How to Help Students Make Connections through Combination

I’m always trying to find new ways to help my students to develop ideas and push their work further. Recently I’ve read a lot of discussion about the validity or importance of the elements and principles, especially for older students. Just telling students to use the elements and principles creates lack luster results, however, asking students to manipulate the principles makes things start to get interesting.

The principles then become a  springboard for new ideas and experimentation.

” When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressive creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and opens ways for better understanding. where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, he opens it and shows there are still more pages possible.” ~ American Painter Robert Henri

Artwork by Henn Kim

In class we played the remote association game, and then explored the work of Henn Kim, with a focus on connections, combinations, and manipulating one principle of art. Watch the video below for the lesson.

( note: this is a recording of a live class call, I’m able to see and read from chat box, that does not show up in the recording, so it looks like I’m having a conversation with myself. )