2D Artistic Abilities is a class provided to adults ages 20-50 with learning disabilities. The class focuses on artistic and personal expression through the use of 2D mediums such as paint, drawing, collage, etc. We had a small group of usually 8 students who were highly engaged and excited about art making. We met for five Tuesdays of the year from 4:00-6:00pm. The students we had in our class were:
Student 1: This student always came into class with a high amount of enthusiasm and curiosity. Through all of our projects she would make sure to include an element of her own personal interests such as horses and flowers. She encountered problems within her art, but always found a way to solve them and think about creative alternatives. This student did tend to get distracted often, and want to walk around and engage with other students. We welcomed the interest in what her peers were doing, but did have to encourage her to refocus back onto her work. She also often finished quickly and wanted to start a new piece, so we would encourage her to fill all of the blank space on her canvas, paper or surface and add detail before moving on to another piece.
Student 2: This student was always extremely curious. She often struggled with focusing and the ideation step of the process, so we would help her with prompting questions about what she might like to do for her pieces. She tended to create more abstract art that was influenced by her personal interests. Sometimes it was hard to get her started, but one she was in the zone she was unstoppable. In our painting to the music lesson it was really cool to see her get so into the action of painting. It was also useful to have her turn the canvas after every song ended, because she often stuck to painting one area of the surface.
Student 3: This student was always ready to learn. However, she often doubted her own abilities and was concerned with making things "look good." She often wanted to copy one of the examples we would give at the start of a lesson or use her phone to look up ideas. We encouraged her to resist doing so, and to embrace self expression and exploration. We also helped her with prompts to give her ideas of what she could do. We really got to see her growth in confidence during our paint to the music lesson. By using music as a prompt, she was really provided with no visual example and was forced to use her own imagination. She started out painting representational images in fear of it looking bad, but by the end of the lesson had completely loosened up and was splatter painting the canvas uninhibited.
Student 4: In the beginning this student seemed to be non-verbal and not very engaged in the process. Throughout the class periods we began to get to know him better and he began to open up and talk to us about his interests. We soon found out that this student was fascinated by color and extremely knowledgable on color theory. Though most of his projects ended up being entirely painted one color, they were the result of layering color upon color for the entire duration of the class to create a final result that could not easily be recreated. By the last class, he had opened up much more and spoke in the last discussion about his choice of colors being beautiful.
Student 5: This student always told us stories about her childhood and life and would find ways to incorporate them into her art. She often included images of her dogs or favorite places. She often utilized the entire class period to work on her piece, and took her time on every detail. During our collage project she encountered some issues with the material, but she always found a way to alter her process to make it easier. She was always extremely proud of her final products, and enthusiastic about sharing them in our discussions. In our last class she even made one of her rocks as a gift for her father.
Student 6: This student always was very engaged and focused on her work. She usually spent the entire time creating elaborate, abstract works where every inch of the surface was covered with color. A lot of her inspiration came from her love of Disney. In our final class she painted two rocks abstractly, but used color pallets inspired by some of her favorite Disney movies. She was always willing and eager to share he pieces with the class in discussion and attentively listened to others discuss their own.
Student 7: This student often came late to the class due to other obligations, but she always was eager to jump in and get straight to work. She often included aspects from her personal interests specifically sports. She was typically more quiet and kept to herself during the classes, but was always thoughtful about her pieces and spent a lot of time adding detail. During our first lesson, she included multiple aspects of her identity onto her hand cutout.
Student 8: This student had limited speech and mobility, but always came with a positive attitude and desire to learn. Being in a wheelchair, we always provided a lower table for her and longer brushes or drawing utensils to reach the surface. It was difficult as first to understand her when helping her generate and execute ideas; however, the more time we spent talking with her it became easier to understand what she was saying and help her connect her personal life with her art. She often used the grandson as inspiration in her art and in our third project she placed his first initial in a flower with a heart in the center.
Student 1: This student always came into class with a high amount of enthusiasm and curiosity. Through all of our projects she would make sure to include an element of her own personal interests such as horses and flowers. She encountered problems within her art, but always found a way to solve them and think about creative alternatives. This student did tend to get distracted often, and want to walk around and engage with other students. We welcomed the interest in what her peers were doing, but did have to encourage her to refocus back onto her work. She also often finished quickly and wanted to start a new piece, so we would encourage her to fill all of the blank space on her canvas, paper or surface and add detail before moving on to another piece.
Student 2: This student was always extremely curious. She often struggled with focusing and the ideation step of the process, so we would help her with prompting questions about what she might like to do for her pieces. She tended to create more abstract art that was influenced by her personal interests. Sometimes it was hard to get her started, but one she was in the zone she was unstoppable. In our painting to the music lesson it was really cool to see her get so into the action of painting. It was also useful to have her turn the canvas after every song ended, because she often stuck to painting one area of the surface.
Student 3: This student was always ready to learn. However, she often doubted her own abilities and was concerned with making things "look good." She often wanted to copy one of the examples we would give at the start of a lesson or use her phone to look up ideas. We encouraged her to resist doing so, and to embrace self expression and exploration. We also helped her with prompts to give her ideas of what she could do. We really got to see her growth in confidence during our paint to the music lesson. By using music as a prompt, she was really provided with no visual example and was forced to use her own imagination. She started out painting representational images in fear of it looking bad, but by the end of the lesson had completely loosened up and was splatter painting the canvas uninhibited.
Student 4: In the beginning this student seemed to be non-verbal and not very engaged in the process. Throughout the class periods we began to get to know him better and he began to open up and talk to us about his interests. We soon found out that this student was fascinated by color and extremely knowledgable on color theory. Though most of his projects ended up being entirely painted one color, they were the result of layering color upon color for the entire duration of the class to create a final result that could not easily be recreated. By the last class, he had opened up much more and spoke in the last discussion about his choice of colors being beautiful.
Student 5: This student always told us stories about her childhood and life and would find ways to incorporate them into her art. She often included images of her dogs or favorite places. She often utilized the entire class period to work on her piece, and took her time on every detail. During our collage project she encountered some issues with the material, but she always found a way to alter her process to make it easier. She was always extremely proud of her final products, and enthusiastic about sharing them in our discussions. In our last class she even made one of her rocks as a gift for her father.
Student 6: This student always was very engaged and focused on her work. She usually spent the entire time creating elaborate, abstract works where every inch of the surface was covered with color. A lot of her inspiration came from her love of Disney. In our final class she painted two rocks abstractly, but used color pallets inspired by some of her favorite Disney movies. She was always willing and eager to share he pieces with the class in discussion and attentively listened to others discuss their own.
Student 7: This student often came late to the class due to other obligations, but she always was eager to jump in and get straight to work. She often included aspects from her personal interests specifically sports. She was typically more quiet and kept to herself during the classes, but was always thoughtful about her pieces and spent a lot of time adding detail. During our first lesson, she included multiple aspects of her identity onto her hand cutout.
Student 8: This student had limited speech and mobility, but always came with a positive attitude and desire to learn. Being in a wheelchair, we always provided a lower table for her and longer brushes or drawing utensils to reach the surface. It was difficult as first to understand her when helping her generate and execute ideas; however, the more time we spent talking with her it became easier to understand what she was saying and help her connect her personal life with her art. She often used the grandson as inspiration in her art and in our third project she placed his first initial in a flower with a heart in the center.