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Material:

Playdough in three colours

Paper

Spray can for rolling

Hands

Process:

Mixed two colours together to get green and then mixed that with the third colour

Tried kneading it on paper which made the dough stick to it

Kneaded on my hand instead. Mixed all colours together to try and create a pattern

Cut a circle on a softer surface and experimented with the impressions my palm left on the dough

Concluded with making an impression of my thumb of the circle

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Material:

Acrylic paint in pink, yellow, navy blue and green

Piece of ribbon with crimped edge

Earbuds

Finger tips

Paintbrush

Process:

Slightly mixed all colours together to create a single mish-mashed shade

Dipped ribbon in paint and dragged it across the paper

Used finger tips and paintbrush to fill in gaps

Used earbuds to draw stems and leafs

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This first artefact was created in class. While the instructions were to experiment and discover, something I saw most of my classmates do, I set out with a reference image in my head because my goal was to create a generic and neat image. Upon further reflection I realised that this was something that I unlearned even while I worked on this image as well as when I created the following five artefacts. As mentioned earlier, art can be encountering something new and different. Encounters aren’t necessarily good or bad. They are risky, worldly encounters that affect us, provoke us to think and feel, force us into action, bring us into question (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher 2016).

This aptly summarises my encounter with the artefact as I went from wanting to emulate something, to needing to improvise. I was able to forego the end goal and adjust according to how the different colours came together, how the paint interacted with the brush, the brush with the paper, the paint with my fingertips and the earbud. I allowed myself to work and think with the materials, as that is what transforms early childhood education, provoking educators to notice how materials and young children live entangled lives in classrooms and how they change each other through their mutual encounters (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher 2016).

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The learning experience that I’d like to organise in my classroom, based on my process with this artefact, would mainly include washable paint in around five-six colours and paper. I’d also provide the option of a limited number of tools such as paintbrushes and sponges, however the intention is to create a space that leads them to first interact with and experience the paint, especially how they feel and mix together before they go on to experiment and express whatever they want on the paper.

Part of what art does is ask us to attend to things, state Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher (2016), it draws our attention, often to new things, or to older things said or presented in new ways. Basically, art asks us to make sense of things, or to figure them out, and I believe this experience that doesn’t set any boundaries and incorporates encounter will work as an effective creative outlet.

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My concept inquiry into art placed me well outside my comfort zone which then created multiple opportunities for self-reflection prompted by the materials that I interacted with. While it isn’t always fluid switching between playing the subject and the observer, it does help acquire a wider understanding of the concept as during this practice of journaling, art could be seen and experienced in the process, the final product and even in the procedure of putting together the material that can be used for yet another project. Art is a collection of separate items that you wouldn't think could go together and it’s also visible in the single, standalone item. It can be abstract or obvious or the other way around depending on different perspectives. More importantly, art is experimentation, exploration, improvisation, innovation and subject to each individual no matter what age or how much knowledge and experience they’ve acquired.

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Material:

Five washable paint colours

Flat paintbrushes

Crushed paper

Dumbell

Finger tips

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Roshni Banerjee – 4674845 – ECE6006 – Assessment 1–Creative Work: Paint-Assemblage-Visual Art

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Material

1 tbsp red lentils

2 glasses

Few sheets of paper

Audacity software

Process

Slowly poured the lentils from one glass to the other

Rippled and shook the papers to create the sound of thunder

Recorded and merged the audios on Audacity

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Material

Patterned wine bottle

Table lamp/torch light

Paper and pen

Process

Shine the light through the bottle at different angles to manipulate the shapes reflected on the paper

Trace the image onto the paper

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Material

Polaroid camera

Process

For pictures 1 & 2: Attempted a delayed exposure shot

For pictures 3 - 8: Took pictures of the sky at different times of the day

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What is art? Before working through this unit my answer to that question was, art is anything that is either beautiful or difficult to comprehend. As we conclude this unit now I wouldn’t say that my answer has changed much but my perspective has certainly evolved and grown. Art can still be anything that is beautiful, but it doesn’t always need to make sense to the viewer.

