VISUAL AIDS | Ciara Connolly Art

Visual Aids for the Classroom

During the Professional Masters Education program, we are introduced to various 2D and 3D art, craft, and design disciplines that are relevant to the current post-primary art curriculum. The Visual Art for the Classroom modules are practice-based and involve project briefs that are informed by practical masterclass inputs. These modules are designed to relate directly to the essential methodologies required for the post-primary art classroom environment. Below is a sample of Visual Aids for the classroom.

About

Working with clay within a classroom structure, covering clay principles and properties, basic handbuilding techniques, and health and safety. The course also discusses how to handle kilns and clay materials, how to put together a basic clay toolkit, and suggests projects for future use. The aim is for students to be comfortable working with clay and to gain a working knowledge that can be transferred to the classroom environment. The text also includes a project brief on sustainability, where students are encouraged to create a 3D form related to the theme of sustainability using clay, keeping in mind that clay is a natural material that can be recycled. The course also suggests collecting a basic toolkit for working with clay.

Clay

Drawing and Painting

An exhibition inspired the development of a body of work that includes painting, print and drawing, using mind maps, collage, color theory, and other art elements and design principles. The artists whose work will be engaged with are Mark O Kelly, Alice Maher, John Kindness, Louise Bourgeois, and Cathy Prendergast. The three stages of engagement in the Senior Cycle Visual Art Curriculum are Respond, Research, and Create. As an artist, one should respond to the world in a unique way, research selected artists, and create work of their own. The learner should explore the brief fully, investigate a range of artists' work, create an artist's notebook and a digital teacher's notebook, and identify how the process and work can form a series of lessons to design a Unit of Learning.

Print Vac

The Print VAC requires the production of two black and white linocut prints based on specific concepts. Additionally, a series of Monoprints will also be explored during the Printing process. The materials required for Printing class include 2 A4 soft lino for prints and lino print carvers. The IMMA exhibition, "The Narrow Gate of the Here-and-Now," is also mentioned, which explores urgent themes across a 30-year period. It prompts thinking about the effects of globalisation today in the Irish context as we respond to global crises from COVID-19 to Climate Change and the Black Lives Matter movement. The exhibition explores ideas of bodily autonomy, conflict and protest, the Anthropocene era, and digital technologies through the rich holdings of the IMMA Collection and Archive.

Design

A community design project on biodiversity that aims to make global issues more meaningful and understandable to students by using a community biodiversity issue as a case study. The objective is to create a design solution for a local biodiversity problem/issue and explore a variety of design methods that will depict how biodiversity affects the community. The focus will be on pedagogy and methodology for the classroom application, and the deliverables will include designing a logotype that can be used on various design platforms.

Photography

Digital media aims to teach students how to use digital cameras and image-capture devices, apply pictorial composition, examine the work of photographers, control lighting, use image editing software, produce a portfolio of photographs, present an artist statement, and apply VAC content to the preparation of a scheme of work. The module aims to introduce participants to the hardware and software involved in making and publishing digital images, and producing a related audio/visual artist statement. The use of digital media in the art room is prevalent and supported by the new Junior and Senior Art Curriculum.