søndag 25. januar 2009

The First Meeting

On the 16-th of January my supervisors met each other for the first time: Liv Merete Nielsen (to the right on the picture) and Liv Gjems.

Each of them has unique competence: Liv Merete within education in visual arts, and Liv within kindergarten pedagogy (with special focus on children’s learning through conversations with kindergarten personnel). I am very glad to have possibility to be their student, and I am looking forward to out future meetings, conversations, discussions, disagreements… and what ever benefits to progress in my project!

Liv Merete Nielsen is a professor in art and design at the Oslo University College. She is a coordinator for DesignDialog – a research group with main interest in visual arts/design and education.
Liv Gjems is an associate professor in pedagogy, at the Vestfold University College, and coordinator of the project “Children’s Language Learning, and Learning through Language” that Sculpturing Words is a part of.

tirsdag 20. januar 2009

Arts and Education


Last week I attended the first part of the course Aesthetic-Based Qualitative Research, at the Stockholm University, held by the visiting professor Liora Breslar.

We were app. 20 people attending the course, almost all of us in some way involved with art education: dance, music, drama or visual arts, and some are practicing artists. We didn't know each other, but we were all there to learn, eather students at master level, or at PhD level. I've never before enjoyed a course so much, and I wonder: What made these three days so special?

The main theme was qualitative research in art education, but the issue of artistic qualities in teaching was also mentioned... or rather shown through the Liora's teaching method.

Preparing for the course, I read the first two chapters of "Number Our Days", written by Barbara Myerhoff, that Liora had suggested. I was sitting on a bus, reading... and crying, and I immediately understood that the three days with Liora Bresler would be special. The text I was reading was from a case of antropological study, written in a poetic way, but still educating, meaningful and full of wisdom. I thought: "Some researchers are artists, able to present their work in artistic ways." And there are also teachers who transform their lessons into compositions, combining planning and improvisation, or sometimes, "guided by aesthetic principles with a dramatic structure" such teachers manage to "create(-d) a meaningful artistic lesson" (to quote Liora Bresler the way she described Joe Herbert, a teacher she observed in a school in Danville - Bresler 1991) May be it was Liora's expressive way of communication that created the context for my unique experience during her lectures?

In the begynning of the class Liora asked us to pay attention to what was happening in the room - to be observers involved in a kind of micro qualitative research. This first day of the course we sat in an auditorium (the second day we were at the Moderna Museet - The Museum of Modern Art, and the third day we sat in a circle formation in a drama room at the university). Thinking about teaching as art, and knowing that Liora also is a musician, I paid attention to her voice, ways of addressing us, her body language, gestures... - multimodal communication. I noticed the rhythm of her movements: slowly walking from side to side in front of us, establishing eye contacts, and involving everyone. "It was comfortable to be included", I thought: "this way she gathers the group". At the end of the day we were asked to present our observations: Liora wanted to exemplify relations between description, interpretation and evaluation in qualitative research.

When I started to articulate my observations of Liora's rhythmical walking, a methaphor of a dog shepherding it's sheep (us, students) came out of my mouth. I immediately thought: "Oh...how could I say something like this? I actually called professor a dog!!" Later on, when we were interpreting the "shepherding attitude", I tried to shade my metaphor: "May be the metaphor is not that good", I said. "You really do not use your authority, like a shepherd would do with it's sheep. May be your movements were more like (using a methaphor from dog training again) when a dog doesn't want to come, and you run away to get it's attention?" But it was not possible to make the said unsaid. On the other hand, it seemed that Liora liked the image of a shepherd - she mentioned it a couple of times during the day: "Sometimes I even have to bite to get attention", she smiled.

Today, a week later, I believe that the way of communication at the course was of an essencial importance for my positive experience: We were invited to take part. We were laughing, having fun - and we were equal in "democratic conversations" (see my blog from the 9-th of January). We all had something to learn from each others, and something to contribute with. We were taken seriously (but, though, not in a serious way). Liora's appreciation of our contributions was honest, we all reflected together and Liora didn't hide that she was learning form us! The teaching and the respect were mutual.