Art is experimentation, improvisation and encountering something different – be it a new experience with familiar material or a familiar experience with new material. With this journal I explored the concept of form through a range of different material such as paint, playdough, sound and light.

From having a solid end goal in my head to just playing and improvising as I went, the following artefacts will showcase how working on them helped shed light on a broader understanding of what is art.

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The concept of art in the second artefact was visible in the unknown – in figuring out the second step only after concluding and reflecting on the first. Even as I worked through the process of creation, my decisions would change depending on how the colour and strokes came across on the paper. This is similar to what Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher (2016) discuss about the artist being affected by the material and how interacting with the paint converts our knowledge and experience of it. Expounding further Dahlberg and Moss (2009) describe this affect as a kind of a virus that people get involved in easily. Here, affect is a break in habit (O’Sullivan 2006), an unhurried interaction with the unfamiliar.

Touching on the examples provided from the classroom, Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher (2016) stated that paint capabilities compelled them, the children and educators, to try to extend and expand, paint assemblages, with varying degrees of success. Similarly with this artefact the process involved varying levels of success, struggle and failure, which are important and recurrent in the artistic practice.

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Building on the first experience, for this activity I would create a space that will allow the children to experiment with the tools and the paint. I would execute it in batches of 8-10 children and provide each of them with brushes, water and a palette of washable paint. The first time I organise this experience I will ask the children to draw and paint whatever comes to their mind. The next time I would like to slightly limit the inspiration to what they see in their classroom and backyard, to both living and non-living subjects. The main goal here is for them to play with these colourful items, but also for them to observe, experience the process, create, fail and then move on to their next picture.

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Art is play, especially when playdough is involved. It’s as colourful as paint, but more solid, and it’s almost as pliable as clay, but drier. Nevertheless, the mere process of pinching, poking, pressing and rolling was enough to make me want to keep interacting with it and ponder over what I could shape it into. As this was my first time experimenting with this material I was pleasantly surprised to see how each addition to one piece of coloured playdough resulted in a whole new result. Whether it was resulting in a new colour, seeing how well or poorly it interacted with different material and especially the impressions my hand left on it.

Playdough helps children give form to their ideas, be it something unique or a reproduction of something they have seen, a simple two-step item or a complex structure. It helps them channel and enhance their creative thinking ability and the process also helps them learn symbolic thinking as they pretend the dough is something more than just dough. An art form in itself, symbolic thinking allows children to invent, make, think and reinvent through a continual cycle of thought and creation (Aurora Early Education n.d.).

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There can be multiple experiences planned around playdough. It allows children to explore its sensory qualities, strengthens their fingers, hands and wrists, builds on their imagination and keeps them engaged. While playdough is readily available in stores, the first experience that I would plan around this material will involve making some from scratch. Starting with a more STEM-based approach, making playdough will also enable them to explore measuring, mixing, experimenting and predicting what will happen (Aussie Childcare Network 2020). This experience will be conducted in batches and the children will decide what colours they want the playdough in. During the process they can add and mix colours to make new colours, explore textures as it evolves over time, introduce new descriptive words to their vocabulary and learn about the main ingredients and making process as they will be involved in it from start to finish (Aussie Childcare Network 2020).

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This artefact might not be the most accurate replication of a rainy, thunderous night but it does make you think of one. Here I would reiterate what Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher (2016) said about art drawing our attention to new things, or old things said and presented in new ways. Art pushes boundaries and encourages you to look beyond the intended purpose of any material. For this artefact the lentils, glasses and sheets of paper went beyond what they’re originally intended for to come together and create a single experience.

However, the most important components at play here are, sound and listening. An unsung hero in child development, sound is critically important to the way children learn about their world (Parenting Research Centre n.d.). From the moment they’re born, sound is an integral part of children’s development. Exploring different sounds allows them to develop listening and concentration skills which in turn helps them learn about different sounds, instruments and music (Care for Kids 2021).

