Gardiner Museum Partnership Ceramics Summer Course (for Grade 11 + 12)

I'm very excited to have helped develop a partnership course between Blyth Academy and the Gardiner Museum, for a Grade 11 + 12 Summer Course in Ceramics. The course is a senior-level visual arts that focuses on ceramics - course code:  AWC3M / AWC4M.

This course will run in July 2017, Monday-Friday from 9:00am-3:30pm. It will be based out of the Blyth Academy Yorkville campus and will include many visits to the Gardiner Museum, four of which will be ceramics studio sessions and several more will have the students explore the collection and sketch in the galleries.

Looking forward to it!

- Patrick

Neil Degrasse Tyson & David Byrne explaining the importance of art education

Here's a great, quick video of Neil Degrasse Tyson and David Byrne explaining the importance of art education: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/startalk/videos/the-importance-of-art-education/

I think what they are saying is that education/real learning is interdisciplinary in nature. Studying art and science go well together - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You will become a better engineer or scientist if you study art and you will become a better artist if you study science.

I'm currently developing my first online course (for Blyth Academy Online), and it's a Grade 12 Interdisciplinary Studies course on Museum Studies. It combines visual arts, social sciences, marketing and technology to introduce students to the world of museums and galleries. I'm really enjoying putting it together and it should be up and running by February 2017. More info to come...

Thanks to the OAEA for making it easy for me to find this video!

- Patrick

Guest Speaker Scott Mills on Social Media for Success and Safety

(Laurie Stinson, Angel Freedman, Scott Mills, and me)

Today at Blyth Academy Thornhill we had an inspiring guest speaker, Constable Scott Mills discuss how to use social media for success and safety. Scott engaged the students with fun, fascinating and thoughtful stories from his experience working with the Toronto Police and Crime Stoppers and explained effective and smart ways to use various social media.

He did a live video to youtube during his presentation that you can see here along with some helpful community links: http://internetviolenceprevention.com/2014/05/community-connections-at-blyth-academy-thornhill-for-success-safety-blytheducation/

- Patrick

(Me with the wonderful social worker Angel Freedman, who set up the presentation)

The Beehive Design Collective

Last week I was fortunate to have three volunteers from the Beehive Design Collective visit my Challenge & Change in Society class to discuss globalization using a massive hand-drawn illustration.

The Bees use art as an educational tool to engage students and start discussions about complex social, political, economic and environmental issues. The graphic campaigns provide a thorough look at many of the negative effects that globalization is having on society.

Our workshop focused on the Free Trade graphic. Students worked in small groups to decipher one symbolic animal from the poster each and then share their ideas with the whole group. The posters provide a fascinating, interactive visual approach to learning about globalization. Here is their site.

Blyth Academy Visual Arts classes at the Varley Gallery and Ai Wei Wei at the A.G.O.

    It's been longer than usual since my last post so I'll make up for it by covering two posts in one: Blyth at the Varley Gallery and Ai Wei Wei at the AGO. The start of this school year has been so busy - but I guess they always are! I 've been less involved in art education this term because I've been teaching exclusively grade 12 Social Science courses. Even though I miss Visual Arts, the new courses have been very rewarding to teach. I organized a field trip to the Coroner's Courts in Toronto, to sit in on the Inquest into the Death of Ashley Smith. I also brought in a social justice lawyer to visit my classes and discuss the inquest after.

    That will all change soon- my courses end in mid-November and I will be establishing a Visual Arts program at Blyth Academy, Thornhill. The arts program that I've been working on with the wonderful team at Blyth is based on a parntership with the Varley Art Gallery in Markham. The students will tour the collection, paint in the studios and curate their own show that will be held in the gallery at the end of the course. I am very excited about this partnership and can't wait to get started!

Back in Toronto... the Ai Wei Wei exhibit at the AGO is one of the best shows I've seen in a while. The works are thoughtful, surprising and truly creative. The pieces communicate important messages about social justice issues with a bold, thought-provoking directness. Even though he is not allowed to travel outside of China due to his open criticism of the Chinese government, Ai Wei Wei uses art to visually communicate all over the world and, luckily for us, especially in Toronto.

Cham Shan Temple Visit

This week I spend some time at the Cham Shan Temple with my World Religions class. We've been enjoying studying Buddhism and had a great time walking around this beautiful temple. I've passed it so many times on the bus and always wondered what it looked like inside. 

The most interesting part of the tour are the sculptures. They have wonderful monuments to the various representations of Buddha throughout the buildings. 

This one is the Buddha of 1000 arms, a Bodhisattva of compassion (Avalokitesvara).

A.G.O. Field Trip

I always enjoy a field trip to the AGO. This time was especially amazing! It was a beautiful spring day, I got a warm welcome from some colleagues that I hadn't seen in a while and the students had a great time.

I brought my World Religions class to look at how Aboriginal spirituality has influenced art. One student chose the Raven Rattle above. This wonderful carved and painted wood piece is Tlingit from southern Alaska, from around 1860.

The Louis Riel quote above is always inspirational and reminds the viewer of the power of art and its central role in culture.

The Canadian Galleries.

And of course one of the favourites: Chuck Close's Kent - a massive photo-realistic painting that always captures the students' attention.

T.I.F.F. Field Trip

This term my Grade 12 Film Studies class along with an English class and a Writers Craft class visited TIFF to try the "Make a Movie In a Day" program.

We had a great time and the students got the chance to experience a high-paced version of the whole film-making process using industry standard equipment. They wrote screenplays in small groups, pitched them, voted on one, practiced and shot it and we received a copy of the edited final a few weeks later. 

This is a trip I will gladly do again!

Featured on the Blyth Academy Brochure

This month I am featured on the cover of the new Blyth Academy, Thornhill brochure!  This shot was taken in the fall during my first week as I was helping a few students with a computer problem.

Tree Mural Video

                                         

Last term, my Integrated Arts class painted a mural at our neighbouring Fun Community School. We enjoyed working on this project and I made the film above as an example of a high-speed movie for my grade 10 Communications Technology class.

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!