Annotated Bibliography Fall 1

Walker, S.R. (2014). Naming Play for Artmaking.

In Naming Play for Artmaking, Walker highlights and questions the amounts students can learn when play is implemented into the classroom - specifically in the art classroom. The audience is addressed to art educators, however I believe the theory of incorporating play can be incorporated across the curriculum. The first article of the semester was impactful to me for many reasons. With it being the first assigned reading, play felt like a completely new topic to me. It was almost as if I’ve never considered play in the art room - or put a name to the practice that I try to incorporate. This article showed me that play and nonsense can have many disguises. It isn’t just complete nonsense and chaos - it’s nonsense with sense (Deleuze 1990/1969). Before reading this, I was entertaining the ideas of incorporating centers and more choice in my classroom. Walker discusses the importance of incorporating nonsense. The word itself reminded me of one of my most memorable lessons in undergrad. I was given the task of teaching a “nonsense strategy” to my classmates. The goal of the lesson was to teach us how to monitor our time and finish a lesson when in a time crunch - but I also learned how to improvise and be creative with my lesson all while teaching how “to make shoe lace spaghetti”. Similar to how our art making assignments are set up, we had to randomly select a skill to teach with the material it had to be taught with. This is my personal experience of how effective play and nonsense is in the classroom. Like Walker explains, nonsense incorporated with sense and structure changes our daily monotonous routines enough to allow us to think differently and therefore engage in an authentic and meaningful experience. Walker gives examples of contemporary artists that incorporate nonsense into their work which is a great resource for the classroom. I do not think Walker leaves any conclusions unanswered, but I think as an educator new into the field I would like to read more about other educators or artists experiences of incorporating nonsense in a productive way to young artists.

Walker, S.R. (2014). Everyday Play, pp. 1-18.

I was really impressed with Walker’s work throughout this semester. I was excited to read about scholars and artists talking about moments and thoughts that I have experienced but couldn’t put into words, specifically Kaprow. I always wondered then about what makes them memorable. Walker explains those experiences and moments through examples of other artists as the ordinary becoming extraordinary (Walker, p. 2). You make the ordinary extraordinary by incorporating just enough “nonsense”. It’s important that this tactic isn’t too exaggerated and that the nonsense isn’t too bizarre. This would defeat the purpose of highlighting that regular activity- the extreme use of abnormality would overshadow the everyday experience making it not everyday at all. Walker discusses Allan Kaprow’s theories and terminology of Happenings. Happenings were moments I had when I noticed the clouds, or watched a bees route through my yard. For me happenings feel like life through the macro lens of a camera. I felt relieved and excited when reading this article to know that there was a name and theory to those moments I felt, but didn’t know how to share them with others. In this article it is stated that “happenings were meant to experience life in new ways” (p. 14). When applying this article and theories to my classroom, I would love to share the experiences of happenings with my students. Not to let them experience life but to experience life in new ways just like the article states. I find myself wondering how to realistically incorporate these practices in my school. I think students need to be in the right mindset to experience and learn from abstract theories. I think about tasks Kaprow had his students do and think of ways to be able to incorporate techniques within physical constraints of the public school system. I’ve slowly been incorporating observational drawing and discussions of slowing down and looking (especially when the weather is nice out). I think this can potentially be a way to allow students to experience life in new ways, to notice the detail and complexity in life around them (and hopefully appreciate it).

Walker, S.R. (no date) Artmaking and Nonsense

Artmaking and Nonsense tackles the idea that I have been wondering: how can you implement play into the classroom? Walker discusses Deleuze’s theory that nonsense is the highest form of sense, and how to incorporate it not as “shock value” (p. 1). If we use the nonsense to disrupt the mundane, we create a whole new world to learn from. Our regular is now irregular, exciting, and therefore memorable. Walkers article highlights nonsense as an essential strategy in facilitating authentic new ways of learning but clarifying that it has to be enough to disrupt, not to be full out chaos. I think Walker does an excellent job of breaking down a topic that may be intimidating to educators and administrators and explaining the importance of the theory in a way that is engaging, relatable, and easy to read. This article was so impactful for me. After I read this, I found myself allowing more time to “play”. I did this with early finishers centers with choices of play-doh, an oil based clay (so it doesn’t dry out), drawing with drawing prompt sticks and markers, crayons, and colored pencils. I was amazed that my most problematic rooms became silent and engaged. This had me trying to figure out how I could explain and justify to administration (if they happened to walk by my room) what they were learning and why it was so important. I think of using play and nonsense in my room and how I can make it meaningful and memorable. I think Walker’s article is a pedagogical resource for educators who are trying to find what works for their classroom culture. I think of how I can use play and nonsense to disrupt our regular routine that still teaches students how to make. Personally, I struggle with the elementary art curriculum. I want students to experience, how to look and learn to think critically yet I feel pulled in multiple directions for them to create “pretty” art for hallways and parents that doesn’t really teach them anything. Finally I think back to how the masters would traditionally teach. I want students to learn traditional skills so they have the confidence to break those rules and disrupt what they know. Walker’s article and Deleuze’s theory have opened up a pedagogical Pandora’s Box for me. They have allowed me to become excited and reflect on which direction I want to go, or if I can incorporate all of those directions to create my own direction. Artmaking and Nonsense along with Walker’s previous articles have inspired me to disrupt my own routine so students can have a more meaningful learning experience.