Having been created in a quiet space, the artefact also aims to call attention to what Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr had said about listening, when reflecting on the concept and spiritual practice of dadirri. She had said that, in their Aboriginal way they learnt to listen from their earliest days. They could not live good and useful lives unless they listened. They learnt by watching and listening, waiting and then acting (Ungunmerr 1988).

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An experience for the children involving sound can stretch across the classroom, their homes and anywhere else they visit outside of these two places. As I did for the artefact, for this experience as well I will ask the children to look beyond an item's intended purpose. Before I get started on the activity I will engage the children in a conversation about exploring different sounds, rhythms, vibrations and making echoey sounds (Care for Kids 2021). We will then move on to the items that they think are capable of making different sounds as well as what constitutes as sound and noise.

This experience can easily be spaced out over a span of a few months as that will allow them to observe, experiment and collect items that they believe is capable of making sounds. For the first round of this experience I will ask them to collect no more than three items from their homes which they will bring back and use to create a sound/music space in the classroom. For the following rounds they will collect items from their play ares in the class, from the backyard and then from a nature walk. Be it sticks against paint cans, pebbles in a jar or dried leaves for crushing, they will all be important components of the sound experience.

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Bringing this artefact together took a bit of improvisation and experimentation with three different artificial lights, i.e. the ceiling light in my room, the table lamp and the flash light from the phone. The other important half of this experience was the item itself that the light was to shine through, the patterned wine bottle. It was interesting to see how the distance between the light and the bottle, as well as how the number of light outlets changed the pattern that shone through the bottle. The multi-light table lamp cast a distorted version of the pattern while the torch light helped cast a rather solid shadow that was easier to trace. Whether I traced out the pattern on the paper or not the artistic aspect of this artefact lies in the experimentation and curiosity surrounding the materials.

Experiences involving light and shadow enable children to appreciate the awe and wonder of the world around them and provide a rich environment in which to develop their natural curiosity, explain Thornton and Brunton (2010). They further stated that light and darkness hold fascination and intrigue, as well as an element of risk and challenge and the opportunity for young children to experience what early years consultant Marion Dowling termed ‘gratuitous fear’, which can be described as voluntarily delving into the unknown.

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Children are full of awe and wonder when they watch images grow and shrink depending on its distance from a light source. Shadow play introduces a new way of looking at the environment with curiosity and imagination (Haynes and Patti 2022). A rather simple experience that involves natural light and shadows is creating a homemade sundial. The purpose of this exercise isn't for the children to learn how to tell the time. In fact we can make multiple sundials, some with the time on it and some with drawings which will need the shadows to complete the picture. All we will need is a paper plate to write or draw on and a pencil that can be stuck in the centre with some playdough. It can be brought out on the sunny days and then we start exploring the movement of the sun, the shadows and the sunbeams.

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Interacting with a camera involves more than just capturing an image as is. This might be an easier task when using a high-end phone or digital camera but if one were to work with an instant camera with a flash that can’t be turned off, the possibilities to experiment can be endless. The artistic elements in this artefact lies in experimenting with the capabilities of the polaroid camera itself and how it interacts with the different amount of light at different times of day.

For the first two pictures I tried to make the first image appear on the second shot which involved exposing the film for a quick second while clicking the picture. It was 90% a failure which nevertheless created an interesting sequence. As Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher (2016) have mentioned before, to create is to step into the unknown with improvisation at the heart of the endeavour.

For the remaining shots I tried to capture a rainbow on a bright day, which didn’t work, and shots of the sky on a cloudless day, after a bout of rain, before sunrise and after sunset. These pictures were taken from the same spot on different days and they all look different. This is definitely an experience that can be implemented to enhance children’s learning especially in the early years.