I've just read an artilcle about written by Mary Fawcett and Penny Hay, abouth a project with Reggio Emilia approach in UK (Fawcett & Hay 2004), where some of findings were that respect for a child's multiple ways of expression builds it's confidence, and is a motivating force in their problem solving, cerativity and learning. We are not that different form children, after all :)


The pictured sculptures are a part of the oudoor installation PARADISE, made by Niki De Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely, placed outside the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

søndag 18. januar 2009

The Joy of Making - Architecture Inspired Skirt Design

One night some weeks ago, I just couldn’t separate from a soft, weaved textile. It was 02.30 in the morning, I was tired, but I still kept pushing the “over-lock’s” accelerator and letting the long bond of off-white wool slide through my hands. I couldn’t just interrupt the process I was in the middle of, before I knew if the “stairs”, or “waves”, would have the suitable weight and width in order to achieve the motion I expected! Eventually I went to sleep… and dreamt about folds.
During the PhD course in Oslo we spoke a lot about “research by design”, while on the course I took at University of Gothenburg the main theme was children’s “aesthetic learning process”. At the both of courses an important discussion was how the process of making, design and play, involves mind, feelings and body. How powerful is the “joy of making”? It provides us with possibilities for research/learning through the process of design/aesthetic process.
In order to learn about my “evolution of thought” during the night with the “over-lock- machine” and woollen fabric, I wish to reflection about the decisions I made - a micro research-by-design. Some of the choices were intuitive, some were aesthetic, some practical…
Inspiration was there first – but I didn’t realised where it come from before I already was in the designing process. Here I’ll try to give short descriptions of the inspiration sources, and choices I made during the process of designing and making.
Material quality and function: I wanted a winter shirt to mach my off-white coat. The textile had to be solid (not-stretchy) and weaved because I wanted to cut it in a curve, from the corner of the fabric, in order to fit my body-shape (hips). The light colour of the fabric had to be natural (not bleached), and have no weaved patterns.
Inspiration 1: Some months earlier I bought a pear of leather glows, with a nice combination of colours, and elegant folds. I knew that such folds could be made in any textile quality, but a wool textile, damped and ironed would be able to retain them the best way. This requires a particular thickness of the fabric.
Inspiration 2: Architect Børre Skodvin, held a lecture about his architectural practice. He showed some images, and among them an image of a three-dimensional model of a unbuild building. Different floors had different organic shapes, so that each balcony had unique access to sun. In the model the balcony rails were made of corrugated cardboard – and inspired me: sets of short parallel lines along the continuing organic, non-symmetric curves….like waves…
Material colour: I found the textile just thick enough, but not the same material in two different colours, to match the glows. That’s why I decided to use green nuances of tread colours. To achieve a ruff style, I let the edges, casted with over-lock, be uncovered. I experimented with different combinations of colours of the four treads - the contrast to the fabric off-white mustn’t be too large, but strong enough to underline the shape of the lines, and repetitive to preserve the entirety of the composition.
Proportions: I evaluated distances between waves – they should appear casual (like waves in water). I studied the size of the top part – which was supposed to remained “silent”, except for the simple lining where the over-lock edge was repeated. The size of this part was evaluated in proportion to the placement for the waves, as well as to the size and repetitions of folds.
And there were, of course, some technical decisions to make about the lining, order in cutting, sawing, experimenting, and probably about more that I do not really thing about… I guess we all sometimes do things automatically, by knowledge, experience or intuition (?) I also guess that much of my skirt-making has become a part of my tacit knowledge, since the first time when I, 12 years old, designed and sewed my first woollen skirt with folds….

fredag 9. januar 2009

The Role of Democracy in Children's Verbal and Visual Expression

The last ten years I have been teaching at the early childhood training programs at Faculty of Education at Vestfold University College, located in Tønsberg, approx. 100 km. South from Oslo - it’s here I “belong to”, and where my colleagues are. This is also the place where the project “Children’s Language Learning, and Learning through Language”, supported by Norwegian Research Council, is situated. I am one of nine teachers who are working on projects with different approaches to language in kindergarten.

