ASU Artspace at Desert Oasis: January 2010

Friday, January 29, 2010

Launching the project!

Another day of model building! Matt showed a great video of a group making music with found objects which launched our big project. We are bringing music and architecture together to make a musical structure.....a structure that you can play. The models are almost done, which will lead us into making our own personalized percussion instruments. All the instruments will be made from things you can find just about anywhere. Stay tuned to see what happens!

Pimp my House!

Today Pooneh showed everyone some examples of abstract art and showed a great video about architectural process. The students were instructed to draw a house and then to design a 3-D version with various materials in the room. The students had to use a wire and the rest was up to them. They got a good start, but we will see what amazing designs they come up with next time.

Friday, January 22, 2010

It's Friday!

Today we had an art medley! Matt and I almost have every one's names down, and we know the students' likes and dislikes...always a good thing. Our circle of story telling was a success! Someone started the story, then passed the ball to the next who took it off from where the other person left it. By the end we had a very creative story: it started out as a dream, then there was a crocodile that turned out to be an alligator, and by the end they were no longer involved in the story! Architecture pictionary was also great! It was a good preface to the BIG project which will be coming shortly. Matt led everyone in a Simon Says drum rhythm. Too fun!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Getting to know you

Pooneh and I are just getting started at Desert Oasis, but we are very excited to work with all of the students. We spent the day getting to know the students and learn a little bit about their interests. We started making name tags that tell us a little about them. The students also learned the basics of percussion. Pooneh is an architect and I am a percussionist. We can't wait to see what the students create in music and structure. No pictures for today as we get settled with new batteries and cameras, but next time we will have lots to show you!

About Our Instructors

Matt McGraw, President of Emusicinstrucition, is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance at Arizona State University. As a performer, McGraw has had the privilege of playing in many different types of music ensembles and is looking forward to playing with the ArtSpace students as Desert Oasis!

Pooneh Erami is from Irvine, California. She received her B.A. from the University of California at Santa Cruz in the History of Art and Visual Culture. In Santa Cruz she developed an interest in sculpture and space which brought her to architecture. She is now a teaching assista

About ArtSpace

ASU ArtSpace is a transdiciplinary arts and design afterschool serving the Phoenix area and establishing a new model of arts educational experience aiming to ensure that its students are self-confident, successful in school and proactive in making a positive impact in their community. ArtSpace was launched in Fall 2008 by a partnership between the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture and the Arizona Department of Education. The ASU ArtSpace program places graduate students from all Schools within the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at eligible schools to provide transdiciplinary programming focused upon their disciplines and thesis. The graduate students design their own transdisciplinary curriculum in teams of two based upon a global theme such as Time, Place, Communication or Storytelling under the guidance of Melissa McGurgan, the ArtSpace Program Coordinator.

ArtSpace classrooms are treated as creative spaces where students are exposed to a multitude of artforms, skills and collaborative processes and the graduate student instructors are able to test and develop experimental teaching methods, techniques and learning processes incorporating art, design and technology. The pilot semester of ASU ArtSpace took place in Fall 2008 and is now serving 12 schools during the 2009-2010 school year. The ASU ArtSpace program exemplifies the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s charge for universities to form partnerships with local school districts and create a new generation of teachers while establishing ASU as an accessible educational entity which embraces new thinking and approaches to art and design to hundreds of children, families, educators and communities throughout the Valley.