As a research tool, photography permits children to express their views, thinking and understanding without being restricted to their verbal and written language competencies (Bakar, Yunus, Mohamed, & Karim 2020). Today children are exposed to images from multiple sources from a very young age. Be it at home or in class they are also able to see their teachers engage in documentation via this method. Introducing photography in an early childhood setting can provide them the opportunity to express themselves through yet another medium, experiment and tell stories with it, as well participate in their own version of documentation.

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There might not be many preschools keen to introduce technology such as cameras in their classrooms anytime soon. However, there's no denying that it would be interesting to see the world through their eyes as the pictures that they click give us rich insights into their minds and show us what is important to them (Dewar 2010).

Even by the age of two, children are aware of phones and tablets and their abilities to take pictures. By the age of five they would've already tried to explore the cameras on their parents' phones. While a digital camera emulates the same functions as that of a phone where you're immediately able to view and then delete if required, an instant camera creates a different experience.

For this experience I would introduce the polaroid camera to the class and engage them in a conversation about the difference between the high-end devices and the polaroid camera. After they're able to explore how the camera works, what the film feels like, learn about what happens to the films when they're exposed, I would encourage them to take 1-2 pictures of whatever they like anywhere in the centre. They can then watch their picture develop, discuss why it didn't turn out exactly as they expected, if that's the case, and they can put it up on display. Whether they choose to tell a story through their picture or just want to hit the shutter button and see what happens, the experience aims to allow exploration of material that goes beyond drawing and painting.

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Bakar, KA, Yunus, F, Mohamed, S, & Karim, AA 2020, ‘Addition Concept through the Lenses of Young Children: Creating Visual Representation with Digital Cameras’, Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 16, Article No. em1854.

Dahlberg, G and Moss, P 2009, Movement and experimentation in young children’s learning: Deleuze and Guattari in early childhood education, New York, NY, Routledge, pp. xiii-xxviii.

Dewar, G 2010, Digital cameras for kids: Cool tools and windows into your child’s mind, Parenting Science, viewed 22 August 22, <https://parentingscience.com/digital-cameras-for-kids/>.

Haynes, M and Patti, P 2022, How-to Guide: Reggio-Inspired Light & Shadow, Roots & Wings, viewed 21 August 2022, <https://www.rootsandwingsfc.com/blog/2020/8/30/how-to-use-light-shadow-in-your-reggio-classroom?rq=light>.

O’Sullivan, S 2006, Art encounters Deleuze and Guattari: Thought beyond representation, London, England, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pacini-Ketchabaw, V, Kind, S & Kocher, LLM 2016, Encounters with materials in early childhood education, Routledge.

Playdough Benefits For Children 2020, Aussie Childcare Network, viewed 19 August 2022, <https://aussiechildcarenetwork.com.au/articles/teaching-children/playdough-benefits-for-children>.

Sound: an unsung hero in child development n.d., Parenting Research Centre, viewed 20 August 2022, <https://www.parentingrc.org.au/news/sound-an-unsung-hero-in-child-development/>.

The role of sound play in early childhood services 2021, Care for Kids, viewed 21 August 2022, <https://www.careforkids.com.au/child-care-articles/article/312/the-role-of-sound-play-in-early-childhood-services#:~:text=From%20the%20moment%20they're,them%20to%20learn%20and%20connect.>.

Thornton, L and Brunton, P 2010, Exploring Light and Dark with Early Years, Teaching Expertise, viewed 22 August 2022, <https://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/exploring-light-and-dark-with-early-years/#:~:text=Playing%20with%20light%20and%20dark%20creates%20magical%20experiences%20that%20both,Dowling%20terms%20'gratuitous%20fear>.

Ungunmerr, MR 1988, Inner Deep Listening and Quiet Still Awareness, Miriam Rose Foundation, viewed 22 August 2022, <https://www.miriamrosefoundation.org.au/dadirri/>.

Using Playdough/Clay to Nurture Children’s Development n.d., Aurora Early Education, viewed 19 August 2022, <https://auroraearlyeducation.com.au/2020/10/using-playdough-clay-to-nurture-childrens-development/>.