Last Thursday, the 8-th of January, the “Language-project-group” had a seminar where we presented our projects and commented on each others. This was a fantastic opportunity to get high quality feed back from professors and assistant professors with unique competences with in different specialisations. There were so many interesting discussions going on in that room, linking out seven projects into each others, and producing loads of associations in my head – I was a bit afraid that it would explode. To lower “the pressure” I just have to write about my associations and thoughts and I am afraid that the seminar is going to inspire much of my writing that follows…
My colleagues Kristin R. Tholin and Turid T. Jansen are working on a project where they are trying to identify “democratic conversations in kindergarten”. They suggest that this might be a question of balance between teachers planning and her/his capacity to improvise, as well as the balance of power between the teacher and the children. Another colleague (my supervisor) Liv Gjems, spoke about the importance of “good conversations” between preschool teacher and children. In this occasion she quoted C. Snow and R. Hasan about importance of such conversations for children’s learning. Trying to identify what characterize “the good conversations”, Liv stated that “wondering questions” where a teacher really doesn’t know the answer, are essential for children’s learning through conversation. I asked myself a wondering question: What happens in the opposite situations, when a teacher knows the answer (which unfortunately often is the way one speaks to small children)?

I imagined myself in the position of a child, being asked a question where I am supposed to meet the expectations about the answer which is known to the other part - How meaningful is that? Does she/he care about my answer at all? Are we having a conversation or is this just demonstration of the others predominance and power? That is probably why such “false questions” are not as motivating and do not lead to a dialogue between teachers and their kindergarten students…? What is the point of answering, when the teacher doesn’t even care? Isn’t this disrespectable, and absolutely “not-democratic”?

As a teacher in Norwegian preschool subject “forming” (which means “form-making” – and should refer to “creative work with materials” or “arts and crafts”), I see a clear parallel between such “not democratic” conversations with children”, and “form-making” activities where a child is not asked to express himself/herself, but fulfil the teacher’s expectations. When a teacher knows the answer to her question, can be compared to when she asks a child to make something, but she already had decided how the product should look like. In both cases there is no room for the child’s personal expressions because the teacher has somehow “multimodaly” communicated that such “unexpected expressions” are not required - she has already decided what she wanted to hear or view!

The presented “issue of democracy” and respect of a child’s expression is an important argument in my project. We, teachers in creative arts, have for long been trying to argument that there is a difference between product-making and creative expression! The creative expression, which is the key for aesthetic learning process (that my project is all about) can not take place if a teacher doesn’t provide possibilities for it, both by preparing room, materials, tools, time… and by supporting conversations in “democratic contexts”. There is no aesthetic learning process, if there are no democratic conversations. And there are no democratic conversations if the teacher’s focus is on products, either the medium of expression is the verbal language or the visual form!

Through this reflection, I’ve just shared with you, I understand better how strongly pedagogical contexts are influenced by the balance of power in the multimodal communication discourse in kindergarten. I see, as well, that different media of communication can not be separated from each other in a multimodal communication contexts.

onsdag 7. januar 2009

Creative Cake Shaping in Christmas Pastry

According to Norwegian traditions, one should make seven types of Christmas cakes. This could be a good chance for children to enjoy odours, tasteful and soft pastry while forming the cakes with their fingers! Of different consistencies, more or less sticky (because of the large content of butter and sugar), these plastic materials offer new tactile experience and possibilities for creative play with three dimensional forms… of course if one is not too strict to retain the cake’s traditional shape, size and form.
At my home we usually don’t manage to make all seven sorts, but we at least make gingersnap (“pepperkaker”). This year the pastry was readymade (from IKEA), but we have a “local tradition” of using homemade cake tins.
The metal cake tin shaped as a fire engine was made according to my son’s drawing, when he was 5 years old, and very interested in all sorts of cars with lights on their roof. The last years our favourite is the “Kerry Blue Terrier –cake”.
When making gingersnap one rolls out the pastry and prints cake forms out of it with a cake tin. The ready cakes are almost two dimensional, and can’t express the volume of the form they imitate. Anyone who has tried to translates a three-dimensional form inn to a two-dimensional knows that this in not always easy to do. To make a recognisable shape, one has to find a specific angle, with the most typical contour. And the outline must be a single continuing line.