Arts Explorer #5 Watch an 'art film' and chat about it

Michel Gondry's 'Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind'

Joel (Jim Carrey) is stunned to discover that his girl friend.  Clementine (Kate Winslat) has had their tumultuous relationship erased from her mind.  Out desperation, he contacts the inventor of the process,  Dr. Howard Mizrzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) to get the same treatment.  But as the memories of Clementine begin to fade, Joel suddenly realizes how much he still loves her.  

The Wall Street Journal calls "a romantic comedy unlike any other!"

Me:  this movie is similar as the other one "Inception".  I should say "Inception" is similar to it.  Because both of them talk about the brain system. 

Patsy: Yeah, but I find this is much simpler in the way that it simple delves in memories rather than formulating a dream. In Inception, they make it so complicated that it ends up being so hard to follow. In this one, we just look at his memories. It’s all on two levels – real life, and Joel’s mind.

Me: you know, this movie is difficult to be understand.  I do not know the main theme until end of the movie, both of them say they are not perfect but they do not mind and want to get together again. 

Patsy: I guess it’s just a life thing. I find the ending rather pathetic, but maybe that’s just the fact that I’m a romance girl and I’m used to more sappy endings. This one’s more like “ah well, that’s that”. The movie was really confusing in the way that he kept flashing through his memories. There didn't even seem to be a time line.

Me: I know! I was so confused half the time…

Patsy: Kate Winslet is a really good actress. She handles the American accent perfectly.

Me: Yeah, I saw her in “Titanic” too. Actually, that’s the first time I saw her. She plays the two different characters well.

Patsy: Still, she looks funny with blue hair.

Me:  I don't thing this movie is romantic comedy.  I think the producer used the imagination with the knowledge of the brain development to development the theme.

Patsy: Definitely not romantic comedy. About the brain development knowledge, I don’t really remember if they ever explained how they actually deleted certain sequences of your memory.

Me: Finally, they have happy ending – as the bible commends, nobody is perfect so we have to forgive each other and love each other.

Patsy: Staple of life!

Me:  you know, at the beginning of the movie, the main character, Joel, said he wondered why he fell in love with every woman had seen.  At that time, I judged him based on if he was smart or handsome or not.

Patsy: There’s gotta be a reason why he would be so attracted to women –they had to be attracted to him too, right? Actually, the people in this movie are very on the normal-looking side. I mean, the main characters are both good looking, but the director seemed to want to downplay this so they would seem like more normal people.

Me: Joel said he talked to the stranger because he was nice.  I do not agree with him.  I guessed he wanted to talk to her as well.  He just made up an excuse.

Patsy: Of course! Like he said, he had lots of humiliation. Everyone has something they have to hide


Me: In ECE, dramatic play can stimulate the children's language development and emotional control.  According to Schirrmacher & Fox (2009) stated, "In children's play should be nondirective.......their own playfulness without overwhelming children or performing for them"(p.40).

Reference

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009).  Art and creative development for young children (6the Ed.).  Belmont, CA: Delmar.

Arts Explorer #4 Looking for Patterns in Urban Settings & Nature

What is a pattern?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, a pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set of objects.

These elements repeat in a predictable manner. It can be a template or model which can be used to generate things or parts of a thing, especially if the things that are created have enough in common for the underlying pattern to be inferred, in which case the things are said to exhibit the unique pattern.

At the beginning of this project, I never paid attention to anything around me in regards to patterns.  Since I started, I found thousands pattern around me and they are easily discovered.

Below are pictures of patterns I found in my neighborhood.  Along the sidewalk, the city plants many trees, probably planted in the same year and season.  Growing under a similar environment, they present a nice pattern.

Real Pattern !!

I visited a coffee shop; I step in.  Do you notice under your feet, the carpet, another pattern?

Do you know where you can find it?  It's just beside our campus!!

In ECE program, curriculum as subject matter, content, or academic area.  The children may enjoy making patterns for their friends to copy.  This is one of the sensory development .

Arts Explorer #3: Fine Art Critique

Paul Peel, After the Bath

Paul Peel

born London, Canada West (now Ontario), 1860; died Paris, France, 1892
After the Bath
1890
oil on canvas
147.3 x 110.5 cm
Gift of the Government of the Province of Ontario, 1972

This painting attracted me because it was one of the larges that I had ever seen hanging on a wall. I love a giant product, especially with oil paintings as it seems that the scene is happening right in front of you, the distance between the picture and the receiver smaller than before. With the large size, the details are easily displayed. Peel’s painting is very realistic and shows the objects in three dimensions, which is not easy to depict. I also was transferred into the picture, feeling the warmth the children felt from the fire in contrast to the cold weather of winter.

            The warmth is relayed through the contrast of colours. The fire casts a orange-yellow glow on the children’s fronts, whilst their backs are a cold blue-grey. Watching from afar, one feels cold because they are not near the fire, but if I allow myself to step into the picture I feel much warmer.

            The astounding detail that Peel presents in the oil painting adds to its realism. He takes great care in painting out the crease in the thigh of the girl sitting down and the line of her backbone as well as the tendrils of hair that wisp outwards, as if embracing the fire. He manages to capture the chubbiness the hands and the skin tone of each child. However, there is contrast in this as well as the rest of the painting is not in such detail as the two children, causing the focus to be solely on them and the glow of the fire on their bodies.

            At the beginning, I thought the title of the painting would be “Warmth”. After, I read that it was titled “After the Bath”, and I smiled in m y mind. The painting depicted the aftermath of an event, but not the event. The artist seems to want the receiver to use their own imagination for the scene and then he tells us his purpose. Similarly, the fire in the painting is not directly viewed; we see only the effects of the warmth of the fire – the glow on the children’s skin and the reflection of it on the floor. Although the fire is not visible, the viewer’s eyes are drawn towards it because the subjects of the painting are facing it and presumably observing it as well. Hence, there are three levels presented to the viewer: one, as a viewer, two, as a viewer in the painting, and three, as one of the children. In this way, Peel’s painting allows the receiver to use a wide scope of imagination as to what the fire looks like.

            Peel was known for his depictions of children and also nude humans, being one of the first Canadian painters to explore nudes as a subject.

The Canadian Art History online archive reports that Paul had two small children, a boy and a girl that often  posed nude for him and he used them as subjects for several of his art works.

Paul Peel (7 November 1860 – 3 October 1892) was a Canadian academic painter. Having won a medal at the 1890 Paris Salon, he became one of the first Canadian artists to receive international recognition in his lifetime.

Peel was born in London, Ontario, and received his art training from his father from a young age. Later he studied under William Lees Judson and at thePennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts underThomas Eakins. He later moved to Paris, Francewhere he received art instruction at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme and at theAcadémie Julian under Benjamin Constant, Henri Doucet and Jules Lefebvre.

In 1882 he married Isaure Verdier and had two children with her: a son (Robert Andre, in 1886) and a daughter (Emilie Marguerite, in 1888).

Peel travelled widely in Canada and in Europe, exhibiting as a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy. He also exhibited at international shows like the Paris Salon, where he won a bronze medal in 1890 for his painting After the Bath. He was known for his often sentimental nudes and for his pictures of children; he was among the first Canadian painters to explore the nude as a subject.

He contracted a lung infection and died in his sleep, in Paris, France, at the age of 32.

(information on Paul Peel courtesy of Wikipedia)

Fine Art's concept can be developed in the program of ECE.  The educator provides enough materials and environment are very important.