My Proposed Curriculum to be taught with Jamie Terrada at our Sunday art class with Mylee:
I think we should use a simple recipe for paper mache’ paste that is one part flour and two parts water, and that we should inform the students of what materials they can save from around their homes for the sculptures. I can hand out printouts I made that give the reader an idea on what can be saved and what for, and then the next week we can explain a little more what we intend to do, show everyone the two different pastes (the other being one part glue and two parts water so that everyone can glue the plasticky and metal objects to the paper components) and explain what they are for, have everyone dip a finger or two in to see what it feels like, quickly tear up some paper strips and demonstrate how to use the paste, and then take everyone on a nature walk again where they can use the explanations we gave them to make a simple idea in their heads of what mediums we are using. This opportunity will allow everyone to collect leaves and things in addition to those materials they salvaged from their garbage’s at home that they may use in the sculptures. After everyone has let out some steam from discovering more intricacies of the ecosystem around them at the nature walk, we can venture back inside, set out newspaper all over the floor, and go at it. I feel like we should invest in some tissue paper, which would add vibrant color and more immediate excitement to the sculptures. Tissue paper also looks really nice when you get it wet (hence the watery glue) and have the colors run. We could let everyone decide if they want to work together or not. I feel it is also very important that we involve everyone in the clean-ups, so that we are re-inforcing that this is an equal workspace where everyone's work is creative and talented, and where everyone has to work and clean up so that it remains so. We should gather visuals that we can find of different mixed media sculptures to get everyone's ideas rolling, and maybe even make our own small one to show at the beginning of class so that people understand the end result of this work, and that the materials seem very different before and after they are used. I think it would be interesting if we made our own pre-class sculptures using the wrappers and cardboard boxes from the snacks that Mylee gives out, to tie the class into a cycle, and if we made cookies or some homemade snack for the class we are to teach and then served the food on our sculptures.
