Ai Weiwei show at the AGO in August 2013

Great news: it has been confirmed that the artist Ai Wei Wei will be making the AGO part of his North American tour of According to What? 

The Globe covers it briefly here.

I have always been intrigued by his work, but, like many others, it seems like work best appreciated up close.  I'm definitely looking forward to this one.

New and improved Elements and Principles of Design icons

Here are my new updated elements & principles of design sheets. I've added a few terms from the ministry documents that were missing on the original and I changed the icon. 

A full Elements and Principles of Design Unit plan (complete with lesson plans) is available on my Teachers Pay Teachers site, here.

The letter-size worksheets by themselves (without the lesson plans) are available on my Teachers Pay Teachers site, here.

I also have high-quality prints of these charts available for purchase here:

The Elements of Design

The Principles of Design

- Patrick

Michael Snow: Objects of Vision

Here's a video from the AGO's youtube channel of Michael Snow discussing his work, which is featured in the show that has recently opened at the Gallery: Objects of Vision.

It is interesting to hear him speak about the various ways that he has approached making sculpture, which is based on how we experience 3D objects.

The show is on until December, and there is more info here.

How to deal with boredom

This fascinating article from the Behance blog "99%" tackles the subject: why boredom is good for the creative process.  Many creatives, teachers and students face boredom on a regular basis and this article provides some helpful insight on why it happens, and how to deal with it.

The name of the blog "99%" comes from a great quote by Thomas Edison: "Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration." It's easy to relate to and reminds me of an earlier post, featuring a great video of Milton Glaser : "Art is work."

Reinventing Summer School

A new and encouraging trend has started in Toronto and is gaining momentum this summer. A few high schools are providing some interesting summer school programs for kids who want to get ahead in credits and have an amazing experience at the same time. As discussed in this Post article, Eclat School of Performing Arts is focusing on drama and writing, Blyth Academy will have kids working with art, photography, animation and film at the A.G.O., the R.O.M. and Tiff Bell Lightbox and Outward Bound Canada is participating as well, offering courses as part of their Urban Discovery program.

These sounds like some exciting and diverse classes, very different from when I was in school and kids mostly went to summer school because they failed math!

"Make good art." (Neil Gaiman)

In this commencement speech for the University of the Arts, Neil Gaiman shares some insightful and inspiring stories and ideas about working in the arts. The Magic Pony blog features the video here.

The main idea: "make good art" seems simple but is based on profound truth, "when things get tough... make good art." Some of the other highlights for me: his words on failure and success in the arts, how he "learned to write by writing", how we are living in a "transitional world" where "the nature of distribution is changing" and how "you have the ability to make art, the ultimate lifesaver."

Blackout