and reflects the objects placed on top of it, I find that light will be the hardest to incorporate in an early childhood setting.  From looking through the images on the Ray of Light Atelier blogpost the images were so beautiful and inspiring, seeing the way light and how it reflects and leaves a shadow was amazing. It is something I do not normally pay attention to but it something I will love to try and create and show the children as I do believe they will find it interesting too, and since light is all around us, it will be a great way for children to make there own connections with light when playing outside or inside. Although I know what light looks like I decided to google what light really means. ‘Light is the sensation aroused by stimulation of the visual receptors’ (Merriam-webster, 2019). Light has a way of calling us to attention, whether it be from the bright lights burning our eyes or the heat it projects when being near light. I believe that light is almost everywhere we go and it will always leave a different perspective on how you feel.